Genesis 41:30

30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land,

Genesis 41:30 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:30

And there shall arise after them seven years of famine
Which might be occasioned by the river Nile not rising so high as to overflow its banks, as, when it did not rise to more than twelve cubits, a famine ensued, as the above writer says ^F14; and it must be owing to the overruling providence of God that this should be the case for seven years running: and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt;
the seven years of plenty being all spent, it should be as if it never was; the minds of men would be so intent upon their present distressed case and circumstances, that they should wholly forget how it had been with them in time past; or it would be as if they had never enjoyed it, or were never the better for it: this answers to and explains how it was with the ill favoured kine, when they had eaten up the fat kine; they seemed never the better, nor could it be known by their appearance that they had so done: and the famine shall consume the land:
the inhabitants of it, and all the fruits and increase of it the former years produced.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Nat Hist. l. 5. c. 9.

Genesis 41:30 In-Context

28 It is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

29 There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt,

30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land,

31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of that famine which will follow, for it will be very grievous.

32 And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.