Genesis 41:23

23 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, [and] blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:

Genesis 41:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:23

And, behold, seven ears withered
Here a new epithet of the bad ears is given, and expressed by a word nowhere else used, which Ben Melech interprets, small, little, according to the use of the word in the Misnah; Aben Ezra, void, empty, such as had no grains of corn in them, nothing but husk or chaff, and observes that some render it images; for the word is so used in the Arabic language, and may signify that these ears were only mere shadows or images of ears, which had no substance in them: Jarchi says, the word, in the Syriac language signifies a rock, and so it denotes that these ears were dry as a rock, and had no moisture in them, laid dried, burnt up, and blasted with the east wind.

Genesis 41:23 In-Context

21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they [were] still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up on one stalk, full and good:

23 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, [and] blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:

24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told [this] to the magicians; but [there was] none that could explain [it] to me.

25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh [is] one; God hath showed Pharaoh what he [is] about to do.