Commentary
Old Testament : Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
![](images/minus.gif)
Text -- Genesis 41:25-57 (NET)
![](images/arrow_open.gif)
Strongs On/Off
Context
41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh , “Both dreams of Pharaoh have the same meaning. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do .
41:26 The seven good cows represent seven years , and the seven good heads of grain represent seven years . Both dreams have the same meaning.
41:27 The seven lean , bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years , as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind . They represent seven years of famine .
41:28 This is just what I told Pharaoh : God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do .
41:29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt .
41:30 But seven years of famine will occur after them, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt . The famine will devastate the land .
41:31 The previous abundance of the land will not be remembered because of the famine that follows , for the famine will be very severe .
41:32 The dream was repeated to Pharaoh because the matter has been decreed by God , and God will make it happen soon .
41:33 “So now Pharaoh should look for a wise and discerning man and give him authority over all the land of Egypt .
41:34 Pharaoh should do this– he should appoint officials throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance .
41:35 They should gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming . By Pharaoh’s authority they should store up grain so the cities will have food , and they should preserve it.
41:36 This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt . In this way the land will survive the famine .”
41:37 This advice made sense to Pharaoh and all his officials .
41:38 So Pharaoh asked his officials , “Can we find a man like Joseph , one in whom the Spirit of God is present?”
41:39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph , “Because God has enabled you to know all this , there is no one as wise and discerning as you are!
41:40 You will oversee my household , and all my people will submit to your commands . Only I, the king , will be greater than you.
41:41 “See here,” Pharaoh said to Joseph , “I place you in authority over all the land of Egypt .”
41:42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his own hand and put it on Joseph’s . He clothed him with fine linen clothes and put a gold chain around his neck .
41:43 Pharaoh had him ride in the chariot used by his second-in-command , and they cried out before him, “Kneel down !” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt .
41:44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph , “I am Pharaoh , but without your permission no one will move his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt .”
41:45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah . He also gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera , priest of On , to be his wife . So Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt .
41:46 Now Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving Pharaoh king of Egypt . Joseph was commissioned by Pharaoh and was in charge of all the land of Egypt .
41:47 During the seven years of abundance the land produced large, bountiful harvests.
41:48 Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and stored it in the cities . In every city he put the food gathered from the fields around it.
41:49 Joseph stored up a vast amount of grain , like the sand of the sea , until he stopped measuring it because it was impossible to measure .
41:50 Two sons were born to Joseph before the famine came . Asenath daughter of Potiphera , priest of On , was their mother .
41:51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh , saying, “Certainly God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house .”
41:52 He named the second child Ephraim , saying, “Certainly God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering .”
41:53 The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end .
41:54 Then the seven years of famine began , just as Joseph had predicted . There was famine in all the other lands , but throughout the land of Egypt there was food .
41:55 When all the land of Egypt experienced the famine , the people cried out to Pharaoh for food . Pharaoh said to all the people of Egypt , “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”
41:56 While the famine was over all the earth , Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians . The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt .
41:57 People from every country came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe throughout the earth .
![](images/advanced.gif)
![](images/advanced.gif)
![](images/advanced.gif)
Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
![](images/arrow_open.gif)
Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Famine |
Joseph |
Egypt |
Government |
Pharaoh |
God |
Servant |
GENESIS, 1-2 |
Prudence |
Economics |
Rulers |
Promotion |
Prisoners |
Wisdom |
JOSEPH (2) |
COW; KINE |
Dream |
Seven |
DREAM; DREAMER |
Divination |
more
![](images/cmt_minus_head.gif)
expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Gen 41:25; Gen 41:25; Gen 41:25; Gen 41:26; Gen 41:27; Gen 41:28; Gen 41:30; Gen 41:30; Gen 41:31; Gen 41:31; Gen 41:32; Gen 41:32; Gen 41:32; Gen 41:33; Gen 41:33; Gen 41:33; Gen 41:34; Gen 41:34; Gen 41:34; Gen 41:34; Gen 41:35; Gen 41:35; Gen 41:35; Gen 41:35; Gen 41:36; Gen 41:37; Gen 41:38; Gen 41:38; Gen 41:39; Gen 41:40; Gen 41:40; Gen 41:41; Gen 41:41; Gen 41:42; Gen 41:43; Gen 41:43; Gen 41:43; Gen 41:44; Gen 41:44; Gen 41:44; Gen 41:45; Gen 41:45; Gen 41:45; Gen 41:45; Gen 41:46; Gen 41:46; Gen 41:46; Gen 41:46; Gen 41:47; Gen 41:48; Gen 41:48; Gen 41:48; Gen 41:49; Gen 41:50; Gen 41:50; Gen 41:51; Gen 41:51; Gen 41:51; Gen 41:52; Gen 41:52; Gen 41:52; Gen 41:54; Gen 41:55; Gen 41:56; Gen 41:56; Gen 41:57
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:27 Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:30 The Hebrew verb כָּלָה (kalah) in the Piel stem means “to finish, to destroy, to bring an end to.” The...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:32 The clause combines a participle and an infinitive construct: God “is hurrying…to do it,” meaning he is going to do it soon.
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:34 Heb “and he shall collect a fifth of the land of Egypt.” The language is figurative (metonymy); it means what the land produces, i.e., the...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:35 The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the sequence of jussives before it.
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:37 Heb “and the matter was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.”
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:39 Heb “as discerning and wise.” The order has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:41 Joseph became the grand vizier of the land of Egypt. See W. A. Ward, “The Egyptian Office of Joseph,” JSS 5 (1960): 144-50; and R. de Vaux...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:42 The Hebrew word שֵׁשׁ (shesh) is an Egyptian loanword that describes the fine linen robes that Egyptian royalty wore. Th...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:43 The verb form appears to be a causative imperative from a verbal root meaning “to kneel.” It is a homonym of the word “bless” ...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:46 Heb “and he passed through all the land of Egypt”; this phrase is interpreted by JPS to mean that Joseph “emerged in charge of the w...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:48 Heb “of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and placed food in the cities.”
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:49 Heb “and Joseph gathered grain like the sand of the sea, multiplying much.” To emphasize the vast amount of grain he stored up, the Hebrew...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:55 Heb “to all Egypt.” The name of the country is used by metonymy for the inhabitants.
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Gen 41:56 The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)