Genesis 41:27

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 ¹  seven years of famine.

Genesis 41:2

41:2 seven fine-looking, fat cows were coming up out of the Nile, ²  and they grazed in the reeds.

Genesis 21:1

The Birth of Isaac

21:1 The Lord visited ³  Sarah just as he had said he would and did ⁴  for Sarah what he had promised. ⁵ 

Genesis 24:13

24:13 Here I am, standing by the spring, ⁶  and the daughters of the people ⁷  who live in the town are coming out to draw water.

Luke 4:25

4:25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, ⁸  when the sky ⁹  was shut up three and a half years, and ¹⁰  there was a great famine over all the land.

¹ tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”

² tn Heb “And look, he was standing by the Nile, and look, from the Nile were coming up seven cows, attractive of appearance and fat of flesh.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to see the dream through Pharaoh’s eyes.

³ sn The Hebrew verb translated “visit” (פָּקַד, paqad ) often describes divine intervention for blessing or cursing; it indicates God’s special attention to an individual or a matter, always with respect to his people’s destiny. He may visit (that is, destroy) the Amalekites; he may visit (that is, deliver) his people in Egypt. Here he visits Sarah, to allow her to have the promised child. One’s destiny is changed when the Lord “visits.” For a more detailed study of the term, see G. André, Determining the Destiny (ConBOT).

⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord did.” The divine name has not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “spoken.”

⁶ tn Heb “the spring of water.”

⁷ tn Heb “the men.”

⁸ sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.

⁹ tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.

¹⁰ tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).