Genesis 41:3-4

41:3 Then seven bad-looking, thin cows were coming up after them from the Nile, ¹  and they stood beside the other cows at the edge of the river. ²  41:4 The bad-looking, thin cows ate the seven fine-looking, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

Genesis 41:6-7

41:6 Then ³  seven heads of grain, thin and burned by the east wind, were sprouting up after them. 41:7 The thin heads swallowed up the seven healthy and full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up and realized it was a dream. ⁴ 

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 ⁵  seven years of famine.

Genesis 45:11

45:11 I will provide you with food ⁶  there because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise you would become poor – you, your household, and everyone who belongs to you.”’

Psalms 105:16

105:16 He called down a famine upon the earth;

he cut off all the food supply. ⁷ 

Acts 7:11

7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout ⁸  Egypt and Canaan, causing ⁹  great suffering, and our ¹⁰  ancestors ¹¹  could not find food.

¹ tn Heb “And look, seven other cows were coming up after them from the Nile, bad of appearance and thin of flesh.”

² tn Heb “the Nile.” This has been replaced by “the river” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Heb “And look.”

⁴ tn Heb “And look, a dream.”

⁵ tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”

⁶ tn The verb כּוּל (kul) in the Pilpel stem means “to nourish, to support, to sustain.” As in 1 Kgs 20:27, it here means “to supply with food.”

⁷ tn Heb “and every staff of food he broke.” The psalmist refers to the famine that occurred in Joseph’s time (see v. 17 and Gen 41:53-57).

⁸ tn Grk “came upon all Egypt.”

⁹ tn Grk “and,” but logically causal.

¹⁰ sn Our. Stephen spoke of “our” ancestors (Grk “fathers”) in an inclusive sense throughout the speech until his rebuke in v. 51, where the nation does what “your” ancestors did, at which point an exclusive pronoun is used. This serves to emphasize the rebuke.

¹¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”