Genesis 41:17-27

41:17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing ¹  by the edge of the Nile. 41:18 Then seven fat and fine-looking cows were coming up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the reeds. ²  41:19 Then ³  seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows ⁴  as these in all the land of Egypt! 41:20 The lean, bad-looking cows ate up the seven ⁵  fat cows. 41:21 When they had eaten them, ⁶  no one would have known ⁷  that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up. 41:22 I also saw in my dream ⁸  seven heads of grain growing on one stalk, full and good. 41:23 Then ⁹  seven heads of grain, withered and thin and burned with the east wind, were sprouting up after them. 41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this ¹⁰  to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” ¹¹ 

41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Both dreams of Pharaoh have the same meaning. ¹²  God has revealed ¹³  to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  seven years of famine.

[41:17]  ¹ tn Heb “In my dream look, I was standing.” The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here (and also in vv. 18, 19, 22, 23) invites the hearer (within the context of the narrative, Joseph; but in the broader sense the reader or hearer of the Book of Genesis) to observe the scene through Pharaoh’s eyes.

[41:18]  ² tn Heb “and look, from the Nile seven cows were coming up, fat of flesh and attractive of appearance, and they grazed in the reeds.”

[41:19]  ³ tn Heb “And look.”

[41:19]  ⁴ tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “the seven first fat cows.”

[41:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “when they went inside them.”

[41:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “it was not known.”

[41:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I saw in my dream and look.”

[41:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “And look.”

[41:24]  ¹⁰ tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”

[41:25]  ¹² tn Heb “the dream of Pharaoh is one.”

[41:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “declared.”

[41:25]  ¹⁴ tn The active participle here indicates what is imminent.

[41:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “one dream it is.”

[41:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”