Genesis 41:25-36

41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Both dreams of Pharaoh have the same meaning. ¹  God has revealed ²  to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ³  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. ⁴  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. 41:28 This is just what I told ⁶  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 ⁷  after them, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will devastate ⁸  the land. 41:31 The previous abundance of the land will not be remembered ⁹  because of the famine that follows, for the famine will be very severe. ¹⁰  41:32 The dream was repeated to Pharaoh ¹¹  because the matter has been decreed ¹²  by God, and God will make it happen soon. ¹³ 

41:33 “So now Pharaoh should look ¹⁴  for a wise and discerning man ¹⁵  and give him authority ¹⁶  over all the land of Egypt. 41:34 Pharaoh should do ¹⁷  this – he should appoint ¹⁸  officials ¹⁹  throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt ²⁰  during the seven years of abundance. 41:35 They should gather all the excess food ²¹  during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh’s authority ²²  they should store up grain so the cities will have food, ²³  and they should preserve it. ²⁴  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.” ²⁵ 

[41:25]  ¹ tn Heb “the dream of Pharaoh is one.”

[41:25]  ² tn Heb “declared.”

[41:25]  ³ tn The active participle here indicates what is imminent.

[41:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “one dream it is.”

[41:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”

[41:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “it is the word that I spoke.”

[41:30]  ⁷ tn The perfect with the vav consecutive continues the time frame of the preceding participle, which has an imminent future nuance here.

[41:30]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew verb כָּלָה (kalah) in the Piel stem means “to finish, to destroy, to bring an end to.” The severity of the famine will ruin the land of Egypt.

[41:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “known.”

[41:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “heavy.”

[41:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and concerning the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh two times.” The Niphal infinitive here is the object of the preposition; it is followed by the subjective genitive “of the dream.”

[41:32]  ¹² tn Heb “established.”

[41:32]  ¹³ tn The clause combines a participle and an infinitive construct: God “is hurrying…to do it,” meaning he is going to do it soon.

[41:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “let Pharaoh look.” The jussive form expresses Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh.

[41:33]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a man discerning and wise.” The order of the terms is rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:33]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and let him set him.”

[41:34]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. The Samaritan Pentateuch has a jussive form here, “and let [Pharaoh] do.”

[41:34]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and let him appoint.” The jussive form expresses Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh.

[41:34]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “appointees.” The noun is a cognate accusative of the preceding verb. Since “appoint appointees” would be redundant in English, the term “officials” was used in the translation instead.

[41:34]  ²⁰ tn 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 harvest.

[41:35]  ²¹ tn Heb “all the food.”

[41:35]  ²² tn Heb “under the hand of Pharaoh.”

[41:35]  ²³ tn Heb “[for] food in the cities.” The noun translated “food” is an adverbial accusative in the sentence.

[41:35]  ²⁴ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the sequence of jussives before it.

[41:36]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and the land will not be cut off in the famine.”