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1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed; in the dream he found himself standing by the Nile[a].

2 As he dreamed, there came up out of the river seven kine, well-favored and fat-fleshed; and they fed in the reed-grass.

3 As he watched, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.

4 And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favored and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed a second time; as he dreamed, seven ears of grain came up upon one stalk, bountiful[b] and good.

6 And he saw seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and saw it was only a dream.

8 But it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the [c]magicians of Egypt, and all of his wise men; and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was no one who could interpret the dreams for Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I [d]do remember my faults this day:

10 Pharaoh was upset with his servants, and put me in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, myself and the chief baker;

11 and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.”

12 And there was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted our dreams; to each man according to his dream did he interpret.

13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; I was restored to office, and he was hanged.”

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon; and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and went to Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in my power to interpret dreams, but God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I stood upon the bank of the river;”

18 and as I looked, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored; and they fed in the reed-grass;

19 and then I saw seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt for badness;

20 and the lean and ill-favored kine ate up the first seven fat kine;

21 and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still as ill-favored as before. So I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, seven ears came up upon one stalk, full and good;

23 and, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them;

24 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears; and I told all this to the magicians; but there was none who could interpret it for me.”

25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one: what God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.

26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dream is one.

27 And the seven lean and ill-favored kine that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind; they shall be seven years of famine.

28 That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh; what God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh.

29 Therefore know, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt;

30 and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;

31 and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine which followeth; for it shall be very grievous.

32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.

35 And let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

36 And the food shall be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.”

37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the spirit of God is?”

39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, “Seeing as how God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you;

40 You shall be lord over my house, and according to your word shall all my people be ruled[f]; only in the throne will I be greater than you.”

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, “So then, I have set you above all the land of Egypt!”

42 And Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of [g]fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

43 and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, '[h]Bow the knee;' and he set him over all the land of Egypt.

44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.”

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.

48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.

49 And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering; for it was without number.

50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the first-born [i]Manasseh: For, said he, God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

52 And the name of the second called he [j]Ephraim: For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

53 And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end.

54 And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and there was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.”

56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the store-houses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was sore in the land of Egypt.

57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was sore in all the earth.

[1] Hebrew Yeor, that is, the Nile river.

[5] Hebrew fat. ASV; ‘rank’

[8] Or, sacred scribes

[9] Or, will make mention of

[16] ASV ‘it is not in me, but God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.’

[40] Or, order themselves. Or, do homage

[42] Or, cotton

[43] Abrech, probably an Egyptian word, similar in sound to the Hebrew word meaning to kneel.

[51] That is, Making to forget.

[52] From a Hebrew word signifying to be fruitful.

Although God had given dreams to people other than of the nation of Israel, it is apparently so that Joseph may interpret them, for without Joseph’s (the LORD’s) interpretation the dreams would be meaningless to them (41:24). This does not imply then that the office of Prophet may be held outside of the nation of Israel. Also as such, Pharaoh’s magicians apparently had the power to perform miracles.

Selected commentary.

h.ויהי מקץ AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END — As the Targum renders it by מסוף “at the end” All forms of the noun קץ signify one end or the other.

h.על היאר BY THE RIVER — No other river is called יאר) except the Nile, because the whole country (Egypt) is full of artificially constructed canals (יאורים) and the Nile flows into them and fills them with water, since rain does not fall in Egypt as regularly as in other lands.

h.יפות מראה BEAUTIFUL TO THE SIGHT — This was an indication of a period of plenty, when people show themselves well-disposed one to another, for no-one then envies another person’s prosperity (cf. Genesis Rabbah 89:4).

h.באחו IN THE REED-GRASS — in the marshy land. old French marais; English, marsh. Similar is (Job 8:11) “Can reed-grass (אחו) grow?”

h.ודקות בשר THIN-FLESHED in old French tenuis, meaning thin.

h.ותאכלנה AND THEY ATE — indicating that all the joy occasioned by the years of plenty would be forgotten in the days of famine.

h.בקנה אחד ON ONE STALK — Tuyau in old French

h.בריאות sains, English HEALTHY.

h.ושדופת PARCHED old French hales, (i.e. burnt up by the east wind) — But the Targum renders it by שקיפן קדום beaten upon by the east wind (and so burst open). This Aramaic word שקיפן is of the same root as משקוף a lintel, which is beaten continually by the door which knocks against it.

h.קדים is THE EAST WIND — called bise in old French

h.הבריאות sains in old French; English HEALTHY.

h.והנה חלום AND, BEHOLD. IT WAS A DREAM — and behold a whole dream was completed before him (i.e. representation of what was evidently a completed whole had passed before him as a dream during his sleep) and demanded an interpreter.

h.ותפעם רוחו HIS SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED — The Targum renders it by “his spirit was agitated” (beaten upon) — it rang within like a bell (פעמון). With regard to Nebuchadnezzar it states (Daniel 2:1) ותתפעם רוחו (the verb in the Hithpael, thus having a double ת), because in that case there were two reasons for perturbation — his forgetting the dream and his ignorance of its interpretation (Genesis Rabbah 89:5).

h.חרטמי ENGRAVERS OF HIEROGLYPHICS — It is a compound word הנחרים בטימי those who excite themselves by means of the bones of the dead — because they enquire of the dead. טימי used in this phrase means bones in Aramaic. In the Misnna we have (Mishnah Oholot [17]:3) “a house that is full of טמיא” — full of bones.

h.ואין פותר אותם לפרעה AND THERE WAS NONE THAT COULD INTERPRET IT TO PHARAOH — There were, indeed, some who interpreted it, but not in reference to Pharaoh (לפרעה) (i.e., their interpretations had no reference to him as a Pharaoh, as a king), so that their words found no acceptance by him and he was not satisfied with their interpretation. They said: “You will beget seven daughters and you will bury seven daughters” (Genesis Rabbah 89:6).

h.איש כפתרון חלמו [WE DREAMED] EACH MAN ACCORDING TO THE INTERPRETATION OF HIS DREAM — each of us dreamed a dream that fitted in with the interpretation that was given to us, and was exactly like it (not the kind of irrelevant interpretation offered you by your wise men).

h.נער עברי עבד A LAD, AN HEBREW, A SLAVE — Cursed be the wicked for the favours they do are never really complete! He mentions him in disparaging language.

h.נער a lad, unwise and unfitted for a high position.

h.עברי a Hebrew, who does not even know our language;

h.עבד a slave — and it is written in the laws of Egypt that a slave may neither become a ruler nor dress in princely robes (Genesis Rabbah 89:7).

h.איש כחלמו EACH MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DREAM — He interpreted in accordance with the dream and approximating to its contents.

h.השיב על כני HE RESTORED UNTO MY OFFICE — he means Pharaoh who was mentioned before, where it is said (v. [10]) “Pharaoh was wroth with his servants”. The phrase is elliptical not stating explicitly who restored, for it is not necessary to state explicitly who restored: obviously he who has the power to restore viz, Pharaoh. This is the ease with all elliptical sentences — they leave the matter indefinite as to who has to do the action (i.e. they omit the subject of the verb).

h.מן הבור OUT OF THE DUNGEON — from the place of imprisonment which was made as a kind of pit Similarly, wherever בור occurs in Scripture it signifies a pit — even though it does not contain water (for בור is used of a cistern, excavated as a pit out of rocks) it is still called a בור; old French fosse.

h.ויגלח AND HE CLIPPED HIS HAIR, out of respect for the king (Genesis Rabbah 89:9).

h.תשמע חלום לפתר אותו — means thou payest heed to and UNDERSTANDEST A DREAM TO INTERPRET IT.

h.תשמע means understanding and paying heed to. Examples are: (42:23) “Joseph (שומע) understood”; (Deuteronomy 28:49) “[a people] whose tongue thou shalt not understand (תשמע)”. old French entendre.

h.בלעדי NOT I— (the word is compounded of בל and עדי, it does not extend to me) The wisdom to interpret dreams is not my own, but God will answer — He will put in my mouth an answer that will be for Pharaoh’s welfare.

h.דלות means LEAN, as (2 Samuel 13:4) “Why art thou thus becoming (דל) lean?” which occurs in the narrative of Amnon.

h.ורקות בשר AND LEAN-FLESHED — wherever רקות is found in Scripture it means spare (literally, deficient) of flesh; old French flouet.

h.צנמות PARCHED — In Aramaic צונמא signifies a rock. They are like wood without moisture and as hard as a rock. But in the Targum it is translated by נצן לקין “their blossom is stricken” — there was nothing in them but the withered blossom, because they were empty of grain).

h.שבע שנים ושבע שנים SEVEN YEARS AND SEVEN YEARS —all together they are only seven years (not fourteen); and the reason why the dream was repeated is because the thing is ready to happen as he expressly stated to him afterwards (v. 32) “And for that the dream was doubled etc.” With reference to the seven good years it says (v. 25) “[What He is about to do] God hath declared unto Pharaoh”, because it (that period) was close at hand; whilst in the case of the seven years of famine it states (v. 28) “He hath shown unto Pharaoh” — because this thing was distant and far off (as regards time) the proper word to use in reference to it is “showing”.

h.ונשכח כל השבע AND ALL THE PLENTY SHALL BE FORGOTTEN — this is the interpretation of the act of swallowing.

h.ולא יודע השבע AND THE PLENTY SHALL NOT BE KNOWN — this is the interpretation of (v. 21) “And it could not be noticed that they had eaten them up”.

h.נכון —means PREPARED.

h.וחמש — render it as the Targum does “and they shall prepare”. Similar is (Exodus 13:18) “והמושים and prepared (for war)”.

h.את כל אֹכֶל ALL THE FOOD — The word אֹכֶל is a noun and therefore the accent is on the א and the last syllable has the vowel Patach Katan (a name Rashi uses for our Segol), whilst אוֹכֵל — which is a participle, as for instance, (Leviticus 7:25) “For whosoever eateth (אוֹכֵל) the fat” — has the accent on the ultimate syllable, on the כ, and has the vowel Kametz Katan (Zéré).

h.תחת יד פרעה UNDER THE HAND OF PHARAOH — under his control and in his storehouses.

h.והיה האכל — means AND THE FOOD that is stored up SHALL BE AS ANY other DEPOSIT (פקדון) that is held in reserve for the maintenance of the people of the land.

h.הנמצא כזה CAN WE FIND SUCH A ONE AS THIS? — The Targum renders it: “can we find like this one” — meaning, “If we go to seek one could we find anyone like him?” הנמצא is a question, as is every ה prefixed to a word with the vowel Chataph Patach.

h.אין נבון וחכם כמוך THERE IS NONE SO DISCREET AND WISE AS THOU ART — If we do seek for a discreet and wise man as you suggested (v. 33) we shall find none like you).

h.ישק —The Targum renders it by יתזן which means SHALL BE FED — all my people’s needs shall be provided through you. Similar are (15:2) “and the steward (ובן משק) of my house”, and (Psalms 2:12) “Provide yourselves (נשקו) with purity” old French garnison.

h.רק הכסא ONLY IN THE THRONE — only in the fact that they shall call me king.

h.כסא THRONE is a metaphorical term for royal rank, like (1 Kings 1:37) “And he has made his throne (כסאו) greater than the throne of my lord king”.

h.נתתי אתך The Targum translates it by— “I have appointed thee”; nevertheless even in this sense it really means “giving”, as (Deuteronomy 26:19) “and to make thee (ולתתך) high”. To express either the idea of raising to high rank or of degrading the term “to give” may be used. An example of the latter is (Malachi 2:9) “I have made thee (נתתיך) contemptible and base”.

h.ויסר פרעה את טבעתו AND PHARAOH TOOK OFF HIS RING — When the king gives his ring it is a sign that the person to whom he hands it is to be second to him in rank.

h.בגדי שש FINE LINEN — this is a material much valued in Egypt (cf Rashi on Genesis 2:11).

h.רביד means A CHAIN — it is termed רביד because it is made up of links placed in a row. The root is the same as that found in (Proverbs 7:16) “I have decked (רבדתי) my bed with coverings of tapestry (מרבדים)” — i.e. I have placed on my couch rows of rugs. In Mishnaic Hebrew (Mishnah Middot 1:8) we have, “was surrounded with rows (רובדין) of stone”, and (Yoma 43b) “on the (רובד) row of stones that was in the Temple Court” — referring to the pavement (רצפה).

h.במרכבת המשנה means — the chariot second in order to his chariot — that which drove next to his own.

h.אברך Render this as the Targum does: “This is the father (counsellor) of the king”. In Aramaic (some editions read in Roman i.e. Latin) רך means king (rex). Thus in the chapter beginning with השותפין (Bava Batra 4a) we have: “neither a noble (ריכא) nor the son of a noble (ריכא)”. In the Midrash (Sifré Devarim 1:1) Rabbi Judah explained: אברך is appellation for Joseph who was אב “a father” in wisdom and רך “tender” in years. Whereupon Rabbi Jose the son of a woman of Damascus said to him: “How much longer will you pervert for us the meaning of Scripture? The word אברך can only be connected with the word ברכים knees (i.e. “Bend the knee”), for all came in and went forth only by his permission, just as it states “and he set him [over all the land of Egypt]”.

h.Another explanation of אני פרעה: I AM PHARAOH — I shall be king, but without thy permission etc. It is exactly similar in meaning to (v. 40) “only in the throne [will I be greater than thou]”. h.את ידו ואת רגלו HIS HAND OR HIS FOOT — Understand it as the Targum does: no man shall raise his hand to gird on a sword or raise his foot to mount a horse.

h.צפנת פענח signifies “Explainer of hidden things”. There is no other example in Scripture of the word.

h.פוטי פרע — POTIPHERAH — he is identical with Potiphar.

h.ותעש הארץ AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH — understand it as the Targum does: the inhabitants of the land gathered. Still the word ותעש does not really lose its meaning of “doing” or “making”.

h.לקמצים BY HANDFULS — they stored up the grain handful upon handful, fist upon fist.

h.אכל שדה העיר אשר סביבתיה נתן בתוכה THE FOOD OF THE FIELD WHICH WAS ROUND ABOUT EVERY CITY LAID HE UP IN THE SAME — for every district preserves its own produce; and for this people always put amongst the grain some of the earth of the place in which it grows and this prevents it decaying (Genesis Rabbah 90:5).

h.עד כי חדל לספר UNTIL THEY CEASED NUMBERING — until the one who was numbering stopped numbering — it is an elliptical phrase

h.כי אין מספר means because it was without number — The word כי has the meaning of because (Rosh Hashanah 3a).

h.בטרם תבא שנת הרעב BEFORE THE YEAR OF FAMINE CAME — from here we learn that a man must practise continence during times of famine (cf. Taanit 11a).

h.ותרעב כל ארץ מצרים AND THE LAND OF EGYPT WAS FAMISHED — for all the grain they had stored up rotted except that of Joseph (cf. Genesis Rabbah 91:5)

h.אשר יאמר לכם תעשו WHAT HE SAITH TO YOU, DO — He gave them this order because Joseph had told them to be circumcised. When they came to Pharaoh and said, “Thus he bids us do otherwise he will give us no corn”, he asked them, “Why did you yourselves not lay up corn? Did he not publicly announce that years of famine were coming?” They answered him, “We gathered in much, but it has rotted”. He said to them, “If this be so — what he saith to you, do. See, he laid a decree upon the produce and it rotted; what will happen if he lays a decree upon us that we should die!” (cf. Genesis Rabbah 91:5)

h.על כל פני הארץ OVER ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH — Who are the face of the earth? the well-to-do people (Genesis Rabbah 91:5).

h.את כל אשר בהם — understand it as the Targum renders it: [JOSEPH OPENED ALL THE STOREHOUSES] IN WHICH THERE WAS CORN.

h.וישבור למצרים AND HE SOLD UNTO THE EGYPTIANS — The root שבר has the meaning both of selling and buying. Here it is used in the sense of selling, whereas in (43:2) “שברו for us a little food”, it means buying. You cannot say that it (the word) can be used only of selling and buying grain for we find it used also of wine and milk: (Isaiah 55:1) “And come, buy (שברו) wine and milk without money and without price”.

h.וכל הארץ באו מצרימה — Transpose the words and explain it thus: “and all the countries came into Egypt אל יוסף to Joseph לשבר to buy corn”, for if you explain the words in the order in which they are written it ought to state לשבור מן יוסף to buy from Joseph.