Bible Time

¹AND it came to pass, 2 years later, Pharaoh dreamed; and he was standing by the river. ²And look, up out of the river came 7 beautiful and fat cows; and they fed in a meadow. ³And look, 7 other cows came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean; and stood beside the other cows on the bank of the river. ⁴And the ill-favored and lean cows ate up the 7 beautiful and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he slept and dreamed a 2nd time; and look, 7 ears of grain were growing on a single stalk, rank and good. ⁶And look, 7 thin ears blasted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ⁷And the 7 thin ears devoured the 7 rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and look, it was a dream. ⁸And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; so he sent and called for all the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt; and Pharaoh told them his dreams; but there was no man who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief butler spoke in the presence of Pharaoh, and said, I will mention my offense today; ¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in the prison in the commander of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker; ¹¹And we dreamed dreams in the same night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. ¹²And a young man was with us, a Hebrew, a servant of the commander of the guard; and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he interpreted. ¹³And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; I was restored to my position, and he was crucified.

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon; and he shaved himself, and changed his clothes, and came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard concerning you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. ¹⁶And Joseph answered and said to Pharaoh, Do you think, perhaps, that without God I am able to give Pharaoh an answer that everything will be well? ¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream I was standing on the bank of the river; ¹⁸And look, up out of the river came 7 fat and beautiful cows; and they fed in a meadow; ¹⁹And look, 7 other cows came up after them, poor and ill-favored and lean. I had never seen such ill-favored cows in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the lean and ill-favored cows ate up the first 7 fat cows; ²¹And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them: for they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²And again, I saw in my dream, and look, 7 ears of grain growing on one stalk, full and good; ²³And look, 7 other ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up after them; ²⁴And the thin ears devoured the 7 good ears; and I told this to the magicians; but there was no one who could interpret these dreams to me.

²⁵And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one; God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The 7 good cows are 7 years; and the 7 good ears are 7 years; the dream is one. ²⁷And the 7 lean and ill-favored cows that came up after them are 7 years; and the 7 thin ears blasted by the east wind will be 7 years of famine. ²⁸It is the thing which I told Pharaoh; what God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. ²⁹Look, there are coming 7 years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt; ³⁰And after them will arise 7 years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will consume the land; ³¹And the plenty will not be remembered in the land because of the famine which will follow; for it will be very severe. ³²And as for that the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is already prepared by God, and God will hurry to bring it to pass. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh find a discreet and wise man, and appoint him an overseer over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land of Egypt to take the 1/5th part of the produce of the land of Egypt during the 7 plentiful years. ³⁵And let them gather all the wheat of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep the grain in the towns. ³⁶And let the grain be kept for the land against the 7 years of famine which will come in the land of Egypt; so that the land may not perish through the famine.

³⁷And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such a man as this, in whom the Spirit of God is? ³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all this, there is no one as wise and discreet as you are, so ⁴⁰You will be over my household, and according to your word all my people will be ruled; only on the throne I will be greater than you. ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have made you governor over all the land of Egypt. ⁴²Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; ⁴³And he made him to ride in another chariot which belonged to him; and they cried before him, Father and governor. Thus he made him governor over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I Pharaoh have commanded that without your orders no man will undertake anything in all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁵Then Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah, because the hidden things were revealed to him; and he gave him Asiath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On as his wife. And Joseph went throughout all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶And Joseph was 30 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. ⁴⁷And in the 7 plentiful years the land brought forth abundantly. ⁴⁸And he gathered up all the grain of the 7 plentiful years which were in the land of Egypt, and stored up the grain in towns; the grain of the fields which was around every town he stored in them. ⁴⁹And Joseph stored up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he was tired of numbering it; for it was without number. ⁵⁰And to Joseph were born 2 sons before the years of famine came, whom Asiath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bore to him. ⁵¹And Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh; For God, he said, has made me forget all my troubles, and all my father's house. ⁵²And the name of the 2nd he called Ephraim; For God has made me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

⁵³And the 7 years of plenty that were in the land of Egypt came to an end. ⁵⁴And the 7 years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said; and there was famine in all lands; and in all the land of Egypt there was no bread. ⁵⁵And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people complained against Pharaoh because of the lack of bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; and what he says to you, do. ⁵⁶And the famine was over all the face of the land, and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; ⁵⁷And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. And the people from all lands came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain; because the famine was severe in all lands.