1After two full years, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the Nile River.
2He saw seven cows, healthy and fat, come up out of the river and graze in the marsh grass.
3Then he saw seven other cows, ugly and thin, come up after them out of the river and stand beside the other cows on the riverbank.
4The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven healthy and fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
5He slept and dreamed a second time. And in the dream, he saw seven heads of grain, healthy and good, growing on a single stalk.
6Then, he saw seven more heads of grain sprout up after them; these were thin and shriveled by the east wind.
7The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full heads. Pharaoh woke up and realized it was just a dream.
8In the morning, Pharaoh was troubled. He sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
9Then the chief cup-bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember my mistakes today.
10Pharaoh was once angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard.
11One night, he and I both had dreams. Each of our dreams had its own meaning.
12There was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant to the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the meaning of his dream.
13Everything happened just as he interpreted it. He was restored to my position, and the baker was hanged."
14So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the dungeon. Joseph shaved, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh.
15Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. I have heard it said about you that you can interpret dreams when you hear them."
16Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It's not within my power. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer."
17Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, I was standing on the bank of a river.
18And then, seven fat and healthy cows came up out of the river. They were grazing in the marsh grass.
19Then, seven other cows came up after them, very poor, ugly, and thin—I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.
20The thin and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows.
21After they had eaten them, it wasn't clear that they had eaten anything at all; they looked just as ugly as they did before. Then I woke up.
22I also saw in my dream seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk.
23Then, seven more heads of grain sprouted up after them, withered, thin, and shriveled by the east wind.
24The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told this dream to the magicians, but no one could explain it to me."
25Joseph told Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are actually one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26The seven healthy cows represent seven years, and the seven plump heads of grain also represent seven years. The dream has one meaning.
27The seven thin and ugly cows that came up later are seven years, and so are the seven empty heads of grain scorched by the east wind; these will be seven years of famine.
28This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.
29Look, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout all the land of Egypt.
30After these will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land,
31and people will not remember the abundance in the land because of the severe famine that follows it.
32The dream was given twice to Pharaoh because God has firmly decided this, and he will make it happen very soon.
33“Therefore, Pharaoh should find a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.
34Pharaoh should do this: appoint supervisors over the land and take a fifth of Egypt’s harvest during the seven good years.
35Let them gather all the food from these good years that are coming and store up grain under Pharaoh’s authority in the cities, and keep it safe.
36This food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the land does not perish from the famine.”
37This idea pleased Pharaoh and all his officials.
38Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man, one in whom the Spirit of God is present?”
39Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed all this to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.
40You will be in charge of my palace, and all my people will obey your commands. Only as king will I be greater than you.”
41Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “Look, I now put you in charge of all the land of Egypt.”
42Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and placed a gold chain around his neck.
43He had Joseph ride in his second-best chariot, and people shouted before him, “Bow down!” So Pharaoh put him in charge of all the land of Egypt.
44Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and no one in all the land of Egypt will lift a hand or a foot without your permission.”
45Pharaoh renamed Joseph, calling him Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest of On, to be his wife. Then Joseph began his work throughout the land of Egypt.
46Joseph was thirty years old when he began serving Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout all of Egypt.
47During the seven years of abundant harvests, the ground produced plenty of food.
48Joseph collected all the food produced during the seven years in Egypt and stored it in the cities. He stored the food from the fields around each city in the same city.
49Joseph stored so much grain, like the sand of the sea, that he eventually stopped counting it because there was too much to measure.
50Before the years of famine began, Joseph and Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest of On, had two sons.
51Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s family.”
52He named his second son Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
53The seven years of abundant harvests in Egypt came to an end.
54Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all other lands, but throughout Egypt, there was food.
55When everyone in Egypt started to suffer from hunger, they cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.”
56The famine spread over the whole earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was very severe in Egypt.
57People from all other countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere on earth.