Amplified Bible

Genesis 41:14-30 Amplified Bible (AMP)

14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. But Joseph [first] shaved himself, changed his clothes, and made himself presentable; then he came into Pharaoh's presence.

15. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream and interpret it.

16. Joseph answered Pharaoh, It is not in me; God [not I] will give Pharaoh a [favorable] answer of peace.

17. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the river [Nile];

18. And behold, there came up out of the river [Nile] seven fat, sleek, and handsome cows, and they grazed in the reed grass [of a marshy pasture].

19. And behold, seven other cows came up after them, undernourished, gaunt, and ugly [just skin and bones; such emaciated animals] as I have never seen in all of Egypt.

20. And the lean and ill favored cows ate up the seven fat cows that had come first.

21. And when they had eaten them up, it could not be detected and known that they had eaten them, for they were still as thin and emaciated as at the beginning. Then I awoke. [But again I fell asleep and dreamed.]

22. And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears [of grain] growing on one stalk, plump and good.

23. And behold, seven [other] ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them.

24. And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. Now I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could tell me what it meant.

25. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The [two] dreams are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

26. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears [of grain] are seven years; the [two] dreams are one [in their meaning].

27. And the seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears [of grain], blighted and shriveled by the east wind; they are seven years of hunger and famine.

28. This is the message just as I have told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

29. Take note! Seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming.

30. Then there will come seven years of hunger and famine, and [there will be so much want that] all the great abundance of the previous years will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and hunger (destitution, starvation) will exhaust (consume, finish) the land.