17. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing by the Nile River.
18. Seven cows came up out of the river and stood there eating the grass. They were healthy, good-looking cows.
19. Then I saw seven more cows come up out of the river after them, but these cows were thin and looked sick. They were the worst cows I had ever seen anywhere in Egypt!
20. The thin, sick cows ate the first healthy cows,
21. but they still looked thin and sick. You couldn’t even tell they had eaten the healthy cows. They looked as thin and sick as they did in the beginning. Then I woke up.
22. “In my next dream I saw seven heads of grain growing on one plant. They were healthy and full of grain.
23. And then seven more heads of grain grew after them, but they were thin and scorched by the hot wind.
24. Then the thin heads of grain ate the seven good heads of grain. “I told these dreams to my magicians. But no one could explain the dreams to me. What do they mean?”
25. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Both of these dreams have the same meaning. God is telling you what will happen soon.
26. The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain are seven good years.
27. And the seven thin, sick-looking cows and the seven thin heads of grain mean that there will be seven years of hunger in this area. These seven bad years will come after the seven good years.
28. God has shown you what will happen soon. He will make these things happen just as I told you.
29. For seven years there will be plenty of food in Egypt.
30. But then there will be seven years of hunger. The people will forget how much food there had been in Egypt before. This famine will ruin the country.