41:17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing 1 by the edge of the Nile. 41:18 Then seven fat and fine-looking cows were coming up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the reeds. 2 41:19 Then 3 seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows 4 as these in all the land of Egypt! 41:20 The lean, bad-looking cows ate up the seven 5 fat cows. 41:21 When they had eaten them, 6 no one would have known 7 that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up. 41:22 I also saw in my dream 8 seven heads of grain growing on one stalk, full and good. 41:23 Then 9 seven heads of grain, withered and thin and burned with the east wind, were sprouting up after them. 41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this 10 to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” 11
41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Both dreams of Pharaoh have the same meaning. 12 God has revealed 13 to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 14 41:26 The seven good cows represent seven years, and the seven good heads of grain represent seven years. Both dreams have the same meaning. 15 41:27 The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent 16 seven years of famine.
1 tn Heb “In my dream look, I was standing.” The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here (and also in vv. 18, 19, 22, 23) invites the hearer (within the context of the narrative, Joseph; but in the broader sense the reader or hearer of the Book of Genesis) to observe the scene through Pharaoh’s eyes.
2 tn Heb “and look, from the Nile seven cows were coming up, fat of flesh and attractive of appearance, and they grazed in the reeds.”
3 tn Heb “And look.”
4 tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Heb “the seven first fat cows.”
6 tn Heb “when they went inside them.”
7 tn Heb “it was not known.”
8 tn Heb “and I saw in my dream and look.”
9 tn Heb “And look.”
10 tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”
12 tn Heb “the dream of Pharaoh is one.”
13 tn Heb “declared.”
14 tn The active participle here indicates what is imminent.
15 tn Heb “one dream it is.”
16 tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”