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Two whole years later, Pharaoh had a dream. {In the dream} he saw himself standing beside the {Nile} River. 2 Suddenly, seven healthy-looking, fat cows walked up out of the river and started eating the tall grass {beside the river}. 3 Next he saw that seven sickly-looking, scrawny cows walked up out of the river and stood next to the {first} cows on the river bank. 4 Then the sickly-looking, scrawny cows devoured the seven healthy-looking, fat cows. {Just} then Pharaoh woke up.5 Then he went {back} to sleep and had a second {dream}. {This time} he saw seven plump, well-formed heads of grain growing on the same plant. 6 Then suddenly, seven small heads of grain that the {hot} desert wind had dried out started growing {on the same plant} beside the first heads. 7 Next, the small heads of grain gobbled up the seven big, well-formed heads. At that point, Pharaoh woke up and realized that {he had been} dreaming.
8 The next morning Pharaoh was upset {about the dreams}, so he had {servants} summon all the sorcerers and {other} scholars in {the country of} Egypt. {When they arrived,} he told them what he had dreamed, but no one was able to explain to him {what} the dreams {meant}. 9 Then the head wine-server said to Pharaoh, "{Sir,} today I remember how I offended {you}. 10 {Some time ago,} {King} Pharaoh, you were angry with your officials, {including} me and the head baker, and you put us in prison at the captain of the guards' house. 11 {While we were there,} one night we {each} had a dream, {and} each of our dreams had a different meaning. 12 There was a young Hebrew man with us {who was} a servant for the captain over the guards. After we told him our dreams, he explained them to us. He told us what each of our dreams meant. 13 And sure enough, everything happened exactly the way he had explained {the dreams} to us: you returned me to my {former} work {as your wine-server}, and you {had your soldiers} execute the baker.”
14 {When Pharaoh heard that,} {immediately} he had {servants} summon Joseph. So they went right away and got him out of the prison. Then after he shaved {his head and face} and changed into appropriate clothing, he went before Pharaoh. 15 Then Pharaoh said to him, "I had a dream, but no one has been able to explain {to me} what it means. But someone told me about you, that when you hear a dream, {you are able} to explain what it means.” 16 Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "{Sir,} I do not have that ability {on my own}, {but} God will explain {your dream} so that {you,} {King} Pharaoh, will have peace {in your heart}.”
17 So Pharaoh told Joseph, "As I was dreaming, I saw myself standing beside the {Nile} River. 18 Then suddenly, seven fat, healthy-looking cows walked up out of the river {onto the bank} and started eating the tall grass {that was there}. 19 Suddenly seven other cows walked up {out of the river} behind the first cows; {they were} in terrible condition, very sickly-looking and scrawny. {In fact,} I have never seen such awful-looking {cows} anywhere in the land of Egypt! 20 Then the scrawny, sickly cows devoured the seven fat ones. 21 But {even} after they had swallowed them, no one would {ever} know that they had devoured them, because they {still} looked just as terrible as before. That's when I woke up.
22 "Then I {went back to sleep and} had {another} dream. {This time} I saw that there were seven big, well-formed heads of grain growing on the same plant. 23 Then seven small heads of grain sprouted {on the same plant} next to the first heads. {These had} wilted because the {hot} desert wind had dried them out. 24 Then the small heads of grain gobbled up the seven well-formed ones. I told {my dreams} to {my} sorcerers, but none of them could explain to me {what the dreams meant}.”
25 Then Joseph told Pharaoh, "{Your Majesty,} {both of} your dreams mean the same thing. {Through them,} God is revealing to you what he is going to do. 26 The seven healthy cows {represent} seven years, and the seven well-formed heads of grain {represent} {the same} seven years. {Both} dreams mean the same thing. 27 The seven thin ugly cows that came up behind them and the seven worthless heads of grain that were dried up by the hot east wind each represent seven years of famine. 28 It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do. 29 There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt. 30 Then there will be seven years of famine. Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward will ruin the country. 31 The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible. 32 The reason God gave to you two dreams is that he has firmly decided that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.
33 Now I suggest that you should choose a man who is wise and can make good decisions. I suggest that you appoint him to direct the affairs of the whole country. 34 You should also appoint supervisors over the country, in order that they can arrange to collect one-fifth of all the grain that is harvested during the seven years when food is plentiful. 35 They should collect this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. Each of the cities should supervise and protect the food that is stored up. 36 This grain should be kept so that it can be eaten during the seven years when there will be a famine here in Egypt, so that the people in this country will not die from hunger.”
37 The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan. 38 So the king said to them, “Can we find any other man like Joseph, a man to whom God has given his spirit?
39 Then the king said to Joseph, “Because God has revealed all this to you, it seems to me that there is no one who is as wise as you and who can decide wisely about things. 40 So I will put you in charge of everything in my palace. All the people here in Egypt must obey what you command. Only because I am king will I have more authority than you.”
41 Then the king said to Joseph, “I am now putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.” 42 The king took from his finger the ring that had his seal on it, and he put it on Joseph’s finger. He put robes made of fine linen on him, and he put a gold chain around his neck. 43 Then he arranged for Joseph to ride around in the chariot that showed that he was the second most important man in the country. When Joseph rode in the chariot, men shouted to the people who were on the road in front of him, “Bow down!” So Joseph went out to supervise this work all over Egypt.
44 The king said to Joseph, “I am the king, but no one in the whole land of Egypt will do anything if you do not permit them to do it.” 45 The king gave Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave him Asenath to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in a temple in the city of On. In this way Joseph became known through all the land of Egypt.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he started to work for the king of Egypt. To do his work, he left the king’s palace and traveled throughout Egypt. 47 During the next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food. 48 As Joseph supervised them, his helpers collected one-fifth of all the grain that was produced during those years, and stored it in the cities. In each city, he had his helpers store up the grain that was grown in the fields that surrounded that city. 49 Joseph had them store up a huge amount of grain. It looked as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. There was so much grain that after a while they stopped keeping records of how much grain was stored, because there was more grain than they could measure.
50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph named the first one Manasseh, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means “forget,” because he said, “God has caused me to forget all my troubles and all my father’s family.” 52 He named his second son Ephraim, which means “to have children,” because he said, “God has given me children here in this land where I have suffered.”
53 Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended. 54 Then the seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had predicted. There was also a famine in all the other nearby lands, but although the crops did not grow, there was food everywhere in Egypt, because of the grain they had stored up in the cities. 55 When all the people of Egypt had eaten all of their own food and were still hungry, they begged the king for food. So the king told all the people of Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do.”
56 When the famine was very bad over the whole country, Joseph ordered his helpers to open the storehouses. Then they sold the grain in the storehouses to the people of Egypt, because the famine was very severe all over Egypt. 57 People from many nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere.