The First Book of Moses: Genesis

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 41 -

After two years Pharao had a dream. He thought he stood by the river,

Out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they fed in marshy places.

Other seven also came up out of the river, ill favoured, and leanfleshed: and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places:

And they devoured them, whose bodies were very beautiful and well conditioned. So Pharao awoke.

He slept again, and dreamed another dream: Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk full and fair:

Then seven other ears sprung up thin and blasted,

And devoured all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaked after his rest:

And when morning was come, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men: and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it.

Then at length the chief butler remembering, said: I confess my sin:

The king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers:

Where in one night both of us dreamed a dream foreboding things to come.

There was there a young man a Hebrew, servant to the same captain of the soldiers: to whom we told our dreams,

And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office: and he was hanged upon a gibbet.

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

Forthwith at the king’s command, Joseph was brought out of the prison, and they shaved him, and changing his apparel, brought him in to him.

And he said to him: I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them: Now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them.

Joseph answered: Without me, God shall give Pharao a prosperous answer.

So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the bank of the river,

And seven kine came up out of the river exceeding beautiful and full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture.

And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt:

And they devoured and consumed the former,

And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and ill favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again,

And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair.

Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stock:

And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.

Joseph answered: The king’s dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do.

The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.

And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come:

Which shall be fulfilled in this order:

Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt:

After which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land,

And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty.

And for that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to the same thing: it is a token of the certainty, and that the word of God cometh to pass, and is fulfilled speedily.

Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt:

That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years,

That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao’s hands and be reserved in the cities.

And let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity.

Joseph Given Charge of Egypt

The counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants.

And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God?

He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shewn thee all that thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee?

Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above thee.

And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Egypt.

And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand: and he put upon him a robe of silk, and put a chain of gold about his neck.

And he made him go up into his second chariot, the crier proclaiming that all should bow their knee before him, and that they should know he was made governor over the whole land of Egypt.

And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao; without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue, The saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth the daughter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt:

The Seven Years of Plenty

(Now he was thirty years old when he stood before king Pharao) and he went round all the countries of Egypt.

And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corn being bound up into sheaves was gathered together into the barns of Egypt.

And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city.

And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it was equal to the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure.

And before the famine came, Joseph had two sons born: whom Aseneth the daughter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis bore unto him.

And he called the name of the firstborn Manasses, saying: God hath made me to forget all my labours, and my father’s house.

And he named the second Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to grow in the land of my poverty.

The Famine Begins

Now when the seven years of the plenty that had been in Egypt were past:

The seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to come: and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt.

And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried to Pharao for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you.

And the famine increased daily in all the land: and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians: for the famine had oppressed them also.

And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want.

At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.

Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass.

Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river.

The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke.

He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good.

Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today.

Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, with the chief baker.

We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each man dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream.

There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. He interpreted to each man according to his dream.

As he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river;

and behold, seven fat and sleek cattle came up out of the river. They fed in the marsh grass;

and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.

The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle;

and when they had eaten them up, it couldn’t be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good;

and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.

The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.

The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine.

That is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Behold, seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming.

Seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,

and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous.

The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

“Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt’s produce in the seven plenteous years.

Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and store grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

The food will be to supply the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; so that the land will not perish through the famine.”

Joseph Given Charge of Egypt

The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one so discreet and wise as you.

You shall be over my house. All my people will be ruled according to your word. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.

He made him ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh. Without you, no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.”

Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah. He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

The Seven Years of Plenty

Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.

He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city.

Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.

To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh,(a) “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.”

The name of the second, he called Ephraim:(b) “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

The Famine Begins

The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end.

The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Footnotes

(a)41:51 “Manasseh” sounds like the Hebrew for “forget”.

(b)41:52 “Ephraim” sounds like the Hebrew for “twice fruitful”.