^{1 Ref} Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;

^{2 Ref} And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.

^{3 Ref} And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows.

^{4 Ref} And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.

^{5 Ref} But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.

^{6 Ref} And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.

^{7 Ref} And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.

^{8 Ref} And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.

^{9 Ref} Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;

^{10 Ref} Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;

^{11 Ref} And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.

^{12 Ref} And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them.

^{13 Ref} And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.

^{14 Ref} Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh.

^{15 Ref} And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.

^{16 Ref} Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:

^{18 Ref} And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;

¹⁹ Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;

²⁰ And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;

^{21 Ref} And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep.

²² And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:

^{23 Ref} And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:

^{24 Ref} And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.

^{25 Ref} Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

^{26 Ref} The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.

^{27 Ref} The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.

^{28 Ref} As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.

^{29 Ref} Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;

^{30 Ref} And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;

^{31 Ref} And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.

^{32 Ref} And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.

^{33 Ref} And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt.

^{34 Ref} Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.

^{35 Ref} And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it.

^{36 Ref} And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.