Genesis 41

¹After two years Pharao saw a dream. He thought he stood upon a river,

²out of the which came up seven kine, fair and fat exceedingly: and they fed in marish places.

³Other seven also came up out of the river, foul, and carrion lean: and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places:

⁴and they devoured them that had the marvelous beauty and good state of bodies. Pharao after he waked,

⁵slept again, and saw another dream: Seven ears of corn grew forth upon one stalk full and fair:

⁶there sprang also other ears as many, thin and blasted with adustion,

⁷devouring all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaking up after his rest,

⁸and when morning was come being frighted with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Ægypt, and to all the wise men: and they being called for, told them his dream, neither was there any that could interpret it.

⁹Then at length the master of the cup-bearers remembering himself, said: I confess my sin:

¹⁰The king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the chief of the bakers to be cast into the prison of the Captain of the soldiers:

¹¹where in one night both of us saw a dream portending things to come.

¹²There was there a young man an Hebrew, servant to the same Captain of the soldiers, to whom telling our dreams,

¹³we heard whatsoever afterward the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office, and he was hanged upon a gibbet.

¹⁴Forthwith at the king's commandment, Joseph being brought out of the prison they polled him: and changing his apparel, brought him unto him.

¹⁵To whom he said: I have seen dreams, and there is not any that can expound them; which I have heard, thou dost most wisely interpret.

¹⁶Joseph answered: Without me, God shall answer prosperous things to Pharao.

¹⁷Pharao therefore told that he had see: Me thought I stood upon the bank of the river,

¹⁸and seven kine came up out of the bank of the river, exceeding fair, and full of flesh: which grazed on green places in a marish pasture.

¹⁹And behold there followed these other seven kine, so passing ill favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Ægypt;

²⁰which having devoured and consumed the former,

²¹gave no token of their fullness: but with the like leanness & deformity looked heavily. A waking, and fallen again into a deep sleep,

²²Isaw a dream: Seven ears of corn grew forth upon one stalk, full and very fair.

²³Other seven also thin and blasted with adustion, sprang of the stalk,

²⁴which devoured the beauty of the former: I told the dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can declare it.

²⁵Joseph answered: The king's dream is one: God hath shewed to Pharao the things that he will do.

²⁶The seven fair kine, and the seven full ears, be seven years of plentifulness and both contain the self-same meaning of the dream.

²⁷Also the seven lean and thin kine, that came up after them, and the seven thin ears, and blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come.

²⁸Which shall be fulfilled in this order.

²⁹Behold there shall come seven years of great fertility in the whole Land of Ægypt:

³⁰after which shall follow other seven years of so great sterility, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land,

³¹and the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty.

³²And in that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to the same thing, it is a token of the certainty for that the word of God shall come to pass, and be fulfilled speedily.

³³Now therefore let the king provide a wise man and industrious, & make him Ruler over the Land of Ægypt:

³⁴that he may appoint overseers over all countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven years of the fertility,

³⁵that now presently shall ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao's hands, and let it be reserved in the cities.

³⁶And let it be in a readiness against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Ægypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity.

³⁷The counsel pleased Pharao, and all his servants:

³⁸and he spake to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God?

³⁹He said therefore to Joseph: Because God hath shewed thee all things that thou hast spoken, can I find a wiser and one like unto thee?

⁴⁰Thou shalt be over my house, & at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the throne of the Kingdom I will go before thee.

⁴¹And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Ægypt.

⁴²And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand: and he put upon him a silk robe, and put a chain of gold about his neck.

⁴³And 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 Ægypt.

⁴⁴And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao: without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Ægypt.

⁴⁵And he turned his name, & called him in the Ægyptian tongue the Saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth the daughter of Putiphar Priest of Heliopolis. Joseph therefore went forth to the land of Ægypt

⁴⁶(and he was thirty years old when he stood in the sight of king Pharao) and did circuit all the countries of Ægypt.

⁴⁷And the fertility of the seven years came: and the corn being bound up into sheaves was gathered into the barns of Ægypt.

⁴⁸All the abundance also of grain was laid up in every city.

⁴⁹And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it became equal to the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure.

⁵⁰And there were born unto Joseph two sons before the famine came: whom Aseneth the daughter of Putiphar Priest of Heliopolis bare him.

⁵¹And he called the name of the first-begotten Manasses, saying: God made me to forget all my labours, and my father's house.

⁵²The name also of the second he called Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to increase in the land of my poverty.

⁵³Therefore when the seven years of the plentifulness, that had been in Ægypt were passed:

⁵⁴the seven years of scarcity began to come, which Joseph foretold: and in the whole world the famine prevailed, but in all the land of Ægypt there was bread.

⁵⁵The which being in hunger, the people cried to Pharao, desiring food. To whom he answered: Go ye to Joseph: & whatsoever he shall say to you, that do ye.

⁵⁶And the famine daily increased in all the land: and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Ægyptians: for them also the famine had oppressed.

⁵⁷And all Provinces came into Ægypt, to buy victuals, and to moderate the misery of the scarcity.