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,
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Genesis 41:26-30 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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.
Parallel Translations
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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,
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The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
Show all 3 translations
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The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
And the seven lean and ill-favoured kine that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind; they shall be seven years of famine.
That is the thing which I spoke unto Pharaoh: what God is about to do He hath shown unto Pharaoh.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.
And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
Cross-references (33)
- 2 Kings 8:1 (vv27, 30) Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while…
- Genesis 41:25 (v28) Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.
- Genesis 41:54 (v30) 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…
- Genesis 47:13 (v30) There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of…
- Genesis 41:2 (v26) Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass.
Show all 32 cross-references
- Genesis 41:47 (v26) In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.
- Genesis 41:5 (v26) He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good.
- Genesis 41:29 (v26) Behold, seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming.
- Genesis 41:46-47 (v29) Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout…
- Genesis 41:53 (v26) The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end.
- Exodus 12:11 (v26) This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in…
- 1 Corinthians 10:4 (v26) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
- 1 John 5:7 (v26) For there are three who testify:
- Genesis 2:24 (v26) Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
- Genesis 40:12 (v26) Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
- Genesis 40:18 (v26) Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days.
- Genesis 41:16 (v28) Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
- Genesis 41:26 (v29) The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.
- Genesis 41:49 (v29) Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.
- 2 Samuel 24:19 (v27) David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded.
- Psalms 105:16 (v30) He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.
- James 5:17 (v30) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years…
- Genesis 41:21 (v30) 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.
- Genesis 41:27 (v30) 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;…
- Genesis 41:51 (v30) Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.”
- Genesis 41:56 (v30) 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…
- Exodus 26:6 (v26) You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains to one another with the clasps. The tabernacle shall be a unit.
- 2 Samuel 24:13 (v30) So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months…
- 1 Kings 17:1 (v30) Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there…
- Proverbs 31:7 (v30) Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
- Isaiah 65:16 (v30) so that he who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of…
- Luke 4:25 (v30) But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a…
32 distinct cross-references across this passage (33 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v29 Or, abundance and saturity.
Or, abundance and saturity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v26 Gen 41:26 The seven good kine [are] seven years;…
Gen 41:26 The seven good kine [are] seven years; and the seven good ears [are] seven years: the dream [is] one.
Ver. 26. Seven good kine are.] {See Trapp "Gen 40:12"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v30 There shall be no relics of it to keep…
There shall be no relics of it to keep it in men’s minds, which will be so taken up with the contemplation of their present misery and future danger, that they will have neither heart nor leisure to reflect upon their former plenty, the remembrance whereof will but aggravate the present calamity.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–30 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout…
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. Not only a sufficiency but an abundance, even to luxury, as when the Nile rose to sixteen cubits, as Pliny observes (m); which, though a natural cause, was owing to God, and that it should thus overflow for seven years successively, and cause such a continued plenty, can be ascribed to no other.
(m) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv29–30 See the goodness of God, in sending the seven…
See the goodness of God, in sending the seven years of plenty before those of famine, that provision might be made accordingly. How wonderful wisely has Providence, that great house-keeper, ordered the affairs of this numerous family from the beginning! Great variety of seasons there have been and the produce of the earth sometimes more, and sometimes less; yet take one time with another, what was miraculous concerning the manna, is ordinarily verified in the common course of Providence; He that gathers much has nothing over, and he that gathers little has no lack, Exod. xvi, 18.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv29–30 Gen 41:29. Seven years of great plenty — See…
Gen 41:29. Seven years of great plenty — See the goodness of God, in sending the seven years of plenty before those of famine, that provision might be made accordingly. How wonderful wisely has Providence that great house-keeper, ordered the affairs of his numerous family from the beginning! Great variety of seasons there have been, and the produce of the earth sometimes more, and sometimes less; yet, take one time with another, what was miraculous concerning the manna is ordinarily verified in the common course of Providence; “He that gathers much has nothing over, and he that gathers little has no lack,” Exo 16:18.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v30 The land of Egypt, and the adjacent countries.
The land of Egypt, and the adjacent countries.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v26 Vers. 26-32. Proceeding with the interpretation of the dream,…
Vers. 26-32. Proceeding with the interpretation of the dream, Joseph explains to Pharaoh that the seven good kine and the seven full ears point to a succession of seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt which were already coming (ver. 29), after which there should arise seven years of famine, in which all the plenty should be forgotten in the land, and the famine should consume, or make an end of, the land (ver. 30), and the plenty should not be known in the land by reason of (literally, from the face of, used of the efficient cause of anything, hence on account of) that famine following literally, the famine, that one, after (things have happened) so; adding (ver. 32), And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice (literally, and as for the doubling of the dream to Pharaoh twice); it is because the thing is established by God, literally, the word( or thing spoken of) is firmly fixed, i.e. cer tainly decreed, by the Elohim and God will shortly bring it to pass literally, and hastening (is) the Elohim to do it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv27, 30 General Information:
General Information:
Joseph continues his interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams
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thin and undesirable cows
"skinny and weak cows." See how you translated a similar phrase in Genesis 41:3.
seven thin heads scorched by the east wind
This can be stated in active form. AT: "seven thin heads of grain scorched because of the hot wind from the east" (See: Active or Passive)
That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh ... revealed to Pharaoh
Joseph speaks to Pharaoh in the third person. This is a way of showing respect. It can be stated in second person. AT: "These events will happen just as I have told you ... revealed to you, Pharaoh" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
he has revealed
"he has made known"
Look, seven
"Pay attention, because what I am about to say is both true and important: seven"
seven years of great abundance will come throughout all the land of Egypt
This speaks about the years of abundance as if time is something that travels and comes to a place. AT: "there will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
cow
year
famine
Pharaoh
God
reveal
Egypt
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.