Genesis 41:14-36

14Then Pharaoh sent word and 1called for Joseph, and they 2hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh. 15Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, 3but no one can interpret it; and 4I have heard 5it said about you, that 6when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” 16Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “78It has nothing to do with me; 9God will 10give Pharaoh an answer for his own good.” 17So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, there I was, standing on the bank of the Nile; 18and behold, seven cows, 11fat and fine-looking came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass. 19Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very 12ugly and 13thin, such as I had never seen for 14ugliness in all the land of Egypt; 20and the thin and ugly cows ate the first seven fat cows. 21Yet when they had 15devoured them, it could not be 16detected that they had 17devoured them, 18for they were just as ugly as 19before. Then I awoke. 22I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears of grain, full and good, came up on a single stalk; 23and behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind sprouted up after them; 24and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. Then 20I told it to the soothsayer priests, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

25And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s 21dreams are one and the same; 22God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do. 26The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the 23dreams are one and the same. 27The seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind 24will be seven years of famine. 2825It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: 26God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 29Behold, 27seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; 30and after them 28seven years of famine will 29come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will 30ravage the land. 31So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe. 32Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that 31the matter is confirmed by God, and God will quickly bring it about. 33So now let Pharaoh look for a man 32discerning and wise, and appoint him over the land of Egypt. 34Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers 33in charge of the land, and let him take a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt as a tax in the seven years of abundance. 35Then have them 34collect all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and have them guard it. 36Let the food be used as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”