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1Two years later the king of Egypt dreamed he was standing beside the Nile River.[#41.1 See the note at 12.15.]
2Suddenly, seven fat, healthy cows came up from the river and started eating grass along the bank.
3Then seven ugly, skinny cows came up out of the river and
4ate the fat, healthy cows. When this happened, the king woke up.
5The king went back to sleep and had another dream. This time seven full heads of grain were growing on a single stalk.
6Later, seven other heads of grain appeared, but they were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert.
7The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full heads. Again the king woke up, and it had only been a dream.
8The next morning the king was upset. So he called in his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.[#Dn 2.2.]
9The king's personal servant said:
14The king sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.
15The king said to him, “I had a dream, yet no one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams.”
16“Your Majesty,” Joseph answered, “I can't do it myself, but God can give a good meaning to your dreams.”
17The king told Joseph:
25Joseph replied:
37The king and his officials liked this plan.[#41.37 See the note at 12.15.]
38So the king said to them, “Who could possibly handle this better than Joseph? After all, the Spirit of God is with him.”
39The king told Joseph, “God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do.
40I'm putting you in charge of my palace, and everybody will have to obey you. No one will be over you except me.[#Ac 7.10.]
41You are now governor of all Egypt!”
42Then the king took off his royal ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He gave him fine clothes to wear and placed a gold chain around his neck.[#Dn 5.29.]
43He also let him ride in the chariot next to his own, and people shouted, “Make way for Joseph!” So Joseph was governor of Egypt.
44The king told Joseph, “Although I'm king, no one in Egypt is to do anything without your permission.”
45He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah. And he let him marry Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis. Joseph traveled all over Egypt.[#41.45 The Hebrew text has “On,” which is better known by its Greek name “Heliopolis.”; #41.45 Or “extended his authority over all.”]
46Joseph was 30 when the king made him governor, and he went everywhere for the king.
47For seven years there were big harvests of grain.
48Joseph collected and stored up the extra grain in the cities of Egypt near the fields where it was harvested.
49In fact, there was so much grain that they stopped keeping record, because it was like counting the grains of sand along the beach.
50Joseph and his wife had two sons before the famine began.
51Their first son was named Manasseh, which means, “God has let me forget all my troubles and my family back home.”
52His second son was named Ephraim, which means “God has made me a success in the land where I suffered.”[#41.52 Or “God has given me children.”; #41.52 In Hebrew “Ephraim” actually means either “fertile land” or “pastureland.”]
53Egypt's seven years of plenty came to an end,
54and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was not enough food in other countries, but all over Egypt there was plenty.[#Ac 7.11.]
55When the famine finally struck Egypt, the people asked the king for food, but he said, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do.”[#Jn 2.5.]
56The famine became bad everywhere in Egypt, so Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the grain to the Egyptians.
57People from all over the world came to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was so severe in their countries.