GENESIS Chapter 41
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41:1 After two
years had passed, the king of Egypt dreamed that he was standing by the Nile
River, |
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41:2 when seven
cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began to feed on the grass.
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41:3 Then seven
other cows came up; they were thin and bony. They came and stood by the other
cows on the riverbank, |
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41:4 and the thin
cows ate up the fat cows. Then the king woke up. |
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41:5 He fell asleep
again and had another dream. Seven heads of grain, full and ripe, were
growing on one stalk. |
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41:6 Then seven
other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind, |
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41:7 and the thin
heads of grain swallowed the full ones. The king woke up and realized that he
had been dreaming. |
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41:8 In the morning
he was worried, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. He
told them his dreams, but no one could explain them to him. |
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41:9 Then the wine
steward said to the king, "I must confess today that I have done wrong. |
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41:10 You were angry
with the chief baker and me, and you put us in prison in the house of the
captain of the guard. |
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41:11 One night each
of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings. |
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41:12 A young Hebrew
was there with us, a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our
dreams, and he interpreted them for us. |
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41:13 Things turned
out just as he said: you restored me to my position, but you executed the
baker." |
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41:14 The king sent
for Joseph, and he was immediately brought from the prison. After he had
shaved and changed his clothes, he came into the king's presence. |
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41:15 The king said
to him, "I have had a dream, and no one can explain it. I have been told
that you can interpret dreams." |
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41:16 Joseph
answered, "I cannot, Your Majesty, but God will give a favorable
interpretation." |
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41:17 The king said,
"I dreamed that I was standing on the bank of the Nile, |
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41:18 when seven
cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass.
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41:19 Then seven
other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I
have ever seen anywhere in Egypt. |
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41:20 The thin cows
ate up the fat ones, |
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41:21 but no one
would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke
up. |
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41:22 I also dreamed
that I saw seven heads of grain which were full and ripe, growing on one
stalk. |
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41:23 Then seven
heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind, |
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41:24 and the thin
heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians,
but none of them could explain them to me." |
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41:25 Joseph said to
the king, "The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he
is going to do. |
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41:26 The seven fat
cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years;
they have the same meaning. |
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41:27 The seven thin
cows which came up later and the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the
desert wind are seven years of famine. |
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41:28 It is just as
I told you---God has shown you what he is going to do. |
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41:29 There will be
seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt. |
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41:30 After that,
there will be seven years of famine, and all the good years will be
forgotten, because the famine will ruin the country. |
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41:31 The time of
plenty will be entirely forgotten, because the famine which follows will be
so terrible. |
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41:32 The repetition
of your dream means that the matter is fixed by God and that he will make it
happen in the near future. |
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41:33 "Now you
should choose some man with wisdom and insight and put him in charge of the
country. |
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41:34 You must also
appoint other officials and take a fifth of the crops during the seven years
of plenty. |
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41:35 Order them to
collect all the food during the good years that are coming, and give them
authority to store up grain in the cities and guard it. |
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41:36 The food will
be a reserve supply for the country during the seven years of famine which
are going to come on Egypt. In this way the people will not starve." |
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41:37 The king and
his officials approved this plan, |
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41:38 and he said to
them, "We will never find a better man than Joseph, a man who has God's
spirit in him." |
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41:39 The king said
to Joseph, "God has shown you all this, so it is obvious that you have
greater wisdom and insight than anyone else. |
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41:40 I will put you
in charge of my country, and all my people will obey your orders. Your
authority will be second only to mine. |
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41:41 I now appoint you governor over all Egypt." |
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41:42 The king
removed from his finger the ring engraved with the royal seal and put it on
Joseph's finger. He put a fine linen robe on him, and placed a gold chain
around his neck. |
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41:43
He gave him the second royal chariot to ride in, and his guard of honor
went ahead of him and cried out, "Make way! Make way!" And so
Joseph was appointed governor over all Egypt. |
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41:44 The king said
to him, "I am the king---and no one in all Egypt shall so much as lift a
hand or a foot without your permission." |
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41:45 He gave Joseph
the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah,
and he gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis. Joseph was
thirty years old when he began to serve the king of Egypt. He left the king's
court and traveled all over the land. |
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41:46 (SEE 41:45)
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41:47 During the
seven years of plenty the land produced abundant crops, |
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41:48 all of which
Joseph collected and stored in the cities. In each city he stored the food
from the fields around it. |
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41:49 There was so
much grain that Joseph stopped measuring it---it was like the sand of the
sea. |
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41:50 Before the
years of famine came, Joseph had two sons by Asenath. |
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41:51 He said,
"God has made me forget all my sufferings and all my
father's family"; so he named his first son Manasseh. |
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41:52 He also said,
"God has given me children in the land of my trouble"; so he named
his second son Ephraim. |
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41:53 The seven
years of plenty that the land of Egypt had enjoyed came to an end, |
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41:54 and the seven
years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every
other country, but there was food throughout Egypt. |
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41:55
When the Egyptians
began to be hungry, they cried out to the king for food. So he ordered them
to go to Joseph and do what he told them. |
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41:56 The famine
grew worse and spread over the whole country, so Joseph opened all the
storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. |
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41:57 People came to
Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine
was severe everywhere. |
CHAPTER ENDS
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