King James Version · The patriarchs
Genesis 41
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And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So awoke. And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And awoke, and, behold, it was a . And it came to pass in the morning that his was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of , and all men thereof: and told them his ; but there was none that could them unto . Then spake the chief butler unto , saying, I do remember my faults this day: was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker: And we dreamed a in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the of his . And there was there with us a young man, an , servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our ; to each man according to his he did . And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. Then sent and called , and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto . And said unto , I have dreamed a , and there is none that can it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a to it. And answered , saying, It is not in me: shall give an answer of peace. 17And said unto , In my , behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow: 19And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of for badness: 20And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22And I saw in my , and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me. And said unto , The of is one: hath shewed what he is about to do. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the 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 . This is the thing which I have spoken unto : What is about to do he sheweth unto . Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of : And there shall arise after them seven years of ; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of ; and the shall consume the land; And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that following; for it shall be very grievous. And for that the was doubled unto twice; it is because the thing is established by , and will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore let look out a man discreet and , and set him over the land of . Let do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of , and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of , which shall be in the land of ; that the land not through the . And the thing was good in the eyes of , and in the eyes of all his servants. And said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom of is? And said unto , Forasmuch as hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and as thou art: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in will I be greater than thou. And said unto , See, I have set thee over all the land of . And took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon ’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of . And said unto , I am , and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of . And called ’s name Zaphnath–paaneah; and he gave him to wife the daughter of Poti–pherah . And went out over all the land of . And was thirty years old when he stood before king of . And went out from the of , and went throughout all the land of . And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of , and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. And unto were born two sons before the years of came, which the daughter of Poti–pherah unto him. And called the name of : For , said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all ’s house. And the name of the second called he : For hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of , were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of there was bread. And when all the land of was famished, the people cried to for bread: and said unto all the , Go unto ; what he saith to you, do. And the was over all the of the earth: And opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the ; and the waxed sore in the land of . And all countries came into to for to buy corn; because that the was so sore in all lands.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
All of Genesis