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Genesis 41:1–7

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

41 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and wblighted by the east wind. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

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Genesis 41:1–7 — The New International Version (NIV)

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — King James Version (KJV 1900)

And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh 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 Pharaoh 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 Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — New Living Translation (NLT)

Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up.

But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — The New King James Version (NKJV)

Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — New Century Version (NCV)

Two years later the king dreamed he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. He saw seven fat and beautiful cows come up out of the river, and they stood there, eating the grass. Then seven more cows came up out of the river, but they were thin and ugly. They stood beside the seven beautiful cows on the bank of the Nile. The seven thin and ugly cows ate the seven beautiful fat cows. Then the king woke up. The king slept again and dreamed a second time. In his dream he saw seven full and good heads of grain growing on one stalk. After that, seven more heads of grain sprang up, but they were thin and burned by the hot east wind. The thin heads of grain ate the seven full and good heads. Then the king woke up again, and he realized it was only a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — American Standard Version (ASV)

And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, well-favored and fat-fleshed; and they fed in the reed-grass. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favored and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. And he slept and dreamed a second time: and, behold, seven ears of grain came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — 1890 Darby Bible (DARBY)

And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass. And behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, bad-looking and lean-fleshed, and stood by the kine on the bank of the river. And the kine that were bad-looking and lean-fleshed ate up the seven kine that were fine-looking and fat. And Pharaoh awoke. And he slept and dreamed the second time; and behold, seven ears of corn grew up on one stalk, fat and good. And behold, seven ears, thin and parched with the east wind, sprung up after them. And the thin ears devoured the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke; and behold, it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

After two full years Pharaoh had a dream. He dreamed he was standing by the Nile River. Suddenly, seven nice-looking, well-fed cows came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds. Seven other cows came up from the river behind them. These cows were sickly and skinny. They stood behind the first seven cows on the riverbank. The cows that were sickly and skinny ate the seven nice-looking, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 

He fell asleep again and had a second dream. Seven good, healthy heads of grain were growing on a single stalk. Seven other heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted behind them. The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full, healthy heads. Then Pharaoh woke up. It was only a dream. 

Genesis 41:1–7 — The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Two years later Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile, when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside those cows along the bank of the Nile. The sickly, thin cows ate the healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk. After them, seven heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, ripe ones. Then Pharaoh woke up, and it was only a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass. Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke. Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. Then seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — The Lexham English Bible (LEB)

And it happened that after two full years Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. And behold, seven cows, well built and fat, were coming up from the Nile, and they grazed among the reeds. And behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood beside those cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly and gaunt cows ate the seven well built and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were coming out of one stalk. And behold, seven thin ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them. And the thin ears of grain swallowed up the seven plump and full ears of grain. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — New International Reader’s Version (1998) (NIrV)

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream. In his dream, he was standing by the Nile River. Seven cows came up out of the river. They looked healthy and fat. They were eating some of the tall grass that was growing along the river.

After them, seven other cows came up out of the Nile. They looked ugly and skinny. They were standing beside the other cows on the riverbank.

The ugly, skinny cows ate up the seven cows that looked healthy and fat. Then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep again and had a second dream. In that dream, seven heads of grain were growing on one stem. They were healthy and good.

After them, seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and dried up by the east wind.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up. It had been a dream.

Genesis 41:1–7 — New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (NASB95)

Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.

And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass.

Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good.

Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.

The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.


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