1 It was 2 years later that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt had a dream. In his dream he saw himself standing next to the Nile River. 2 He saw 7 cows come up out of the river. They were fat and looked really good, and they started to eat the river grass next to the water. 3 Then Pharaoh saw 7 more cows come out of the river. These cows were ugly and skinny. They stood next to the other fat cows on the side of the river. 4 Then the 7 skinny, ugly cows ate up the 7 good looking fat cows. And the king woke up.

5 He went back to sleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw a long piece of grass, and it had 7 bunches of seeds on the top and they were fat and looked really good to eat. 6 Then he saw another long piece of grass, but the 7 bunches of seeds on top of this grass looked thin and weak. They looked like they were burnt by the hot east wind. 7 Then the weak thin bunches of seeds, ate the good looking fat seeds. When Pharaoh woke up he knew it was a dream.

8 In the morning the king was upset. He was worried what the dreams were all about. And so he sent messengers all over Egypt to get all the clever men and men that understood dreams to come to a meeting. He told them what he saw in his dreams, but none of them could tell him the meaning of those dreams.[a]

9 The man who gave the king his wine said, “O King, I have just remembered that I have broken a promise I made to someone. 10 You were angry with your baker and me 2 years ago and put us in jail. 11 One night, the baker and I both had dreams but our dreams were different. And we did not know the meaning of those dreams. 12 But there was a young Hebrew man who worked for the boss of the jail. When we told him our dreams, he told us the meaning. 13 And what he said came true. I got my job back and the baker was killed and his body put up on a tree.”

14 When Pharaoh heard this, he sent someone to get Joseph. They took him out of the jail, and after he shaved his face and put on clean clothes, they took him to talk to the king.

15 The king said to Joseph, “I had a dream, but no one can tell me what it means. Someone said that you can do that.”

16 But Joseph said to the king, “I cannot tell people what their dreams mean, but God can help me do that.”[b]

17 So Pharaoh told Joseph what he saw in his dream.

He said, “In my dream I was standing next to the Nile River. 18 I saw 7 cows come up out of the river. They were fat and looked really good. They started to eat the river grass next to the water. 19 Then I saw 7 more cows come out of the river. These cows were ugly and skinny. I have never seen such thin and ugly cows in all of Egypt. 20 The skinny, ugly cows ate up the 7 good looking fat cows that came out of the river first. 21 But then I saw that after the skinny cows ate the fat cows, they stayed skinny and ugly and no one would know that they had eaten the other 7 cows. Then I woke up.

22 I went to sleep again and had a second dream, but this time I saw a long piece of grass. It had 7 bunches of seeds on the top and they were fat and looked really good. 23 Then I saw another long piece of grass, but the 7 bunches of seeds on top looked thin and weak. They looked like they were burnt by the hot east wind. 24 Then the weak, thin bunches of seeds ate up the 7 good looking seeds. And I woke up.

I told my dreams to my clever men but they cannot tell me what they mean.”

25 Joseph said to Pharaoh, the king, “Both your dreams mean the same thing, and God is telling you what he is going to do. 26 The 7 good looking cows and the 7 good bunches of seeds are pictures of the same thing. They are pictures of 7 good years that are coming. 27 The 7 skinny ugly cows and the 7 thin weak bunches of seeds that look like the hot east wind has burnt them, are pictures of the same thing. They are pictures of 7 bad years that will come after the 7 good years. 28 God is telling you what he is going to do, and it will happen just like I said. 29 You and all the people in Egypt are going to have 7 good years. All your animals will get fat and all your food plants will grow a lot of seeds. Everyone in Egypt will have a lot to eat. 30 When the 7 good years are over there will be 7 bad years. People will forget all about the 7 good years when everyone had a lot to eat. It will be like the bad years ate all the good years. Then nothing will grow in the whole country. 31 Yes, the 7 bad years will be so hard for everyone, that they will forget the good years. 32 God gave you those 2 dreams to let you know what he is going to do. And he will make it happen soon.

33 I have told you God's message and so it would be good for you to find a man who knows what to do. You should make that man the boss over the whole country of Egypt. 34 And you Pharaoh, should pick leaders from every part of the country to help that man do his job.

This is what has to happen. For the next 7 good years, after the farmers have finished picking up all the food seeds from their paddocks, these leaders have to take one bag from every 5 bags of seeds that the farmers grow. 35 Then the leaders have to take those bags of seeds and put them into big government sheds in every town. And put soldiers around those sheds. 36 This food must be kept safe until the 7 bad years come. That way, when the country does not grow any food, your people will not get too hungry and die.”

37 Pharaoh and all the men who worked for him had a meeting and they all liked Joseph's plan. 38 Pharaoh said to them, “I do not think we can find a better man than Joseph to do that job. I can see that God's spirit has told him what to do.”

39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I can see that God has told you what to do. God has made you understand the problem. No one else can do the job better than you can. 40 I am putting you in charge of my house and my government. Everyone in all of Egypt has to do what you tell them. But remember, I am still the king. I am still your boss.”[c]

41 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Joseph. You are now the boss over the whole country of Egypt.”

42 Pharaoh had a ring that had special marks on it. He used this ring to put his special mark on papers to prove that he had written them. Pharaoh took that ring off his finger and put it on Joseph's finger to show that Joseph was working for him. And he gave Joseph really nice clothes to wear and put a gold chain around his neck.[d]

43 Pharaoh gave Joseph a chariot to ride in. A chariot is a war wagon pulled by horses. The king did this to show that Joseph was the second boss over Egypt. And from that time, everywhere Joseph went in his chariot, soldiers walked in front of him, shouting out to the people in the street, “Move off the road, and bow down to Joseph.”

In this way Pharaoh showed his people that Joseph was the boss over the whole country of Egypt.

44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, I am the king, but before anyone in Egypt does anything, they have to ask you first.”

45 And Pharaoh gave Joseph another name. He named him Zafen-ath-Pan-ay-ah and gave him a wife named As-en-ath. Her father was named Potifera, who was an Egyptian ceremony man from a town called On.

Joseph went all over the country of Egypt to see what it was like and everyone respected him as their leader.

46 Joseph was 30 years old when he started to work for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. He did not stay in one place but went everywhere in Egypt to see that people were doing the right thing.

47 In the 7 good years, the whole country grew a lot of food. 48 Every time food was grown, the farmers had to give some of their bags of seeds to the men that worked for Joseph. The workers took the bags of seeds and put them into the government sheds to keep them safe. 49 The workers stored so many bags of seeds they stopped counting them. There were just too many.

50 Before the bad years came, As-en-ath, the daughter of Potifera, the ceremony man in On, gave Joseph 2 sons. 51 Joseph named the first son Manasseh and said, “I called him that because God has made me forget all my troubles, and I have even forgotten that I miss my family.” 52 And he named his second son, Efraim and said, “I have had a hard time in this country, but God has been good to me and given me children.”

53-54 At the end of the 7 good years, the land in Egypt stopped growing food. It was the start of the 7 bad years that Joseph said would come. [e]

All the countries around Egypt started to run out of food. But all the Egyptians still had a lot of food in their own sheds. 55 Later on, the people in Egypt had nothing to eat and so they asked Pharaoh for food. But Pharaoh said, “Go and see Joseph. He will tell you what to do.”

56 When all the Egyptians were hungry and the bad years got worse, Joseph opened the government sheds and sold the food to the Egyptians. 57 All the countries around Egypt were having a hard time too, and when they heard that Egypt had food, they went to Joseph to buy seeds.

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