1 Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;
2 And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.
3 And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows.
4 And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.
5 But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.
6 And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.
7 And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.
8 And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.
9 Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;
10 Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;
11 And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.
12 And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them.
13 And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.
14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.
16 Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.
17 Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:
18 And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;
19 Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;
20 And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;
21 And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep.
22 And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:
23 And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:
24 And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.
25 Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.
27 The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.
28 As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.
29 Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;
30 And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;
31 And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.
32 And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.
33 And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.
35 And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it.
36 And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.
37 And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.
38 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?
39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:
40 You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.
41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.
42 Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck;
43 And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.
45 And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.
46 Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
47 Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses.
48 And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town.
49 So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured.
50 And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.
51 And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.
52 And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.
53 And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.
54 Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.
56 And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt.
57 And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.
1 过了两年, 法老作了一个梦, 梦见自己站在河边。
2 有七头母牛从河里上来, 又健美又肥壮, 在芦苇中吃草。
3 接着, 又有另外七头母牛从河里上来, 又丑陋又瘦弱, 站在岸上其他母牛旁边。
4 这些丑陋瘦弱的母牛, 竟把那些健美肥壮的母牛吃掉, 法老就醒了。
5 他又睡着, 作了第二个梦, 梦见一根麦茎, 长出七个麦穗, 又肥壮又美好。
6 接着, 又长出七个麦穗, 又干瘦又被东风吹焦了。
7 这些干瘦的麦穗, 竟把那七个又肥壮又饱满的麦穗吞下去, 法老就醒了, 原来是一个梦。
8 到了早晨, 法老心里烦乱, 就派人去把埃及所有的术士和智慧人都召了来; 法老把自己的梦告诉他们, 但是没有人能替法老解梦。
9 那时酒政告诉法老说: "我今日想起了我的过错。
10 从前法老恼怒臣仆, 把我和膳长关在军长府的监房里。
11 我们二人在同一夜都作了梦; 我们的梦各有不同的解释。
12 在那里有一个希伯来的少年人与我们在一起, 他是军长的仆人, 我们把梦告诉了他, 他就替我们解梦, 各人的梦有不同的解释。
13 结果, 事情都照着他给我们的解释实现了: 我恢复了原职, 膳长却被挂起来。"
14 法老于是派人去召约瑟。他们就急忙把约瑟从监里带出来。他剃了头、刮了脸、换了衣服, 就进去见法老。
15 法老对约瑟说: "我作了一个梦, 没有人能够解释。我听见人说, 你听了梦, 就能解释。"
16 约瑟回答法老, 说: "解梦不在于我, 但 神必给法老一个吉祥的解答。"
17 法老告诉约瑟: "在梦里我看见我站在河边。
18 有七头母牛从河里上来, 又肥壮又健美, 在芦苇中吃草。
19 接着, 又有另外七头母牛上来, 又软弱又消瘦又十分丑陋, 在埃及全地我没有见过这样丑陋的牛。
20 这又消瘦又丑陋的母牛, 竟把先前七头肥壮的母牛吃掉。
21 它们吃了以后, 却看不出它们是吃掉了肥牛, 因为它们丑陋的样子仍是与先前一样。我就醒了。
22 在梦里我又看见一根麦茎, 长出七个麦穗, 又饱满又美好。
23 接着, 又长出了七个麦穗, 又枯干又干瘦又被东风吹焦了。
24 这些干瘦的麦穗, 竟把那七个美好的麦穗吞下去。我把梦告诉了术士, 但是没有人能替我解答。"
25 约瑟对法老说: "法老的梦都是同一个意思, 神已经把所要作的事告诉法老了。
26 七头美好的母牛是七年, 七个美好的麦穗也是七年; 两个梦都是同一个意思。
27 那接着上来的七头又消瘦又丑陋的母牛是七年, 那七个不结实、被东风吹焦了的麦穗也是七年, 都是七年饥荒。
28 这就是我对法老所说: 神要作的事, 他已经向法老显明了。
29 看哪, 埃及全地必有七年大丰收。
30 接着又必有七年饥荒; 甚至埃及地所有的丰收都被人忘记了, 饥荒必把这地毁灭。
31 因为接着而来的饥荒太严重了, 使人不觉得这地有过丰收。
32 至于法老两次作梦, 是因为 神已经命定这事, 并且要快快地实行。
33 因此, 法老要找一个有见识有智慧的人, 派他管理埃及地。
34 法老要这样行, 在国中指派官员, 当七年丰收的时候, 征收埃及地出产的五分之一。
35 又叫他们把将要来的七个丰年的粮食收集起来, 积蓄五谷归在法老的手下, 收在各城里作粮食。
36 这些粮食要储存起来, 可以应付将来埃及地的七年饥荒, 免得这地被饥荒所灭。"
37 法老和他的臣仆, 都赞同这件事。
38 于是法老对臣仆说: "像这样的人, 有 神的灵在他里面, 我们怎能找得着呢?"
39 法老对约瑟说: " 神既然把这事指示了你, 就再没有人像你这样有见识有智慧了。
40 你可以掌管我的家, 我的人民都要听从你的话; 只有在王位上我比你大。"
41 法老又对约瑟说: "你看, 我任命你治理埃及全地。"
42 于是, 法老脱下他手上打印的戒指, 戴在约瑟的手上; 给他穿上细麻的衣服, 把金颈链挂在他的颈项上;
43 又叫约瑟坐在他的副车, 有人在他前面喊着: "跪下。"这样, 法老任命了约瑟治理埃及全地。
44 法老对约瑟说: "我是法老, 但在埃及全地, 如果没有你的许可, 没有人可以随意作事。"
45 法老给约瑟起名叫撒发那忒.巴内亚, 又把安城的祭司波提非拉的女儿亚西纳, 给约瑟为妻。约瑟出去巡行埃及全地。
46 约瑟侍立在埃及王法老面前的时候, 年三十岁。约瑟从法老面前出来, 遍行埃及全地。
47 在七个丰年的时候, 地里的出产非常丰盛。
48 约瑟把埃及七个丰年的一切粮食都收集起来, 把粮食存放在城中; 各城周围田地所出的粮食, 也存放在各城中。
49 约瑟积蓄了极多的五谷, 好像海沙那样多, 甚至他不再记下数量, 因为实在无法计算。
50 在荒年还没有来到以前, 约瑟生了两个儿子, 是安城的祭司波提非拉的女儿亚西纳给约瑟生的。
51 约瑟给长子起名叫玛拿西, 因为他说: " 神使我忘记我所有的困苦, 以及我父的全家。"
52 他给次子起名叫以法莲, 因为他说: " 神使我在受苦之地繁盛起来。"
53 埃及地的七年丰收一结束,
54 七年饥荒就随着来了, 正像约瑟所说的一样。各地都有饥荒, 只有埃及全地仍有粮食,
55 等到埃及全地也要挨饿的时候, 人民就向法老求粮。法老对所有的埃及人说: "你们到约瑟那里去, 他吩咐你们什么, 你们就作什么。"
56 当时饥荒遍及全国, 约瑟就开了所有的粮仓, 把粮食卖给埃及人, 因为埃及地的饥荒非常严重。
57 各地的人都到埃及去, 向约瑟买粮, 因为各地的饥荒都非常严重。