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Genesis 41:26

in Genesis 41

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

KJV

The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

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This verse in Genesis 41

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same

on Genesis 41:25-27

Joseph says that the two dreams are one, and that God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. He says that to a pagan king's face. Clarke notes that Egypt credited the Nile with the abundance and the famine, and Joseph puts the river under God's hand.

This site's exposition

The seven good cows are seven years

Seven marks a full measure, and Genesis has counted two spans of seven years in Jacob's service for Leah and Rachel at 29:20 and 27. Here each cow and each head of grain stands for one year. Joseph turns a picture into a calendar.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On Joseph the Patriarch · Written before 397.

proposed

However, I do not think that this dream is demonstrated to one or two, but to all; because the seven fat years of this world, rich with secular abundance, are absorbed by those ages which are yet to come, in which there will be perpetual rest and observance of the spiritual law, which Ephraem holds dear to God and fruitful for the three patriarchs. A good cow, not one with a distended body but abundant in spiritual milk and grace, on whose beauty God says He will sit, as it is written: Ephraem, the learned cow, loves victory.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

The seven good kine are seven years,.... Signify seven years, and these years of plenty, as appears from the antithesis in Gen 41:26, and the seven good ears are seven years; signify the same: the dream is one; for though the seven good kine were seen in one dream, the seven good ears in another, yet both dreams were one as to signification.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • שֶׁ֧בַעseven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • פָּרֹ֣תcows

    parotH6510 →26 times

  • הַטֹּבֹ֗ת<the> good

    hatovotH2896 →538 times

  • שֶׁ֤בַע[are] seven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • שָׁנִים֙years

    shanimH8141 →877 times

  • הֵ֔נָּהthey

    henahH2007 →30 times

  • וְשֶׁ֤בַעand seven

    vesheva'H7651 →394 times

  • הַֽשִּׁבֳּלִים֙the ears of grain

    hashibolimH7641 →19 times

  • הַטֹּבֹ֔ת<the> good

    hatovotH2896 →538 times

  • שֶׁ֥בַע[are] seven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • שָׁנִ֖יםyears

    shanimH8141 →877 times

  • הֵ֑נָּהthey

    henahH2007 →30 times

  • חֲל֖וֹם[is] dream

    chalomH2472 →65 times

  • אֶחָ֥דone

    ʾechadH259 →971 times

  • הֽוּא׃it

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

14 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Genesis 41:47During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully.4 worksGenesis 41:2when seven cows, sleek and well-fed, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds.4 worksGenesis 41:53When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,3 worksGenesis 41:5but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.3 worksGenesis 41:29Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,3 works1 John 5:7For there are three that testify:3 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
1 Corinthians 10:4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.3 worksExodus 12:11This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.3 worksGenesis 2:24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.2 worksGenesis 40:12Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days.2 worksGenesis 40:18Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days.2 worksIsaiah 30:23Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.2 worksMark 14:22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it; this is My body.”2 worksExodus 26:6Make fifty gold clasps as well, and join the curtains together with the clasps, so that the tabernacle will be a unit.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 41:47

    During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 26:12

      Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,

    • Psalms 72:16

      May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, and its people like the grass of the…

  • Through

    Genesis 41:29

    Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,

    it leads to

    • Genesis 41:46–47

      Now Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

  • Through

    Genesis 41:5

    but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 32:14

      with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes…

  • Through

    Genesis 41:53

    When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

    it leads to

    • Genesis 41:29–31

      Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,

    • Luke 16:25

      But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.

    • Psalms 73:20

      Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

  • Through

    Genesis 41:2

    when seven cows, sleek and well-fed, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 19:6

      The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 41 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph the Patriarch; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 41 →