Joseph told the king that the meaning of his dreams was that there would be a big famine

41 Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile River. 2 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows come up out of the river. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank. 3 Soon seven other cows, unhealthy-looking and thin, came up behind them from the Nile River. They stood alongside the fat cows that were on the riverbank. 4 Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.

5 The king went to sleep again, and he had another dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain that were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and all growing on one stalk. 6 After that, the king saw that seven other heads of grain sprouted on that (OR, on another) stalk. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind. 7 Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven ripe full heads. Then the king woke up. He realized that he had been dreaming.

8 But the next morning he was worried about the meaning of the dream. So he summoned all the magicians and wise men who lived in Egypt. He told them what he had dreamed, but none of them could tell him the meaning of the two dreams.

9 Then the chief drink-server said to the king, “Now I remember something that I should have told you! I made a mistake by forgetting to tell it to you. 10 One time you were angry with two of us. So you put me and the chief baker in the prison in the house of the captain of the palace guards. 11 While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings. 12 There was a young Hebrew man there with us. He was a servant of the captain of the palace guards. We told him what we had dreamed, and he told us what our dreams meant. He told each of us the meaning of our dreams. 13 And what happened was exactly the same as the meanings that he told us: You said I could have my previous job again, but the other man was killed by being hanged. The Hebrew man’s name was Joseph.”

14 When the king heard that, he told some servants to bring Joseph to him, and they quickly brought Joseph out of the prison. Joseph shaved and put on better clothes, and then he went and stood in front of the king. 15 The king said to Joseph, “I had two dreams, and no one can tell me what they mean. But someone told me that when you hear someone tell about a dream he has had, you can tell that person what the dream means.” 16 But Joseph replied to the king, “No, I cannot do that. It is God who knows the meaning of dreams, but he will enable me to tell you their meaning, and they will mean something good.”

17 The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. 18 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows came up out of the river, and they started eating the grass that was on the riverbank. 19 Soon seven other cows, ugly and thin ones, came up behind them from the river. I never saw such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt! 20 The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first. 21 But afterwards, no one would have known that the thin cows ate them, because they were just as ugly as they were before. Then I woke up.

22 Then I had another dream. I saw seven heads of grain. They were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and they were all growing on one stalk. 23 Then to my surprise I saw seven other heads of grain that sprouted. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind. 24 The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain to me what they meant.”

25 Then Joseph said to the king, “Both your dreams have the same meaning. God is revealing to you in your dreams what he is about to do. 26 The seven healthy cows represent seven years. The seven good heads of grain also represent seven years. The two dreams both have the same meaning. 27 The seven thin ugly cows that came up behind them and the seven worthless heads of grain that were dried up by the hot east wind each represent seven years ◄of famine/when food will be very scarce►. 28 It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do. 29 There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt, 30 but after that there will be seven years ◄of famine/when food will be very scarce►. Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward will ruin the country. 31 The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible. 32 The reason God gave to you two dreams is that he wants you to know that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.

33 “Now I suggest that you should choose a man who is wise and can make good decisions. I suggest that you appoint him to direct the affairs of the whole country. 34 You should also appoint supervisors over the country, in order that they can arrange to collect one-fifth of all the grain that is harvested during the seven years when food is plentiful. 35 They should collect this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. You should supervise them as they store it in the cities. 36 This grain should be stored so that it can be eaten during the seven years when there will be a famine here in Egypt, so that the people in this country will not die from hunger.”