21. But you couldn't tell it, because these skinny cows were just as skinny as they were before. Straight away, I woke up.
22. I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain growing on one stalk. The heads were full and ripe.
23. Then seven other heads of grain came up. They were thin and scorched by a wind from the desert.
24. These heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told my dreams to the magicians, but none of them could tell me the meaning of the dreams.
25. Joseph replied:Your Majesty, both of your dreams mean the same thing, and in them God has shown what he is going to do.
26. The seven good cows stand for seven years, and so do the seven good heads of grain.
27. The seven skinny, ugly cows that came up later also stand for seven years, as do the seven bad heads of grain that were scorched by the east wind. The dreams mean there will be seven years when there won't be enough grain.
28. It is just as I said—God has shown what he intends to do.
29. For seven years Egypt will have more than enough grain,
30. but that will be followed by seven years when there won't be enough. The good years of plenty will be forgotten, and everywhere in Egypt people will be starving.
31. The famine will be so bad that no one will remember that once there had been plenty.