5. The king went back to sleep and had another dream. This time seven full heads of grain were growing on a single stalk.
6. Later, seven other heads of grain appeared, but they were thin and scorched by the east wind.
7. The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full heads. Again the king woke up, and it had only been a dream.
8. The next morning the king was upset. So he called in his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.
9. The king's personal servant said:Now I remember what I was supposed to do.
10. When you were angry with me and your chief cook, you threw us both in jail in the house of the captain of the guard.
11. One night we both had dreams, and each dream had a different meaning.
12. A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant,
13. and everything happened just as he said it would. I got my job back, and the cook was put to death.
14. The king sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.
15. The king said to him, “I had a dream, yet no one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams.”
16. “Your Majesty,” Joseph answered, “I can't do it myself, but God can give a good meaning to your dreams.”
17. The king told Joseph:I dreamed I was standing on the bank of the River Nile.
18. I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river, and they began feeding on the grass.
19. Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt.
20. The skinny cows ate the fat ones.
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.