17. So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the bank of the river,
18. And seven kine came up out of the river exceeding beautiful and full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture.
19. And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt:
20. And the devoured and consumed the former,
21. And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and ill favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again,
22. And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair.
23. Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stock:
24. And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.
25. Joseph answered: The king's dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do.
26. The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.
27. And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come:
28. Which shall be fulfilled in this order:
29. Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt:
30. After which shall follow other seven years of so great scacity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land,
31. And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty.
32. And for that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to the same thing: it is a token of the certainty, and that the word of God cometh to pass, and is fulfilled speedily.
33. Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt:
34. That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years,
35. That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao's hands and be reserved in the cities.