16. Joseph answered, “I cannot, Your Majesty, but God will give a favourable interpretation.”
17. The king said, “I dreamt that I was standing on the bank of the Nile,
18. when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass.
19. Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt.
20. The thin cows ate up the fat ones,
21. but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up.
22. I also dreamt that I saw seven ears of corn which were full and ripe, growing on one stalk.
23. Then seven ears of corn sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind,
24. and the thin ears of corn swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain them to me.”
25. Joseph said to the king, “The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he is going to do.
26. The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full ears of corn are also seven years; they have the same meaning.
27. The seven thin cows which came up later and the seven thin ears of corn scorched by the desert wind are seven years of famine.
28. It is just as I told you — God has shown you what he is going to do.
29. There will be seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt.
30. After that, there will be seven years of famine, and all the good years will be forgotten, because the famine will ruin the country.
31. The time of plenty will be entirely forgotten, because the famine which follows will be so terrible.
32. The repetition of your dream means that the matter is fixed by God and that he will make it happen in the near future.