Parashah 10: Mikketz (At the end) 41:1–44:17

41 At the end of two years, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing beside the Nile River; ² and there came up out of the river seven cows, sleek and fat; and they began feeding in swamp grass. ³ After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, miserable-looking and lean; and they stood by the other cows at the edge of the river. ⁴ Then the miserable-looking and lean cows ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. At this point Pharaoh woke up. ⁵ But he went to sleep again and dreamt a second time: seven full, ripe ears of grain grew out of a single stalk. ⁶ After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. ⁷ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven full, ripe ears. Then Pharaoh woke up and realized it had been a dream.

⁸ In the morning he found himself so upset that he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one there could interpret them for him. ⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today reminds me of something wherein I am at fault: ¹⁰ Pharaoh was angry with his officials and put me in the prison of the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. ¹¹ One night both I and he had dreams, and each man’s dream had its own meaning. ¹² There was with us a young man, a Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the guard; and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us — he interpreted each man’s dream individually. ¹³ And it came about as he interpreted to us — I was restored to my office, and he was hanged.”

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh summoned Yosef, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh.

(A: ii) ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; but I’ve heard it said about you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” ¹⁶ Yosef answered Pharaoh, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer that will set his mind at peace.” (S: ii) ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “In my dream, I stood at the edge of the river; ¹⁸ and there came up out of the river seven cows, fat and sleek; and they began feeding in the swamp grass. ¹⁹ After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, poor, miserable-looking and lean — I’ve never seen such bad-looking cows in all the land of Egypt! ²⁰ Then the lean and miserable-looking cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹ But after they had eaten them up, one couldn’t tell that they had eaten them; because they were as miserable-looking as before. At this point I woke up. ²² But I dreamed again and saw seven full, ripe ears of grain growing out of a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. ²⁴ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven ripe ears. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Yosef said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are the same: God has told Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of grain are seven years — the dreams are the same. ²⁷ Likewise the seven lean and miserable-looking cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted by the east wind — there will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Here it is: there will be seven years of abundance throughout the whole land of Egypt; ³⁰ but afterwards, there will come seven years of famine; and Egypt will forget all the abundance. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, because it will be truly terrible. ³² Why was the dream doubled for Pharaoh? Because the matter has been fixed by God, and God will shortly cause it to happen.

³³ “Therefore, Pharaoh should look for a man both discreet and wise to put in charge of the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Pharaoh should do this, and he should appoint supervisors over the land to receive a twenty percent tax on the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ They should gather all the food produced during these good years coming up and set aside grain under the supervision of Pharaoh to be used for food in the cities, and they should store it. ³⁶ This will be the land’s food supply for the seven years of famine that will come over the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish as a result of the famine.”

³⁷ The proposal seemed good both to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like him? The Spirit of God lives in him!”

(iii) ³⁹ So Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Since God has shown you all this — there is no one as discerning and wise as you — ⁴⁰ you will be in charge of my household; all my people will be ruled by what you say. Only when I rule from my throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Here, I place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴² Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Yosef’s hand, had him clothed in fine linen with a gold chain around his neck ⁴³ and had him ride in his second best chariot; and they cried before him, “Bow down!” Thus he placed him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I, Pharaoh, decree that without your approval no one is to raise his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh called Yosef by the name Tzafnat-Pa‘neach and gave him as his wife Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On. Then Yosef went out through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Yosef was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt; then he left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance, the earth brought forth heaps of produce. ⁴⁸ He collected all the food of these seven years in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities — the food grown in the fields outside each city he stored in that city. ⁴⁹ Yosef stored grain in quantities like the sand on the seashore, so much that they stopped counting, because it was beyond measure.

⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Yosef before the year of famine came; Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On bore them to him. ⁵¹ Yosef called the firstborn M’nasheh [causing to forget], “Because God has caused me to forget all the troubles I suffered at the hands of my family.” ⁵² The second he called Efrayim [fruit], “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortune.”

(iv) ⁵³ The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt ended; ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Yosef had said. There was famine in all lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt started feeling the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Yosef, and do what he tells you to do.” ⁵⁶ The famine was over all the earth, but then Yosef opened all the storehouses and sold food to the Egyptians, since the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ Moreover all countries came to Egypt to Yosef to buy grain, because the famine was severe throughout the earth.