And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
Parallel translations
- WEB At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed: and behold, he stood by the river.
- BSB After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,
- NKJV Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.
- NASB Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.
- NLT Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Two years later, Pharaoh has a vivid dream while standing by the Nile.
Overview
The note 'two full years' marks the long delay Joseph endured after the cup bearer forgot him. God now begins to move through Pharaoh's dreams, setting in motion Joseph's deliverance and exaltation. The Lord's purposes unfold in His own time, not ours.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Gen 29:14And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.
- Gen 20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
- Gen 40:5And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.
- Exod 4:9And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
- Deut 11:10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
- Exod 1:22And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
- Ezek 29:9And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
- Ezek 29:3Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
- Gen 31:21So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead.
- Job 33:15–16In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
- Esth 6:1On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
- Matt 27:19When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
- Isa 19:5And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
- Gen 37:5–10And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
- Dan 4:5–18I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Dan 7:1–8In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
- Dan 2:1–3And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
- Judg 7:13–14And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 41:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.