The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one.
Parallel translations
- WEB The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.
- KJV The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
- BSB The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning.
- NASB The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one and the same.
- NLT The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity.
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
Joseph explains that the seven good cattle and seven good heads of grain both mean seven years.
Overview
He unites the two dreams into one meaning: seven years of plenty are coming. The doubled imagery signifies a single, certain divine plan. Joseph's clarity shows the wisdom God grants to His servant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Gen 41:47In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.
- Gen 41:2Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass.
- Exod 12:11This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.
- Gen 41:5He slept and dreamed a second time: and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good.
- Gen 41:29Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.
- 1 Cor 10:4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
- Gen 41:53The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end.
- 1 Jn 5:7For there are three who testify:
- Gen 40:18Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days.
- Gen 40:12Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
- Gen 2:24Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
- Exod 26:6You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains to one another with the clasps: and the tabernacle shall be a unit.
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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 41:26 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.