Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stalk:

And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.

Joseph answered: The king's dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do.

The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.

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:

Which shall be fulfilled in this order.

Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt:

After which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land,

And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty.

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.

Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt:

That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years,

That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up, under Pharao's hands, and be reserved in the cities.

And let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity.

The counsel pleased Pharao, and all his servants.

And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God?

He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shewn thee all that thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee?

Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above thee.

And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Egypt.

And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand: and he put upon him a robe of silk, and put a chain of gold about his neck.

And he made him go up into his second chariot, the crier proclaiming that all should bow their knee before him, and that they should know he was made governor over the whole land of Egypt.

And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao: without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue the saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt.

(Now he was thirty years old when he stood before king Pharao), and he went round all the countries of Egypt.

And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corn being bound up into sheaves, was gathered together into the barns of Egypt.