Bible Strands
Genesis 41:18
when seven cows, well-fed and sleek, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph narrates the opening sequence of Pharaoh’s dream to the king, describing the vision’s initial imagery after Pharaoh clarified he stood on the Nile’s bank only within the dream itself.
The words — בְּרִיאֹת (be.ri'ot) and בָּשָׂר (ba'sar) combine to mean "fat of flesh," literally describing the cows' physical condition as well-fed and sleek before they graze among the reeds.
The thread — The dream’s structured sequence of seven items appears elsewhere in biblical visions that contrast abundance with scarcity, such as Jeremiah 24’s pairing of good and bad figs to represent exiles and rejected kings.
Why it lands — The text records a specific visual detail before any interpretation is given, requiring the reader to observe the precise imagery that will later dictate the coming reality.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 24:1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 24:5 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
- Jeremiah 24:8 But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.