Bible Strands
Genesis 41:23
After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph narrates a second dream to Pharaoh, describing seven withered heads of grain that emerged after seven plump ones on a single stalk. This occurs during his court presentation before Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker have been released.
The words — The Hebrew צְנֻמֹת (tze.nu.Mot) translates literally to withered or shriveled, and שְׁדֻפֹת (she.du.Fot) means scorched or blasted. These descriptors specify the damaged condition of the second grain harvest in the vision.
The thread — The scorched grain motif appears again in Genesis 41:6 and aligns with the exposure imagery of 2 Kings 19:26 and Psalms 129:6. These passages collectively use vulnerable vegetation to mark divine judgment or environmental reversal.
Why it lands — The text records a biological inversion where damaged grain follows healthy grain, establishing a pattern of impending scarcity. It requires the reader to treat agricultural anomalies as indicators of systemic change rather than isolated crop failures.
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, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
Cross-references
- Genesis 41:6 After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind.
- 2 Kings 19:26 Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
- Psalms 129:6 May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,
- Hosea 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is struck down; their root is withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
- Hosea 13:15 Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.