Bible Strands
Genesis 41:27
Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind—they are seven years of famine.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph addresses Pharaoh in the palace, interpreting the dream’s second sequence by stating that the seven thin, ugly cows and the scorched grain heads represent seven consecutive years of famine. He delivers this explanation immediately after defining the seven healthy cows and ripe grain as seven years of abundance.
The words — The Hebrew word רָעֹת (ra‘ōt) literally means “displeasing” or “ugly,” applied to the cows that emerge after the years of plenty to mark the famine’s severity. The phrase scorched by the east wind (שְׂרֻפָה מִקָּדִים) denotes a drought driven by hot, desiccating winds that destroy crops.
The thread — This divine warning of famine preceding displacement or judgment recurs in 2 Kings 8:1, where Elisha directs a household to flee before a coming famine, and in 2 Samuel 24:19, where David acts on prophetic warning to avert disaster.
Why it lands — The verse requires immediate acknowledgment that human prosperity is temporary and subject to sovereign warning, demanding practical preparation and submission to God’s revealed timeline rather than reliance on present conditions.
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 the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 8:1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed that a seven-year famine will come to the land.”
- 2 Samuel 24:19 So David went up at the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded.