Bible Strands
Genesis 41:4
And the cows that were sickly and thin devoured the seven sleek, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes Pharaoh’s dream while he sleeps by the Nile, noting that seven sickly, thin cows emerge and consume the preceding seven healthy cows before Pharaoh wakes.
The words — וַ/תֹּאכַ֣לְנָה (va/to.Khal.nah) literally means “and they ate,” and הַ/מַּרְאֶה֙ (ha/mar.'Eh) translates as “the appearance,” highlighting the visual contrast between the two groups of cattle.
The thread — The narrative pattern of waking from a dream recurs in 1 Kings 3:15, where Solomon awakens and explicitly identifies the vision as a dream.
Why it lands — The passage records a dream sequence to establish Pharaoh’s confusion and the necessity of an interpreter, directing the reader to observe how divine revelation operates through nocturnal visions in this text.
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 ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 3:15 Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.