उत्पत्ति 41

1After two years Pharao had a dream. He thought he stood by the river,

2Out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they fed in marshy places.

3Other seven also came up out of the river, ill favoured, and leanfleshed: and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places:

4And they devoured them, whose bodies were very beautiful and well conditioned. So Pharao awoke.

5He slept again, and dreamed another dream: Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk full and fair:

6Then seven other ears sprung up thin and blasted,

7And devoured all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaked after his rest:

8And when morning was come, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men: and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it.

9Then at length the chief butler remembering, said: I confess my sin:

10The king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers:

11Where in one night both of us dreamed a dream foreboding things to come.

12There was there a young man a Hebrew, servant to the same captain of the soldiers: to whom we told our dreams,

13And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office: and he was hanged upon a gibbet.

14Forthwith at the king’s command, Joseph was brought out of the prison, and they shaved him, and changing his apparel, brought him in to him.

15And he said to him: I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them: Now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them.

16Joseph answered: Without me, God shall give Pharao a prosperous answer.

17So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the bank of the river,

18And seven kine came up out of the river exceeding beautiful and full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture.

19And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt:

20And they devoured and consumed the former,

21And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and ill favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again,

22And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair.

23Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stock:

24And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.

25Joseph answered: The king’s dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do.

26The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.

27And 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:

28Which shall be fulfilled in this order:

29Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt:

30After 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,

31And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty.

32And 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.

33Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt:

34That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years,

35That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao’s hands and be reserved in the cities.

36And 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.

37The counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants.

38And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God?

39He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shewn thee all that thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee?

40Thou 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.

41And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Egypt.

42And 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.

43And 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.

44And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao; without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

45And 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:

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

47And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corn being bound up into sheaves was gathered together into the barns of Egypt.

48And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city.

49And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it was equal to the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure.

50And before the famine came, Joseph had two sons born: whom Aseneth the daughter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis bore unto him.

51And he called the name of the firstborn Manasses, saying: God hath made me to forget all my labours, and my father’s house.

52And he named the second Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to grow in the land of my poverty.

53Now when the seven years of the plenty that had been in Egypt were past:

54The seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to come: and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt.

55And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried to Pharao for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you.

56And the famine increased daily in all the land: and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians: for the famine had oppressed them also.

57And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want.

1Post duos annos vidit Pharao somnium. Putabat se stare super fluvium,

2de quo ascendebant septem boves, pulchræ et crassæ nimis: et pascebantur in locis palustribus.

3Aliæ quoque septem emergebant de flumine, fœdæ confectæque macie: et pascebantur in ipsa amnis ripa in locis virentibus:

4devoraveruntque eas, quarum mira species et habitudo corporum erat. Expergefactus Pharao,

5rursum dormivit, et vidit alterum somnium: septem spicæ pullulabant in culmo uno plenæ atque formosæ:

6aliæ quoque totidem spicæ tenues, et percussæ uredine oriebantur,

7devorantes omnium priorum pulchritudinem. Evigilans Pharao post quietem,

8et facto mane, pavore perterritus, misit ad omnes conjectores Ægypti, cunctosque sapientes, et accersitis narravit somnium, nec erat qui interpretaretur.

9Tunc demum reminiscens pincernarum magister, ait: Confiteor peccatum meum:

10iratus rex servis suis, me et magistrum pistorum retrudi jussit in carcerem principis militum:

11ubi una nocte uterque vidimus somnium præsagum futurorum.

12Erat ibi puer hebræus, ejusdem ducis militum famulus: cui narrantes somnia,

13audivimus quidquid postea rei probavit eventus; ego enim redditus sum officio meo, et ille suspensus est in cruce.

14Protinus ad regis imperium eductum de carcere Joseph totonderunt: ac veste mutata obtulerunt ei.

15Cui ille ait: Vidi somnia, nec est qui edisserat: quæ audivi te sapientissime conjicere.

16Respondit Joseph: Absque me Deus respondebit prospera Pharaoni.

17Narravit ergo Pharao quod viderat: Putabam me stare super ripam fluminis,

18et septem boves de amne conscendere, pulchras nimis, et obesis carnibus: quæ in pastu paludis virecta carpebant.

19Et ecce, has sequebantur aliæ septem boves, in tantum deformes et macilentæ, ut numquam tales in terra Ægypti viderim:

20quæ, devoratis et consumptis prioribus,

21nullum saturitatis dedere vestigium: sed simili macie et squalore torpebant. Evigilans, rursus sopore depressus,

22vidi somnium. Septem spicæ pullulabant in culmo uno plenæ atque pulcherrimæ.

23Aliæ quoque septem tenues et percussæ uredine, oriebantur e stipula:

24quæ priorum pulchritudinem devoraverunt. Narravi conjectoribus somnium, et nemo est qui edisserat.

25Respondit Joseph: Somnium regis unum est: quæ facturus est Deus, ostendit Pharaoni.

26Septem boves pulchræ, et septem spicæ plenæ, septem ubertatis anni sunt: eamdemque vim somnii comprehendunt.

27Septem quoque boves tenues atque macilentæ, quæ ascenderunt post eas, et septem spicæ tenues, et vento urente percussæ, septem anni venturæ sunt famis.

28Qui hoc ordine complebuntur:

29ecce septem anni venient fertilitatis magnæ in universa terra Ægypti,

30quos sequentur septem anni alii tantæ sterilitatis, ut oblivioni tradatur cuncta retro abundantia: consumptura est enim fames omnem terram,

31et ubertatis magnitudinem perditura est inopiæ magnitudo.

32Quod autem vidisti secundo ad eamdem rem pertinens somnium: firmitatis indicium est, eo quod fiat sermo Dei, et velocius impleatur.

33Nunc ergo provideat rex virum sapientem et industrium, et præficiat eum terræ Ægypti:

34qui constituat præpositos per cunctas regiones: et quintam partem fructuum per septem annos fertilitatis,

35qui jam nunc futuri sunt, congreget in horrea: et omne frumentum sub Pharaonis potestate condatur, serveturque in urbibus.

36Et præparetur futuræ septem annorum fami, quæ oppressura est Ægyptum, et non consumetur terra inopia.

37Placuit Pharaoni consilium et cunctis ministris ejus:

38locutusque est ad eos: Num invenire poterimus talem virum, qui spiritu Dei plenus sit?

39Dixit ergo ad Joseph: Quia ostendit tibi Deus omnia quæ locutus es, numquid sapientiorem et consimilem tui invenire potero?

40Tu eris super domum meam, et ad tui oris imperium cunctus populus obediet: uno tantum regni solio te præcedam.

41Dixitque rursus Pharao ad Joseph: Ecce, constitui te super universam terram Ægypti.

42Tulitque annulum de manu sua, et dedit eum in manu ejus: vestivitque eum stola byssina, et collo torquem auream circumposuit.

43Fecitque eum ascendere super currum suum secundum, clamante præcone, ut omnes coram eo genu flecterent, et præpositum esse scirent universæ terræ Ægypti.

44Dixit quoque rex ad Joseph: Ego sum Pharao: absque tuo imperio non movebit quisquam manum aut pedem in omni terra Ægypti.

45Vertitque nomen ejus, et vocavit eum, lingua ægyptiaca, Salvatorem mundi. Deditque illi uxorem Aseneth filiam Putiphare sacerdotis Heliopoleos. Egressus est itaque Joseph ad terram Ægypti

46(triginta autem annorum erat quando stetit in conspectu regis Pharaonis), et circuivit omnes regiones Ægypti.

47Venitque fertilitas septem annorum: et in manipulos redactæ segetes congregatæ sunt in horrea Ægypti.

48Omnis etiam frugum abundantia in singulis urbibus condita est.

49Tantaque fuit abundantia tritici, ut arenæ maris coæquaretur, et copia mensuram excederet.

50Nati sunt autem Joseph filii duo antequam veniret fames: quos peperit ei Aseneth filia Putiphare sacerdotis Heliopoleos.

51Vocavitque nomen primogeniti Manasses, dicens: Oblivisci me fecit Deus omnium laborum meorum, et domus patris mei.

52Nomen quoque secundi appellavit Ephraim, dicens: Crescere me fecit Deus in terra paupertatis meæ.

53Igitur transactis septem ubertatis annis, qui fuerant in Ægypto,

54cœperunt venire septem anni inopiæ, quos prædixerat Joseph: et in universo orbe fames prævaluit, in cuncta autem terra Ægypti panis erat.

55Qua esuriente, clamavit populus ad Pharaonem, alimenta petens. Quibus ille respondit: Ite ad Joseph: et quidquid ipse vobis dixerit, facite.

56Crescebat autem quotidie fames in omni terra: aperuitque Joseph universa horrea, et vendebat Ægyptiis: nam et illos oppresserat fames.

57Omnesque provinciæ veniebant in Ægyptum, ut emerent escas, et malum inopiæ temperarent.

1After two years, Pharaoh saw a dream. He thought himself to be standing above a river,

2from which ascended seven cows, exceedingly beautiful and stout. And they pastured in marshy places.

3Likewise, another seven emerged from the river, filthy and thoroughly emaciated. And they pastured on the same bank of the river, in green places.

4And they devoured those whose appearance and condition of body was so wonderful. Pharaoh, having been awakened,

5slept again, and he saw another dream. Seven ears of grain sprung up on one stalk, full and well-formed.

6Likewise, other ears of grain, of the same number, rose up, thin and struck with blight,

7devouring all the beauty of the first. Pharaoh, when he awakened after his rest,

8and when morning arrived, being terrified with fear, sent to all the interpreters of Egypt and to all of the wise men. And when they were summoned, he explained to them his dream; but there was no one who could interpret it.

9Then at last the chief cupbearer, remembering, said, “I confess my sin.

10The king, being angry with his servants, ordered me and the chief miller of grain to be forced into the prison of the leader of the military.

11There, in one night, both of us saw a dream presaging the future.

12In that place, there was a Hebrew, a servant of the same commander of the military, to whom we explained our dreams.

13Whatever we heard was proven afterwards by the event of the matter. For I was restored to my office, and he was suspended on a cross.”

14Immediately, by the king’s authority, Joseph was led out of prison, and they shaved him. And changing his apparel, they presented him to him.

15And he said to him, “I have seen dreams, and there is no one who can unfold them. I have heard that you are very wise at interpreting these.”

16Joseph responded, “Apart from me, God will respond favorably to Pharaoh.”

17Therefore, Pharaoh explained what he had seen: “I thought myself to be standing on the bank of a river,

18and seven cows climbed up from the river, exceedingly beautiful and full of flesh. And they grazed in a pasture of a marshy greenery.

19And behold, there followed after these, another seven cows, with such deformity and emaciation as I had never seen in the land of Egypt.

20These devoured and consumed the first,

21giving no indication of being full. But they remained in the same state of emaciation and squalor. Awakening, but being weighed down into sleep again,

22I saw a dream. Seven ears of grain sprang up on one stalk, full and very beautiful.

23Likewise, another seven, thin and struck with blight, rose up from the stalk.

24And they devoured the beauty of the first. I explained this dream to the interpreters, and there is no one who can unfold it.”

25Joseph responded: “The dream of the king is one. What God will do, he has revealed to Pharaoh.

26The seven beautiful cows, and the seven full ears of grain, are seven years of abundance. And so the force of the dreams is understood to be the same.

27Likewise, the seven thin and emaciated cows, which ascended after them, and the seven thin ears of grain, which were struck with the burning wind, are seven approaching years of famine.

28These will be fulfilled in this order.

29Behold, there will arrive seven years of great fertility throughout the entire land of Egypt.

30After this, there will follow another seven years, of such great barrenness that all the former abundance will be delivered into oblivion. For the famine will consume all the land,

31and the greatness of this destitution will cause the greatness of the abundance to be lost.

32Now, as to what you saw the second time, it is a dream pertaining to the same thing. It is an indication of its firmness, because the word of God shall be done, and it shall be completed swiftly.

33Now therefore, let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and place him over the land of Egypt,

34so that he may appoint overseers throughout all the regions. And let a fifth part of the fruits, throughout the seven fertile years

35that now have already begun to occur, be gathered into storehouses. And let all the grain be stored away, under the power of Pharaoh, and let it be kept in the cities.

36And let it be prepared for the future famine of seven years, which will oppress Egypt, and then the land will not be consumed by destitution.”

37The counsel pleased Pharaoh and all his ministers.

38And he said to them, “Would we be able to find another such man, who is full of the Spirit of God?”

39Therefore, he said to Joseph: “Because God has revealed to you all that you have said, would I be able to find anyone wiser and as much like you?

40You will be over my house, and to the authority of your mouth, all the people will show obedience. Only in one way, in the throne of the kingdom, will I go before you.”

41And again, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have appointed you over the entire land of Egypt.”

42And he took the ring from his own hand, and he gave it into his hand. And he clothed him with a robe of fine linen, and he placed a necklace of gold around his neck.

43And he caused him to ascend upon his second swift chariot, with the herald proclaiming that everyone should bend their knee before him, and that they should know that he was governor over the entire land of Egypt.

44Likewise, the king said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh: apart from your authority, no one will move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

45And he changed his name and called him, in the Egyptian tongue: ‘Savior of the world.’ And he gave him as a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. And so Joseph went out into the land of Egypt.

46(Now he was thirty years old when he stood in the sight of king Pharaoh.) And he traveled throughout the regions of Egypt.

47And the fertility of the seven years arrived. And when the grain fields were reduced to sheaves, these were gathered into the storehouses of Egypt.

48And now all the abundance of grain was stored away in every city.

49And there was such a great abundance of wheat that it was comparable to the sands of the sea, and its bounty exceeded all measure.

50Then, before the famine arrived, Joseph had two sons born, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore for him.

51And he called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has caused me to forget all my labors and the house of my father.”

52Likewise, he named the second Ephraim, saying, “God has caused me to increase in the land of my poverty.”

53And so, when the seven years of fertility that occurred in Egypt had passed,

54the seven years of destitution, which Joseph had predicted, began to arrive. And the famine prevailed throughout the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt.

55And being hungry, the people cried out to Pharaoh, asking for provisions. And he said to them: “Go to Joseph. And do whatever he will tell you.”

56Then the famine increased daily in all the land. And Joseph opened all of the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. For the famine had oppressed them also.

57And all the provinces came to Egypt, to buy food and to temper the misfortune of their destitution.