Genesis 41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me."

◄ Genesis 41:24 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me."

English Standard Version
and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

New American Standard Bible
and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. Then I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me."

King James Bible
And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven plump ones. I told this to the magicians, but no one can tell me what it means."

International Standard Version
But the thin ears gobbled up the seven good ears. I told all this to my advisors, but nobody was able to explain it to me."

American Standard Version
and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears: and I told it unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

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

Darby Bible Translation
and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told it to the scribes; but there was none to make it known to me.

Young's Literal Translation
and the thin ears swallow the seven good ears; and I tell unto the scribes, and there is none declaring to me.'

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

41:9-32 God's time for the enlargement of his people is the fittest time. If the chief butler had got Joseph to be released from prison, it is probable he would have gone back to the land of the Hebrews. Then he had neither been so blessed himself, nor such a blessing to his family, as afterwards he proved. Joseph, when introduced to Pharaoh, gives honour to God. Pharaoh had dreamed that he stood upon the bank of the river Nile, and saw the kine, both the fat ones, and the lean ones, come out of the river. Egypt has no rain, but the plenty of the year depends upon the overflowing of the river Nile. See how many ways Providence has of dispensing its gifts; yet our dependence is still the same upon the First Cause, who makes every creature what it is to us, be it rain or river. See to what changes the comforts of this life are subject. We cannot be sure that to-morrow shall be as this day, or next year as this. We must learn how to want, as well as how to abound. Mark the goodness of God in sending the seven years of plenty before those of famine, that provision might be made. The produce of the earth is sometimes more, and sometimes less; yet, take one with another, he that gathers much, has nothing over; and he that gathers little, has no lack, Ex 16:18. And see the perishing nature of our worldly enjoyments. The great harvests of the years of plenty were quite lost, and swallowed up in the years of famine; and that which seemed very much, yet did but just serve to keep the people alive. There is bread which lasts to eternal life, which it is worth while to labour for. They that make the things of this world their good things, will find little pleasure in remembering that they have received them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

24. the thin ears devoured the seven good ears—devoured is a different word from that used in Ge 41:4 and conveys the idea of destroying, by absorbing to themselves all the nutritious virtue of the soil around them.