Genesis 41:2
◄  Genesis 41:2  ►
New International Version (©2011)
when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.

New Living Translation (©2007)
In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass.

English Standard Version (©2001)
and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds.

International Standard Version (©2012)
when all of a sudden seven healthy, plump cows emerged from the Nile to graze in the grass that grew in the reeds that lined the bank.

NET Bible (©2006)
seven fine-looking, fat cows were coming up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the reeds.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Suddenly, seven nice-looking, well-fed cows came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favored cows and fat; and they fed in a meadow.

American King James Version
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favored cows and fat; and they fed in a meadow.

American Standard Version
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, well-favored and fat-fleshed; and they fed in the reed-grass.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they fed in marshy places.

Darby Bible Translation
And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass.

English Revised Version
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, well favoured and fatfleshed; and they fed in the reed-grass.

Webster's Bible Translation
And behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favored cows and fat-fleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

World English Bible
Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass.

Young's Literal Translation
and lo, from the River coming up are seven kine, of fair appearance, and fat in flesh, and they feed among the reeds;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

41:1-8 The means of Joseph's being freed from prison were Pharaoh's dreams, as here related. Now that God no longer speaks to us in that way, it is no matter how little we either heed dreams, or tell them. The telling of foolish dreams can make no better than foolish talk. But these dreams showed that they were sent of God; when he awoke, Pharaoh's spirit was troubled.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favored kine and fat-fleshed. According to Plutarch and Clement of Alexandria, the heifer was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as a symbol of the earth, agriculture, and the nourishment derived therefrom. It was therefore natural that the succession of seven prosperous years should be represented by seven thriving cows. That they appeared ascending from the river is explained by the circumstance that the Nile by its annual inundations is the cause of Egypt's fertility (cf. Havernick, 'Introd.,' 21). A hymn to the Nile, composed by Euna (according to the generality of Egyptologers a contemporary of Moses), and translated from a papyrus in the British Museum by Canon Cook (who ascribes to it an earlier date than the nineteenth dynasty), describes the Nile as "overflowing the gardens created by Ra giving life to all animals....watering the land without ceasing... Lover of food, bestower of corn... Bringer of food! Great Lord of provisions! Creator of all good things!" (vide 'Records of the Past,' vol. 4. pp. 107, 108); And they fed in a meadow - בָּאָחוּ, ἐν τῷ Αχει, (LXX.), literally, in the Nile or reed grass. The word XXX appears to be an Egyptian term descriptive of any herbage growing in a stream. It occurs only here and in ver. 18, and Job 8:11.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine, and fatfleshed,.... Seven cows or heifers, sleek, fat, and plump, goodly to look at; these seemed in the dream, as if they came out of the river, because they were fed with the fruits of the earth, which the overflowing of the river Nile, and its canals, produced:

and they fed in a meadow; adjoining to the river, where there was good pasture for them, and gives a reason of their being in so good a condition.

Genesis 41:2 Parallel Commentaries

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The Dreams of Pharaoh
1And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. 2And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favored cows and fat; and they fed in a meadow. 3And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ill favored and skinney; and stood by the other cows on the brink of the river. …

Genesis 41:1 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile,
Genesis 41:3 After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank.
Genesis 41:18 when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.
Job 8:11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
Isaiah 19:6 The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,
Isaiah 19:7 also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more.