Tune in Torah: Miketz

(15) And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it. Now I have heard it said of you that for you to hear a dream is to tell its meaning.” (16) Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “Not I! God will see to Pharaoh’s welfare.” (17) Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile, (18) when out of the Nile came up seven sturdy and well-formed cows and grazed in the reed grass. (19) Presently there followed them seven other cows, scrawny, ill-formed, and emaciated—never had I seen their likes for ugliness in all the land of Egypt! (20) And the seven lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven cows, the sturdy ones; (21) but when they had consumed them, one could not tell that they had consumed them, for they looked just as bad as before. And I awoke. (22) In my other dream, I saw seven ears of grain, full and healthy, growing on a single stalk; (23) but right behind them sprouted seven ears, shriveled, thin, and scorched by the east wind. (24) And the thin ears swallowed the seven healthy ears. I have told my magician-priests, but none has an explanation for me.”

(25) And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: Pharaoh has been told what God is about to do. (26) The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years; it is the same dream. (27) The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine. (28) It is just as I have told Pharaoh: Pharaoh has been shown what God is about to do. (29) Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. (30) After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine, (31) no trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine thereafter, for it will be very severe. (32) As for Pharaoh having had the same dream twice, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and that God will soon carry it out. (33) “Accordingly, let Pharaoh find someone*someone Lit. “a participant whose involvement defines the (proposed) situation.” See the Dictionary under ’ish. who’s discerning and wise, whom you can set over the land of Egypt. (34) And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint overseers over the land, and organize*organize Others “take a fifth part of”; meaning of Heb. uncertain. the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. (35) Let all the food of these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected under Pharaoh’s authority as food to be stored in the cities. (36) Let that food be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will come upon the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.”

(1) 41, 25. חלום פרעה אחד הוא, and this is why all your interpreters have failed to come up with the correct answer. (2) את אשר אלוקים עושה הגיד לפרעה, the fact that G’d gave Pharaoh advance knowledge of what He was about to do is another reason that your interpreters could not come up with the right interpretation.

(17) Shimon, his son, used to say: all my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the most important thing, but actions; whoever indulges in too many words brings about sin.