Genesis 41:4

 Genesis 41:4

And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

a. NASB 1995: The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke.  [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Classic Amplified: And the ill-favored, gaunt, and ugly cows ate up the seven well-favored and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: The cows of ugly appearance and gaunt flesh ate the seven cowsof beautiful appearance and robust, and Pharaoh awoke. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

f. Unless otherwise stated, all Greek and Hebrew definitions are from Blue Letter Bible

1. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

a. [And the] ill [Strong: 7451 raʻ, rah; from H7489; bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral):—adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, displease(-ure), distress, evil((-favouredness), man, thing), + exceedingly, × great, grief(-vous), harm, heavy, hurt(-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief(-vous), misery, naught(-ty), noisome, + not please, sad(-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked(-ly, -ness, one), worse(-st), wretchedness, wrong. (Including feminine raaah; as adjective or noun.)]

b. favored [Strong: 4758 marʼeh, mar-eh'; from H7200; a view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real) a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision:—× apparently, appearance(-reth), × as soon as beautiful(-ly), countenance, fair, favoured, form, goodly, to look (up) on (to), look(-eth), pattern, to see, seem, sight, visage, vision.]

c. [and] leanfleshesd [Strong: 1851 daq, dak; from H1854; crushed, i.e. (by implication) small or thin:—dwarf, lean(-fleshed), very little thing, small, thin.]

d. [Strong: 1320 bâsâr, baw-sawr'; from H1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphemistically) the pudenda of a man:—body, (fat, lean) flesh(-ed), kin, (man-) kind, nakedness, self, skin.]

e. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

f. kine [Strong: 6510 pârâh, paw-raw'; feminine of H6499; a heifer:—cow, heifer, kine.]

g. [did] eat up [Strong: 398 ʼâkal, aw-kal'; a primitive root; to eat (literally or figuratively):—× at all, burn up, consume, devour(-er, up), dine, eat(-er, up), feed (with), food, × freely, × in...wise(-deed, plenty), (lay) meat, × quite.]

h. [the] seven [Strong: 7651 shebaʻ, sheh'-bah; or (masculine) (שִׁבְעָה shibʻâh); from H7650; a primitive cardinal number; seven (as the sacred full one); also (adverbially) seven times; by implication, a week; by extension, an indefinite number:—(+ by) seven(-fold),-s, (-teen, -teenth), -th, times).]

i. well [Strong: 3303 yâpheh, yaw-feh'; from H3302; beautiful (literally or figuratively):— beautiful, beauty, comely, fair(-est, one), goodly, pleasant, well.]

j. favored [Strong: 4758 marʼeh, mar-eh'; from H7200; a view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real) a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision:—× apparently, appearance(-reth), × as soon as beautiful(-ly), countenance, fair, favoured, form, goodly, to look (up) on (to), look(-eth), pattern, to see, seem, sight, visage, vision.]

k. [and] fat [Strong: 1277 bârîyʼ, baw-ree'; from H1254 (in the sense of H1262); fatted or plump:—fat ((fleshed), -ter), fed, firm, plenteous, rank.]

l. kine [Strong: 6510 pârâh, paw-raw'; feminine of H6499; a heifer:—cow, heifer, kine.]

m. [So] Pharoah [Strong: 6547 Parʻôh, par-o'; of Egyptian derivation; Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kings:—Pharaoh.]

n. awoke [Strong: 3364 yâqats, yaw-kats'; a primitive root; to awake (intransitive):—(be) awake(-d).]

1). In accordance with his goodness, for God is a good and merciful God, God was giving Pharaoh a means of averting a disaster for Egypt through the dreams and giving Joseph the interpretation of the dreams. Henry Morris writes in his book The Genesis Record, it was not “for the purpose of embarrassing or dethroning the king of Egypt. As a matter of fact his own control over the country was destined to be strengthened by these events; but the underlying purpose of it all had to do rather with God’s plan for Israel. Therefore not only did God give Joseph the true interpretation of the dreams, but also an effective plan of action for Pharaoh.”

2). God giving dreams and their interpretation here is an example of the gifts of the Spirit, in particular, the word of wisdom, one of the gifts of the Spirit in operation. Kenneth E. Hagin writes in “Concerning Spiritual Gifts”: “The difference between the two gifts, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom is that the revelation which the word of knowledge brings is always present tense or something which happened in the past. The word of wisdom always speaks of the future.” Here a 14 year plan to avert a disaster that would have come upon the known world. All the nations around Egypt suffered from this famine (Genesis 41:57), that was allowed by God to happen. He did not cause it, but in his goodness, mercy, and grace provided a means to endure through it.