Genesis 41:15

Summary

Pharaoh addresses Joseph directly, stating that he has had a dream which no one has been able to interpret, and that he has heard reports that Joseph is capable of interpreting dreams simply by hearing them.

Key words

• cha.Lom ("a dream", H2472) — masculine singular noun, repeated twice in the verse (lines 6 and 21), framing both Pharaoh's own dream and the general category of dreams Joseph is said to interpret.
• cha.Lam.ti ("I have dreamed", H2492B) — qal perfect, first person, marking the dream as a completed event prior to the speech act; paired with the noun cha.Lom in a cognate construction ("a dream I have dreamed").
• fo.Ter ("interpreter/one who interprets", H6622) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing capacity or role ("one who interprets") rather than a single completed act.
• sha.Ma'.ti ("I have heard", H8085G) — qal perfect, first person, indicating Pharaoh's report is based on prior information he has received about Joseph.
• tish.Ma' ("you hear", H8085G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine, describing an habitual or repeated action ("whenever you hear"), contrasting with the perfect form of the same root used for Pharaoh's own hearing.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-i.Yo.mer ("and he said", H0559) construction typical of Hebrew narrative sequencing, introducing Pharaoh's direct speech to Joseph. The first clause uses a cognate accusative structure: the noun cha.Lom ("a dream", H2472) followed by the perfect verb cha.Lam.ti ("I have dreamed", H2492B) from the same root, a common Hebrew emphatic pattern meaning something like "a dream I have dreamed" — emphasizing the reality of the dream event itself.

The second clause, "u.fo.Ter 'ein 'o.to", uses the negative existential 'ein ("there is not", H0369) with the participle fo.Ter ("interpreter", H6622) to state that no one exists who performs this interpreting function, with the object marker 'o.T plus suffix o ("it/him") referring back to the dream.

The final section shifts to Pharaoh's report about Joseph. The perfect sha.Ma'.ti ("I have heard", H8085G) describes Pharaoh's completed act of receiving a report, introduced with le.Mor ("saying", infinitive of H0559), a standard formula for introducing reported speech. Within that reported content, the imperfect tish.Ma' ("you hear", H8085G) describes not a single event but a repeated or characteristic action — the grammar suggests Joseph's ability is presented as habitual: whenever he hears a dream (cha.Lom), he is able li.f.Tor ("to interpret", infinitive H6622) it. The infinitive construction with li ("to") plus the verb parallels the earlier participle fo.Ter, both built on the same root H6622, tying Joseph's described skill directly to the lack that Pharaoh stated in the first half of the verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders cha.Lam.ti ("I have dreamed") as ἑώρακα ("I have seen"), using a verb of sight rather than a cognate of "dream." The Vulgate similarly uses "Vidi somnia" ("I saw dreams"), diverging from the Hebrew's dream-dreamed pairing by employing "vidi" ("I saw"). Both LXX and Vulgate thus shift the verb from the Hebrew's repetition of the same root (dream/dreamed) to a verb of perception (see/saw).