Genesis 41:3

Summary

The verse describes seven additional cows emerging from the Nile after the first group, distinguished by poor appearance and thin flesh. These cows position themselves alongside the first cows on the riverbank.

Key words

• hinneh ("there!", H2009) — interjection that marks the sudden appearance of the second set of cows within the dream vision, drawing attention to a new scene element.
• olot ("were coming up", H5927G) — qal participle feminine plural, describing the cows as being in the ongoing action of ascending from the river, parallel to the verb used for the first group of cows in the preceding verse.
• ra'ot mar'eh ("displeasing of appearance", H7451H + H4758) — construct adjective + noun, literally "bad of appearance," describing a quality attached to the cows via a construct chain rather than a separate predicate.
• daqqot basar ("thin of flesh", H1851 + H1320) — second construct pair, parallel to ra'ot mar'eh, together forming a two-part description of the cows' condition.
• ta'amodnah ("they stood", H5975G) — qal narrative verb (vav-consecutive), feminine plural, marking the next sequential event in the narrative after the cows' ascent: their positioning beside the other cows.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with ve-hinneh ("and there!"), a construction that signals a new visual element appearing suddenly within the dream, matching the same formula used to introduce the first seven cows in the prior verse. The subject is sheva parot acherot ("seven other cows"), followed by the participle olot ("coming up"), which presents the action as continuous or vivid rather than a simple past event — this is characteristic of participles used in narrative description to convey scene-setting.

The two qualities of the cows are expressed through construct chains: ra'ot mar'eh ("bad/displeasing of appearance") and ve-daqqot basar ("and thin of flesh"). In Hebrew, these are not adjectives directly modifying a noun in simple apposition but noun-construct pairs, literally "bad-ones of appearance" and "thin-ones of flesh," a grammatical pattern that ties the quality noun (mar'eh, basar) to the descriptive adjective in construct state. This construction differs from a simple adjective-noun pairing and reflects a common Biblical Hebrew idiom for describing physical condition.

The verse concludes with the vav-consecutive verb va-ta'amodnah ("and they stood"), which advances the narrative sequence: after ascending, the second group of cows takes a position etsel ha-parot ("beside the cows") al sefat ha-ye'or ("on the bank of the river/Nile"), using sefat ("lip/bank") in construct with ha-ye'or.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the cows' condition as aischrai tō eidei kai leptai tais sarxin ("ugly in form and thin in flesh"), close to the Hebrew construct pattern but using dative nouns rather than construct chains. The LXX also adds en tō achei ("in the marsh/reed-grass"), a detail not present in the Hebrew text, which only mentions the riverbank (sefat ha-ye'or). The Vulgate's in locis virentibus ("in green/verdant places") similarly introduces an element of vegetation not found in the Hebrew, which the Vulgate may share in spirit with the LXX's added phrase.