Genesis 41:4

Summary

This verse concludes Pharaoh's first dream: the seven cows described as ra'ot ("displeasing", H7451) in appearance and daqot ("thin", H1851) in flesh devour the seven cows that are yefot ("good-looking", H3303) in appearance and beri'ot ("fat", H1277). The verse ends with Pharaoh's awakening, marked by vayyiqats ("and he awoke", H3364).

Key words

• to.khal.nah ("they ate", H0398) — qal verb, feminine plural, narrative form (with narrative vav) indicating the next event in the sequence; the feminine plural agrees with "the cows" (ha.parot) as grammatical subject.
• ra'ot ("displeasing of", H7451) — feminine plural construct adjective; construct form links it to ha.mar'eh ("the appearance"), producing the phrase "displeasing of appearance," i.e., an adjective functioning as head of a construct chain.
• daqot ("thin of", H1851) — feminine plural construct adjective, parallel to ra'ot, linked to ha.basar ("the flesh"): "thin of flesh."
• 'et ("", H0853) — direct object marker, untranslated, signaling that "the seven cows" (shéva ha.parot) is the grammatical object of to.khal.nah, i.e., the object being eaten.
• vayyiqats ("and he awoke", H3364) — qal verb, narrative form, masculine singular, marking Pharaoh as subject and closing the narrative unit with a new sequential action.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structures the action around the verb to.khal.nah ("they ate"), with the subject ha.parot ("the cows") modified by two construct-adjective phrases: ra'ot ha.mar'eh ("displeasing of appearance") and daqot ha.basar ("thin of flesh"). These construct forms (H7451, H1851) do not stand alone as simple adjectives but grammatically govern the following noun, producing a chain typical of Biblical Hebrew descriptive syntax — literally "displeasing-ones-of appearance" rather than "cows that are displeasing in appearance."

The object of the eating is marked explicitly by 'et (H0853), introducing shéva ha.parot ("the seven cows"), which is itself further specified by two more construct-adjective phrases: yefot ha.mar'eh ("good-looking of appearance", H3303) and the plain adjective ha.beri'ot ("the fat", H1277) — this last one lacking construct form, appearing as a simple attributive adjective with the article, paralleling but not matching the construct chain of the first cows.

The clause is closed by a second narrative-vav verb, vayyiqats ("and he awoke", H3364), shifting the subject to Par'oh ("Pharaoh", H6547H) and marking the sequential end of the dream-report.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the thin cows' description with αἰσχραὶ ("ugly/shameful") for ra'ot and adds τὰς ἐκλεκτάς ("the choice ones") for ha.beri'ot, where the Hebrew uses a plain adjective "fat" without an evaluative term like "choice." The Vulgate compresses the construct-chain descriptions into a single relative clause ("quarum mira species et habitudo corporum erat"), losing the parallel construct structure of ra'ot ha.mar'eh / yefot ha.mar'eh present in the Hebrew. The Hebrew explicitly marks the object of "eating" with 'et (H0853) before "the seven cows," a grammatical marker with no formal equivalent reproduced in the LXX or Vulgate word order.