Genesis 41:5

Summary

Genesis 41:5 narrates Pharaoh falling asleep and dreaming a second dream, in which seven ears of grain grow on a single stalk, described as fat and good. The verse marks the transition from the first dream (of the cows) to the second dream sequence.

Key words

• va-yiySHan ("he slept", H3462) — qal verb with narrative vav, presenting the action as the next event in the sequence: "and then he slept."
• va-yachaLom ("he dreamed", H2492B) — qal verb with narrative vav, chained directly to the previous verb, continuing the narrative flow.
• sheNit ("a second [time]", H8145) — feminine singular ordinal number in construct form, marking this as the second occurrence of dreaming.
• oLot ("coming up", H5927G) — qal participle, feminine plural, describing the ears of grain as being in the ongoing action of ascending/growing, rather than using a finite past-tense verb.
• beri'ot ("fat", H1277) and toVot ("good", H2896A) — both feminine plural adjectives modifying shibboLim ("ears of grain", H7641B), agreeing in gender and number with the noun they describe.

What the text says

The verse opens with two narrative-vav verbs in sequence — va-yiySHan ("he slept", H3462) and va-yachaLom ("he dreamed", H2492B) — a construction typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative that presents actions as a chain of consecutive events: "and he slept, and he dreamed." The word sheNit ("a second [time]", H8145) specifies that this is the second dream in the sequence, paralleling the earlier dream involving cows.

The interjection hiNeh ("there!", H2009) introduces the content of the dream with immediacy, as if placing the reader inside the vision. The subject of the dream, shibboLim ("ears of grain", H7641B), is described using the participle oLot ("coming up", H5927G) rather than a finite verb — participles in Hebrew narrative often convey an ongoing or vivid present-tense quality within the reported scene, contributing to the dream-like, unfolding nature of the image. The grain grows "on one stalk" (be-qaNeh 'eChad), an anomaly emphasized by the numeral "one" (H0259), setting up the contrast with the seven ears. Finally, the ears are qualified by two feminine plural adjectives, beri'ot ("fat", H1277) and toVot ("good", H2896A), both agreeing with shibboLim in gender and number, describing their appearance as full and good before any negative counterpart is introduced later.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the plural cardinal sheva' ("seven", H7651) construction similarly, but where the Hebrew adjectives are beri'ot ("fat", H1277) and toVot ("good", H2896A), the LXX uses ἐκλεκτοὶ ("choice/select") and καλοί ("good"), shifting the sense of the first adjective from physical fatness to selectness. The Vulgate uses plenæ ("full") and formosæ ("beautiful"), also diverging from the Hebrew's specific notion of "fatness" tied to H1277.