Genesis 41:7

Summary

The verse concludes Pharaoh's second dream: the seven thin ears of grain swallow the seven fat and full ears, after which Pharaoh wakes up and realizes it was a dream. The Hebrew text closes the episode with a narrative sequence marked by consecutive verb forms.

Key words

• tivla'nah ("they swallowed", H1104) — qal narrative verb, third person feminine plural, agreeing with the feminine plural noun shibbolim ("ears of grain"); the narrative vav ties this action directly to the preceding scene as its continuation.
• shibbolim ("ears of grain", H7641B) — masculine plural noun, though grammatically treated with feminine plural adjectives and verbs (daqqot, "thin"; beri'ot, "fat"; mele'ot, "full") in this text, a common pattern for collective/plant nouns.
• 'et ("", H0853) — direct object marker, untranslated, signaling that "the seven thin ears" is the subject and "the seven fat and full ears" is the grammatical object being swallowed.
• va-yiqats ("and he awoke", H3364) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine singular, marking Pharaoh's action as the next link in the narrative chain after the swallowing.
• hinneh ("there!", H2009) — interjection introducing the immediate perception that follows Pharaoh's awakening, drawing attention to what he then realizes.

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative-vav clauses that advance the story in sequence: first va-tivla'nah ("and they swallowed"), then va-yiqats ("and he awoke"). This chain structure marks these as sequential events within the narrated dream-report, distinct from simple description. The subject of the first clause, ha-shibbolim ha-daqqot ("the thin ears of grain"), is marked by the definite article twice (on the noun and on the adjective), a standard Hebrew pattern for definite noun-adjective phrases. The object, introduced by the marker 'et (H0853, untranslated), is shéva ha-shibbolim ha-beri'ot ve-ha-mele'ot ("the seven fat and full ears of grain"), where the adjectives beri'ot ("fat") and mele'ot ("full") are joined by the conjunction ve- ("and").

The final clause, ve-hinneh chalom ("and there! a dream"), lacks a verb; the interjection hinneh (H2009) functions here to mark Pharaoh's immediate cognitive realization, syntactically presenting the noun chalom ("dream", H2472) directly rather than through a verb of perception or knowing.

Differences between versions

The LXX describes the thin ears as ἀνεμόφθοροι ("blighted by wind"), an added qualifier not present in the Hebrew adjective daqqot ("thin," H1851). The LXX also renders the fat ears as ἐκλεκτούς ("choice/select") rather than a term corresponding directly to beri'ot ("fat," H1277). The Vulgate (Clementine) compresses the swallowing and awakening into a participial construction ("devorantes... Evigilans"), differing stylistically from the Hebrew's two independent narrative-vav clauses. The final Hebrew clause ve-hinneh chalom (verbless, interjection + noun) is rendered by the LXX as a full verbal clause, ἦν ἐνύπνιον ("it was a dream"), supplying a verb not present in the Hebrew.