This verse strengthens the bizarre picture in the dream: grass-eating cows suddenly become meat-eaters.

And the gaunt and thin cows ate up the … cows: in some languages it is necessary to provide a transition between the action of the thin cows in verse 3 and what they do in this verse. For example, we may say “Then suddenly the thin and ugly cows began eating the strong and well-fed cows and ate them up completely.”

The dream is so startling that the king wakes up.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .