In the second dream seven sickly objects again eat seven healthy objects.

And: as this is a sequence of events, it may be best to say something equivalent to “Then,” “After that,” or “Later.”

Dreamed a second time: that is, “had a second dream,” “had another dream,” “dreamed again,” or “dreamed a second time.” Following the same pattern as in verse 1, some translations say “… dreamed again, and his second dream was like this:….”

Behold, seven ears of grain … stalk: unlike the first dream, in which there is a setting (the king is looking down on the river from the bank), the second dream has no setting. Translators may find it is necessary to provide a setting by saying, for example, “This time he dreamed he was looking at a stalk of grain.”

Seven ears of grain: King James Version and British edition Good News Translation “ears of corn” may give the impression to some that the reference is to maize. However, what the king sees in his dream is a stalk of grain, perhaps wheat, with heads full of grains growing out of the stalk. Ears or “heads of grain” refers to the clusters of ripe grain at the head of the stalk. In some languages the tender clusters of grains are called “eyes of grain,” and when they are ripe are called “heads of grain.” In rice-growing areas the heads of grain may be applied to the stalk of rice.

Plump and good: plump, which means “well rounded” or “filled out,” translates the Hebrew word for “fat” used in Gen 41.2. Good News Translation says “full and ripe.” Translators should use expressions that are used to describe well-developed and ripe grains (or ears) growing on a stalk of grain, or rice.

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 .