Genesis 41:2

out of the river The Nile is the source of the fertility and wealth of Egypt. The cows issuing from the Nile would be a symbol of fertility. The Egyptian goddess Hathor is represented with the head of a cow.

seven kine The number "seven" is commonly employed for the purposes of symbolism. The god Osiris is represented in Egyptian drawings as an ox accompanied by seven cows.

reed-grass The Heb. word aḥutransliterates the Egyptian aḥu, or iḥi. It is found also in Genesis 41:18; Job 8:11; Hosea 13:15. LXX ἄχει, which occurs also in Isaiah 19:7; Sir 40:16. Jerome, commenting on Isaiah 19:7, explains ἄχει as quicquid in palude virens nascitur. The word, derived from a root meaning "green," is applied to the Nile reed-grass whose vivid green, under that bright sky, strikes every traveller in Egypt 1 [58]

[58] " Pro junco papyrum transtulerunt LXX, de quo charta fit, addentes de suo Achi, viride, quod in Hebraeo non habetur. Cumque ab eruditis quaererem, quid hic sermo significaret, audivi ab Aegyptiis hoc nomine lingua eorum quicquid in palude virens nasciturappellari" (Comm. in Esai, § 291).