Genesis 37
37:1 Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan.
37:2 This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen
years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons
of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them
to their father.
37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son
of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.
37:4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers,
and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.
37:5 Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him
all the more.
37:6 He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
37:7 for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf
arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed
down to my sheaf."
37:8 His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you
indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and
for his words.
37:9 He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said,
"Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and
eleven stars bowed down to me."
37:10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and
said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother
and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?"
37:11 His brothers envied him; but his father kept this saying in mind.
37:12 His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
37:13 Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem?
Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am."
37:14 He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and
well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley
of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
37:15 A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field: and
the man asked him, saying, "What are you looking for?"
37:16 He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are
feeding the flock."
37:17 The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to
Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.
37:18 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired
against him to kill him.
37:19 They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes.
37:20 Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits,
and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become
of his dreams."
37:21 Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not
take his life."
37:22 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in
the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"-- that he might deliver him out of their
hand, to restore him to his father.
37:23 It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph
of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him;
37:24 and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There
was no water in it.
37:25 They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and
saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing
spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
37:26 Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and
conceal his blood?
37:27 Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on
him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him.
37:28 Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up
Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of
silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt.
37:29 Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he
tore his clothes.
37:30 He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where
will I go?"
37:31 They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in
the blood.
37:32 They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father,
and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or
not."
37:33 He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. An evil animal has
devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces."
37:34 Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for
his son many days.
37:35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused
to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol{Sheol is the place of the
dead or the grave.} to my son mourning." His father wept for him.
37:36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's,
the captain of the guard.
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