Genesis 37
37
Joseph’s Dreams
1Now Jacob lived in the land where his father was a foreigner, # Ge 17:8; 28:4 in the land of Canaan.
2These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers, and the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. # Ge 35:25–26 Joseph brought back a bad report # 1Sa 2:22–24 about them to their father.
3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. # Ge 37:23, 32 # 37:3 From the Gk, a cloak with long sleeves, a full-length cloak, or an embroidered cloak, showing favoritism. 4But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. # Ge 27:41; 49:23
5Now Joseph dreamed a dream, # Ge 28:12; Da 4:5; 7:1 and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have dreamed. 7Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf rose up and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” # Ge 42:6, 9
8His brothers said to him, “Will you really reign over us, or will you really have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
9Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing to me.”
10But when he told it to his father and 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 really come to bow down ourselves to you to the ground?” # Ge 27:29 11So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. # Lk 2:19, 51
Joseph Sold into Slavery
12Now his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. # Ge 33:18 13Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
14Israel said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, # Ge 13:18; 35:27 and he came to Shechem.
15A certain man found him wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16And he said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
17The man said, “They have departed from here. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” # 2Ki 6:13
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
18When they saw him some distance away, before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. # Ps 37:12, 32
19They said one to another, “The master of dreams comes! 20Come now, let us kill him and throw him into some pit, and we will say, ‘Some evil beast has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”
21But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not kill him.” # Ge 42:22 22Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him,” so that he might rescue him out of their hands and deliver him to his father again.
23When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat—his coat of many colors that he had on. # Ge 37:3 24And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty, and there was no water in it. # Jer 38:6
25Then they sat down to eat. And looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, carrying it down to Egypt. # Ge 43:11
26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? # Ge 4:10 27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let us not lay our hand on him, # 1Sa 18:17 for he is our brother and our own flesh.” So his brothers agreed. # Ge 42:21
28Then when the Midianite merchants passed by, they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. # 37:28 About 8 ounces, or 230 grams. They took Joseph to Egypt. # Ps 105:17; Ac 7:9
29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. # Ge 37:34; Job 1:20 30He returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is not there, # Ge 42:13, 32 and I, where can I go?”
31They took Joseph’s coat and killed a young goat and dipped the coat in the blood. # Ge 37:3, 23 32Then they took the coat of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found. Do you know whether it is your son’s robe or not?”
33He knew it and said, “It is my son’s coat. A wild beast has devoured him. Joseph has without a doubt been torn into pieces.” # Ge 37:20; 44:28
34Jacob tore his clothes # Ge 37:29 and put sackcloth on his waist and mourned for his son many days. # 2Sa 3:31 35All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. # 2Sa 12:17 And he said, “For I will go down into the grave mourning for my son.” # Ge 42:38 So his father wept for him.
36Meanwhile the Midianites # Ge 37:28 sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. # Ge 40:4
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.
Genesis 37
37
Joseph Has Two Dreams
1Jacob lived in the land of Canaan. It’s the land where his father had stayed.
2Here is the story of the family line of Jacob.
Joseph was a young man. He was 17 years old. He was taking care of the flocks with some of his brothers. They were the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father Jacob. Joseph brought their father a bad report about his brothers.
3Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. That’s because Joseph had been born to him when he was old. Israel made him a beautiful robe. 4Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. So they hated Joseph. They couldn’t even speak one kind word to him.
5Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6He said to them, “Listen to the dream I had. 7We were tying up bundles of grain out in the field. Suddenly my bundle stood up straight. Your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it.”
8His brothers said to him, “Do you plan to be king over us? Will you really rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream. They didn’t like what he had said.
9Then Joseph had another dream. He told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said. “I had another dream. This time the sun and moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me.”
10He told his father as well as his brothers. Then his father rebuked him. He said, “What about this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers really do that? Will we really come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11His brothers were jealous of him. But his father kept the dreams in mind.
Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers
12Joseph’s brothers had gone to take care of their father’s flocks near Shechem. 13Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are taking care of the flocks near Shechem. Come. I’m going to send you to them.”
“All right,” Joseph replied.
14So Israel said to him, “Go to your brothers. See how they are doing. Also see how the flocks are doing. Then come back and tell me.” So he sent him away from the Hebron Valley.
Joseph arrived at Shechem. 15A man found him wandering around in the fields. He asked Joseph, “What are you looking for?”
16He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are taking care of their flocks?”
17“They’ve moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”
So Joseph went to look for his brothers. He found them near Dothan. 18But they saw him a long way off. Before he reached them, they made plans to kill him.
19“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. 20“Come. Let’s kill him. Let’s throw him into one of these empty wells. Let’s say that a wild animal ate him up. Then we’ll see whether his dreams will come true.”
21Reuben heard them talking. He tried to save Joseph from them. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22“Don’t spill any of his blood. Throw him into this empty well here in the desert. But don’t harm him yourselves.” Reuben said that to save Joseph from them. He was hoping he could take him back to his father.
23When Joseph came to his brothers, he was wearing his beautiful robe. They took it away from him. 24And they threw him into the well. The well was empty. There wasn’t any water in it.
25Then they sat down to eat their meal. As they did, they saw some Ishmaelite traders coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, lotion and myrrh. They were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and try to cover up what we’ve done? 27Come. Let’s sell him to these traders. Let’s not harm him ourselves. After all, he’s our brother. He’s our own flesh and blood.” Judah’s brothers agreed with him.
28The traders from Midian came by. Joseph’s brothers pulled him up out of the well. They sold him to the Ishmaelite traders for eight ounces of silver. Then the traders took him to Egypt.
29Later, Reuben came back to the empty well. He saw that Joseph wasn’t there. He was so upset that he tore his clothes. 30He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Now what should I do?”
31Then they got Joseph’s beautiful robe. They killed a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They took the robe back to their father. They said, “We found this. Take a look at it. See if it’s your son’s robe.”
33Jacob recognized it. He said, “It’s my son’s robe! A wild animal has eaten him up. Joseph must have been torn to pieces.”
34Jacob tore his clothes. He put on the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad. Then he mourned for his son many days. 35All Jacob’s other sons and daughters came to comfort him. But they weren’t able to. He said, “I will continue to mourn until I go down into the grave to be with my son.” So Joseph’s father mourned for him.
36But the traders from Midian sold Joseph to Potiphar in Egypt. Potiphar was one of Pharaoh’s officials. He was the captain of the palace guard.
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