Genesis 37
37
The Dreams of Joseph
1And Jacob settled in the land of the sojourning of his father, in the land of Canaan. 2These are the generations#Or “family records” of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers. Now he was a helper with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was a son of his old age. And he made a robe with long sleeves#Or “of many colors” for him. 4When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and were not able to speak peaceably to him.
5And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers. And they hated him even more.#Literally “they added still to hate him” 6And he said to them, “Listen now to this dream that I dreamed. 7Now behold, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field and, behold, my sheaf stood up and it remained standing. Then behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8Then his brothers said to him, “Will you really rule over us?” And they hated him even more#Literally “they added still to hate him” on account of his dream and because of his words. 9Then he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream again, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10And he told it to his father and to his brothers. And 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 down to the ground to you?” 11And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold Into Slavery by his Brothers
12Now his brothers went to pasture the flock of their father in Shechem. 13And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing in Shechem? Come, let me send you to them.” And he said, “Here I am.” 14Then he said to him, “Go now, see if it goes well for your brothers and for the flock,#Literally “see the peace of your brothers and the peace of the flock” then return word to me.” And he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem. 15And a man found him, and behold, he#That is, Joseph was wandering about in a field. And the man asked him, “What do you seek?” 16And he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing.” 17And the man said, “They have moved on from here, for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” Then Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. 18And they saw him from a distance. And before he drew near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19And each said to his brothers, “Look, this master of dreams is coming. 20Now then, come, let us kill him and throw him in one of the pits. Then we will say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what his dreams become.” 21And Reuben heard it and delivered him from their hand and said, “We must not take his life.” 22And Reuben said to them, “You must not shed blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the desert, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that he might rescue him from their hand to return him to his father. 23And it happened that as Joseph came to his brothers they stripped Joseph of his robe, the robe with long sleeves,#Or “of many colors” that was upon him. 24And they took him and threw him into the pit (the pit was empty; there was no water in it). 25Then they sat down to eat some food. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead. And their camels were carrying aromatic gum and balm and spices on the way#Literally “going to bring down” to Egypt. 26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but our hand shall not be against him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. 28Then Midianite traders passed by. And they#That is, the brothers drew Joseph up and brought him up from the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph to Egypt. 29Then Reuben returned to the pit and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. And he tore his clothes. 30And he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone!#Literally “is not” Now I, what can I do?”#Literally “where am I going?” 31Then they took the robe of Joseph and slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32Then they sent the robe with long sleeves#Or “of many colors” and they brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it. Is it the robe of your son or not?” 33And he recognized it and said, “The robe of my son! A wild animal has devoured him! Joseph is surely torn to pieces!” 34And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35And all his sons and daughters tried to console him, but he refused to be consoled. And he said, “No, I shall go down to my son, to Sheol, mourning.” And his father wept for him. 36And the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh, a commander of the imperial guard.
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Genesis 37
37
Jacob’s son Joseph had dreams
1Jacob lived in Canaan country. That’s the country where his father Isaac used to have his camp.
2This is the story about what happened to Jacob’s family.
Jacob’s son Joseph was 17 years old. And Joseph and his brothers looked after the sheep that belonged to their father Jacob. Joseph used to help 4 of his brothers to look after those sheep. 2 of those brothers were Bilhah’s sons, and the other 2 were Zilpah’s sons. Bilhah and Zilpah were Jacob’s wives.
And Joseph told his father that those 4 brothers were doing bad things.
3Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was an old man. So Jacob gave Joseph a special coat.
4Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than them. So they hated Joseph, and they couldn’t talk in a friendly way to him.
5One night, Joseph had a dream. The next day, he told his brothers about his dream, and they hated him even more. 6This is what Joseph told his brothers. He said, “Listen to this dream that I had. 7In my dream, you mob and me, we were out in the place where the wheat plants grow. We were cutting down those wheat plants to get the seeds from them for food. We cut down those wheat plants, and we put them in piles on the ground. Then we tied up those piles. Suddenly, the pile of wheat that I tied up, it got up from the ground, and it stood up straight, like a person. Then those piles of wheat that you mob tied up, they got up too. They went near to my wheat, and they bent down in front of it, to show it respect.”
8Then Joseph’s brothers thought, “That dream that Joseph had, it shows that he wants to be boss over us.” So they said to him, “Do you think that you are going to be a big boss over us? Do you think that you are going to tell us what to do? No way.”
Joseph’s brothers were really angry about Joseph’s dream, and they were angry about those things that he said to them. So then they hated him even more.
9Later on, Joseph had another dream, and the next day, he told his brothers about his dream. He said to them, “Listen, I had another dream. In my dream, the sun, the moon, and 11 stars, they all bent down in front of me, to show me respect.”
10Joseph told his father about that dream too. Then Joseph’s father talked strongly to Joseph. He said, “That is a stupid dream. Do you really think that me and your mother and your brothers, we will all come and bend down in front of you, to show you respect? That will not happen.”
11Joseph’s brothers were really angry with him about those dreams, and they hated him even more.#Acts 7:9 But Joseph’s father kept on thinking about those things that Joseph said.
Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Midian mob
12Jacob and his sons lived in a place called the Valley of Hebron. One day, Joseph’s brothers took their father’s sheep to the place called Shekem, so that the sheep had grass to eat. That place was a long way from Jacob’s camp. All of Joseph’s brothers went there, but Joseph stayed at home with his father Jacob.
13Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are looking after my sheep in Shekem. I want you to go there and see how they are going.”
And Joseph said, “Yes, I will go.”
14So Jacob said to him, “Go and find out if everything is good with your brothers, and if everything is good with the sheep. Then come back here and tell me.”
So Joseph left the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shekem. 15When he got to Shekem, he walked around in the grass lands and looked for his brothers. A man saw him and said, “What are you looking for?”
16Joseph said, “I’m looking for my brothers. They came to this place with my father’s sheep. Please, can you tell me where they are?”
17The man said, “Your brothers left this place. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to the place called Dothan.’ ”
So Joseph left Shekem, and he went to Dothan. He saw his brothers there, and he started to go towards them. 18But Joseph was still a long way away, and his brothers saw him coming. So they talked quickly to each other and made a plan to kill him. 19They said to each other, “Look, there is the young man that has stupid dreams. 20Let’s kill him, and let’s throw his body into one of those big holes in the ground. Then we will tell our father, ‘A wild animal ate Joseph.’ ”
Then they said, “If we kill Joseph, that will show that his dreams are rubbish, and that he will never be boss over us.”
21But Joseph’s oldest brother Reuben, he heard his brothers say those things, and he wanted to save Joseph. So Reuben said, “No. We can’t kill him.”
22Then Reuben said to his brothers, “Don’t murder Joseph. Just chuck him into one of those big holes in the ground, here in the desert. Don’t hurt him yourselves, just leave him there to die.”
You see, Reuben wanted to save Joseph from his brothers. He thought, “Later on, I will pull Joseph out of that hole, and I will take him home to our father.”
23Then Joseph got to his brothers. He was wearing that special coat that his father gave him. So Joseph’s brothers pulled that special coat off him. 24And they grabbed him, and they chucked him into a big hole in the ground. That hole was empty, there wasn’t any water in it.
25Then Joseph’s brothers sat down to eat some food. While they were eating, they looked up, and they saw some men coming towards them with camels. Those men were from the Midian tribe. Their camels were carrying bags on their backs, and those bags had lots of bush medicine and perfumes. Those men were taking those things from Gilead country to Egypt country, to sell them there.
26One of Joseph’s brothers was called Judah. He talked to the rest of his brothers, and he said, “We talked about killing Joseph and tricking our father. But if we kill Joseph, that will be a really bad thing, and we will not get anything for ourselves. 27So let’s not kill him. Let’s sell him to this Midian mob. You know, Joseph is our brother, and we are all in the same family, so we shouldn’t hurt him.”
The rest of Joseph’s brothers agreed to do what Judah said. 28So when that Midian mob got near to them, Joseph’s brothers pulled Joseph out of that hole, and they sold him to the Midian mob for 20 pieces of silver money. Then the Midian mob took Joseph to Egypt country.#Acts 7:9
29Joseph’s brother Reuben was somewhere else, so he didn’t see his brothers sell Joseph to that Midian mob. He thought that Joseph was still in that hole in the ground. And Reuben wanted to save Joseph, so he went to that hole to get him out. But he saw that Joseph wasn’t in that hole any more, and he got really upset. He was so upset that he tore his clothes. 30Then he went back to his brothers, and he said to them, “Our young brother isn’t in that hole any more. I’m his oldest brother, but now there is nothing I can do to help him.”
Joseph’s brothers tricked their father Jacob
31Joseph’s brothers wanted their father to think that an animal killed Joseph. So they killed a goat, and they got some of that goat’s blood, and they put the blood on that special coat that belonged to Joseph. 32Then they went back home, and they took Joseph’s special coat, and they showed it to their father Jacob. They said to their father, “Look, we found this coat. Does it belong to your son?”
33Jacob looked at the coat, and he knew that it belonged to Joseph. So he said, “Yes, that is my son’s coat.” And Jacob saw the blood on that coat, so he said, “I know what happened. A wild animal ate Joseph. Yes, that animal tore him into little bits.”
34So Jacob was really sad, because he thought that Joseph was dead. He was so sad that he tore his clothes. Then he put on some clothes made out of a rough cloth, called sack-cloth, and he cried. You see, in that culture, people sometimes tore their clothes and wore sack-cloth to show that they were sad.
Jacob cried like that for lots of days. 35All of Jacob’s sons and daughters, they talked to Jacob, and they tried to help him feel happy again. But Jacob said, “No, I can’t be happy again. I will keep on crying for my son, until I die and go to join him.” And Jacob cried a lot for Joseph.
36But Joseph wasn’t really dead. That Midian mob, they took Joseph to Egypt country, and they sold him to a man called Potifar. That man Potifar, he worked for the big boss of Egypt, called Pharaoh. Potifar was in charge of all the soldiers that guarded Pharaoh’s house.
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