Genesis 37
1 Jacob settled down and lived in Canaan as his father had done.
Jacob continued to live in the Canaan region where his father had lived previously.
2 This is the story of Jacob and his family. Joseph was seventeen, and helped look after the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph told his father about some of the bad things his brothers were doing.
(This is/I will now tell you) what happened to Jacob’s family. When his son Joseph was 17 years old, he was taking care of the flocks of sheep and goats with some of his older brothers. They were sons of his father’s (concubines/female slaves that he had taken to be his secondary wives). Joseph sometimes told his father about bad things that his brothers were doing.
3 Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him when he was already old. He made a colorful robe with long sleeves for Joseph.
Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other children, because Joseph had been born when Jacob was an old man. Jacob made for Joseph a long pretty robe that had long sleeves.
4 When his brothers noticed that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and had nothing good to say about him.
When Joseph’s older brothers realized that their father loved him more than he loved any of them, they hated him. They never spoke kindly to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more.
One night Joseph had a dream. He told his brothers about the dream.
6 “Listen to this dream I had,” he told them.
He said to them, “Listen to the dream I had!
7 “We were tying up bundles of grain out in the fields when all of a sudden my bundle stood up, and your bundles came over and bowed down to it.”
In the dream, we were tying up bundles of wheat in the field. Suddenly my bundle stood up straight, and surprisingly, your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it!”
8 “Do you really think you're going to be our king?” they asked. “Do you honestly believe you're going to rule over us?” They hated him even more because of his dream and how he described it.
His brothers said to him, “Do you think that some day you will rule over us? Are you [saying that some day] you are going to be our king?” [RHQ] They hated him even more than before because of what he had told them about his dream.
9 Then he had another dream told his brothers about it. “Listen, I had another dream,” he explained. “The sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down before me.”
Later he had another dream, and again he told his older brothers about it. He said, “Listen to this! I had another dream. In this dream, the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me!”
10 He also told his father as well as his brothers, and his father told him off, saying, “What's this dream that you've had? Are we—I and your mother and brothers—really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”
He also told his father about it. His father rebuked him, saying “What are you suggesting by that dream [RHQ]? Do you think it means that your mother and I and your older brothers will some day bow down to the ground in front of you?” [RHQ]
11 Joseph's brothers became jealous of him, but his father puzzled over the meaning of the dream.
Joseph’s older brothers were furious/angry with him, but his father just kept thinking about what the dream meant.
12 One day Joseph's brothers took their father's flocks to graze near Shechem.
One day Joseph’s older brothers went to take care of their father’s sheep and goats that were eating grass near Shechem.
13 Israel told Joseph, “Your brothers are looking after the sheep near Shechem. Get ready because I want you to go and see them.” “I'll do it,” Joseph replied.
Some time later, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are taking care of the sheep and goats near Shechem [RHQ]. I am going to send you there to see them.” Joseph replied, “Okay.”
14 So he told him, “Off you go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and come back and let me know.” So he sent him off. Joseph set out from the Hebron Valley,
Jacob said, “Go and see if they are doing okay, and if the flocks are doing okay. Then come back and give me a report.” So Jacob sent Joseph from [the valley where they were living], the valley where Hebron is located, [to go north] to find his brothers. When Joseph arrived near Shechem [city],
15 and arrived in Shechem. A man there found him wandering about in the field, so he asked him, “What are you looking for?”
while he was wandering around in the fields looking/searching for his brothers, a man saw him and asked him, “Whom are you looking/searching for?”
16 “I'm looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they're looking after the flock?”
Joseph replied, “I am looking for my older brothers. Can you tell me where they are taking care of their sheep and goats?”
17 “They've already left,” the man replied. “I heard them say, ‘Let's go to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers and caught up with them at Dothan.
The man replied, “They are not here any more. I heard one of them saying, ‘Let’s take the sheep and goats and go to Dothan [town].’” So Joseph left there and went north, and found his older brothers near Dothan.
18 But they saw him coming way off in the distance, and before he got to them, they made plans to kill him.
But they saw him when he was still far away, and they decided to kill him.
19 “Look, here comes the Lord of Dreams!” they said to each other.
They said to each other [things like], “Here comes that dreamer!”
20 “Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We'll say that some wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what happens to his dreams!”
and “Hey, let’s kill him, and then throw his body into one of the pits/cisterns. Then we will tell people that a ferocious/wild animal attacked and killed him and ate him. And then we will (find out whether his dreams come true/make sure that his dreams do not come true)!”
21 When Reuben heard all this, he tried to save Joseph from them.
Reuben heard what they were saying, so he tried to persuade them not to kill [MTY] Joseph. He said, “No, we should not kill him.
22 “Let's not attack and kill him,” he suggested. “Don't murder him, just throw him into this pit here in the desert. You don't need to be guilty of violence.” Reuben said this so that he could come back later and rescue Joseph from them and take him home to his father.
Do not even shed his blood! We can throw him into this pit/cistern in the desert, but we should not harm him [MTY].” He said that, and then left them, planning to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off his robe—the colorful long-sleeved robe he was wearing—
So when Joseph arrived where his older brothers were, they seized him and ripped off his pretty robe with long sleeves.
24 grabbed him and threw him into a pit. (The pit was empty—it didn't have any water in it.)
Then they took him and threw him into the pit/cistern. But the pit/cistern was dry; there was no water in it.
25 They were just sitting down to have a meal when they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic spices, balm, and myrrh to take to Egypt.
After they sat down to eat some food, they looked up and saw a (caravan/group [of traders]), descendants of Ishmael, coming from the Gilead area. Their camels were loaded with bags of spices and nice-smelling resins. They were going down to Egypt to sell those things there.
26 “What's the point of killing our brother?” Judah asked his brothers. “Then we'd have to cover up his death!
Judah said to his [older and younger] brothers, “If we kill our younger brother and hide his body, (what will we gain?/we will not gain anything!) [RHQ]
27 Instead, why don't we sell him to these Ishmaelites? We don't have to kill him. After all he's our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
So, instead of harming him, let’s sell him to these men who are descendants of Ishmael. Don’t forget, he is our own younger brother!” So they all agreed to do that.
28 So when the Ishmaelites (who were traders from Midian) came by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.
When those traders from the Midian area came near, Joseph’s brothers pulled him up out of the pit/cistern. Then they sold him to the men from Midian for 20 pieces of silver. The traders then took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben came back later and looked into the pit, Joseph was gone. He tore his clothes in grief.
When Reuben returned to the pit/cistern, he saw that his younger brother was not there. He was so grieved that he tore his clothes.
30 He returned to his brothers. “The boy's gone!” he moaned. “What am I going to do now?”
He went back to his [younger] brothers and said, “The boy is not in the pit/cistern! What can I do now?” [RHQ]
31 They slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph's robe in the blood.
[Joseph’s brothers did not dare to tell their father what they had done. So, they decided to invent a story about what had happened]. They got Joseph’s robe. Then they killed a goat and dipped the robe in the goat’s blood.
32 Then they sent the colorful robe to their father with the message, “We found this. Please examine it and see if it's your son's robe or not.”
They took that pretty robe back to their father and said, “We found this robe! Look at it. Is it your son’s robe?”
33 His father recognized it right away and said, “This is my son's robe! Some wild animal must have eaten him. Poor Joseph has been ripped to pieces, no doubt about it!”
He recognized it, and he said, “Yes, it is my son’s robe! Some ferocious/wild animal must have attacked and killed him! I am sure that the animal has torn Joseph to pieces!”
34 Jacob tore his clothes in grief and dressed in sackcloth. He mourned the death of his son for a long time.
Jacob was so grieved that he tore his clothes. He put on (sackcloth/clothes that people wear when they are mourning for someone who has died). He mourned/cried for his son for many days.
35 All his sons and daughters tried to console him, but he rejected their attempts. “No,” he said, “I will go down into my grave mourning for my son.” So Joseph's father went on weeping for him. (Sheol h7585)
All of his children came to try to comfort him, but he did not pay attention to what they said. He said, “No, I will still be mourning/crying when I die and go to be with my son.” So Joseph’s father continued to cry because of what had happened to his son. (Sheol h7585)
36 In the meantime the Ishmaelites had arrived in Egypt and had sold Joseph to Potiphar. Potiphar was one of Pharaoh's officers, the captain of the guard.
In the meantime, the men/traders from Midian took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, who was one of the king’s officials. He was the captain of the soldiers who protected the king.
