Genesis 37
1 And Jacob dwells in the land of his father’s sojournings—in the land of Canaan.
Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan.
2 These [are] the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a son of seventeen years, has been enjoying himself with his brothers among the flock (and he [is] a youth), with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brings in an account of their evil to their father.
These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph gave their father a bad account of them.
3 And Israel has loved Joseph more than any of his sons, for he [is] a son of his old age, and has made for him a long coat;
Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man: and he had a long coat made for him.
4 and his brothers see that their father has loved him more than any of his brothers, and they hate him, and have not been able to speak [to] him peaceably.
And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.
5 And Joseph dreams a dream, and declares to his brothers, and they add still more to hate him.
Now Joseph had a dream, and he gave his brothers an account of it, which made their hate greater than ever.
6 And he says to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream.
7 that, behold, we are binding bundles in the midst of the field, and behold, my bundle has arisen, and has also stood up, and behold, your bundles are all around, and they bow themselves to my bundle.”
We were in the field, getting the grain stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine.
8 And his brothers say to him, “Do you certainly reign over us? Do you certainly rule over us?” And they add still more to hate him, for his dreams, and for his words.
And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever.
9 And he dreams yet another dream, and recounts it to his brothers, and says, “Behold, I have dreamed a dream again, and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars, are bowing themselves to me.”
Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me.
10 And he recounts to his father, and to his brothers; and his father pushes against him, and says to him, “What [is] this dream which you have dreamed? Do we certainly come, I, and your mother, and your brothers—to bow ourselves to you, to the earth?”
And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers; but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this? am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you?
11 And his brothers are zealous against him, and his father has watched the matter.
And his brothers were full of envy; but his father kept his words in mind.
12 And his brothers go to feed the flock of their father in Shechem,
Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem.
13 and Israel says to Joseph, “Are your brothers not feeding in Shechem? Come, and I send you to them”; and he says to him, “Here I [am]”;
And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 and he says to him, “Now go see the peace of your brothers, and the peace of the flock, and bring me back word”; and he sends him from the Valley of Hebron, and he comes to Shechem.
And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well and how the flock is; then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a man finds him, and behold, he is wandering in the field, and the man asks him, saying, “What do you seek?”
And a man saw him wandering in the country, and said to him, What are you looking for?
16 And he says, “I am seeking my brothers, please declare to me where they are feeding.”
And he said, I am looking for my brothers; please give me word of where they are keeping their flock.
17 And the man says, “They have journeyed from this, for I have heard some saying, Let us go to Dothan,” and Joseph goes after his brothers, and finds them in Dothan.
And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan.
18 And they see him from afar, even before he draws near to them, and they conspire against him to put him to death.
But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death;
19 And they say to one another, “Behold, this man of the dreams comes;
Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer.
20 and now, come, and we slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and have said, An evil beast has devoured him; and we see what his dreams are.”
Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams.
21 And Reuben hears, and delivers him out of their hand, and says, “Let us not strike the life”;
But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life.
22 and Reuben says to them, “Shed no blood; cast him into this pit which [is] in the wilderness, and do not put forth a hand on him,” in order to deliver him out of their hand, to bring him back to his father.
Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.
23 And it comes to pass, when Joseph has come to his brothers, that they strip Joseph of his coat, the long coat which [is] on him,
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on;
24 and take him and cast him into the pit, and the pit [is] empty, there is no water in it.
And they took him and put him in the hole: now the hole had no water in it.
25 And they sit down to eat bread, and they lift up their eyes, and look, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, and their camels carrying spices, and balm, and myrrh, going to take [them] down to Egypt.
Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels.
26 And Judah says to his brothers, “What gain when we slay our brother, and have concealed his blood?
And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood?
27 Come, and we sell him to the Ishmaelites, and our hands are not on him, for he [is] our brother—our flesh”; and his brothers listen.
Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.
28 And Midianite merchantmen pass by and they draw out and bring up Joseph out of the pit, and sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they bring Joseph into Egypt.
And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.
29 And Reuben returns to the pit, and behold, Joseph is not in the pit, and he tears his garments,
Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief,
30 and he returns to his brothers and says, “The boy is not, and I—to where am I going?”
He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do?
31 And they take the coat of Joseph, and slaughter a kid of the goats, and dip the coat in the blood,
Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,
32 and send the long coat, and they bring [it] to their father, and say, “We have found this; please discern whether it [is] your son’s coat or not.”
And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not?
33 And he discerns it and says, “My son’s coat! An evil beast has devoured him; torn—Joseph is torn!”
And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end.
34 And Jacob tears his raiment, and puts sackcloth on his loins, and becomes a mourner for his son many days,
Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.
35 and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuses to comfort himself, and says, “For I go down to my son mourning, to Sheol,” and his father weeps for him. (Sheol h7585)
And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him. (Sheol h7585)
36 And the Midianites have sold him to Egypt, to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, head of the executioners.
And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.
