Genesis 37
1 And Jacob dwells in the land of his father’s sojournings—in the land of Canaan.
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Chanaan wherein his father sojourned.
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.
And these are his generations: Joseph, when he was sixteen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, being but a boy: and he was with the sons of Bala and of Zelpha his father’s wives: and he accused his brethren to his father of a most wicked crime.
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 Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours.
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 his brethren seeing that he was loved by his father, more than all his sons, hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 And Joseph dreams a dream, and declares to his brothers, and they add still more to hate him.
Now it fell out also that he told his brethren a dream, that he had dreamed: which occasioned them to hate him the more.
6 And he says to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
And he said to them: Hear my dream which I dreamed.
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.”
I thought we were binding sheaves in the field: and my sheaf arose as it were, and stood, and your sheaves standing about, bowed down before my sheaf.
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.
His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred.
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.”
He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars worshipping 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 when he had told this to his father and brethren, his father rebuked him, and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren worship thee upon the earth?
11 And his brothers are zealous against him, and his father has watched the matter.
His brethren therefore envied him: but his father considered the thing with himself.
12 And his brothers go to feed the flock of their father in Shechem,
And when his brethren abode in Sichem feeding their father’s flocks,
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]”;
Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem: come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered:
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.
I am ready: he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren, and the cattle: and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem:
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 found him there wandering in the field, and asked what he sought.
16 And he says, “I am seeking my brothers, please declare to me where they are feeding.”
But he answered: I seek my brethren; tell me where they feed the flocks.
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 to him: They are departed from this place: for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain.
18 And they see him from afar, even before he draws near to them, and they conspire against him to put him to death.
And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him.
19 And they say to one another, “Behold, this man of the dreams comes;
And said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh.
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.”
Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him:
21 And Reuben hears, and delivers him out of their hand, and says, “Let us not strike the life”;
And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, and said:
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 take away his life, nor shed his blood: but cast him into this pit, that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless: now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands and to restore him to his father.
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,
And as soon as he came to his brethren, they forthwith stript him of his outside coat, that was of divers colours:
24 and take him and cast him into the pit, and the pit [is] empty, there is no water in it.
And cast him into an old pit, where there was no water.
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.
And sitting down to eat bread, they saw some Ismaelites on their way coming from Galaad, with their camels, carrying spices, and balm, and myrrh to Egypt.
26 And Judah says to his brothers, “What gain when we slay our brother, and have concealed his blood?
And Juda said to his brethren: What will it profit us to kill our brother, and conceal 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.
It is better that he be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands be not defiled: for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren agreed to his words.
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 when the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites, for twenty pieces of silver: and they led him into Egypt.
29 And Reuben returns to the pit, and behold, Joseph is not in the pit, and he tears his garments,
And Ruben, returning to the pit, found not the boy:
30 and he returns to his brothers and says, “The boy is not, and I—to where am I going?”
And rending his garments he went to his brethren, and said: The boy doth not appear and whither shall I go?
31 And they take the coat of Joseph, and slaughter a kid of the goats, and dip the coat in the blood,
And they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid, which they had killed:
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.”
Sending some to carry it to their father, and to say: This we have found: see whether it be thy 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 the father acknowledging it, said: It is my son’s coat, an evil wild beast hath eaten him, a beast hath devoured Joseph.
34 And Jacob tears his raiment, and puts sackcloth on his loins, and becomes a mourner for his son many days,
And tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time.
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 children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning. And whilst he continued weeping, (Sheol h7585)
36 And the Midianites have sold him to Egypt, to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, head of the executioners.
The Madianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharao, captain of the soldiers.
