Genesis 37
1 And Jacob dwells in the land of his father’s sojournings—in the land of Canaan.
Jacob settled down and lived in Canaan as his father had done.
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.
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.
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;
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.
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.
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.
5 And Joseph dreams a dream, and declares to his brothers, and they add still more to hate him.
Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more.
6 And he says to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
“Listen to this dream I had,” he told them.
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 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.”
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.
“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.
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 told his brothers about it. “Listen, I had another dream,” he explained. “The sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down before 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?”
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?”
11 And his brothers are zealous against him, and his father has watched the matter.
Joseph's brothers became jealous of him, but his father puzzled over the meaning of the dream.
12 And his brothers go to feed the flock of their father in Shechem,
One day Joseph's brothers took their father's flocks to graze near 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]”;
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.
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.
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,
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 arrived in Shechem. A man there found him wandering about in the field, so he asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 And he says, “I am seeking my brothers, please declare to me where they are feeding.”
“I'm looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they're looking after the 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.
“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.
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 coming way off in the distance, and before he got to them, they made plans to kill him.
19 And they say to one another, “Behold, this man of the dreams comes;
“Look, here comes the Lord of Dreams!” they said to each other.
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 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!”
21 And Reuben hears, and delivers him out of their hand, and says, “Let us not strike the life”;
When Reuben heard all this, he tried to save Joseph from them.
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.
“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.
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 arrived, his brothers ripped off his robe—the colorful long-sleeved robe he was wearing—
24 and take him and cast him into the pit, and the pit [is] empty, there is no water in it.
grabbed him and threw him into a pit. (The pit was empty—it didn't have any 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.
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.
26 And Judah says to his brothers, “What gain when we slay our brother, and have concealed his blood?
“What's the point of killing our brother?” Judah asked his brothers. “Then we'd have to cover up his death!
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.
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.
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.
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.
29 And Reuben returns to the pit, and behold, Joseph is not in the pit, and he tears his garments,
When Reuben came back later and looked into the pit, Joseph was gone. He tore his clothes in grief.
30 and he returns to his brothers and says, “The boy is not, and I—to where am I going?”
He returned to his brothers. “The boy's gone!” he moaned. “What am I going to do now?”
31 And they take the coat of Joseph, and slaughter a kid of the goats, and dip the coat in the blood,
They slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph's robe in the blood.
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.”
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.”
33 And he discerns it and says, “My son’s coat! An evil beast has devoured him; torn—Joseph is torn!”
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!”
34 And Jacob tears his raiment, and puts sackcloth on his loins, and becomes a mourner for his son many days,
Jacob tore his clothes in grief and dressed in sackcloth. He mourned the death of his son for 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)
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)
36 And the Midianites have sold him to Egypt, to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, head of the executioners.
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.
