< Genesis 37 >
1 And Jacob dwells in the land of his father’s sojournings—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.
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;
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.
5 And Joseph dreams a dream, and declares to his brothers, and they add still more to hate him.
6 And he says to them, “Please hear this dream which I have 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.”
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.
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.”
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?”
11 And his brothers are zealous against him, and his father has watched the matter.
12 And his brothers go to feed the flock of their father 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]”;
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.
15 And a man finds him, and behold, he is wandering in the field, and the man asks him, saying, “What do you seek?”
16 And he says, “I am seeking my brothers, please declare to me where they are feeding.”
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.
18 And they see him from afar, even before he draws near to them, and they conspire against him to put him to death.
19 And they say to one another, “Behold, this man of the dreams comes;
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.”
21 And Reuben hears, and delivers him out of their hand, and says, “Let us not strike the 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.
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,
24 and take him and cast him into the pit, and the pit [is] empty, there is 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.
26 And Judah says to his brothers, “What gain when we slay our brother, and have concealed 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.
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.
29 And Reuben returns to the pit, and behold, Joseph is not in the pit, and he tears his garments,
30 and he returns to his brothers and says, “The boy is not, and I—to where am I going?”
31 And they take the coat of Joseph, and slaughter a kid of the goats, and dip the coat 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.”
33 And he discerns it and says, “My son’s coat! An evil beast has devoured him; torn—Joseph is torn!”
34 And Jacob tears his raiment, and puts sackcloth on his loins, and becomes a mourner for his son many days,
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 )
36 And the Midianites have sold him to Egypt, to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, head of the executioners.
