Genesis 37Book 1 of 66 · 36 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending
Now Jacob settled in the land where his father had sojourned as a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was tending the flock with his brothers, and the young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought a bad report about them to his father.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a robe of many colors.
But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.
Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.
So he said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have dreamed:
There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaves gathered all around and bowed down to my sheaf.
His brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have had another dream, and this time the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me."
So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What kind of dream is this that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers actually come to bow down to the ground before you?"
And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Get ready, I will send you to them." So he said to him, "Here I am."
Then he said to him, "Please go now and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me." So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
Now a certain man found him wandering in the field, and the man asked him, "What are you looking for?"
So he said, "I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks."
And the man said, "They have moved on from here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Now when they saw him from a distance, even before he came near them, they plotted against him to kill him.
Then they said to one another, "Look, here comes this master of dreams!"
Come now therefore, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we shall say, 'Some wild beast has devoured him.' Then we shall see what will become of his dreams!
But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands and said, "Let us not take his life."
Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood, but throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him"—intending to rescue him out of their hands and restore him to his father.
So it came to pass, when Joseph arrived at his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the beautiful tunic of many colors that he wore.
Then they took him and threw him into the pit, and the pit was empty with no water in it.
And they sat down to eat a meal, and when they lifted up their eyes and looked, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.
So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there for us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?"
Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh, and his brothers agreed.
Then Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt.
Then Reuben returned to the pit, and when he saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes.
And he returned to his brothers and lamented, "The boy is gone; and I, where shall I go?"
So they took Joseph's tunic, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.
Then they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, "We have found this. Please examine whether it is your son's robe or not."
And he recognized it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces."
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned deeply for his son many days.
And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, "No, I shall go down to the grave to my son mourning," and thus his father wept for him.
Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.