Genesis 37

1Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Canaan.

2This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flock with his brothers. He was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought their father a bad report about them.

3Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him an ornate robe.

4When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

5Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

6He said to them, “Please listen to this dream I had.

7We were binding sheaves out in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

8His brothers said to him, “Do you really think you will be king over us? Will you actually rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and what he said.

9Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10When he told it to his father as well as to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream you have had? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow down to the ground before you?”

11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

12His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem.

13Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock near Shechem? Come, I am going to send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.”

14So he said to him, “Go and see how your brothers are doing and how the flock is doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15A man found him wandering around in the countryside, and the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16He answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”

17The man said, “They have moved on from here. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

18They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

19They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer!

20Come on now, let us kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We will say that a wild animal ate him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.”

21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. He said, “Let us not take his life.”

22Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” He said this so that he could rescue him from their hands and bring him back to his father.

23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the ornate robe he was wearing,

24and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

25Then they sat down to eat a meal. When they looked up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with gum, balm, and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

26Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed.

28When the Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

29When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not in the cistern, he tore his clothes.

30He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! And I—where can I go?”

31Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in the blood.

32They sent the ornate robe to their father with the message, “We found this. Please examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

33He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has eaten him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

35All his sons and all his daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “No, I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” So his father wept for him.

36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.