Jacob Settles in Canaan
Joseph reports on his brothers, wears the coat his father made him, and tells them a dream where they bow. They plan to kill him, sell him instead, and let a bloodied robe say the rest. Jacob refuses all comfort.
37 1Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Canaan. 2This is Jacob's family record. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, tended the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives—and brought their father a bad report about them. 3Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was born to him in his old age, and made him a robe of many colors. 4When his brothers saw their father loved him more than all of them, they hated him and could not speak kindly to him.
5Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, who hated him even more. 6He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7Suddenly we were binding sheaves in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, and suddenly your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to it."
8His brothers said to him, "Will you really reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and his words. 9He dreamed again and told his brothers, "Look, I had another dream—the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10When he told his father and brothers, his father scolded him: "What is this dream you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow to the ground before you?" 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Sent to His Brothers
12Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem. 13Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers grazing the flocks at Shechem? Come, I'll send you to them." "Here I am," he replied.
14He said to him, "Go see how your brothers and the flock are doing, and bring me word." So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and Joseph came to Shechem. 15A man found him wandering in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?"
16He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"
17"They've left here," the man said. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'" 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.
19"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to one another. 20"Now come, let's kill him, throw him into one of the pits, and say a wild animal ate him. Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams."
21Reuben heard and tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22Reuben told them, "Shed no blood—throw him into this desert cistern, but don't touch him." Reuben said this to rescue Joseph from them and take him back to his father. 23When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped off his robe—the robe of many colors he wore. 24They took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty, no water in it.
25They sat to eat, looked up, and saw an Ishmaelite caravan coming from Gilead, their camels carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, headed down to Egypt. 26Judah told his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and hide his blood? 27Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, not harm him ourselves—he's our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed. 28As Midianite traders passed, his brothers lifted Joseph from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces, and the Ishmaelites brought him to Egypt.
29When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone! Where can I turn now?"
31Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father, saying, "We found this. Examine it: is it your son's robe, or not?"
33He recognized it: "My son's robe—a dangerous animal ate him! Joseph is surely torn apart." 34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on mourning clothes, and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, saying, "No, mourning I will go down to my son in the grave." So his father wept for him. a a v35 Sheol is the realm of the dead — a shadowy place where everyone goes at death, not the later New Testament idea of hell as a place of judgment. 36Now the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, a Pharaoh official and captain of the guard.
