Genesis 37 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

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

This is the account of Jacob's family. Joseph was seventeen, and he was out tending the flocks with his brothers — the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. And he made him a long, elaborate robe.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of them, they hated him and couldn't even speak a kind word to him.

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

He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had.

We were out in the field binding sheaves of grain, and suddenly my sheaf stood straight up — and then your sheaves all gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

His brothers shot back, "So you're going to be king over us? You think you're going to rule us?" And they hated him even more because of his dreams and what he said.

Then he had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream — the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were all bowing down to me."

When he told his father and brothers, his father rebuked him. "What kind of dream is this?" he said. "Are your mother and I and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground in front of you?"

His brothers burned with jealousy, but his father kept turning the matter over in his mind.

Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem.

Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I'm going to send you to them." "I'm ready," Joseph replied.

"Go check on your brothers," Jacob said. "See if they're doing well and if the flocks are okay, then bring me back word." So he sent him off from the valley of Hebron, and Joseph headed toward Shechem.

A man found him wandering around in the open country and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for my brothers," he said. "Can you tell me where they're grazing their flocks?"

"They've moved on from here," the man said. "I heard them say, 'Let's head to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They spotted him from a distance, and before he even reached them, they were already plotting to kill him.

They said to each other, "Look — here comes the big dreamer."

"Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We'll say a wild animal got him. Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams."

But Reuben heard this and rescued him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said.

"Don't shed any blood," Reuben told them. "Throw him into this cistern out here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him." He said this to buy time so he could come back and get Joseph out and bring him home to their father.

So when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his robe — that long, elaborate robe he was wearing —

and they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty — there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat. When they looked up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels loaded with spices, balm, and resin — headed down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood?

Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites instead. That way we won't have to lay a hand on him — he is our brother, our own flesh and blood, after all." His brothers agreed.

When the Midianite traders came by, the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

When Reuben came back to the cistern and saw that Joseph was gone, he tore his clothes in anguish.

He went back to his brothers and cried out, "The boy is gone! What am I going to do now?"

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

They sent the long, elaborate robe to their father with a message: "We found this. Take a look — is this your son's robe or not?"

He recognized it immediately. "My son's robe!" he cried. "A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces — torn to pieces!"

Jacob tore his clothes, wrapped himself in rough sackcloth, and mourned for his son for a long, long time.

All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to the grave mourning for my son." And his father wept for him.

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