Old Testament · Law

Genesis chapter 37

Jacob in the land where his father had lived as a — the land of .This is the of Jacob’s family. Joseph was seventeen, and he was out with his brothers — the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a about them to their father.Now 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 .When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of them, they him and .Then Joseph had a , 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 of grain, and suddenly my sheaf stood straight up — and then your sheaves all gathered around mine and to it.”His brothers shot back, “So you’re going to be over us? You think you’re going to 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 , the moon, and were all bowing down to me.”When he told his father and brothers, his father 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 , but his father .Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near .Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I’m going to send you to them.” “,” Joseph replied.“Go 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 , and Joseph headed toward Shechem.A man found him 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 .’” 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 to kill him.They said to each other, “Look — here comes the .”“Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these . We’ll say a got him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams.”But heard this and him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.“Don’t ,” Reuben told them. “Throw him into this cistern out here in the , 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 him of his robe — that long, elaborate robe he was wearing —and they grabbed him and threw him into the . The cistern was empty — there was no water in it.Then they . When they looked up, they saw a caravan of coming from , their camels loaded with — headed down to Egypt. said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and ?Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites instead. That way we won’t have to lay a hand on him — he is our brother, , after all.” His brothers agreed.When the traders came by, the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for . And they took Joseph to .When Reuben came back to the cistern and saw that Joseph was gone, he in anguish.He went back to his brothers and cried out, “ is gone! What am I going to do now?”Then they took Joseph’s robe, , 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 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!”Jacob tore his clothes, wrapped himself in rough , and mourned for his son for .All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to mourning for my son.” And his father for him.Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to , one of ’s officials — the .