Genesis 37:12–36

JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

¹²His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. ¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”

“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron^d Valley, and he went to Shechem.

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

¹⁶“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”^e So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.^{f 19}They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!^{A 20}So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits.^B We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them.^C He said, “Let’s not take his life.”^{g 22}Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

²³When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the long-sleeved robe that he had on. ²⁴Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.^*

²⁵They sat down to eat a meal,^h and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.ⁱ Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.^j

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed. ²⁸When Midianite^k traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.^l

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.^{m 30}He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”^{A 31}So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. ³²They sent the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”

³³His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”^{n 34}Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.