Genesis 37:1–25

¹And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father sojourned—in the land of Canaan. ²These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them. ³And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was son of his old age; and he made him a vest of many colours. ⁴And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, and they hated him, and could not greet him with friendliness.

⁵And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. ⁶And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream, which I have dreamt: ⁷Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields, and lo, my sheaf rose up, and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves came round about and bowed down to my sheaf. ⁸And his brethren said to him, Wilt thou indeed be a king over us? wilt thou indeed rule over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. ⁹And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamt another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me. ¹⁰And he told it to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream which thou hast dreamt? Shall we indeed come, I and thy mother and thy brethren, to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? ¹¹And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying.

¹²And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock at Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock at Shechem? Come, that I may send thee to them. And he said to him, Here am I. ¹⁴And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again. And he sent him out of the vale of Hebron; and he came towards Shechem. ¹⁵And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the country; and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? ¹⁶And he said, I am seeking my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. ¹⁷And the man said, They have removed from this; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸And when they saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to put him to death. ¹⁹And they said one to another, Behold, there comes that dreamer! ²⁰And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams. ²¹And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life. ²²And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood: cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness; but lay no hand upon him—in order that he might deliver him out of their hand, to bring him to his father again.

²³And it came to pass when Joseph came to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his vest, the vest of many colours, which he had on; ²⁴and they took him and cast him into the pit; now the pit was empty—there was no water in it. ²⁵And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead; and their camels bore tragacanth, and balsam, and ladanum—going to carry it down to Egypt.