Genesis 37:1–20

Joseph and His Brothers

37Jacob continued to live in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived, ²and this is the story of Jacob’s family.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, took care of the sheep and goats with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s concubines. He brought bad reports to his father about what his brothers were doing.

³Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he had been born to him when he was old. He made a long robe with full sleeves^t for him. ⁴When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated their brother so much that they would not speak to him in a friendly manner.

⁵One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more. ⁶He said, “Listen to the dream I had. ⁷We were all in the field tying up sheaves of wheat, when my sheaf got up and stood up straight. Yours formed a circle round mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸“Do you think you are going to be a king and rule over us?” his brothers asked. So they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of what he said about them.

⁹Then Joseph had another dream and said to his brothers, “I had another dream, in which I saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He also told the dream to his father, and his father scolded him: “What kind of a dream is that? Do you think that your mother, your brothers, and I are going to come and bow down to you?” ^11*Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept thinking about the whole matter.

Joseph Is Sold and Taken to Egypt

¹²One day when Joseph’s brothers had gone to Shechem to take care of their father’s flock, ¹³Jacob said to Joseph, “I want you to go to Shechem, where your brothers are taking care of the flock.”

Joseph answered, “I am ready.”

¹⁴His father said, “Go and see if your brothers are safe and if the flock is all right; then come back and tell me.” So his father sent him on his way from the Valley of Hebron.

Joseph arrived at Shechem ¹⁵and was wandering about in the country when a man saw him and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶“I am looking for my brothers, who are taking care of their flock,” he answered. “Can you tell me where they are?”

¹⁷The man said, “They have already left. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan.” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted against him and decided to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer. ²⁰Come on now, let’s kill him and throw his body into one of the dry wells. We can say that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.”