Genesis 37
1 Now Jacob lived in athe land 1where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the records of the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, when aseventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with bthe sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a cbad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was athe son of his old age; and he made him a 1bvaricolored tunic.
4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they ahated him and could not speak to him 1on friendly terms.
5 Then Joseph 1ahad a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have 1had;
7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and abowed down to my sheaf.”
8 Then his brothers said to him, “aAre you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Now he 1had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have 1had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have 1had? Shall I and your mother and ayour brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”
11 aHis brothers were jealous of him, but his father bkept the saying in mind.
12 Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.
13 Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in aShechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “1I will go.”
14 Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of aHebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “1What are you looking for?”
16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”
17 Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to aDothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 1When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they aplotted against him to put him to death.
19 They said to one another, “1Here comes this dreamer!
20 “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and awe will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”
21 But aReuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not 1take his life.”
22 Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father.
23 So it came about, when Joseph 1reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his 2tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;
24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat 1a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of aIshmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing 2baromatic gum and 3cbalm and 4myrrh, 5on their way to bring them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and acover up his blood?
27 “aCome and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
28 Then some aMidianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and bsold 1him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus cthey brought Joseph into Egypt.
29 Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he atore his garments.
30 He returned to his brothers and said, “aThe boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”
31 So athey took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood;
32 and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please 1examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”
33 Then he 1examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. aA wild beast has devoured him; bJoseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
34 So Jacob atore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
35 Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will ago down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
Genesis 42–47
Joseph’s Brothers Sent to Egypt
1 Now aJacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”
2 He said, “Behold, aI have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us 1from that place, bso that we may live and not die.”
3 Then ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt.
4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother aBenjamin with his brothers, for he said, “bI am afraid that harm may befall him.”
5 So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, afor the famine was in the land of Canaan also.
6 Now aJoseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bbowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
7 When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and aspoke to them harshly. And he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
8 But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although athey did not recognize him.
9 Joseph aremembered the dreams which he 1had about them, and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the 2undefended parts of our land.”
10 Then they said to him, “No, amy lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
11 “We are all sons of one man; we are ahonest men, your servants are not spies.”
12 Yet he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the 1undefended parts of our land!”
13 But they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with aour father today, and bone is no longer alive.”
14 Joseph said to them, “It is as I said 1to you, you are spies;
15 by this you will be tested: aby the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
16 “Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is atruth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”
17 So he put them all together in aprison for three days.
18 Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for aI fear God:
19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in 1your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households,
20 and abring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so.
21 Then they said to one another, “aTruly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.”
22 Reuben answered them, saying, “aDid I not tell 1you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? 2bNow comes the reckoning for his blood.”
23 They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them.
24 He turned away from them and awept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he btook Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
25 aThen Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.
26 So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there.
27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his amoney; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.
28 Then he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts 1sank, and they turned 2trembling to one another, saying, “aWhat is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,
30 “The man, the lord of the land, aspoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 “But we said to him, ‘We are ahonest men; we are not spies.
32 ‘We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’
33 “The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘aBy this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go.
34 ‘But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but 1honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may atrade in the land.’ ”
35 Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, aevery man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.
36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have abereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.”
37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my 1care, and I will return …