Genesis 37:8–36

⁸Then 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.

⁹Now he ¹had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He 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?”

^11aHis brothers were jealous of him, but his father ^bkept the saying in mind.

¹²Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.

¹³Israel 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.”

¹⁴Then 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.

¹⁵A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “¹What are you looking for?”

¹⁶He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”

¹⁷Then 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.

The Plot against Joseph

¹⁸¹When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they ^aplotted against him to put him to death.

¹⁹They 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!”

²¹But ^aReuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not ¹take his life.”

²²Reuben 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.

²³So it came about, when Joseph ¹reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his ²tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;

²⁴and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵Then 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.

²⁶Judah 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.

²⁸Then 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.

²⁹Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^atore his garments.

³⁰He returned to his brothers and said, “^aThe boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”

³¹So ^athey took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood;

³²and 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.”

³³Then he ¹examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. ^aA wild beast has devoured him; ^bJoseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

³⁴So Jacob ^atore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵Then 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.

³⁶Meanwhile, the ¹Midianites ^asold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.