Genesis 37:12–36

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹²Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,^{w 13}and Israel^x said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.^y Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well,” he replied.

¹⁴So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers^z and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.^a

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, ¹⁵a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.^b’ ”

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.^c

¹⁹“Here comes that dreamer!^d” they said to each other. ²⁰“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns^e and say that a ferocious animal^f devoured him.^g Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”^h

²¹When Reubenⁱ heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.^{j 22}“Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern^k here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.^l

²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe^m he was wearing—²⁴and they took him and threw him into the cistern.ⁿ The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites^o coming from Gilead.^p Their camels were loaded with spices, balm^q and myrrh,^r and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.^s

²⁶Judah^t said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?^{u 27}Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother,^v our own flesh and blood.^w” His brothers agreed.

²⁸So when the Midianite^x merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern^y and sold^z him for twenty shekels^b of silver^a to the Ishmaelites,^b who took him to Egypt.^c

²⁹When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.^{d 30}He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”^e

³¹Then they got Joseph’s robe,^f slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.^{g 32}They took the ornate robe^h back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

³³He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animalⁱ has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”^j

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes,^k put on sackcloth^l and mourned for his son many days.^{m 35}All his sons and daughters came to comfort him,ⁿ but he refused to be comforted.^o “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son^p in the grave.^q” So his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites^cr sold Joseph^s in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.^t