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Joseph dreams of power
1Jacob lived in the land of Canaan where his father was an immigrant. 2This is the account of Jacob’s descendants. Joseph was 17 years old and tended the flock with his brothers. While he was helping the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, Joseph told their father unflattering things about them. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old. Jacob had made for him a long#37.3 LXX many-colored robe. 4When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him and couldn’t even talk nicely to him.
5Joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers, which made them hate him even more. 6He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had. 7When we were binding stalks of grain in the field, my stalk got up and stood upright, while your stalks gathered around it and bowed down to my stalk.”
8His brothers said to him, “Will you really be our king and rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of the dreams he told them.
9Then Joseph had another dream and described it to his brothers: “I’ve just dreamed again, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10When he described it to his father and brothers, his father scolded him and said to him, “What kind of dreams have you dreamed? Am I and your mother and your brothers supposed to come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father took careful note of the matter.
Joseph’s brothers take revenge
12Joseph’s brothers went to tend their father’s flocks near Shechem. 13Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers tending the sheep near Shechem? Come, I’ll send you to them.”
And he said, “I’m ready.”
14Jacob said to him, “Go! Find out how your brothers are and how the flock is, and report back to me.”
So Jacob sent him from the Hebron Valley. When he approached Shechem, 15a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16Joseph said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Tell me, where are they tending the sheep?”
17The man said, “They left here. I heard them saying, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
18They saw Joseph in the distance before he got close to them, and they plotted to kill him. 19The brothers said to each other, “Here comes the big dreamer. 20Come on now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we’ll say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams!”
21When Reuben heard what they said, he saved him from them, telling them, “Let’s not take his life.” 22Reuben said to them, “Don’t spill his blood! Throw him into this desert cistern, but don’t lay a hand on him.” He intended to save Joseph from them and take him back to his father.
23When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s long robe, 24took him, and threw him into the cistern, an empty cistern with no water in it. 25When they sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with camels carrying sweet resin, medicinal resin, and fragrant resin on their way down to Egypt. 26Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and hide his blood? 27Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let’s not harm him because he’s our brother; he’s family.” His brothers agreed. 28When some Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph to Egypt.
29When Reuben returned to the cistern and found that Joseph wasn’t in it, he tore his clothes. 30Then he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy’s gone! And I—where can I go now?”
31His brothers took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They took the long robe, brought it to their father, and said, “We found this. See if it’s your son’s robe or not.”
33He recognized it and said, “It’s my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph must have been torn to pieces!” 34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put a simple mourning cloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. 35All of his sons and daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, telling them, “I’ll go to my grave mourning for my son.” And Joseph’s father wept for him. 36Meanwhile the Midianites had sold Joseph to the Egyptians, to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief officer, commander of the royal guard.