Genesis 37
37
1Jacob settled down and lived in Canaan as his father had done.
2This is the story of Jacob and his family. Joseph was seventeen, and helped look after the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph told his father about some of the bad things his brothers were doing.
3Israel#37:3. “Israel,” that is, Jacob. loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him when he was already old. He made a colorful robe with long sleeves for Joseph. 4When his brothers noticed that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and had nothing good to say about him.
5Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more. 6“Listen to this dream I had,” he told them. 7“We were tying up bundles of grain out in the fields when all of a sudden my bundle stood up, and your bundles came over and bowed down to it.”
8“Do you really think you're going to be our king?” they asked. “Do you honestly believe you're going to rule over us?” They hated him even more because of his dream and how he described it.
9Then he had another dream and told his brothers about it. “Listen, I had another dream,” he explained. “The sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down before me.”
10He also told his father as well as his brothers, and his father told him off, saying, “What's this dream that you've had? Are we—I and your mother and brothers—really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11Joseph's brothers became jealous of him, but his father puzzled over the meaning of the dream.
12One day Joseph's brothers took their father's flocks to graze near Shechem. 13Israel told Joseph, “Your brothers are looking after the sheep near Shechem. Get ready because I want you to go and see them.”
“I'll do it,” Joseph replied.
14So he told him, “Off you go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and come back and let me know.” So he sent him off.
Joseph set out from the Hebron Valley, 15and arrived in Shechem. A man there found him wandering about in the field, so he asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16“I'm looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they're looking after the flock?”
17“They've already left,” the man replied. “I heard them say, ‘Let's go to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers and caught up with them at Dothan.
18But they saw him coming way off in the distance, and before he got to them, they made plans to kill him. 19“Look, here comes the Lord of Dreams!” they said to each other. 20“Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We'll say that some wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what happens to his dreams!”
21When Reuben heard all this, he tried to save Joseph from them. 22“Let's not attack and kill him,” he suggested. “Don't murder him, just throw him into this pit here in the desert. You don't need to be guilty of violence.”#37:22. “You don't need to be guilty of violence”: literally “you must not send a hand against him.” Reuben is suggesting that they don't have to actively kill Joseph, but if they throw him into a pit he will die without them being guilty of committing murder. Reuben said this so that he could come back later and rescue Joseph from them and take him home to his father.
23So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off his robe—the colorful long-sleeved robe he was wearing— 24grabbed him and threw him into a pit. (The pit was empty—it didn't have any water in it.) 25They were just sitting down to have a meal when they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic spices, balm, and myrrh to take to Egypt.
26“What's the point of killing our brother?” Judah asked his brothers. “Then we'd have to cover up his death! 27Instead, why don't we sell him to these Ishmaelites? We don't have to kill him. After all he's our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28So when the Ishmaelites (who were traders from Midian)#37:28. The text sometimes refers to them as Ishmaelites and sometimes as Midianites but are clearly one and the same group. Also verse 36. came by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.
29When Reuben came back later and looked into the pit, Joseph was gone. He tore his clothes in grief. 30He returned to his brothers. “The boy's gone!” he moaned. “What am I going to do now?”
31They slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph's robe in the blood. 32Then they sent the colorful robe to their father with the message, “We found this. Please examine it and see if it's your son's robe or not.”
33His father recognized it right away and said, “This is my son's robe! Some wild animal must have eaten him. Poor Joseph has been ripped to pieces, no doubt about it!”
34Jacob tore his clothes in grief and dressed in sackcloth. He mourned the death of his son for a long time. 35All his sons and daughters tried to console him, but he rejected their attempts. “No,” he said, “I will go down into my grave mourning for my son.” So Joseph's father went on weeping for him.
36In the meantime the Ishmaelites had arrived in Egypt and had sold Joseph to Potiphar. Potiphar was one of Pharaoh's officers, the captain of the guard.
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Genesis 37: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Genesis 37
37
Joseph Dreams of Greatness
1Now Jacob dwelt in the land #Gen. 17:8; 23:4; 28:4; 36:7; Heb. 11:9where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2This is the history of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a #Gen. 35:25, 26; 1 Sam. 2:22–24bad report of them to his father.
3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was #Gen. 44:20the son of his old age. Also he #Gen. 37:23, 32; Judg. 5:30; 1 Sam. 2:19made him a tunic of many colors. 4But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they #Gen. 27:41; 49:23; 1 Sam. 17:28; John 15:18–20hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
5Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7#Gen. 42:6, 9; 43:26; 44:14There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, #Gen. 46:29; 47:25the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and #Gen. 27:29your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” 11And #Matt. 27:17, 18; Acts 7:9his brothers envied him, but his father #Dan. 7:28; Luke 2:19, 51kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in #Gen. 33:18–20Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”
So he said to him, “Here I am.”
14Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of #Gen. 13:18; 23:2, 19; 35:27; Josh. 14:14, 15; Judg. 1:10Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
15Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”
16So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. #Song 1:7Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
17And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in #2 Kin. 6:13Dothan.
18Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, #1 Sam. 19:1; Ps. 31:13; 37:12, 32; Matt. 21:38; 26:3, 4; 27:1; Mark 14:1; John 11:53; Acts 23:12they conspired against him to kill him. 19Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20#Gen. 37:22; Prov. 1:11Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”
21But #Gen. 42:22Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
23So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they #Matt. 27:28stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25#Prov. 30:20And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of #Gen. 16:11, 12; 37:28, 36; 39:1Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, #Jer. 8:22balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 26So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and #Gen. 37:20conceal his blood? 27Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and #1 Sam. 18:17let not our hand be upon him, for he is #Gen. 42:21our brother and #Gen. 29:14our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28Then #Gen. 37:25; Judg. 6:1–3; 8:22, 24Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, #Gen. 45:4, 5; Ps. 105:17; Acts 7:9and sold him to the Ishmaelites for #Matt. 27:9twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
29Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he #Gen. 37:34; 44:13; Job 1:20tore his clothes. 30And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad #Gen. 42:13, 36is no more; and I, where shall I go?”
31So they took #Gen. 37:3, 23Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”
33And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A #Gen. 37:20wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” 34Then Jacob #Gen. 37:29; 2 Sam. 3:31tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and #Gen. 50:10mourned for his son many days. 35And all his sons and all his daughters #2 Sam. 12:17arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For #Gen. 25:8; 35:29; 42:38; 44:29, 31I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.
36Now #Gen. 39:1the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.