Genesis 37
37
1Iaakob nowe dwelt in the lande, wherein his father was a stranger, in the lande of Canaan. 2These are the generations of Iaakob, when Ioseph was seuenteene yeere olde: he kept sheepe with his brethren, and the childe was with the sonnes of Bilhah, and with the sonnes of Zilpah, his fathers wiues. And Ioseph brought vnto their father their euill saying. 3Nowe Israel loued Ioseph more then all his sonnes, because he begate him in his old age, and he made him a coat of many colours. 4So when his brethren sawe that their father loued him more then all his brethren, then they hated him, and could not speake peaceably vnto him. 5And Ioseph dreamed a dreame, and told his brethren, who hated him so much the more. 6For he saide vnto them, Heare, I pray you, this dreame which I haue dreamed. 7Beholde nowe, wee were binding sheues in the middes of the field: and loe, my shefe arose and also stoode vpright, and behold, your sheues compassed rounde about, and did reuerence to my shefe. 8Then his brethren saide to him, What, shalt thou reigne ouer vs, and rule vs? or shalt thou haue altogether dominion ouer vs? And they hated him so much the more, for his dreames, and for his wordes. 9Againe hee dreamed an other dreame, and tolde it his brethren, and saide, Behold, I haue had one dreame more, and beholde, the Sunne and the Moone and eleuen starres did reuerence to me. 10Then he tolde it vnto his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him, and saide vnto him, What is this dreame, which thou hast dreamed? shall I, and thy mother, and thy brethren come in deede and fall on the ground before thee? 11And his brethren enuied him, but his father noted the saying. 12Then his brethren went to keepe their fathers sheepe in Shechem. 13And Israel said vnto Ioseph, Doe not thy brethren keepe in Shechem? come and I will send thee to them. 14And he answered him, I am here. Then he saide vnto him, Goe now, see whether it bee well with thy brethren, and how the flocks prosper, and bring me word againe. so hee sent him from the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15Then a man found him: for lo, hee was wandring in the fielde, and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? 16And he answered, I seeke my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they keepe sheepe. 17And the man said, they are departed hece: for I heard them say, Let vs goe vnto Dothan. Then went Ioseph after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 18And when they sawe him a farre off, euen before he came at them, they conspired against him for to slay him. 19For they sayd one to another, Behold, this dreamer commeth. 20Come now therefore, and let vs slay him, and cast him into some pitte, and wee will say, A wicked beast hath deuoured him: then wee shall see, what will come of his dreames. 21But when Reuben heard that, he deliuered him out of their handes, and saide, Let vs not kill him. 22Also Reuben saide vnto them, Shed not blood, but cast him into this pitte that is in the wildernesse, and lay no hande vpon him. Thus he said, that he might deliuer him out of their hand, and restore him to his father againe. 23Now when Ioseph was come vnto his brethren, they stript Ioseph out of his coate, his particoloured coate that was vpon him. 24And they tooke him, and cast him into a pit, and the pit was emptie, without water in it. 25Then they sate them downe to eate bread: and they lift vp their eyes and looked, and behold, there came a companie of Ishmeelites from Gilead, and their camels laden with spicerie, and balme, and myrrhe, and were going to cary it downe into Egypt. 26Then Iudah said vnto his brethren, What auaileth it, if we slay our brother, though wee keepe his blood secret? 27Come and let vs sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our handes be vpon him: for he is our brother and our flesh: and his brethren obeyed. 28Then the Midianites marchant men passed by, and they drewe foorth, and lift Ioseph out of the pit, and solde Ioseph vnto the Ishmeelites for twentie pieces of siluer: who brought Ioseph into Egypt. 29Afterwarde Reuben returned to the pit, and beholde, Ioseph was not in the pit: then he rent his clothes, 30And returned to his brethren, and said, The childe is not yonder, and I, whither shall I goe? 31And they tooke Iosephs coate, and killed a kidde of the goates, and dipped the coate in the blood. 32So they sent that particoloured coat, and they brought it vnto their father, and saide, This haue we founde: see nowe, whether it be thy sonnes coate, or no. 33Then he knewe it and said, It is my sonnes coate: a wicked beast hath deuoured him: Ioseph is surely torne in pieces. 34And Iaakob rent his clothes, and put sackecloth about his loynes, and sorowed for his sonne a long season. 35Then all his sonnes and all his daughters rose vp to comfort him, but he woulde not be comforted, but said, Surely I will go downe into the graue vnto my sonne mourning: so his father wept for him. 36And the Midianites solde him into Egypt vnto Potiphar an Eunuche of Pharaohs, and his chiefe stewarde.
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Genesis 37: GNV
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PUBLIC DOMAIN
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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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com