Genesis 37

1And Jacob dwelleth in the land of his father's sojournings — in the land of Canaan.

2These [are] births of Jacob: Joseph, a son of seventeen years, hath been enjoying himself with his brethren among the flock, (and he [is] a youth,) with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph bringeth in an account of their evil unto their father.

3And Israel hath loved Joseph more than any of his sons, for he [is] a son of his old age, and hath made for him a long coat;

4and his brethren see that their father hath loved him more than any of his brethren, and they hate him, and have not been able to speak [to] him peaceably.

5And Joseph dreameth a dream, and declareth to his brethren, and they add still more to hate him.

6And he saith unto them, ‘Hear ye, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

7that, lo, we are binding bundles in the midst of the field, and lo, my bundle hath arisen, and hath also stood up, and lo, your bundles are round about, and bow themselves to my bundle.’

8And his brethren say to him, ‘Dost thou certainly reign over us? dost thou certainly rule over us?’ and they add still more to hate him, for his dreams, and for his words.

9And he dreameth yet another dream, and recounteth it to his brethren, and saith, ‘Lo, I have dreamed a dream again, and lo, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars, are bowing themselves to me.’

10And he recounteth unto his father, and unto his brethren; and his father pusheth against him, and saith to him, ‘What [is] this dream which thou hast dreamt? do we certainly come — I, and thy mother, and thy brethren — to bow ourselves to thee, to the earth?’

11and his brethren are zealous against him, and his father hath watched the matter.

12And his brethren go to feed the flock of their father in Shechem,

13and Israel saith unto Joseph, ‘Are not thy brethren feeding in Shechem? come, and I send thee unto them;’ and he saith to him, ‘Here [am] I;’

14and he saith to him, ‘Go, I pray thee, see the peace of thy brethren, and the peace of the flock, and bring me back word;’ and he sendeth him from the valley of Hebron, and he cometh to Shechem.

15And a man findeth him, and lo, he is wandering in the field, and the man asketh him, saying, ‘What seekest thou?’

16and he saith, ‘My brethren I am seeking, declare to me, I pray thee, where they are feeding?’

17And the man saith, ‘They have journeyed from this, for I have heard some saying, Let us go to Dothan,’ and Joseph goeth after his brethren, and findeth them in Dothan.

18And they see him from afar, even before he draweth near unto them, and they conspire against him to put him to death.

19And they say one unto another, ‘Lo, this man of the dreams cometh;

20and now, come, and we slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and have said, An evil beast hath devoured him; and we see what his dreams are.’

21And Reuben heareth, and delivereth him out of their hand, and saith, ‘Let us not smite the life;’

22and Reuben saith unto them, ‘Shed no blood; cast him into this pit which [is] in the wilderness, and put not forth a hand upon him,’ — in order to deliver him out of their hand, to bring him back unto his father.

23And it cometh to pass, when Joseph hath come unto his brethren, that they strip Joseph of his coat, the long coat which [is] upon him,

24and take him and cast him into the pit, and the pit [is] empty, there is no water in it.

25And they sit down to eat bread, and they lift up their eyes, and look, and lo, a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, and their camels bearing spices, and balm, and myrrh, going to take [them] down to Egypt.

26And Judah saith unto his brethren, ‘What gain when we slay our brother, and have concealed his blood?

27Come, and we sell him to the Ishmaelites, and our hands are not on him, for he [is] our brother — our flesh;’ and his brethren hearken.

28And Midianite merchantmen pass by and they draw out and bring up Joseph out of the pit, and sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silverlings, and they bring Joseph into Egypt.

29And Reuben returneth unto the pit, and lo, Joseph is not in the pit, and he rendeth his garments,

30and he returneth unto his brethren, and saith, ‘The lad is not, and I — whither am I going?’

31And they take the coat of Joseph, and slaughter a kid of the goats, and dip the coat in the blood,

32and send the long coat, and they bring [it] in unto their father, and say, ‘This have we found; discern, we pray thee, whether it [is] thy son's coat or not?’

33And he discerneth it, and saith, ‘My son's coat! an evil beast hath devoured him; torn — torn is Joseph!’

34And Jacob rendeth his raiment, and putteth sackcloth on his loins, and becometh a mourner for his son many days,

35and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuseth to comfort himself, and saith, ‘For — I go down mourning unto my son, to Sheol,’ and his father weepeth for him.

36And the Medanites have sold him unto Egypt, to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, head of the executioners.

B'resheet (Gen) 37

Parashah 9: Vayeshev (He continued living) 37:1–40:23

1Ya‘akov continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Kena‘an.

2Here is the history of Ya‘akov. When Yosef was seventeen years old he used to pasture the flock with his brothers, even though he was still a boy. Once when he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, he brought a bad report about them to their father. 3Now Isra’el loved Yosef the most of all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe. 4When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to hate him and reached the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner.

5Yosef had a dream which he told his brothers, and that made them hate him all the more. 6He said to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine. 7We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field when suddenly my bundle got up by itself and stood upright; then your bundles came, gathered around mine and prostrated themselves before it.” 8His brothers retorted, “Yes, you will certainly be our king. You’ll do a great job of bossing us around!” And they hated him still more for his dreams and for what he said.

9He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Here, I had another dream, and there were the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.” 10He told his father too, as well as his brothers, but his father rebuked him: “What is this dream you have had? Do you really expect me, your mother and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves before you on the ground?” 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

(ii) 12After this, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s sheep in Sh’khem, 13Isra’el asked Yosef, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the sheep in Sh’khem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” 14He said to him, “Go now, see whether things are going well with your brothers and with the sheep, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him away from the Hevron Valley, and he went to Sh’khem, 15where a man found him wandering around in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16“I’m looking for my brothers,” he answered. “Tell me, please, where are they pasturing the sheep?” 17The man said, “They’ve left here; because I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dotan.’” Yosef went after his brothers and found them in Dotan.

18They spotted him in the distance, and before he had arrived where they were, they had already plotted to kill him. 19They said to each other, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we’ll say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” 21But when Re’uven heard this, he saved him from being destroyed by them. He said, “We shouldn’t take his life. 22Don’t shed blood,” Re’uven added. “Throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” He intended to rescue him from them later and restore him to his father.

(iii) 23So it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, 24and took him and threw him into the cistern (the cistern was empty; without any water in it). 25Then they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim coming from Gil‘ad, their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. 26Y’hudah said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim, instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers paid attention to him. 28So when the Midyanim, merchants, passed by, they drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef on to Egypt.

29Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef wasn’t in it, tore his clothes in mourning. 30He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?”

31They took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32Then they sent the long-sleeved robe and brought it to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” 33He recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!” 34Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. 35Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

36In Egypt the Midyanim sold Yosef to Potifar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard.

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Genesis 37

B'resheet (Gen) 37