Joseph Dreams
1 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of the generations of Jacob.
Joseph was seventeen years old and was feeding his flock with his brothers. The boy was tending the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream that I dreamt: 7 for we were binding sheaves in the field, and my sheaf rose up and stood upright, and your sheaves came around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 9 He had yet another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “I have had yet another dream: and the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and your brothers and I indeed come to bow down to the ground to you?”
11 His brothers envied him, but his father kept this matter in mind.
Joseph Sold for 20 Pieces of Silver
12 His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.”
He said to him, “Here I am.”
14 He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers and well with the flock and bring word back to me.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 A certain man found him, and he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.”
17 The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”
Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
18 They saw him far off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “The dreamer is coming. 20 Come now, and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘A wild animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”
21 Reuben heard this and saved him from their hands, and said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might save him from their hands, to restore him to his father. 23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him, 24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.
25 They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to take it down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there in killing our brother and concealing his blood? 27 Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not let our hands be on him, for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. 28 Midianite merchants were passing by, and his brothers lifted Joseph up, drew him from the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants took Joseph to Egypt.
29 Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, and he tore his clothes. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The child is not there, and I, where will I go?”
Jacob Inconsolable
31 They took Joseph’s tunic and killed a male goat and dipped the coat in the blood. 32 They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Examine it now and see whether or not it is your son’s coat.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s coat. A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph is without a doubt, torn in pieces.” 34 Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his waist and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” His father wept for him.
36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.