Through My Bible Year 03 – April 17

genesis 37

Trouble in Jacob’s family

¹ Jacob lived in the country where his father lived as a stranger, that is, in the country of Canaan.

² This is the account of the progress of the dynasty of Jacob:

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending sheep with his brothers. He was just a boy compared to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph gave bad news about them to his father. ³ Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son born to him in his old age. ⁽¹⁾ And he made a special dress for him. ^{(2) 4} His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all the brothers, so they hated him and could not talk to him in a friendly manner.

⁵ Once Joseph saw a dream, and he told it to his brothers, so they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream that I have had: ⁷ There we were tying bundles in the field, and suddenly my bundle stood up straight. Then your sheaves gathered together and bowed before my sheaf.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “So will you really reign over us? Will you really reign over us?” Because of his dreams and his words they began to hate him even more.

⁹ Then he saw another dream and reported it to his brothers. He said, “Listen, I dreamed another dream. I saw this: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ He told this to his father and brothers. His father rebuked him and said, “What kind of dream have you seen? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and fall down before you on the ground and worship?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept his word to himself.

¹² His brothers went to Shechem to feed their father’s sheep. ¹³ Israel said to Joseph, Are your brothers tending sheep in Shechem? Go, I will send you to them.

Joseph said to him, “Yes, I will do it.”

¹⁴ Israel said to him, “Please go and see if everything is well with your brothers and your flocks. Then report back to me.” So he sent him away from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ When he was roaming in the rural area, a man met him. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are grazing the herd.”

¹⁷ The man said, “They’ve gone out of here. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’

Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. ¹⁸ They saw him from a distance, and they plotted to kill him before he came near them. ¹⁹ They said to each other, “Look, this master of dreams is coming here. ²⁰ Come, let us kill him and throw him in a pond and say, ‘A wild animal ate him.’ Then we will see what will happen to his dreams.”

²¹ Reuben heard this and saved him from their hands. They said, “Let us not take his life.” ²² Reuben said to them, Don’t shed blood, throw him into this pond in the forest, but don’t lay a hand on him. He said this so that he could rescue her from their hands and return her to her father.

²³ And so when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his special garment that he was wearing. ²⁴ Then they took him and threw him into the pond. The tank was empty; There was no water in it.

²⁵ They sat down to eat bread, and they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh on camels, to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, What is the use of killing our brother and hiding his blood? ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and do not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother and our own body.” His brothers listened to him. ²⁸ When the Midianites, who were traders, were passing by, the brothers took Joseph out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of ⁽³⁾ Of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the cistern, he saw that Joseph was not in the cistern, so he tore his clothes. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is no longer here, and as for me, where will I go now?”

³¹ Then they took Joseph’s garment, killed a goat, and dipped the garment in the goat’s blood. ³² They took that particular garment, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found it. Now examine it, and see whether it is your son’s garment or not.”

³³ He recognized it and said, “This is my son’s robe. A wild animal has eaten it. Joseph has undoubtedly been torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Jacob tore his clothes, tied sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. ³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters rose up to console him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “No, I will mourn for my son until I go to the grave.” That’s why his father cried for him.

³⁶ The Midianites in Egypt sold him to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials and the chief of executioners.