37:1 Jacob lived¹ in the land where his father had stayed,² in the land of Canaan.³

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old Joseph,⁴ was taking care of⁵ the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a lad⁶ with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them⁷ to their father.

37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons,⁸ because he was the son of his old age; and he made for him a special tunic.⁹ 37:4 When his brothers saw¹⁰ that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him and were not able to speak to him peaceably.¹¹

37:5 Joseph had a dream,¹² and he told his brothers;¹³ and they hated him all the more.¹⁴ 37:6 And he said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamt. 37:7 Now,¹⁵ we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose up and also stood upright, but your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed down¹⁶ to it.” 37:8 Then his brothers said to him, “Will you indeed reign¹⁷ over us, or, will you indeed have dominion¹⁸ over us?” And they hated him all the more¹⁹ because of his dream and because of his words.²⁰

37:9 And he had another dream,²¹ and told it to his brothers. And he said, “Look,²² I had another dream. Here the sun and the moon and the eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 37:10 When he told²³ his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you dreamed?²⁴ Will we indeed come to bow down²⁵ to you to the ground, I and your mother and your brothers?” 37:11 His brothers were jealous²⁶ of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.²⁷

37:12 When his brothers had gone²⁸ to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 37:13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers²⁹ are grazing the flocks near Shechem; come, I will send you to them.” And Joseph³⁰ said, “I’m ready.”³¹ 37:14 So he said to him, “Go, now, and check on³² the welfare³³ of your brothers and on the welfare of the flocks, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

37:15 And a man found him wandering³⁴ in the field, so the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?” 37:16 And he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Tell³⁵ me where they are grazing their flocks?” 37:17 And the man said, “They left this area,³⁶ for I heard them say, “Let’s go to Dothan.” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

37:18 But they saw him from a distance, and before he came near them they plotted to put him to death. 37:19 They said³⁷ to each other, “Here comes this master of dreams!³⁸ 37:20 Come now, let’s slay him and cast him into one of the cisterns, and say that a wild³⁹ animal devoured him. Then we will see how his dreams turn out.”⁴⁰

37:21 When Reuben heard,⁴¹ he rescued him from their hands,⁴² saying,⁴³ “Let’s not take his life.”⁴⁴ 37:22 Reuben also said to them, “Do not shed blood. Throw him into this cistern that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.”⁴⁵ (He said this⁴⁶ in order to rescue him from their hand to restore him to his father.)

37:23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the special tunic that was on him, 37:24 and they took him and cast him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty, there was no water in it.⁴⁷

37:25 Then they sat down to eat their food.⁴⁸ And they lifted up their eyes⁴⁹ and saw⁵⁰ a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying spices and balm and myrrh, traveling along to take them down to Egypt. 37:26 And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we slay our brother and cover up his blood? 37:27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites; but let’s not lay a hand on him,⁵¹ for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed.⁵² 37:28So when⁵³ the Midianite merchants passed by, they pulled⁵⁴ Joseph out of the cistern, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt.

37:29 Then Reuben returned to the cistern to find that⁵⁵ Joseph was not in the cistern! And he tore his clothes. 37:30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?” 37:31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, and they killed a kid of the goats,⁵⁶ and dipped the tunic in the blood. 37:32 Then they sent⁵⁷ the special tunic, and brought it to their father, and said, “We found this. Recognize now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”

37:33 And he recognized it. And he said, “It is the tunic of my son. A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth⁵⁸ and mourned for his son many days. 37:35 All his sons and all his daughters stood by⁵⁹ to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said,⁶⁰ “No, I will go down to my son in mourning to the grave.”⁶¹ So his father wept for him.

37:36 Now the Medanim⁶² sold Joseph into Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.⁶³