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Genesis 37

1Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Canaan. 2These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph was seventeen years old. He was tending the flock with his brothers, a young man with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought their father a bad report about them. 3Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age, and he made him a long robe. 4His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him. They could not speak peaceably to him. 5Joseph dreamed a dream and told his brothers, and they hated him still more. 6He said to them, “Please listen to this dream I have dreamed. 7Look, we were binding sheaves in the field, and my sheaf rose and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8His brothers said to him, “Will you really reign over us? Will you really rule us?” They hated him still more because of his dreams and his words. 9He dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream! The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10He told his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him. He said to him, “What is this dream you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow to the ground before you?” 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

12His brothers went to tend their father's flock at Shechem. 13Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not tending the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.” 14He said to him, “Go, please, see how your brothers are doing and how the flock is doing, and bring me word.” He sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15A man found him wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are tending the flock.” 17The man said, “They have moved from here. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18They saw him from a distance, and before he came near them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 19They said to one another, “Here comes this master of dreams! 20Now come, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We will say, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.” 21Reuben heard and rescued him from their hand. He said, “Let us not take his life.” 22Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that he could rescue him from their hand and return him to his father.

23When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his robe, the long robe he was wearing. 24They took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25They sat down to eat bread. They lifted their eyes and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balm, and resin, taking them down to Egypt. 26Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let our hand not be against him, because he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers listened. 28Midianite merchants passed by, and they pulled Joseph up out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt. 29Reuben returned to the pit, and Joseph was not in the pit. He tore his clothes. 30He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! And I—where can I go?” 31They took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They sent the long robe and brought it to their father. They said, “We found this. Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” 33He identified it and said, “My son's robe! A wild animal has eaten him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned his son for many days. 35All his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “I will go down mourning to my son in Sheol.” His father wept for him. 36Meanwhile the Medanites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

Translation notes 5

37:3 — Long robe. The exact description is uncertain. It may refer to a robe reaching the wrists or ankles, an ornamented robe, or a robe with distinctive panels. The familiar “coat of many colors” is an ancient interpretation rather than an unambiguous meaning of the Hebrew.

37:10 — Your mother. Rachel's death has already been narrated. Jacob's question retains the dream's family imagery without the translation identifying another woman as Joseph's mother or rearranging the narrative.

37:28, 36 — Merchants and agents. Verse 28 names Midianite traders and Ishmaelites, but its plural verbs do not explicitly rename the people who lift Joseph and sell him. The wording leaves the agents as “they.” Verse 36 has the related but distinct name Medanites in the Hebrew used here. These designations are not silently made identical.

37:35 — Sheol. This is the Hebrew designation for the realm of the dead; the NET Bible renders it “grave” here. Jacob expects to descend there mourning. “Sheol” preserves the named realm rather than limiting it to a burial site or substituting a later description of final punishment.

37:36 — Pharaoh's official. The Hebrew title can mean a court official or a eunuch. Potiphar's marriage in the following account favors “official” here, without settling every question about his office or bodily status.