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She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
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Jacob’s Flocks Increase
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.
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He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.
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Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.
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The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
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Joseph’s Dreams
Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
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This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
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Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.
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Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
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Joseph Sold by His Brothers
Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,
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and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied.
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So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,
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“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
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So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
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So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
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When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
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Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.
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He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
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Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
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Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
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The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
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Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
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From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
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So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
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and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
