Genesis 37
Legacy Standard Bible
The Generations of Jacob
37 Now Jacob lived in (A)the land [a]where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, when (B)seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with (C)the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back an (D)evil report about them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was (E)the son of his old age; and he made him a [b](F)varicolored tunic. 4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and so they (G)hated him and could not speak to him in peace.
Joseph’s Dreams
5 Then Joseph [c](H)had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; so they hated him even more. 6 And he said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have [d]had: 7 Indeed, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf rose up and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and (I)bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him, “(J)Are you really going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he [e]had still another dream and recounted it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have [f]had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have [g]had? Shall I and your mother and (K)your brothers really come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” 11 (L)And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father (M)kept the saying in mind.
12 Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in (N)Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “[h]I will go.” 14 Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of (O)Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “[i]What are you seeking?” 16 And he said, “I am seeking my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 Then the man said, “They have journeyed from here; for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to (P)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
18 And they saw him from a distance, and before he came close to them, they (Q)plotted against him to put him to death. 19 Then they said to one another, “[j]Here comes this dreamer! 20 So now, come and let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits; and (R)we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” 21 But (S)Reuben heard this and delivered him out of their hands and said, “Let us not strike down his life.” 22 Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not put forth your hands against him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands to return him to his father. 23 Now it happened, when Joseph [k]reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his [l]tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; 24 and they took him and cast him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
25 And they sat down to eat [m]a meal. Then they lifted up their eyes and saw, and behold, a caravan of (T)Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing [n](U)aromatic gum and [o](V)balm and [p]myrrh, going to bring them down to Egypt. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, “What gain is it that we kill our brother and (W)cover up his blood? 27 (X)Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then some (Y)Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and (Z)sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for [q]twenty shekels of silver. Thus (AA)they brought Joseph into Egypt.
29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he (AB)tore his garments. 30 Then he returned to his brothers and said, “(AC)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” 31 So (AD)they took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; 32 and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please recognize it—whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. (AE)A wild beast has devoured him; (AF)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34 So Jacob (AG)tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will (AH)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile, the [r]Midianites (AI)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
Footnotes
- Genesis 37:1 Lit of his father’s sojournings
- Genesis 37:3 Or full-length robe, long-sleeved garment; cf. 2 Sam 13:18; Song 5:3
- Genesis 37:5 Lit dreamed
- Genesis 37:6 Lit dreamed
- Genesis 37:9 Lit dreamed
- Genesis 37:9 Lit dreamed
- Genesis 37:10 Lit dreamed
- Genesis 37:13 Lit Behold me
- Genesis 37:15 Lit saying, “What...?”
- Genesis 37:19 Lit Behold, this master of dreams comes
- Genesis 37:23 Lit came to
- Genesis 37:23 Or full-length robe
- Genesis 37:25 Lit bread
- Genesis 37:25 Or ladanum spice
- Genesis 37:25 Or mastic
- Genesis 37:25 Or resinous bark
- Genesis 37:28 Approx. 8 oz. or 220 gm, a shekel was approx. 0.4 oz. or 11 gm
- Genesis 37:36 Lit Medanites
创世记 37
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
约瑟的梦
37 雅各住在他父亲寄居的迦南， 2 以下是有关雅各一家的记载。
十七岁的少年约瑟跟哥哥们，就是雅各的妾辟拉和悉帕生的儿子们一同放羊。他向父亲报告哥哥们做的坏事。 3 约瑟是以色列年老时生的，以色列特别宠爱他，为他做了一件彩衣。 4 约瑟的哥哥们见父亲偏爱他，就怀恨在心，对他恶言相向。
5 约瑟做了一个梦，并告诉了哥哥们，他们更恨他了。 6 约瑟对哥哥们说：“你们听听我做的梦—— 7 我们在田里捆庄稼，我捆的庄稼站起来，你们捆的庄稼都围着我捆的庄稼下拜。” 8 他的哥哥们回答说：“难道你真想做我们的王统治我们吗？”他们因约瑟的梦和他说的话而更恨他。
9 后来，约瑟又做了一个梦，他又去对哥哥们说：“你们听听我做的另一个梦，我梦见太阳、月亮和十一颗星星都向我下拜。” 10 约瑟把梦告诉了父亲和哥哥们，他父亲就责备他说：“你做的是什么梦！难道你的父母弟兄都要来向你俯伏下拜吗？” 11 约瑟的哥哥们嫉恨他，他父亲却把这些话记在心里。
12 约瑟的哥哥们到示剑放父亲的羊。 13 以色列把约瑟叫来，对他说：“你哥哥们在示剑放羊，我要派你去他们那里。”约瑟说：“好的。” 14 以色列说：“你去看看你哥哥们以及羊群是否平安，然后回来告诉我。”于是，约瑟就从希伯仑谷出发去示剑。 15 有人见他在田野走迷了路，就问他：“你在找什么？” 16 约瑟回答说：“我在找我哥哥们，你知道他们在哪里放羊吗？” 17 那人说：“他们已经走了，我听他们说要到多坍去。”约瑟就赶往多坍，在那里找到了他们。
18 约瑟的哥哥们远远看见他走来，趁他还没有到跟前，就合谋要害死他。 19 他们彼此商量说：“看！做梦的来了。 20 来吧！我们杀了他，把他扔在井里，就说有野兽把他吃掉了，看他的梦怎么实现。” 21 吕便听后想救约瑟的性命，就说：“我们不要害他性命。” 22 他又说：“不要杀人流血，把他扔在这口井里吧，不要下手害他。”吕便想救约瑟，把他交回给父亲。 23 这时候，约瑟来了，他们就脱去他身上的彩衣， 24 把他扔到井里。当时，那口井是干的，没有水。
25 他们坐下来吃饭的时候，看见一队从基列来的以实玛利商人用骆驼驮着香料、乳香、没药去埃及。 26 犹大对他的众弟兄说：“我们杀死弟弟、掩盖罪行有什么益处呢？ 27 不如把他卖给以实玛利人，不要下手害他，他毕竟是我们的弟弟，我们的骨肉啊！”其他弟兄都赞成他的意见。 28 于是，那些米甸商人经过的时候，他们就把约瑟从井里拉上来，以二百二十克银子的价钱把他卖给了以实玛利人。这些商人把他带到埃及去了。
29 吕便回到井边发现约瑟不见了，就伤心地撕裂了身上的衣服， 30 回到弟兄们那里说：“那少年不见了，我现在怎么办？” 31 他们宰了一只公山羊，把血染在约瑟的彩衣上， 32 拿去给父亲，说：“我们捡到这件衣服，你看看是不是你儿子的？” 33 雅各认出那件彩衣，说：“这是我儿子的衣服，一定是野兽把他吃了，约瑟一定被撕碎了！” 34 雅各撕裂自己的衣服，束上麻布，为约瑟哀伤了好几天。 35 他的儿女都来安慰他，他却不肯接受他们的安慰，说：“我一定会凄凄惨惨地下到阴间，去我儿子那里。”约瑟的父亲为他哀哭。
36 那些米甸人把约瑟带到埃及后，把他卖给了法老的内臣——护卫长波提乏。
Genesis 37
The Message
37 Meanwhile Jacob had settled down where his father had lived, the land of Canaan.
Joseph and His Brothers
2 This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old at the time, helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them.
3-4 Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn’t even speak to him.
5-7 Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, “Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.”
8 His brothers said, “So! You’re going to rule us? You’re going to boss us around?” And they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked.
9 He had another dream and told this one also to his brothers: “I dreamed another dream—the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!”
10-11 When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: “What’s with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?” Now his brothers were really jealous; but his father brooded over the whole business.
12-13 His brothers had gone off to Shechem where they were pasturing their father’s flocks. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are with flocks in Shechem. Come, I want to send you to them.”
Joseph said, “I’m ready.”
14 He said, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing and bring me back a report.” He sent him off from the valley of Hebron to Shechem.
15 A man met him as he was wandering through the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 “I’m trying to find my brothers. Do you have any idea where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 The man said, “They’ve left here, but I overheard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph took off, tracked his brothers down, and found them in Dothan.
18-20 They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.”
21-22 Reuben heard the brothers talking and intervened to save him, “We’re not going to kill him. No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don’t hurt him.” Reuben planned to go back later and get him out and take him back to his father.
23-24 When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern. The cistern was dry; there wasn’t any water in it.
25-27 Then they sat down to eat their supper. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way from Gilead, their camels loaded with spices, ointments, and perfumes to sell in Egypt. Judah said, “Brothers, what are we going to get out of killing our brother and concealing the evidence? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not kill him—he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt.
29-30 Later Reuben came back and went to the cistern—no Joseph! He ripped his clothes in despair. Beside himself, he went to his brothers. “The boy’s gone! What am I going to do!”
31-32 They took Joseph’s coat, butchered a goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. They took the fancy coat back to their father and said, “We found this. Look it over—do you think this is your son’s coat?”
33 He recognized it at once. “My son’s coat—a wild animal has eaten him. Joseph torn limb from limb!”
34-35 Jacob tore his clothes in grief, dressed in rough burlap, and mourned his son a long, long time. His sons and daughters tried to comfort him but he refused their comfort. “I’ll go to the grave mourning my son.” Oh, how his father wept for him.
36 In Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, manager of his household affairs.
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