³ Jacob^[a] loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.^[b]

²² The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. ²³ The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.^[a]

¹⁸ So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe,^[a] as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters.

³² They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

²³ So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing.

³⁵ The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.

¹⁶ You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?

²⁰ And we responded, ‘Yes, my lord, we have a father who is an old man, and his youngest son is a child of his old age. His full brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him very much.’

²¹ “And you said to us, ‘Bring him here so I can see him with my own eyes.’ ²² But we said to you, ‘My lord, the boy cannot leave his father, for his father would die.’ ²³ But you told us, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes with you, you will never see my face again.’

²⁴ “So we returned to your servant, our father, and told him what you had said. ²⁵ Later, when he said, ‘Go back again and buy us more food,’ ²⁶ we replied, ‘We can’t go unless you let our youngest brother go with us. We’ll never get to see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

²⁷ “Then my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife had two sons, ²⁸ and one of them went away and never returned. Doubtless he was torn to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen him since. ²⁹ Now if you take his brother away from me, and any harm comes to him, you will send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.^[a]’

³⁰ “And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life.