Genesis 37:1-11

Complete Jewish Bible

Parashah 9: Vayeshev (He continued living) 37:1–40:23

37 Ya‘akov continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Kena‘an.

² Here is the history of Ya‘akov. When Yosef was seventeen years old he used to pasture the flock with his brothers, even though he was still a boy. Once when he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, he brought a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Isra’el loved Yosef the most of all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to hate him and reached the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner.

⁵ Yosef had a dream which he told his brothers, and that made them hate him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine. ⁷ We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field when suddenly my bundle got up by itself and stood upright; then your bundles came, gathered around mine and prostrated themselves before it.” ⁸ His brothers retorted, “Yes, you will certainly be our king. You’ll do a great job of bossing us around!” And they hated him still more for his dreams and for what he said.

⁹ He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Here, I had another dream, and there were the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.” ¹⁰ He told his father too, as well as his brothers, but his father rebuked him: “What is this dream you have had? Do you really expect me, your mother and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves before you on the ground?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.