Genesis 37:1-11

Evangelical Heritage Version

Trouble in Jacob’s Family

37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided as an alien, that is, in the land of Canaan.

² This is the account about the development of the family of Jacob:

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers. He was just a boy compared to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son born in his old age,^[a] and he made him a special robe.^{[b] 4} His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him in a friendly way.

⁵ Once Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, so they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷ There we were, binding sheaves in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “So will you really reign over us? Will you really have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more because of his dreams and what he said.

⁹ Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. This is what I saw: The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” ¹⁰ He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept what he had said in mind.