Joseph’s Dreams

37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.^{(A) 2} These are the family records of Jacob.

At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives,^(B) and he brought a bad report about them to their father.^(C)

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age,^(D) and he made a robe of many colors^[a] for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

⁵ Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer!^{[a] 20} Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them.^[b] He said, “Let’s not take his life.”^{(A) 22} Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

²³ When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. ²⁴ Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed.