Joseph’s Dreams

37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,^(A) the land of Canaan.^(B)

² This is the account^(C) of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph,^(D) a young man of seventeen,^(E) was tending the flocks^(F) with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah^(G) and the sons of Zilpah,^(H) his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report^(I) about them.

³ Now Israel^(J) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,^(K) because he had been born to him in his old age;^(L) and he made an ornate^[a] robe^(M) for him.^{(N) 4} When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him^(O) and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁵ Joseph had a dream,^(P) and when he told it to his brothers,^(Q) they hated him all the more.^{(R) 6} He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves^(S) of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”^(T)

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?”^(U) And they hated him all the more^(V) because of his dream and what he had said.

¹⁷ “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.^(A)’”

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.^(B)

¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!^(C)” they said to each other. ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns^(D) and say that a ferocious animal^(E) devoured him.^(F) Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”^(G)

²⁵ As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites^(A) coming from Gilead.^(B) Their camels were loaded with spices, balm^(C) and myrrh,^(D) and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.^(E)

²⁶ Judah^(F) said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?^{(G) 27} Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother,^(H) our own flesh and blood.^(I)” His brothers agreed.

²⁸ So when the Midianite^(J) merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern^(K) and sold^(L) him for twenty shekels^[a] of silver^(M) to the Ishmaelites,^(N) who took him to Egypt.^(O)