³ Jacob loved Joseph more than he did any of his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was very old. Jacob had even given Joseph a fancy coat^{[a] 4} which showed that Joseph was his favorite son, and so Joseph's brothers hated him and would not be friendly to him.

⁵ One day, Joseph told his brothers what he had dreamed, and they hated him even more. ⁶ Joseph said, “Let me tell you about my dream. ⁷ We were out in the field, tying up bundles of wheat. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles gathered around and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers asked, “Do you really think you are going to be king and rule over us?” Now they hated Joseph more than ever because of what he had said about his dream.

¹⁷ “They're not here anymore,” the man replied. “I overheard them say they were going to Dothan.”

Joseph left and found his brothers in Dothan. ¹⁸ But before he got there, they saw him coming and made plans to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Look, here comes the hero of those dreams! ²⁰ Let's kill him and throw him into a pit and say that some wild animal ate him. Then we'll see what happens to those dreams.”

²¹ Reuben heard this and tried to protect Joseph from them. “Let's not kill him,” he said. ²² “Don't murder him or even harm him. Just throw him into a well out here in the desert.” Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.

²⁶ So Judah said, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide his body? ²⁷ Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not harm him. After all, he is our brother.” And the others agreed.

^28 (A) When the Midianite merchants came by, Joseph's brothers took him out of the well, and for 20 pieces of silver they sold him to the Ishmaelites^[a] who took him to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the well and did not find Joseph there, he tore his clothes in sorrow. ³⁰ Then he went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

³¹ Joseph's brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph's fancy coat in its blood. ³² After this, they took the coat to their father and said, “We found this! Look at it carefully and see if it belongs to your son.”

³³ Jacob knew it was Joseph's coat and said, “It's my son's coat! Joseph has been torn to pieces and eaten by some wild animal.”

³⁴ Jacob mourned for Joseph a long time, and to show his sorrow he tore his clothes and wore sackcloth.^[b]

Joseph's Promise to His Brothers

¹⁵ After Jacob died, Joseph's brothers said to each other, “What if Joseph still hates us and wants to get even with us for all the cruel things we did to him?”

¹⁶ So they sent this message to Joseph:

Before our father died, ¹⁷ he told us, “You did some cruel and terrible things to Joseph, but you must ask him to forgive you.”

Now we ask you to please forgive the terrible things we did. After all, we serve the same God that your father worshiped.

When Joseph heard this, he started crying.

¹⁸ Right then, Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to the ground in front of him and said, “We are your slaves.”

¹⁹ But Joseph told them, “Don't be afraid! I have no right to change what God has decided. ²⁰ You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best, so that he could save all these people, as he is now doing. ²¹ Don't be afraid! I will take care of you and your children.” After Joseph said this, his brothers felt much better.