³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was ^(A)the son of his old age. And he made him ^(B)a robe of many colors.^{[a] 4} But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷ Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, ^(C)my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and ^(D)bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

¹⁷ And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to ^(A)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at ^(B)Dothan.

¹⁸ They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them ^(C)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰ Come now, ^(D)let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.^[a] Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹ But when ^(E)Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—^(F)that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it ^(A)if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(B)let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then ^(C)Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and ^(D)sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels^[a] of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he ^(E)tore his clothes ³⁰ and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy ^(F)is gone, and I, where shall I go?” ³¹ Then they took ^(G)Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” ³³ And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. ^(H)A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

God's Good Purposes

¹⁵ When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ¹⁷ ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of ^(A)the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ His brothers also came and ^(B)fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^(C)am I in the place of God? ²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but ^(D)God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people^[a] should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹ So do not fear; ^(E)I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.