Genesis 37:7-20

New International Version

⁷ We were binding sheaves^(A) 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.”^(B)

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

⁹ Then he had another dream,^(E) and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars^(F) were bowing down to me.”^(G)

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers,^(H) his father rebuked^(I) him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”^{(J) 11} His brothers were jealous of him,^(K) but his father kept the matter in mind.^(L)

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,^{(M) 13} and Israel^(N) said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.^(O) Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well,” he replied.

¹⁴ So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers^(P) and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.^(Q)

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, ¹⁵ a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

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

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.^(S)

¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!^(T)” they said to each other. ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns^(U) and say that a ferocious animal^(V) devoured him.^(W) Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”^(X)