1 Mosebog 37
Bibelen på hverdagsdansk
Josefs drømme
37 Jakob slog sig nu ned i Kana’ans land, hvor også hans far havde vandret omkring med sin teltlejr. 2 Det følgende er historien om, hvad der siden skete med Jakob og hans familie.
Da Jakobs søn Josef var 17 år gammel, vogtede han tit sin fars får sammen med sine halvbrødre, de sønner, hans far havde fået med Bilha og Zilpa. Josef fortalte ofte sin far, hvad hans ældre brødre foretog sig ude på marken.
3 Jakob elskede Josef højere end sine andre sønner, fordi han havde fået ham i sin alderdom. En dag forærede han Josef en fornem lang kjortel i flotte farver. 4 Brødrene kunne ikke undgå at lægge mærke til, hvordan deres far forkælede Josef, og derfor hadede de ham og talte aldrig pænt til ham.
5 En nat havde Josef en mærkelig drøm, og han fortalte straks sine brødre om den.
6 „Nu skal I høre, hvad jeg har drømt!” sagde han. „Jeg drømte, 7 at vi var ude på marken for at binde kornet i neg. Mit neg rejste sig op og blev stående, mens jeres neg, der stod rundt om mit, bøjede sig til jorden for det.”
8 „Nå, du tror måske, at du skal være herre over os?” sagde hans brødre hånligt. Og på grund af den drøm hadede de ham endnu mere.
9 Senere fik Josef endnu en drøm fra Gud, og han fortalte den til sine brødre. „Hør, hvad jeg nu har drømt!” sagde han. „Den her gang bøjede solen og månen og 11 stjerner sig for mig.” 10 Den sidste drøm fortalte han også til sin far, men hans far skældte ham ud: „Hvad bilder du dig ind? Skal både jeg og din mor og dine brødre komme og bøje os til jorden for dig?” 11 Josefs brødre kunne ikke skjule deres misundelse, men hans far blev ved med at spekulere over, hvad den drøm mon kunne betyde.
Josef bliver solgt som slave
12 Kort efter tog Josefs brødre af sted for at vogte deres fars fåreflokke ved Sikem. 13-14 Da de havde været borte i nogen tid, sagde Jakob til Josef: „Dine brødre er i Sikem med fårene. Tag derud og se, hvordan det går med dem, og hvordan dyrene har det, og kom så tilbage og fortæl mig det.”
„Det skal jeg nok, far,” svarede Josef.
Så tog han af sted fra lejren i Hebrondalen og kom til Sikem. 15 Dér var der en mand, som lagde mærke til, at han gik omkring på sletten.
„Hvem leder du efter?” spurgte manden.
16 „Mine brødre og deres får,” svarede Josef. „Har du set noget til dem?”
17 „Ja,” sagde manden, „men de er for længst brudt op herfra. Jeg hørte dem sige, at de ville tage til Dotan.” Så fortsatte Josef til Dotan, hvor han ganske rigtigt fandt dem.
18 Da Josefs brødre fik øje på ham langt borte, snakkede de indbyrdes om, hvordan de kunne få ham slået ihjel.
19 „Se! Der kommer den drømmer!” var der en, der udbrød. 20 „Kom, lad os slå ham ihjel,” sagde en anden. „Bagefter kan vi smide liget i en af de udtørrede brønde og sige til far, at han er blevet ædt af et rovdyr. Så er det i hvert fald slut med hans drømmerier!”
21 Men Ruben ønskede at redde Josefs liv, så han sagde. „Nej, I må ikke slå ham ihjel. 22 Det er nok at smide ham i brønden derhenne på marken. I må ikke gøre ham noget ondt.” Det var nemlig Rubens hensigt senere at tage Josef op af brønden og aflevere ham i god behold til faderen. 23 Da Josef nåede hen til brødrene, rev de den fine kjortel af ham 24 og kastede ham i den udtørrede brønd. 25 Derefter satte de sig ned i græsset for at spise. Pludselig fik de øje på en karavane et stykke borte. Det var ishmaelitter, der fragtede gummi, krydderier og urter fra Gilead til Egypten. 26-27 „Se!” sagde Juda til de andre brødre. „Der kommer nogle ishmaelitter. Hvad med at sælge Josef til dem? Det er ikke så godt at slå ham ihjel, for så skal vi til at skjule drabet bagefter. Han er trods alt vores bror.” Det forslag syntes de godt om, 28 så da de midjanitiske[a] handelsmænd kom forbi, trak brødrene Josef op af brønden og solgte ham for 20 sølvstykker, hvorefter ishmaelitterne tog ham med til Egypten.
29 Ruben havde ikke været til stede, dengang brødrene solgte Josef, så da han kom hen til brønden, var Josef forsvundet. Da blev Ruben så fortvivlet, at han rev sit tøj i stykker. Han løb tilbage til brødrene 30 og råbte: „Drengen er væk! Hvad i alverden skal jeg nu stille op?”
31 Så slagtede brødrene en ged, kom noget af gedens blod på Josefs kjortel 32 og bragte den smukke kjortel til deres far for at lade ham identificere den. „Vi fandt den på marken,” forklarede de. „Er det ikke Josefs kjortel?”
33 Jakob genkendte den øjeblikkelig og hulkede: „Jo, det er min søns kjortel! Der er ingen tvivl: Han er blevet flået ihjel og ædt af et vildt dyr!” 34 Straks rev Jakob af sorg sit tøj i stykker og klædte sig i sækkelærred, og således sørgede han over sin søn i mange dage. 35 Alle hans sønner og døtre gjorde, hvad de kunne for at trøste ham, men det var ingen nytte til. „Lad mig dø af sorg og komme ned i dødsriget til min søn!” udbrød han og brast i gråd.
36 I mellemtiden var de midjanitiske købmænd kommet til Egypten, hvor de solgte Josef til Potifar, som var en højtstående embedsmand ved kong Faraos hof og øverstbefalende for livvagten.
Footnotes
- 37,28 Midjanitterne boede på Sinaihalvøen og nedstammede fra Abrahams søn, Midjan, jf. 1.Mos. 25,2. De havde meget samarbejde med ishmaelitterne, som jo nedstammede fra Abrahams anden søn, Ishmael. Begge grupper havde nære forbindelser til Egypten. Enten bestod denne karavane af to grupper af mennesker, måske med midjanitterne som købmænd og ishmaelitterne som karavaneførere, eller også er der tale om en gruppe ishmaelitter, der havde bosat sig i Midjan.
Genesis 37
New King James Version
Joseph Dreams of Greatness
37 Now Jacob dwelt in the land (A)where his father was a [a]stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought (B)a bad report of them to his father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was (C)the son of his old age. Also he (D)made him a tunic of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they (E)hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 (F)There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, (G)the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and (H)your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” 11 And (I)his brothers envied him, but his father (J)kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in (K)Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”
So he said to him, “Here I am.”
14 Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of (L)Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”
16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. (M)Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
17 And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in (N)Dothan.
18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, (O)they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this [b]dreamer is coming! 20 (P)Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”
21 But (Q)Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they (R)stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 (S)And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of (T)Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, (U)balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and (V)conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and (W)let not our hand be upon him, for he is (X)our brother and (Y)our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then (Z)Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, (AA)and sold him to the Ishmaelites for (AB)twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he (AC)tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad (AD)is no more; and I, where shall I go?”
31 So they took (AE)Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”
33 And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A (AF)wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob (AG)tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and (AH)mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters (AI)arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For (AJ)I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.
36 Now (AK)the [c]Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Footnotes
- Genesis 37:1 sojourner, temporary resident
- Genesis 37:19 Lit. master of dreams
- Genesis 37:36 MT Medanites
Bibelen på hverdagsdansk (Danish New Living Bible) Copyright © 2002, 2006 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
