37 Now, Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

² These are the generations of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he kept sheep with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah (his father’s wives). And Joseph brought an evil report of them to his father.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he begat him in his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors.

⁴ So, when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, then they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵ And Joseph dreamed a dream and told his brothers, who hated him so much the more.

⁶ For he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed!

⁷ “Behold now, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field. And lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves surrounded it, and did reverence to my sheaf.”

⁸ Then his brothers said to him, “What!? Shall you reign over us, and rule us? Or, shall you have complete dominion over us?” And they hated him so much the more, for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Again, he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have had one more dream. And behold, the Sun and the Moon and eleven stars did reverence to me.”

¹⁰ Then, he told it to his father and to his brothers. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this, your dream which you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and fall on the ground before you?”

¹¹ And his brothers envied him. But his father noted the saying.

¹² Then, his brothers went to keep their father’s sheep in Shechem.

¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Do not your brothers pasture their flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them.”

¹⁴ And he answered him, “I am here.” Then he said to him, “Go now; see whether all is well with your brothers and how the flocks prosper. And report back.” So, he sent him from the valley of Hebron; and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ Then, a man found him. For lo, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What do you seek?”

¹⁶ And he answered, “I seek my brothers. Please, tell me where they are pasturing.”

¹⁷ And the man said, “They have left here. For I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” Then Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

¹⁸ And when they saw him from far away, even before he came near, they conspired against him, to kill him.

¹⁹ For they said, one to another, “Behold, this dreamer comes.

²⁰ “Come now, therefore, and let us kill him and cast him into some pit. And we will say, ‘A wicked beast has devoured him.’ Then we shall see what will come of his dreams.”

²¹ But when Reuben heard that, he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.”

²² And Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness; and lay no hand upon him.” (so that he might deliver him out of their hand and restore him to his father)

²³ Now, when Joseph had come to his brothers, they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his parti-colored coat that was upon him.

²⁴ And they took him and cast him into a pit; and the pit was empty, without water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked. And behold, there came a company of Ishmaelites from Gilead, their camels laden with spicery and balm and myrrh, who were going to carry it down into Egypt.

²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What does it profit us if we kill our brother yet keep his blood secret?

²⁷ “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites; and do not let our hands be upon him. For he is our brother, our flesh.” And his brothers obeyed.

²⁸ Then, the Midianites’ merchant men passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit. And they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, who brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ Afterward, Reuben returned to the pit; and behold, Joseph was not in the pit. Then he tore his clothes

³⁰ and returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more. And I? Where shall I go?”

³¹ And they took Joseph’s coat and killed a kid from the goats and dipped the coat in the blood.

³² So they sent that multi-colored coat; and they brought it to their father, and said, “We have found this. See, now, whether it be your son’s coat or not.”

³³ Then he knew it, and said, “It is my son’s coat. A wicked beast has devoured him. Joseph is surely torn in pieces.”

³⁴ And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth around his waist and mourned for his son a long time.

³⁵ Then all his sons and his daughters arose up to comfort him. But he would not be comforted, and said, “Surely I will go down into the grave mourning my son.” So, his father wept for him.

³⁶ And the Midianites sold him into Egypt, to Potiphar, a Eunuch of Pharaoh’s, and his chief steward.