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Joseph Dreams of Greatness

37 Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.(A) These are the descendants of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him an ornamented robe.[a](B) But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 37.3 Or (compare Gk): a coat of many colors; meaning of Heb uncertain

Joseph’s Life before His Captivity

37 Jacob continued to live in the land they were occupying, where his father had journeyed in the territory of Canaan. This is a record of Jacob’s descendants.

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered[a] tunic for him. When Joseph’s[b] brothers realized that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him so much that they were unable to speak politely to him.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 37:3 Or long-sleeved; LXX reads multi-colored
  2. Genesis 37:4 Lit. his