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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 Dreams

37 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner.

This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.

Jacob[a] loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.[b] But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.

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Footnotes

  1. 37:3a Hebrew Israel; also in 37:13. See note on 35:21.
  2. 37:3b Traditionally rendered a coat of many colors. The exact meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.