 1 Jacob lived in the land of the travels of his father, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a son of seventeen years, came tending the flock with his brothers. He was a youth with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them. 3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. So he made him a coat of many colors. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and then they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, I ask you, Hear this dream that I have dreamed. 7 For behold. We were binding sheaves in the middle of the field and my sheaf rose and stood upright and your sheaves stood around and bowed down to my sheaf. 8 His brothers said to him, Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have the rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 He dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me. 10 He told this to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow to the earth before you? 11 His brothers were jealous of him. But his father considered+ the saying. 12 Then his brothers went to feed his father's flock in Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, Do your brothers not feed the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. He said to him, Here I am. 14 He said to him, Please go see whether it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring word to me again. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 A certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him saying, What are you looking for? 16 He said, I am seeking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding. 17 The man said, They are gone from here, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18 When they saw him far off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, Behold, this dreamer comes. 20 Therefore come now, and let us kill him, and throw him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast has devoured him. And we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21 Reuben heard, and he delivered him out of their hands and said, Let us not kill him. 22 Reuben said to them, Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him in order to rescue him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. 23 When Joseph had come to his brothers, they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. 24 They took him and threw him into a pit. And the pit was empty, with no water in it. 25 They sat down to eat bread, and lifted up their eyes, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we should kill our brother and hide his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. Do not let our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers listened. 28 Midianite traders came by and pulled Joseph up, took him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. Then they brought Joseph to Egypt. 29 When Reuben returned to the pit and Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, The child is not there, Where will I go? 31 They took Joseph's coat, killed a kid goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. 32 They sent the coat of many colors, and brought it to their father and said, We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's coat or not? 33 He knew it and said, It is my son's coat. A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces. 34 Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted. He said, I will go to the grave to my son mourning. So his father wept for him. 36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief of the executioners.
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