Chapter 37

  And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father sojourned -- in the land of Canaan.  

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  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them.  

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  And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was son of his old age; and he made him a vest of many colours.  

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  And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, and they hated him, and could not greet him with friendliness.  

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  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told [it] to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.  

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  And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream, which I have dreamt:  

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  Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields, and lo, my sheaf rose up, and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves came round about and bowed down to my sheaf.  

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  And his brethren said to him, Wilt thou indeed be a king over us? wilt thou indeed rule over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.  

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  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamt another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.  

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  And he told [it] to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream which thou hast dreamt? Shall we indeed come, I and thy mother and thy brethren, to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?  

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  And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying.  

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  And his brethren went to feed their father's flock at Shechem.  

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  And Israel said to Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed [the flock] at Shechem? Come, that I may send thee to them. And he said to him, Here am I.  

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  And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again. And he sent him out of the vale of Hebron; and he came towards Shechem.  

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  And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the country; and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?  

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  And he said, I am seeking my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed [their flocks].  

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  And the man said, They have removed from this; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them at Dothan.  

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  And when they saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to put him to death.  

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  And they said one to another, Behold, there comes that dreamer!  

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  And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams.  

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  And Reuben heard [it], and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life.  

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  And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood: cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness; but lay no hand upon him -- in order that he might deliver him out of their hand, to bring him to his father again.  

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  And it came to pass when Joseph came to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his vest, the vest of many colours, which he had on;  

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  and they took him and cast him into the pit; now the pit was empty -- there was no water in it.  

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  And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead; and their camels bore tragacanth, and balsam, and ladanum -- going to carry [it] down to Egypt.  

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  And Judah said to his brethren, What profit is it that we kill our brother and secrete his blood?  

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  Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites; but let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened [to him].  

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  And Midianitish men, merchants, passed by; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver-pieces; and they brought Joseph to Egypt.  

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  And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph [was] not in the pit; and he rent his garments,  

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  and returned to his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, where shall I go?  

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  And they took Joseph's vest, and slaughtered a buck of the goats, and dipped the vest in the blood;  

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  and they sent the vest of many colours and had it carried to their father, and said, This have we found: discern now whether it is thy son's vest or not.  

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  And he discerned it, and said, [It is] my son's vest! an evil beast has devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces!  

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  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.  

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  And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said, For I will go down to my son into Sheol mourning. Thus his father wept for him.  

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  And the Midianites sold him into Egypt, to Potiphar, a chamberlain of Pharaoh, the captain of the life-guard.  

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