Genesis 37

₁Jacob lived in the land of Canaan where his father Isaac had been a stranger before. ₂Here is the story of Jacob's family. When Joseph was young, only 17 years old, he looked after his father's sheep and goats with his brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph told his father about the bad things that his brothers did.

₃Jacob's other name was Israel. He loved Joseph more than all of his other sons because Joseph was born when Jacob was old. Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat with long sleeves. ₄His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than them and they hated Joseph. They did not want to say anything good about him.

₅One night Joseph dreamed and he told his brothers what he had dreamed. Then they hated him even more. ₆He told them: ‘I dreamed ₇that we were tying bundles of wheat on the wheat_field. I dreamed that my bundle was standing upright and your bundles stood around my bundle and bowed before it.’ ₈His brothers said to him: ‘Do you really think that you will be king and rule over us?’ They hated him even more after he told them about the dream that he had had.

₉Joseph dreamed again and he told his brothers what he had dreamed. He said: ‘I dreamed again. I dreamed that the sun and the moon and 11 stars came and bowed before me.’ ₁₀He told his father and his brothers what he had dreamed and his father was angry and rebuked him and he said to Joseph: ‘Don't tell us about dreams like that. It is not right that your mother and your brothers and I should come and bow down before you.’ ₁₁His brothers were jealous of him, but his father thought a lot about these dreams.

₁₂Joseph's brothers had to look after their father's sheep and goats near the town of Shechem. ₁₃Jacob said to Joseph: ‘Your brothers are looking after the sheep and goats in Shechem. You must go to them.’ Joseph said: ‘Yes, Father, I will go.’

₁₄Jacob told Joseph: ‘Go and see if everything is well with your brothers and with the sheep and goats. Go and look and come and tell me everything.’ So Jacob sent Joseph from the Hebron Valley and he went to Shechem.

₁₅Joseph was walking in the field when a man saw him. The man asked him: ‘What are you looking for?’ ₁₆Joseph said to him: ‘I am looking for my brothers. Do you know where they are with their sheep and goats? If you know, please tell me.’ ₁₇The man said: ‘They are no longer here. They went away from here. They said that they were going to Dothan.’ Joseph followed his brothers and he found them in Dothan. ₁₈While he was still far from them, they saw him coming. Before he came to them, they made a plan to kill him. ₁₉They said to each other: ‘Look, here comes the big dreamer. ₂₀Let us kill him and throw him into a water-well. We can tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will show that all of his dreams meant nothing.’

₂₁When they told Reuben about it, he wanted to save Joseph. He said: ‘No, we must not kill him. ₂₂Do not let blood flow. Throw him into this water-well in the field, but do not kill him.’ Reuben said that because he wanted to save Joseph later and send him back to his father.

₂₃When Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his beautiful coat with sleeves which he was wearing. ₂₄They took him and threw him into the water-well. The water-well was empty. There was no water in it.

₂₅Then they sat down to eat, and when they looked, they saw a group of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. They were merchants and they had gum-resin, balm and myrrh on their camels. They wanted to sell it in Egypt. ₂₆Judah said to his brothers: ‘We will have nothing if we kill our brother Joseph and keep quiet about it. ₂₇Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. We must not kill him. Remember, he is our brother.’ Judah's brothers listened to him. ₂₈And when the merchants of Midian came near them, Joseph's brothers took him out of the water-well and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels. The merchants took Joseph to Egypt.

₂₉When Reuben came back to the water-well and saw that Joseph was not in the well, he was very sad and he tore his clothes. ₃₀He went back to his brothers and asked them: ‘The child is no longer there. What am I going to do now?’

₃₁The brothers killed a goat and they took Joseph's coat and put blood on it. ₃₂Then they sent his coat to their father and told him: ‘We picked up this coat. See if it is your son Joseph's coat.’

₃₃Jacob looked at it and said: ‘Yes, this is my son's coat. A wild animal killed and ate him. My son Joseph has been eaten by a wild animal.’ ₃₄Jacob was very sad. He tore his clothes and put on sack-cloth. He cried and mourned for his son for a long time. ₃₅All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he did not want them to comfort him. He said: ‘I will continue to mourn for him until I die.’ Jacob cried a lot about Joseph.

₃₆The Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar. Potiphar was an important_official of Pharaoh. He was the chief of the guards who had to guard Pharaoh.