Genesis 37

Joseph’s Dreams

1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:
7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,
13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,
15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.
20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.
22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels[b] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.
32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites[c] sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

Cross References 80

  • 1. S Genesis 17:8
  • 2. S Genesis 10:19
  • 3. S Genesis 2:4
  • 4. S Genesis 30:24
  • 5. Genesis 41:46; 2 Samuel 5:4
  • 6. Genesis 46:32; 1 Samuel 16:11; 1 Samuel 17:15; Psalms 78:71; Amos 7:15
  • 7. Genesis 35:25
  • 8. Genesis 35:26
  • 9. 1 Samuel 2:24
  • 10. S Genesis 17:5
  • 11. S Genesis 25:28
  • 12. Genesis 43:27; Genesis 44:20
  • 13. ver 23,31,32; 2 Samuel 13:18-19
  • 14. Genesis 43:34; Genesis 45:22; 1 Samuel 1:4-5; Esther 2:9
  • 15. S ver 24; S Genesis 27:41; Genesis 49:22-23; Acts 7:9
  • 16. S Genesis 20:3; S Genesis 28:12
  • 17. ver 10
  • 18. ver 8
  • 19. Ruth 2:7,15
  • 20. ver 9,10; Genesis 27:29; Genesis 42:6,9; Genesis 43:26,28; Genesis 44:14; Genesis 50:18; 2 Samuel 1:2; 2 Samuel 9:6
  • 21. Genesis 41:44; Genesis 42:10; Genesis 44:16,18; Genesis 48:22; Genesis 49:26; Deuteronomy 33:16
  • 22. ver 5
  • 23. S ver 7; Genesis 28:12
  • 24. Revelation 12:1
  • 25. Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3
  • 26. ver 5
  • 27. Ruth 2:16; Psalms 9:5; Psalms 68:30; Psalms 106:9; Psalms 119:21; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 54:9; Zechariah 3:2
  • 28. S ver 7; S Genesis 9:25; S Genesis 33:3; Genesis 27:29
  • 29. Genesis 26:14; Acts 7:9
  • 30. Luke 2:19,51
  • 31. S Genesis 12:6
  • 32. S Genesis 17:5
  • 33. Genesis 33:19
  • 34. 1 Samuel 17:18
  • 35. S Genesis 13:18; Genesis 35:27
  • 36. 2 Kings 6:13
  • 37. 1 Samuel 19:1; 2 Chronicles 24:21; Psalms 31:13,20; Psalms 37:12,32; S Matthew 12:14; Mark 14:1; Acts 23:12
  • 38. S Genesis 28:12
  • 39. ver 22; Jeremiah 38:6,9
  • 40. ver 33; Leviticus 26:6,22; Deuteronomy 32:24; 2 Kings 17:25; Ezekiel 34:25
  • 41. ver 31-33; S Genesis 4:10
  • 42. Genesis 50:20
  • 43. S Genesis 29:32
  • 44. Genesis 42:22
  • 45. S ver 20
  • 46. ver 29-30
  • 47. ver 3
  • 48. S ver 4; Genesis 49:23; Jeremiah 38:6; Jeremiah 41:7; Ezekiel 22:27
  • 49. S Genesis 16:11
  • 50. S Genesis 31:21; S Song of Songs 4:1
  • 51. Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 22:6; Jeremiah 46:11
  • 52. Genesis 43:11; Exodus 30:23; Psalms 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Song of Songs 1:13; Matthew 2:11
  • 53. ver 28; Genesis 39:1; Psalms 105:17
  • 54. S Genesis 29:35
  • 55. ver 20; S Genesis 4:10
  • 56. Genesis 42:21
  • 57. S Genesis 29:14
  • 58. S Genesis 25:2; Judges 6:1-3
  • 59. Jeremiah 38:13
  • 60. Exodus 21:16
  • 61. Leviticus 27:5; Matthew 26:15
  • 62. S Genesis 16:11
  • 63. ver 36; Genesis 39:1; Genesis 45:4-5; Psalms 105:17; Jeremiah 12:6; Acts 7:9
  • 64. ver 34; Genesis 44:13; Numbers 14:6; Joshua 7:6; 2 Samuel 1:11; Job 2:12">2Ki Job 2:12; 2 Kings 5:7; 2 Kings 11:14; 2 Kings 22:11; Job 1:20; Job 2:12; Isaiah 36:22; Isaiah 37:1; Jeremiah 36:24; Jeremiah 41:5; Joel 2:13
  • 65. ver 22; Genesis 42:13,36
  • 66. S ver 3; ver 3,23
  • 67. Revelation 19:13
  • 68. S ver 3
  • 69. S ver 20
  • 70. Genesis 42:13,38; Genesis 44:20,28
  • 71. S ver 29
  • 72. 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 20:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 6:30; 2 Kings 19:1,2; Job 16:15; Psalms 69:11; Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 15:3; Isaiah 22:12; Isaiah 32:11; Isaiah 37:1; Jeremiah 48:37; Jeremiah 49:3; Joel 1:13
  • 73. Ge 50:3,10,11; Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8
  • 74. Job 2:11; Job 15:11; Job 16:5; Job 42:11
  • 75. 2 Samuel 12:17; Psalms 77:2; Jeremiah 31:15
  • 76. Genesis 42:38; Genesis 44:22,29,31
  • 77. 2 Samuel 12:23
  • 78. S Genesis 25:2
  • 79. S ver 28
  • 80. Genesis 39:1; Genesis 40:3; Genesis 41:10,12; 1 Samuel 22:14

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.
  • [b]. That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams
  • [c]. Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also verse 28); Masoretic Text "Medanites"

Genesis 37 Commentaries

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