Genesis 37:4

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.

Genesis 37:4 in Other Translations

4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

4 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.

4 When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him - they wouldn't even speak to him.

4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

Genesis 37:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 37:4

And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more
than all his brethren
Which they perceived by various things in his behaviour to him, by his words, his looks, his gestures, and particularly by the coat he had made him, which distinguished him from the rest:

they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him;
they not only inwardly hated him, but they could not conceal their hatred, but betrayed it by their speech unto him; they could not speak to him on any occasion, but in a cross, surly, ill natured manner; they could not salute him, or give him the common salutation, Peace be to thee, as Aben Ezra suggests.

Genesis 37:4 In-Context

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 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:

Cross References

• 1. S ver 24; S Genesis 27:41; Genesis 49:22-23; Acts 7:9