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The Blue Letter Bible

Genesis 37 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Joseph’s Dreams

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:1

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:1 - Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:2

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:2 - These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:3

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:3 - Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:4

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:4 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:5

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:5 - Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:6

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:6 - He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed:

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:7

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:7 - Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:8

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:8 - His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:9

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:9 - Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:10

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:10 - But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, 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 ourselves to the ground before you?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:11

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:11 - And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:12

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:12 - Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:13

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:13 - And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:14

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:14 - So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:15

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:15 - And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:16

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:16 - “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:17

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:17 - And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:18

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:18 - They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:19

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:19 - They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:20

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:20 - Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.[fn] Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:21

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:21 - But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:22

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:22 - And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:23

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:23 - So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:24

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:24 - And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:25

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:25 - Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:26

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:26 - Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:27

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:27 - Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:28

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:28 - Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels[fn] of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:29

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:29 - When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:30

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:30 - and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:31

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:31 - Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:32

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:32 - And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:33

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:33 - And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:34

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:34 - Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:35

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:35 - All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 37:36

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 37:36 - Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
See Septuagint, Vulgate; or (with Syriac) a robe with long sleeves. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; also verses 23, 32
Or cisterns; also verses 22, 24
A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Genesis Chapter 37 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras