Genesis 37 :: New International Version (NIV)

Joseph’s Dreams

Gen 37:1Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

Gen 37:2This 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.

Gen 37:3

Gen 37:3Now 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[fn] robe for him.

Gen 37:4

Gen 37:4When 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.

Gen 37:5

Gen 37:5Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

Gen 37:6

Gen 37:6He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

Gen 37:7

Gen 37:7We 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.”

Gen 37:8

Gen 37:8His 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.

Gen 37:9

Gen 37:9Then 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.”

Gen 37:10

Gen 37:10When 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?”

Gen 37:11

Gen 37:11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

Gen 37:12

Gen 37:12Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,

Gen 37:13

Gen 37:13and 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.

Gen 37:14

Gen 37:14So 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,

Gen 37:15

Gen 37:15a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

Gen 37:16

Gen 37:16He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

Gen 37:17

Gen 37:17“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.

Gen 37:18

Gen 37:18But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

Gen 37:19

Gen 37:19“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.

Gen 37:20

Gen 37:20“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.”

Gen 37:21

Gen 37:21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.

Gen 37:22

Gen 37:22“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.

Gen 37:23

Gen 37:23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—

Gen 37:24

Gen 37:24and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

Gen 37:25

Gen 37:25As 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.

Gen 37:26

Gen 37:26Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Gen 37:27

Gen 37:27Come, 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.

Gen 37:28

Gen 37:28So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels[fn] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Gen 37:29

Gen 37:29When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

Gen 37:30

Gen 37:30He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”

Gen 37:31

Gen 37:31Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

Gen 37:32

Gen 37:32They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

Gen 37:33

Gen 37:33He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”

Gen 37:34

Gen 37:34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

Gen 37:35

Gen 37:35All 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.

Gen 37:36

Gen 37:36Meanwhile, the Midianites[fn] sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(37:3)

The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.

(37:28)

That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams

(37:36)

Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also verse 28); Masoretic Text Medanites

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