Genesis 37:1   (Read all of Genesis 37)

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

Genesis 37:2   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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.

Genesis 37:3   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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.

Genesis 37:4   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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 37:6   (Read all of Genesis 37)

He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:

Genesis 37:7   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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."

Genesis 37:8   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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.

Genesis 37:9   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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."

Genesis 37:10   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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?"

Genesis 37:12   (Read all of Genesis 37)

Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem,

Genesis 37:13   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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.

Genesis 37:14   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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,

Genesis 37:17   (Read all of Genesis 37)

"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.

Genesis 37:18   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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

Genesis 37:19   (Read all of Genesis 37)

"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other.

Genesis 37:20   (Read all of Genesis 37)

"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."

Genesis 37:21   (Read all of Genesis 37)

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said.

Genesis 37:22   (Read all of Genesis 37)

"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.

Genesis 37:23   (Read all of Genesis 37)

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe-the ornate robe he was wearing-

Genesis 37:25   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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.

Genesis 37:26   (Read all of Genesis 37)

Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Genesis 37:27   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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.

Genesis 37:28   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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

Genesis 37:29   (Read all of Genesis 37)

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