1Now Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
2These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a robe with long sleeves.
4And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
5Then Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.
6He said to them, “Listen, please, to this dream that I have dreamed.”
7“Behold, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and even stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8And his brothers said to him, “Will you indeed reign over us, or will you indeed rule over us?” And they hated him all the more, for his dreams and for his words.
9Then he dreamed yet another dream and recounted it to his brothers. He said, “Behold, I have dreamed a dream again: behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come—I and your mother and your brothers—to bow down to you to the ground?”
11And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
12Now his brothers went to shepherd their father’s flock at Shechem.
13And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers shepherding at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
14So he said to him, “Go, please, see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring me back word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”
16He said, “I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are shepherding.”
17And the man said, “They have moved on from here, for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18They saw him from afar, and before he drew near to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.
19And they said to one another, “Behold, here comes this master of dreams.”
20“So now, come, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say that a wild beast has devoured him. Then we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
21But Reuben heard and delivered him from their hand and said, “Let us not take his life.”
22And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—in order to rescue him from their hand, to return him to his father.
23So it happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his robe—the robe with long sleeves that was on him.
24And they took him and threw him into the pit; and the pit was empty—there was no water in it.
25Then they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, going to bring it down to Egypt.
26And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?”
27“Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be against him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
28Then Midianite men, traders, passed by, and they drew Joseph up out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they brought Joseph to Egypt.
29When Reuben returned to the pit, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his garments.
30He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! And I—where can I go?”
31So they took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.
32They sent the tunic of many colors and brought it to their father, and they said, “We found this. Please examine it—is it your son’s tunic or not?”
33He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic! An evil beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34Then Jacob tore his garments, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
35All his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “No, I will go down to my son mourning, to Sheol.” And his father wept for him.
36Meanwhile the Midanites sold him into Egypt, to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.
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