Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife. 38:8
1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Jacob and his family settle in Canaan.
When Joseph was 17 years old, he brought his father Jacob an evil report. [2]
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
4And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Jacob loved Joseph more than his other children, because he was the son of his old age. [3]
He even made him a multi-colored coat.
So the other kids in the family hated Joseph.
37:5-8
5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers. [4]
7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
We were binding sheaves in the field, and my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves bowed down to worship me.
8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
So you are going to reign over us?
And they hated him the more for it.
37:9-11
9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
I had another dream where the sun, moon, and eleven stars worshipped me. [5]
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
Am I, your mother [6], and your brothers supposed to worship you?
Joseph's brothers envied him, but Jacob thought the dream might come true.
37:12-36
12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
So Joseph went to Shechem to look for his brothers, but couldn't find them.
He met a man who told him they'd gone to Dotham, so Joseph went there. [7]
18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Let's kill Joseph and throw his body in a pit.
We'll say he was eaten by an evil beast.
Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams!
21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
Let's not kill him.
Let's just throw him in a pit.
23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
Some Ishmaelites happen to pass by with their camels.
26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
When Joseph's brothers saw them, Judah said,
Why should we kill our brother and then try to hide it?
Let's sell him instead to the Ishmaelites.
And his brothers agreed.
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
But before they could do that, some Midianites passed by.
The Midianites lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver.
The Ishmaelites then brought Joseph to Egypt. [9]
29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
(So he rent his clothes.)
31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
The brothers killed a goat, put its blood on Joseph's multi-colored coat, brought the coat to their father, and said to him,
We found this.
We don't know whether or not it's your son's coat.
33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Jacob recognized the coat, and said,
It's my son's coat. An evil beast ate him.
There is no doubt that Joseph was torn into pieces.
34And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins.
35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.
The Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh. [10]
See Strange Flesh: There's something about Joseph for the use of the stories about Joseph in Genesis chapters 37 - 41.
The Bible doesn't say what this "evil report" was about, but apparently Joseph spied on his brothers and reported their misdeeds to his father.
This seems like a strange reason to love one of your children more than the others. And it doesn't make much sense either, since Jacob was even older when he had Benjamin. Joseph was Rachel's first son (Gen 30:22-24) and Benjamin was her second and last son (Gen 35:17-18).
The sun, moon, and eleven stars in Joseph's second dream are supposed to represent his father, mother, and brothers. But Joseph's mother died a couple chapters ago.
This would be especially hard to manage since Joseph's mother (Rachel) was already dead. (Gen 35:18-20)
Jacob sent his favorite son (Joseph) to check up on his brothers who were tending flocks in Shechem, which was about fifty miles north of Hebron. When he got there, he found out that his brothers weren't there, but were another thirteen miles away in Dothan. The trip must have taken poor Joseph a week or so.
All of Jacob's daughters try to comfort him. And yet there Jacob only has one daughter -- Dinah. Were there others that just weren't mentioned?
 Joseph is ambushed
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