Genesis
Chapter 37: 12-36
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his
brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 13
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.
14 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, 15
a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking
for?"
16 He
replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their
flocks?"
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. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he
reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19
"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 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."
21 When
Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his
life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him
into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this
to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when
Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe
he was wearing- 24 and they took him and threw him into the
cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 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.
26 Judah
said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his
blood? 27 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.
28 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.
29 When
Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't
there! Where can I turn now?"
31 Then
they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said,
"We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."
33 He
recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him.
Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
34 Then
Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused
to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to
my son." So his father wept for him.
36
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard.
