Genesis 37

Jacob settled in the land where his father Isaac had sojourned, the land of Canaan.
These are the generations of Jacob.  Joseph, at just seventeen years old, was a man.
Joseph tended the flocks along with all his brothers, helped the sons of his father’s wives
Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought their father ill reports about all of their lives.
Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, for he was the son of his old age,
So he made him a coat ornamented in many colors, the cause of much outrage.
For when his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph much more than any of his brothers,
They despised him, and could not speak peacefully to him, for being loved more than all others.
Now Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers– from then on, they hated him more–
He said to them, “Pray, hear this dream that I have dreamt: We were out binding sheaves by the score
In the field, when suddenly my sheaf arose, it was standing upright, and behold,
Your sheaves circled around it and bowed down to my sheaf!” They hated what they had been told.
His brothers said to him, “Would you reign over us? Would you rule over us like a king?”
From then on, Joseph was hated even more for the talk of his dreams that he would bring.
He dreamt another dream, and shared it with his brothers, saying, “I dreamt another dream:
Now the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me; what could it mean?”
When he told the dream to his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him and said,
“What is this dream that you have dreamt? Are we to come, I, your brothers, and mother, who’s dead,
And all bow down before you?” His brothers were envious, his father kept it in mind.

Now his brothers went to tend their father’s flock of sheep in Shechem, and at that same time,
Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the flock of sheep in Shechem?
Come here, and I will send you to them.” Joseph said to Israel, “Okay, here I am.”
Israel said to him, “Come, go see how your brothers are faring, and how fare the sheep,
And bring word back to me.” So he sent Joseph out from Hebron, where the valley was steep.
Joseph came to Shechem, and a man came upon him while he was roaming in the field.
The man asked him, “What do you seek?” He answered, “I seek my brothers.” And then he appealed,
“Tell me, where do they pasture their sheep?” The man said, “They’ve moved on from here. I heard them say,
‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed them to Dothan, and found them in that way.
They saw him from afar, and before he got near, they conspired against him to slay him.
They said to one another, “Here comes the dream master, and now is the time to repay him.
Let us kill him and throw him in one of these pits, we can then say ‘A savage beast ate him.’
Then let’s see what becomes of his dreams!” Upon hearing their plans, Reuben tried to abate them.
He tried to rescue Joseph and said, “Let us not take his life. Don’t let his blood be shed!
Don’t lay one hand upon him, but throw him into this pit in the wilderness instead.”
He intended to save Joseph from them and then return him to his father intact.
When Joseph came to his brothers, they took his coat, with the many colors from his back.
Then they took Joseph and cast him into the pit. The pit was empty, no water in it.
And they sat down to eat their food, but when they lifted their eyes and looked up in a minute,
They saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, all in a band,
And their camels bore balm, balsam, and laudanum to be taken down to Egypt land.
Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother, hiding his blood?
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let not our own hand shed Joseph’s blood.
For he is, after all, our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers all agreed to it.
When the Midianite men, the merchants, passed by, they all pulled Joseph out of the pit,
And his brothers sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites.
They took him to Egypt, so when Reuben returned to the pit, he was nowhere in sight.
Now when Reuben saw that Joseph wasn’t there, he rent his clothes (having failed his rescue).
He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! What am I supposed to do?”
Then they took Joseph’s coat, and they slaughtered a kid, dipped the coat in the blood of the goat.
They had it sent to their father and said, “We found this. Look at it; is this your son’s coat?”
Jacob recognized it, and said, “My son’s coat! He’s been devoured by some savage beast!
Joseph has, no doubt, been torn to pieces!” Jacob rent his clothes, and his mourning increased.
He put sackcloth on his loins and mourned his son for many days, thinking Joseph was dead.
All his sons and daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.
He said, “No, I will go down to my son in mourning, to Sheol!” (to Hell, or “the grave”)
Thus his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him as a slave.
They had sold Joseph into Egypt to Potiphar, who served as Pharaoh’s chief steward,
A court-officer of Pharaoh’s, and in addition, the Captain of the palace Guard.