Gen 37:1-9 : 1 Jacob settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob: Joseph, a seventeen-year-old youth, was shepherding the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age, and he made him a robe of many colors.
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of them, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 One time Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 Joseph said to them, "Please listen to this dream I had.
7 "We were binding sheaves in the field when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine."
8 His brothers said to him, "Do you really think you will reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him even more for his dreams and his words.
9 Then Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, "Look, I had another dream, and this time the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10 When he told the dream to his father and brothers, his father rebuked him, asking, "What kind of dream is this that you have had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to the ground before you?"
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem.
13 Israel said to Joseph, "Aren’t your brothers shepherding the flock at Shechem? Go, and I will send you to them." Joseph replied, "Here I am."
14 So Israel said to him, "Go now and see if everything is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me back a report." Then he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and Joseph went to Shechem.
15 A man found him wandering in the field and asked him, "What are you looking for?"
16 He replied, "I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are shepherding."
17 The man said, "They have moved on from here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
18 They saw him from a distance, and before he reached them, they conspired to kill him.
19 They said to one another, "Look, here comes the dreamer!"
20 Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a wild animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams."
21 But Reuben heard this and tried to rescue him from their hands. He said, "Let us not take his life."
22 Reuben also said to them, "Do not shed any blood. Throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him." He said this intending to rescue him from their hands in order to return him to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing.
24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit 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 profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal 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." His brothers agreed.
28 When the Midianite merchants passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone! What am I going to do?"
31 Then they took Joseph's tunic, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.
32 They sent the ornate tunic to their father and said, "We found this. Please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not."
33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's tunic! A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days.
35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "I will go down to Sheol mourning my son." And his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.