HolyStudy
Bible IndexRead BibleNotesChurchesMissionPrivacyTermsContact
© 2026 HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurchesSign in
HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurches
Sign in

Genesis 37

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.

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.

4

And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

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:

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.

1
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.

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.

1
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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

34

And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

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.

← Previous ChapterNext Chapter →

Genesis 37

Genesis 37 introduces Joseph, seventeen years old, and immediately the family fractures appear. Joseph is Jacob's favored son — a fact Jacob does nothing to conceal, giving him an ornate robe that marks his status. Joseph brings bad reports about his brothers and shares two dreams in which his family bows down to him. His brothers hate him; even his father rebukes him. When Joseph is sent to check on his brothers in Dothan, they see him coming and plot to kill him. Reuben talks them down to throwing him in a pit, intending to rescue him later. But in Reuben's absence, the brothers sell Joseph to Ishmaelite traders for twenty pieces of silver — a number the New Testament will echo in Judas's betrayal of Jesus. They dip his robe in goat's blood and present it to Jacob, who tears his clothes in grief. The coat is gone; the father is shattered; Joseph is on his way to Egypt. Yet what appears to be a story of jealousy and cruelty is the opening movement of God's greatest act of provision for His people. Psalm 105:17–19 later says God sent Joseph ahead.

Genesis 37:1

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. The simple statement — Jacob lived where his father Isaac lived — is the covenant continuity that frames the Joseph narrative. The son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham, lives in the promised land. The application: the covenant location is the starting point of the covenant story. Jacob is in Canaan, where the covenant belongs.

Genesis 37:2

This is the account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. The toledot of Jacob is the account of the Joseph story — Joseph's narrative is Jacob's toledot. The detail that Joseph brought a bad report about his brothers introduces the dynamic of sibling conflict and parental favoritism. The application: the bad report that Joseph brings establishes both his honesty and his siblings' antipathy from the first verse.

Genesis 37:3

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. The love of Jacob for Joseph — the son of his old age and of Rachel, the beloved wife — is the parental favoritism that will fracture the family. The ornate robe (the coat of many colors in tradition) is the visible sign of the preferred status. The application: the parental favoritism that produces visible markers of preference — a special coat — will produce visible consequences in sibling resentment.

Genesis 37:4

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. The hatred of the brothers is the direct result of the visible favoritism. They cannot speak a kind word — the relational rupture is complete before anything dramatic has happened. The application: the family that organizes around visible parental preference will produce the hatred that makes the preferred son's survival dependent on luck and providence.

Genesis 37:5

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. The first dream — and the decision to tell it — is the provocative act that deepens the existing resentment. The application: the wisdom of sharing a dream that confirms your elevation over those who already hate you is questionable. Joseph tells the dream; the hatred increases.

Genesis 37:6

He said to them: listen to this dream I had. The invitation to listen is the invitation to receive what will offend. The application: the person who is unaware of how they are perceived will share what confirms the worst of those perceptions without realizing they are adding fuel to an existing fire.

Genesis 37:7

We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. The dream of the sheaves is the first of two dreams that confirm Joseph's eventual elevation. The content — brothers bowing — is exactly what the brothers will eventually do in Egypt. The application: the dreams that Joseph tells his brothers are the prophetic content of Genesis — the whole Joseph story is implicit in the dream of the bowing sheaves.

Genesis 37:8

His brothers said to him: do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. The interpretation the brothers give the dream is exactly right — they understand its implication. And they hate him more. The application: the truth about the future does not make the future easier to accept by those who find it threatening.

Genesis 37:9

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. He said: listen, I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. The second dream expands the scope of the bowing — sun, moon, eleven stars, meaning parents and all eleven brothers. The application: Joseph is not learning from the reception of the first dream. He tells the second, with even greater claims.

Genesis 37:10

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said: what is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? Even Jacob rebukes this dream. The rebuke from the father who loves Joseph most is the clearest signal that the dreams are provocative rather than prudent to share. The application: even those who love you most will recognize when you have shared something in a way that serves your pride more than your relationships.

Genesis 37:11

His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. The jealousy of the brothers is stated plainly; Jacob keeps the matter in mind — holds it in consideration rather than dismissing it. The application: the different responses to the same provocation reveal different characters: the brothers turn jealous; the father turns reflective. Luke 2:51 records Mary keeping things in her heart — the same reflective retention of something not yet understood.

Genesis 37:12

Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem. The movement of the brothers to Shechem — the site of the Dinah episode in Genesis 34 — is the setup for the chain of events that will follow. The application: the geography of the Joseph story is the geography of the family's previous conflicts. Shechem is not a neutral location.

Genesis 37:13

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, Joseph replied. The willingness of Joseph — very well — is the willing obedience of the son sent to his brothers. Genesis 22:7-8 uses the same structure of father sending son. The application: the son who says very well when sent into danger is the son whose obedience will be tested by what he encounters.

Genesis 37:14

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. Joseph went to look for his brothers and found them near Dothan. The task is straightforward: go, check, report back. The same mission Joseph was given in Genesis 37:2 — checking on his brothers and reporting. The application: the task given in good faith by a loving father contains the danger neither can see.

Genesis 37:15

A man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him: what are you looking for? The unnamed man who finds the lost Joseph and redirects him to Dothan is a small providential hinge — without this direction, Joseph might not have found his brothers at all. The application: the unnamed persons who redirect us toward significant encounters are part of the providential ordering of our lives, even when we do not know what the encounter will cost.

Genesis 37:16

He replied: I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks? The simple request reveals Joseph's orientation: he is looking for his brothers, going toward them. He does not know what awaits him. The application: the faithful movement toward the people we are sent to serve is the obedience that puts us in position for whatever God intends.

Genesis 37:17

The man said: they have moved on from here. I heard them say, let's go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. The finding of the brothers near Dothan is the convergence point of the providence and the danger. The application: the direction that leads to the finding of what we seek is often the direction that leads to our greatest testing.

Genesis 37:18

But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. The plot to kill Joseph begins with seeing him in the distance — the same distance of hatred established in verse 4. Before he arrives, the sentence is proposed. The application: the hatred that cannot speak a kind word has moved to murder before the object of hatred is close enough to speak.

Genesis 37:19

Here comes that dreamer! they said to each other. The name they give Joseph — that dreamer — is both a dismissal and an inadvertent testimony to what he is. The application: the mocking names given to those with genuine gifts are sometimes the most accurate descriptions of those gifts.

Genesis 37:20

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! The plan is complete: kill, dispose, lie. The mocking reference to the dreams — then we'll see what comes of his dreams — is the challenge to the divine word embedded in the murder plot. The application: the attempt to eliminate the person through whom God has spoken is ultimately the attempt to silence God's word.

Genesis 37:21

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. Let's not take his life, he said. The intervention of Reuben — the firstborn, the one who violated Bilhah — is the redemptive impulse in the most unlikely place. The application: the moral impulse toward rescue can appear in the most compromised person. Reuben's history does not prevent him from acting to save Joseph.

Genesis 37:22

Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him. Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. The plan within the plan — throw him in the cistern to save him and take him home — is Reuben's attempt to work within the brothers' proposal while preventing the murder. The application: working within a bad situation to reduce harm, rather than simply opposing it, is sometimes the only available form of moral agency.

Genesis 37:23

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe — the ornate robe he was wearing. The first act against Joseph is the stripping of the coat — the visible sign of the father's favoritism. The removal of the coat is the brothers' first act of symbolic reversal: they are taking back what the father gave. The application: the things that mark us as preferred in someone else's eyes are often the things that make us targets.

Genesis 37:24

And they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. The empty cistern — no water — is the detail that confirms this was not a death-by-drowning but a holding place. Joseph is alive in the darkness of the cistern. The application: the pit that has no water is the pit from which rescue is still possible. The detail is not incidental; it is the narrative's signal that the story is not over.

Genesis 37:25

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 down to Egypt. The brothers eat — indifferent to the brother in the pit — while a caravan appears. The timing of the Ishmaelite caravan is the providence that redirects from murder to sale. The application: the providence that arrives in the middle of a crisis is often the presence of strangers traveling somewhere else, whose route intersects with your disaster.

Genesis 37:26

Judah said to his brothers: what will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? The pragmatic argument from Judah — what's the gain? — is motivated by self-interest but accomplishes a result better than the original plan. The application: even self-interested arguments against an evil can prevent the worst outcome, even if they do not represent the full moral case against it.

Genesis 37:27

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. The argument that prevails — he is our flesh and blood — is the covenant family bond invoked as the reason not to kill. The sale is still a betrayal; the argument against murder is still right. The application: the covenant bond between people is the argument against the worst violence, even when the betrayal of a lesser form is still committed.

Genesis 37:28

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. The sale for twenty shekels of silver — approximately the price of a young male slave in the ancient Near East — is the first of the biblical betrayals by silver. Matthew 26:15 records the thirty pieces of silver paid for Jesus. The application: the silver paid for Joseph is the silver that anticipates the silver paid for the one who is greater than Joseph.

Genesis 37:29

When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. Reuben's return to the cistern and the tearing of his clothes is the grief of the one whose rescue plan has been undone in his absence. The application: the person who tried to do right and failed — who was absent at the decisive moment — carries a specific grief that is different from the grief of those who did wrong deliberately.

Genesis 37:30

He went back to his brothers and said: the boy isn't there! Where can I turn now? The question — where can I turn — is the question of a person whose moral initiative has been overtaken by events. The application: the inability to undo what others have done while you were absent is one of the most frustrating forms of moral helplessness.

Genesis 37:31

Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. The preparation of the evidence — goat's blood on the coat — is the brothers' cover story. The goat slaughtered to deceive the father mirrors the goat served to Isaac in Genesis 27:9 — the family deception that began with Rebekah and Jacob is perpetuated in the next generation. The application: the deception that passed from one generation to the next now comes back to Jacob: the deceiver is deceived with the same instrument — animal skin and covered truth.

Genesis 37:32

They took the ornate robe back to their father and said: we found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe. The instruction to examine the robe — to see whether it is your son's — is the same examination instruction that Jacob used to deceive Isaac through touch. The application: the word examine spoken over a false evidence is the same word that the previous generation used to manage the deception. The family pattern has fully returned.

Genesis 37:33

He recognized it and said: it is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces. And Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. The recognition of the robe and the conclusion Jacob reaches — some ferocious animal has devoured him — is exactly what the brothers planned in verse 20. The grief of Jacob is the grief of a man whose greatest love has been taken from him. The application: the grief of the deceived father who mourns the son who is alive is one of the most painful ironies in Genesis.

Genesis 37:34

All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. No, he said, I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave. So his father wept for him. The refusal to be comforted is the refusal of the grief that knows nothing can substitute for the person lost. The application: there is a grief that cannot be comforted by the comfort available, and the refusal of inadequate comfort is not faithlessness but the honest acknowledgment of what has been taken.

Genesis 37:35

Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. The commercial transaction continues: from brothers to Ishmaelites to Midianites to Potiphar. Joseph moves through several hands on his way to the household where his story will develop. The application: the providence that is working through the Joseph story operates through commercial transactions, migration, and household placement — the ordinary machinery of the ancient world.

Genesis 37:36

Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. The repetition of the sale information anchors the narrative: Joseph is in Egypt, in Potiphar's household. The story that began in Canaan with shepherd brothers will unfold in Egypt in the palace of Pharaoh. The application: the place you end up is rarely the place where the story of how you got there began. Joseph's story starts in Canaan; it unfolds in Egypt.