37

Joseph Dreams of Greatness

¹Now Jacob dwelt in the land ⚓where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. ²This is the history of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a ⚓bad report of them to his father.
³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was⚓the son of his old age. Also he ⚓made him a tunic of many colors. ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they ⚓hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
⁵Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ⁷⚓There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
⁸And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
⁹Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, ⚓the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
¹⁰So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and ⚓your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹And ⚓his brothers envied him, but his father ⚓kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹²Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in ⚓Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”
So he said to him, “Here I am.”
¹⁴Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of ⚓Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
¹⁵Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”
¹⁶So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. ⚓Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
¹⁷And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in ⚓Dothan.
¹⁸Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, ⚓they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! ²⁰⚓Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”
²¹But ⚓Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²²And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
²³So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they ⚓stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴Then 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 a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of ⚓Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, ⚓balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and ⚓conceal his blood? ²⁷Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ⚓let not our hand be upon him, for he is⚓our brother and⚓our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸Then ⚓Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, ⚓and sold him to the Ishmaelites for ⚓twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
²⁹Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he ⚓tore his clothes. ³⁰And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad ⚓is no more; and I, where shall I go?”
³¹So they took ⚓Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. ³²Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”
³³And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A ⚓wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” ³⁴Then Jacob ⚓tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and ⚓mourned for his son many days. ³⁵And all his sons and all his daughters ⚓arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For ⚓I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.
³⁶Now ⚓the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

37

約瑟和他的兄弟

¹雅各住在迦南地，就是他父親寄居的地。 ²這是雅各的事蹟。
約瑟十七歲與他哥哥們一同牧羊。他是個少年，與他父親的妾辟拉和悉帕的兒子們常在一起。約瑟把他們的惡行報給父親。 ³以色列愛約瑟過於其他的兒子，因為約瑟是他年老生的；他給約瑟做了一件長袍⚓。 ⁴哥哥們見父親愛約瑟過於他們，就恨約瑟，不與他說友善的話。
⁵約瑟做了一個夢，告訴他哥哥們，他們就更加恨他。 ⁶約瑟對他們說：「請聽我做的這個夢： ⁷看哪，我們在田裏捆禾稼；看哪，我的捆起來站着；看哪，你們的捆圍着我的捆下拜。」 ⁸他的哥哥們對他說：「難道你真的要作我們的王嗎？難道你真的要統治我們嗎？」他們就因他的夢和他的話更加恨他。
⁹後來他又做了另一個夢，告訴他哥哥們說：「看哪，我又做了一個夢；看哪，太陽、月亮和十一顆星都向我下拜。」 ¹⁰約瑟告訴他父親和哥哥們，他父親就責備他說：「你做的這是甚麼夢！難道我和你母親、你的兄弟真的要俯伏在地，來向你下拜嗎？」 ¹¹他的哥哥們都嫉妒他，他父親卻把這事存在心裏。

約瑟被賣到埃及

¹²約瑟的哥哥們到示劍去放他們父親的羊。 ¹³以色列對約瑟說：「你哥哥們不是在示劍放羊嗎？來，我派你到他們那裏去。」約瑟對他說：「我在這裏。」 ¹⁴以色列對他說：「你去看看你哥哥們是否平安，羊羣是否平安，再回來告訴我。」於是他派約瑟出希伯崙谷，約瑟就往示劍去了。 ¹⁵有人遇見他，看哪，他在田野走迷了路。那人問他說：「你找甚麼？」 ¹⁶他說：「我找我的哥哥們，請告訴我，他們在哪裏放羊。」 ¹⁷那人說：「他們已經離開這裏走了，我聽見他們說：『我們往多坍去。』」約瑟就去追哥哥們，在多坍找到了他們。 ¹⁸他們遠遠看見他，趁他還沒有走近他們，就圖謀要殺死他。 ¹⁹他們彼此說：「看哪！那做夢的來了。 ²⁰現在，來吧！我們把他殺了，丟在一個坑裏，就說有惡獸把他吃了。我們且看他的夢將來怎麼樣。」 ²¹呂便聽見了，要救約瑟脫離他們的手，說：「我們不可害他的性命。」 ²²呂便又對他們說：「不可流他的血，可以把他丟在這曠野的坑裏，不可下手害他。」呂便要救他脫離他們的手，把他還給他父親。 ²³約瑟到了他哥哥們那裏，他們就剝去他的外衣，就是他身上那件長袍。 ²⁴他們抓住他，把他丟在坑裏。那坑是空的，裏頭沒有水。
²⁵他們坐下吃飯，舉目觀看，看哪，有一羣以實瑪利人從基列來，用駱駝馱着香料、乳香、沒藥，要帶下埃及去。 ²⁶猶大對他的兄弟們說：「我們殺我們的弟弟，遮掩他的血有甚麼好處呢？ ²⁷來，我們把他賣給以實瑪利人，不要下手害他，因為他是我們的弟弟，我們的骨肉。」他的兄弟們就聽從了他。 ²⁸那時，有些米甸的商人從那裏經過，就把約瑟從坑裏拉上來。他們以二十塊銀子把約瑟賣給以實瑪利人，他們就把約瑟帶到埃及去了。
²⁹呂便回到坑旁，看哪，約瑟不在坑裏，就撕裂自己的衣服， ³⁰回到他兄弟們那裏，說：「孩子不在了。我往哪裏去才好呢？」 ³¹於是，他們宰了一隻公山羊，拿了約瑟的那件外衣染上了血， ³²派人把長袍送到他們的父親那裏，說：「我們發現這個，請認一認，是不是你兒子的外衣？」 ³³他認出來，就說：「這是我兒子的外衣，惡獸把他吃了，約瑟一定被撕碎了！」 ³⁴雅各就撕裂衣服，腰間圍上麻布，為他兒子哀傷了多日。 ³⁵他的兒女都起來安慰他，他卻不肯受安慰，說：「我必哀傷着下陰間，到我兒子那裏。」約瑟的父親就為他哀哭。
³⁶米甸人把約瑟賣到埃及，給法老的官員，就是護衛長波提乏。