Joseph Sold As A Slave By His Br

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he and his brothers were shepherds,

but he made them angry, for he brought a bad report about them to their

father. Now Jacob loved his son Joseph, who was born in his old age; and

he made him a long coat with sleeves. When his brothers saw that their

father loved him more than all his other sons, they hated Joseph and

would not speak to him in a friendly way.



Joseph h d a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him

still more. This is what he said to them, "I dreamed that, as we were

binding sheaves in the field, my sheaf rose up and remained standing,

while your sheaves came around and bowed down to my sheaf." His brothers

said to him, "Will you really be king over us? Will you indeed rule over

us?" So they hated him still more because of his dreams and his words.



Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, "I have

had another dream, and it seemed to me that the sun and the moon and

eleven stars bowed down to me." But when he told it to his father and

his brothers, his father reproved him and said, "What is this dream that

you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come

and bow down to the earth before you?" Therefore his brothers were

jealous of him; but his father remembered the dream.



When his brothers went to pasture his father's flocks in Shechem, Jacob

said to Joseph, "Go, see whether all goes well with your brothers and

with the flock, and bring me back word." So he sent him out, and a

certain man found him, as he was wandering in the field, and the man

asked him, "What are you looking for?" He said, "I am looking for my

brothers; tell me, I beg of you, where they are pasturing the flock."

The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to

Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.



When they saw him in the distance, before he came to them, they planned

together to kill him. And they said one to another, "See, here comes

that great dreamer! Come, let us kill him and throw him into one of the

pits, and we will say, 'A fierce beast has devoured him.' Then we shall

see what will become of his dreams!"



Judah, however, when he heard it, saved Joseph's life by saying, "Let us

not take his life." Reuben also said to them, "Do not shed blood; throw

him into this pit, here in the wilderness; but do not harm him." Reuben

said this to save Joseph from their hands so that he could bring him

back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off

his long coat with sleeves and threw him into the pit. But the pit was

empty, there being no water in it.



Then they sat down to eat and, when they looked up, they saw a band of

Ishmaelites coming from Gilead; and their camels were loaded with

spices, gum, and ladanum on their way to carry it down to Egypt. And

Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and

hide his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let us do

him no harm, for he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." So his

brothers listened to him; and, drawing up Joseph, they sold him for

twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought him to Egypt.



Then his brothers took Joseph's long coat, killed a he-goat, dipped the

coat in the blood, and brought it to their father, and said, "We found

this; see whether it is your son's coat or not." He recognized it and

said, "It is my son's coat! A wild beast has devoured him! Joseph surely

is torn in pieces." Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth about his

waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and his daughters

tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, saying, "I shall

go down to the grave mourning for my son." Thus Joseph's father mourned

for him.