the Second Week after Easter
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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Genesis 37:34
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- CondensedParallel Translations
Ya`akov tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his clothes and put on rough cloth to show that he was upset, and he continued to be sad about his son for a long time.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days.
So Jacob tore his clothes [in grief], put on sackcloth and mourned many days for his son.
So Jacob tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
And Iaakob rent his clothes, & put sackecloth about his loynes, and sorowed for his sonne a long season.
So Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
Jacob mourned for Joseph a long time, and to show his sorrow he tore his clothes and wore sackcloth.
Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days.
And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Jacob was so sorry about his son that he tore his clothes. Then Jacob put on special clothes to show that he was sad. He continued to be sad about his son for a long time.
Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Jacob tore his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. He mourned for his son a long time.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob tore his clothing and put sackcloth on his loins. And he mourned many days for his son.
And Iacob rete his clothes, and put a sack cloth aboute his loynes, & mourned for his sonne a longe season.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.
And Iacob rent his clothes, & put sackcloth about his loynes, and mourned for his sonne a long season.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Iacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth vpon his loines, & mourned for his sonne many dayes.
And all his sons and his daughters gathered themselves together, and came to comfort him; but he would not be comforted, saying, I will go down to my son mourning to Hades; and his father wept for him.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And he to-rente his clothis, and he was clothid with an heire, and biweilide his sone in myche tyme.
And Jacob rendeth his raiment, and putteth sackcloth on his loins, and becometh a mourner for his son many days,
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time.
So Jacob tore his clothes and dressed in clothes made from hair. He had sorrow for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, - and mourned over his son many days.
And tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time.
Then Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Jacob tore his clothes in grief, dressed in rough burlap, and mourned his son a long, long time. His sons and daughters tried to comfort him but he refused their comfort. "I'll go to the grave mourning my son." Oh, how his father wept for him.
So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Genesis 37:29, Joshua 7:6, 2 Samuel 1:11, 2 Samuel 3:31, 1 Kings 20:31, 1 Kings 21:27, 2 Kings 19:1, 1 Chronicles 21:16, Ezra 9:3-5, Nehemiah 9:1, Esther 4:1-3, Job 1:20, Job 2:12, Psalms 69:11, Isaiah 22:12, Isaiah 22:13, Isaiah 32:11, Isaiah 36:22, Isaiah 37:1, Isaiah 37:2, Jeremiah 36:24, Joel 2:13, Jonah 3:5-8, Matthew 11:21, Matthew 26:65, Acts 14:14, Revelation 11:3
Reciprocal: Leviticus 21:10 - uncover Numbers 14:6 - rent their clothes Judges 11:35 - rent his clothes 2 Samuel 1:2 - clothes 2 Samuel 13:31 - arose 2 Kings 18:37 - with their clothes rent 1 Chronicles 7:22 - mourned Ecclesiastes 3:7 - time to rend Jeremiah 45:3 - added Jeremiah 48:37 - upon the loins
Cross-References
Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.
Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
"Do you intend to reign over us?" his brothers asked. "Will you actually rule us?" So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.
Some time later, Joseph's brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks near Shechem.
Israel said to him, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them." "I am ready," Joseph replied.
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.
Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same.
Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, "Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner." And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And Jacob rent his clothes,.... As expressive of his grief and mourning for the death of his son, as he supposed:
and put sackcloth upon his loins; put off his usual apparel, and put on a coarse garment on his loins next to his flesh, as another token of his great trouble and affliction for the loss of his son; which though afterwards was frequently done in times of public or private mourning, yet this is the first time we read of it; whether Jacob was the first that used it, whom his posterity and others imitated, is not certain; however it appears that this usage, as well as that of rending clothes on sorrowful occasions, were very ancient:
and mourned for his son many days: or years, as days sometimes signify; twenty two years, according to Jarchi, even until the time he went down to Egypt and saw him alive.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- Joseph Was Sold into Egypt
17. דתין dotayı̂n Dothain, “two wells?” (Gesenius)
25. נכאת neko't “tragacanth” or goat’s-thorn gum, yielded by the “astragalus gummifer”, a native of Mount Lebanon. צרי tsērı̂y “opobalsamum,” the resin of the balsam tree, growing in Gilead, and having healing qualities. לט loṭ, λῆδον lēdon, “ledum, ladanum,” in the Septuagint στακτή staktē. The former is a gum produced from the cistus rose. The latter is a gum resembling liquid myrrh.
36. פוטיפר pôṭı̂yphar Potiphar, “belonging to the sun.”
The sketch of the race of Edom, given in the preceding piece, we have seen, reaches down to the time of Moses. Accordingly, the history of Jacob’s seed, which is brought before us in the present document, reverts to a point of time not only before the close of that piece, but before the final record of what precedes it. The thread of the narrative is here taken up from the return of Jacob to Hebron, which was seventeen years before the death of Isaac.
Genesis 37:1-5
Joseph is the favorite of his father, but not of his brethren. “In the land of his father’s sojournings.” This contrasts Jacob with Esau, who removed to Mount Seir. This notice precedes the phrase, “These are the generations.” The corresponding sentence in the case of Isaac is placed at the end of the preceding section of the narrative Genesis 25:11. “The son of seventeen years;” in his seventeenth year Genesis 37:32. “The sons of Bilhah.” The sons of the handmaids were nearer his own age, and perhaps more tolerant of the favorite than the sons of Leah the free wife. Benjamin at this time was about four years of age. “An evil report of them.” The unsophisticated child of home is prompt in the disapproval of evil, and frank in the avowal of his feelings. What the evil was we are not informed; but Jacob’s full-grown sons were now far from the paternal eye, and prone, as it seems, to give way to temptation. Many scandals come out to view in the chosen family. “Loved Joseph.” He was the son of his best-loved wife, and of his old age; as Benjamin had not yet come into much notice. “A Coat of many colors.” This was a coat reaching to the hands and feet, worn by persons not much occupied with manual labor, according to the general opinion. It was, we conceive, variegated either by the loom or the needle, and is therefore, well rendered χιτὼν ποικίλος chitōn poikilos, a motley coat. “Could not bid peace to him.” The partiality of his father, exhibited in so weak a manner, provokes the anger of his brothers, who cannot bid him good-day, or greet him in the ordinary terms of good-will.
Genesis 37:5-11
Joseph’s dreams excite the jealousy of his brothers. His frankness in reciting his dream to his brothers marks a spirit devoid of guile, and only dimly conscious of the import of his nightly visions. The first dream represents by a figure the humble submission of all his brothers to him, as they rightly interpret it. “For his dreams and for his words.” The meaning of this dream was offensive enough, and his telling of it rendered it even more disagreeable. A second dream is given to express the certainty of the event Genesis 41:32. The former serves to interpret the latter. There the sheaves are connected with the brothers who bound them, and thereby indicate the parties. The eleven stars are not so connected with them. But here Joseph is introduced directly without a figure, and the number eleven, taken along with the eleven sheaves of the former dream, makes the application to the brothers plain. The sun and moon clearly point out the father and mother. The mother is to be taken, we conceive, in the abstract, without nicely inquiring whether it means the departed Rachel, or the probably still living Leah. Not even the latter seems to have lived to see the fulfillment of this prophetic dream Genesis 49:31. The second dream only aggravated the hatred of his brothers; but his father, while rebuking him for his speeches, yet marked the saying. The rebuke seems to imply that the dream, or the telling of it, appears to his father to indicate the lurking of a self-sufficient or ambitious spirit within the breast of the youthful Joseph. The twofold intimation, however, came from a higher source.
Genesis 37:12-17
Joseph is sent to Dothan. Shekem belonged to Jacob; part of it by purchase, and the rest by conquest. Joseph is sent to inquire of their welfare (שׁלום shālom “peace,” Genesis 37:4). With obedient promptness the youth goes to Shekem, where he learns that they had removed to Dothan, a town about twelve miles due north of Shekem.
Genesis 37:18-24
His brothers cast him into a pit. “This master of dreams;” an eastern phrase for a dreamer. “Let us slay him.” They had a foreboding that his dreams might prove true, and that he would become their arbitrary master. This thought at all events would abate somewhat of the barbarity of their designs. It is implied in the closing sentence of their proposal. Reuben dissuades them from the act of murder, and advises merely to cast him into the pit, to which they consent. He had a more tender heart, and perhaps a more tender conscience than the rest, and intended to send Joseph back safe to his father. He doubtless took care to choose a pit that was without water.
Genesis 37:25-30
Reuben rips his clothes when he finds Joseph gone. “To eat bread.” This shows the cold and heartless cruelty of their deed. “A caravan” - a company of travelling merchants. “Ishmaelites.” Ishmael left his father’s house when about fourteen or fifteen years of age. His mother took him a wife probably when he was eighteen, or twenty at the furthest. He had arrived at the latter age about one hundred and sixty-two years before the date of the present occurrence. He had twelve sons Genesis 25:13-15, and if we allow only four other generations and a fivefold increase, there will be about fifteen thousand in the fifth generation. “Came from Gilead;” celebrated for its balm Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11. The caravan road from Damascus to Egypt touches upon the land of Gilead, goes through Beth-shean, and passes by Dothan. “Spicery.” This gum is called tragacanth, or goats-thorn gum, because it was supposed to be obtained from this plant. “Balm,” or balsam; an aromatic substance obtained from a plant of the genus Amyris, a native of Gilead. “Myrrh” is the name of a gum exuding from the balsamodendron myrrha, growing in Arabia Felix. “Lot,” however, is supposed to be the resinous juice of the cistus or rock rose, a plant growing in Crete and Syria. Judah, relenting, and revolting perhaps from the crime of fratricide, proposes to sell Joseph to the merchants.
Midianites and Medanites Genesis 37:36 are mere variations apparently of the same name. They seem to have been the actual purchasers, though the caravan takes its name from the Ishmaelites, who formed by far the larger portion of it. Midian and Medan were both sons of Abraham, and during one hundred and twenty-five years must have increased to a small clan. Thus, Joseph is sold to the descendants of Abraham. “Twenty silver pieces;” probably shekels. This is the rate at which Moses estimates a male from five to twenty years old Leviticus 27:5. A man-servant was valued by him at thirty shekels Exodus 21:32. Reuben finding Joseph gone, rends his clothes, in token of anguish of mind for the loss of his brother and the grief of his father.
Genesis 37:31-36
The brothers contrive to conceal their crime; and Joseph is sold into Egypt. “Torn, torn in pieces is Joseph.” The sight of the bloody coat convinces Jacob at once that Joseph has been devoured by a wild beast. “All his daughters.” Only one daughter of Jacob is mentioned by name. These are probably his daughters-in-law. “To the grave.” Sheol is the place to which the soul departs at death. It is so called from its ever craving, or being empty. “Minister.” This word originally means eunuch, and then, generally, any officer about the court or person of the sovereign. “Captain of the guards.” The guards are the executioners of the sentences passed by the sovereign on culprits, which were often arbitrary, summary, and extremely severe. It is manifest, from this dark chapter, that the power of sin has not been extinguished in the family of Jacob. The name of God does not appear, and his hand is at present only dimly seen among the wicked designs, deeds, and devices of these unnatural brothers. Nevertheless, his counsel of mercy standeth sure, and fixed is his purpose to bring salvation to the whole race of man, by means of his special covenant with Abraham.
