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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Genesis 37:35

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bereavement;   Deception;   Falsehood;   Hell;   Hypocrisy;   Ishmaelites;   Jacob;   Joseph;   Sorrow;   Weeping;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Dead, the;   Family;   Fathers';   Grief;   Home;   Joy-Sorrow;   Love;   Mourning;   Parental;   Parents;   Paternal Love;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Children;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Joseph;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Consolation;   Death, Mortality;   Envy;   Family Life and Relations;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Hell;   Immortality;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Iram;   Jacob;   Mourning;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Genesis;   Grief and Mourning;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Child, Children;   Dinah;   Guard Body-Guard;   Simeon;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Boyhood of Jesus;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Grave;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Hell;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Joseph;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Jacob (1);   Joseph (2);   Paraclete;   Relationships, Family;   Sheol;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Consolation;   Euphemism;   Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius);   Phinehas;   Sheol;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to She'ol to my son mourning." His father wept for him.
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
And all his sons and daughters tried to console him, but he refused to be consoled. And he said, "No, I shall go down to my son, to Sheol, mourning." And his father wept for him.
New Century Version
All of his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he could not be comforted. He said, "I will be sad about my son until the day I die." So Jacob cried for his son Joseph.
New English Translation
All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. "No," he said, "I will go to the grave mourning my son." So Joseph's father wept for him.
Amplified Bible
Then all his sons and daughters attempted to console him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "I will go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in mourning for my son." And his father wept for him.
New American Standard Bible
Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then all his sonnes and all his daughters rose vp to comfort him, but he woulde not be comforted, but said, Surely I will go downe into the graue vnto my sonne mourning: so his father wept for him.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.
Contemporary English Version
All of Jacob's children came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "I will go to my grave, mourning for my son." So Jacob kept on grieving.
Complete Jewish Bible
Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, "No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning." And his father wept for him.
Darby Translation
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said, For I will go down to my son into Sheol mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
Easy-to-Read Version
All of Jacob's sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but Jacob was never comforted. He said, "I will be sad about my son until the day I die." So Jacob continued to mourn his son Joseph.
English Standard Version
All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father wept for him.
George Lamsa Translation
And all his sons and all his daughters made an effort to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, I will go down to Sheol, to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
Good News Translation
All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "I will go down to the world of the dead still mourning for my son." So he continued to mourn for his son Joseph.
Christian Standard Bible®
All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
Literal Translation
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him. And he refused to be comforted, and said, I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son. And his father wept for him.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And all his sonnes & doughters came vnto him to coforte him. But he wolde not be coforted, & saide: With sorowe wil I go downe in to the graue vnto my sonne. And his father wepte for him.
American Standard Version
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 to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.
Bible in Basic English
And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But all his sonnes & all his daughters rose vp to comfort hym: neuerthelesse he woulde not be comforted, but sayde, I wyll go downe into the graue vnto my sonne, mournyng: And thus his father wept for hym.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said: 'Nay, but I will go down to the grave to my son mourning.' And his father wept for him.
King James Version (1611)
And all his sonnes, and all his daughters rose vp to comfort him: but he refused to be comforted: and he said, For I will goe downe into the graue vnto my sonne, mourning; thus his father wept for him.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Madianites sold Joseph into Egypt; to Petephres, the eunuch of Pharao, captain of the guard.
English Revised Version
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 to the grave to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sothely whanne hise fre children weren gaderid to gidere, that thei schulden peese the sorewe of the fadir, he nolde take counfort, but seide, Y schal go doun in to helle, and schal biweile my sone. And the while Jacob contynude in wepyng,
Young's Literal Translation
and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuseth to comfort himself, and saith, `For -- I go down mourning unto my son, to Sheol,' and his father weepeth for him.
Update Bible Version
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 to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.
Webster's Bible Translation
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 to my son mourning: Thus his father wept for him.
World English Bible
All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning." His father wept for him.
New King James Version
And 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.
New Living Translation
His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "I will go to my grave mourning for my son," he would say, and then he would weep.
New Life Bible
All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him. But he would not be comforted. He said, "I will go down to the grave in sorrow for my son." And his father cried for him.
New Revised Standard
All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father bewailed him.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to console him but he refused to be consoled, and said - Surely I will go down unto my son mourning to hades! And his father wept for him.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And all his children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning. And whilst he continued weeping,
Revised Standard Version
All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father wept for him.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.

Contextual Overview

31Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. 32They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe or not." 33His father recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!" 34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his daughters: Genesis 31:43, Genesis 35:22-26

rose up: 2 Samuel 12:17, Job 2:11, Psalms 77:2, Jeremiah 31:15

For I: Genesis 42:31, Genesis 44:29-31, Genesis 45:28

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:67 - comforted Genesis 42:38 - his brother Genesis 44:31 - servants shall Genesis 45:26 - And Jacob's Genesis 48:11 - I had not Judges 11:35 - rent his clothes 2 Samuel 12:23 - I shall go 2 Samuel 13:39 - comforted Esther 4:4 - but he received it not Job 42:11 - they bemoaned Psalms 30:11 - turned Proverbs 15:15 - All Jeremiah 45:3 - added John 11:19 - to comfort John 11:31 - She goeth 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - ye sorrow

Cross-References

Genesis 31:43
But Laban answered Jacob, "These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?
Genesis 37:22
"Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him." Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.
Genesis 37:26
Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
Genesis 37:29
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,
Genesis 37:31
Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.
Genesis 42:31
But we told him, 'We are honest men, not spies.
Genesis 42:38
But Jacob replied, "My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow."
Genesis 45:28
"Enough!" declared Israel. "My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die."
2 Samuel 12:17
The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.
Job 2:11
Now when Job's three friends-Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite-heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home and met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him,.... His sons must act a most hypocritical part in this affair; and as for his daughters, it is not easy to say who they were, since he had but one daughter that we read of, whose name was Dinah: the Targum of Jonathan calls them his sons wives; but it is a question whether any of his sons were as yet married, since the eldest of them was not more than twenty four years of age; and much less can their daughters be supposed to be meant, as they are by some. It is the opinion of the Jews, that Jacob had a twin daughter born to him with each of his sons; these his sons and daughters came together, or singly, to condole his loss, to sympathize with him, and speak a word of comfort to him, and entreat him not to give way to excessive grief and sorrow:

but he refused to be comforted; to attend to anything that might serve to alleviate his mind, and to abstain from outward mourning, and the tokens of it; he chose not to be interrupted in it:

and he said, for I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourning; the meaning is, not that he would by any means hasten his own death, or go down to his son in the grave, strictly and literally taken; since, according to his apprehension of his son's death he could have no grave, being torn to pieces by a wild beast; but either that he should go into the state of the dead, where his son was, mourning all along till he carne thither; or rather that he would go mourning all his days "for [his] son" e, as some render it, till he came to the grave; nor would he, nor should he receive any comfort more in this world:

thus his father wept for him; in this manner, with such circumstances as before related, and he only; for as for his brethren they hated him, and were glad they had got rid of him; or, "and his father", c. f his father Isaac, as the Targum of Jonathan, he wept for his son Jacob on account of his trouble and distress; as well as for his grandson Joseph; and so many Jewish writers g interpret it; and indeed Isaac was alive at this time, and lived twelve years after; but the former sense seems best.

e אל בני "propter filium suum", Grotius, Quistorpius; so Jarchi and Abendana. f ויבך "et flevit", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. g Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Abendana, in loc.

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 37:35. All his sons and all his daughters — He had only one daughter, Dinah; but his sons' wives may be here included. But what hypocrisy in his sons to attempt to comfort him concerning the death of a son who they knew was alive; and what cruelty to put their aged father to such torture, when, properly speaking, there was no ground for it!


 
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