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¹ AND Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a sojourner, in the land of Canaan.² These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers; and the lad was reared with the sons of Zilpah, and with the sons of Bilhah, his fathers wives; and Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a rich robe with long sleeves.⁴ And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵ And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him yet the more.⁶ And he said to them, Listen to this dream which I have dreamed:⁷ Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about and bowed down to my sheaf.⁸ And his brothers said to him, Are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you going to have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.⁹ And he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me.¹⁰ And when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to the ground to you?¹¹ And his brothers envied him; but his father observed the sayings.

¹² And Josephs brothers went to feed their fathers, flock in Shechem.¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, your brothers are feeding the flocks in Shechem; come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I.¹⁴ Then his father said to him, Go, see whether it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So Jacob sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.¹⁵ And a certain man found him while he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, and said to him, What are you seeking?¹⁶ And he said, I am seeking my brothers; do tell me where they are feeding their flocks.¹⁷ And 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.¹⁸ And they saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.¹⁹ And they said to one another, Behold, here comes the dreamer.²⁰ Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and throw him into one of the pits; and then we will say that a wild beast has 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 he said to them, Let us not kill him.²² And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood; throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not harm him; that he might deliver him from their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³ And it came to pass, when Joseph was come to his brothers, they stripped him of the rich robe that he was wearing;²⁴ And they took him, and threw 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 caravan of Arabians coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to carry it down to Egypt.²⁶ And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Arabians, and let us not harm him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers listened to him.²⁸ Then some Midianite merchants passed by; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Arabians for twenty pieces of silver; and they brought him into Egypt.²⁹ And then Reuben returned to the pit, and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes.³⁰ And he returned to his brothers, and said to them, Where is the boy; and as for me, where shall I go?

³¹ And they took Josephs robe, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the robe in the blood;³² And they sent the robe with long sleeves, and they brought it to their father; and said, This we have found: know now whether it be your sons coat or not.³³ And he recognized it, and said, It is my sons coat; a wild beast has devoured him; my son Joseph is surely torn to pieces.³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.³⁵ 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.³⁶ And the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaohs officers, the commander of the guard.