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¹ And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, 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 he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of them to their father.³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.⁴ And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and 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 all the more.⁶ And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:⁷ for, look, we were binding sheaves in the field, and see, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and see, your sheaves came round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.⁸ And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.⁹ And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Look, I have dreamed yet a dream: and see, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me.¹⁰ And he told it to his father, and to his brothers; and 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 you to the earth?¹¹ And his brothers envied him; but his father kept the saying in mind.

¹² And his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here I am.¹⁴ And he said to him, Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.¹⁵ And a certain man found him, and, look, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What do you seek?¹⁶ And he said, I am seeking my brothers: tell me, I pray you, where they are feeding [the flock].¹⁷ And the man said, They have departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.¹⁸ And they saw him far off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him.¹⁹ And they said one to another, Look, this dreamer comes.²⁰ Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.²¹ And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life.²² And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him: that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.

²³ And it came to pass, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him;²⁴ and they took him, and cast him into the 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 noticed a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going 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, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and don't let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers listened to him.²⁸ And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.²⁹ And Reuben returned to the pit; and, look, Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he rent his clothes.³⁰ And he returned to his brothers, and said, The child is not; and I, where shall I go?

³¹ And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood;³² and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, This we have found: know now whether it is your son's coat or not.³³ And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat: an evil beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.³⁴ And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.³⁵ 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.³⁶ And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard.