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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Genesis 37 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/37.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/37-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Genesis 37</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/36.htm" title="Genesis 36">◄</a> Genesis 37 <a href="../genesis/38.htm" title="Genesis 38">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/genesis/37.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Joseph’s Dreams</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>This is the account of Jacob’s family line.</p><p class="reg">Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.">a</a></sup></span> robe for him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.</p> <p class="sectionhead">Joseph Sold by His Brothers</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”</p><p class="reg">“Very well,” he replied.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.</p><p class="reg">When Joseph arrived at Shechem, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”</p><p class="reg">So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams">b</a></sup></span> of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/37-36.htm"><b>36</b></a></span>Meanwhile, the Midianites <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also verse 28); Masoretic Text Medanites">c</a></sup></span> sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">3</span> <span class="footnotebot">The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">28</span> <span class="footnotebot">That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">36</span> <span class="footnotebot">Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also verse 28); Masoretic Text <i>Medanites</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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