Genesis 37:1-20

Joseph’s Dreams

1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. 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.

3 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^[a] robe for him.

4 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.

5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

7 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.”

8 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.

9 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.”

10 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?”

11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,

13 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.” “Very well,” he replied.

14 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. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,

15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.

18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.

20 “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.”

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Genesis 37:1-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 37

In this chapter begins the history of Joseph, with whom the remaining part of this book is chiefly concerned; and here are related the hatred of his brethren to him, because he brought an ill report of them to his father, and because his father loved him, and which was increased by the dream he dreamed, and told them of, Ge 37:1-11; a visit of his to his brethren in the fields, whom he found after a long search of them, Ge 37:12-17; their conspiracy on sight of him to slay him, but by the advice of Reuben it was agreed to cast him into a pit, which they did, Ge 37:18-24; and after that, at the motion of Judah, sold him to the Ishmaelites, who were going to Egypt, Ge 37:25-28; this being done, Reuben being absent, and not finding Joseph in the pit, was in great distress, Ge 37:29,30; their contrivance to deceive their father, and make him believe that Joseph was destroyed by a wild beast, which on the sight of the coat he credited, and became inconsolable, Ge 37:31-35; and the chapter concludes with the sale of Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, Ge 37:36.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Videos for Genesis 37:1-20

What Does the Life of Joseph Teach Us about Trusting God?

Cross References 42

1. S Genesis 17:8
2. S Genesis 10:19
3. S Genesis 2:4
4. S Genesis 30:24
5. Genesis 41:46; 2 Samuel 5:4
6. Genesis 46:32; 1 Samuel 16:11; 1 Samuel 17:15; Psalms 78:71; Amos 7:15
7. Genesis 35:25
8. Genesis 35:26
9. 1 Samuel 2:24
10. S Genesis 17:5
11. S Genesis 25:28
12. Genesis 43:27; Genesis 44:20
13. ver 23,31,32; 2 Samuel 13:18-19
14. Genesis 43:34; Genesis 45:22; 1 Samuel 1:4-5; Esther 2:9
15. S ver 24; S Genesis 27:41; Genesis 49:22-23; Acts 7:9
16. S Genesis 20:3; S Genesis 28:12
17. ver 10
18. ver 8
19. Ruth 2:7,15
20. ver 9,10; Genesis 27:29; Genesis 42:6,9; Genesis 43:26,28; Genesis 44:14; Genesis 50:18; 2 Samuel 1:2; 2 Samuel 9:6
21. Genesis 41:44; Genesis 42:10; Genesis 44:16,18; Genesis 48:22; Genesis 49:26; Deuteronomy 33:16
22. ver 5
23. S ver 7; Genesis 28:12
24. Revelation 12:1
25. Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3
26. ver 5
27. Ruth 2:16; Psalms 9:5; Psalms 68:30; Psalms 106:9; Psalms 119:21; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 54:9; Zechariah 3:2
28. S ver 7; S Genesis 9:25; S Genesis 33:3; Genesis 27:29
29. Genesis 26:14; Acts 7:9
30. Luke 2:19,51
31. S Genesis 12:6
32. S Genesis 17:5
33. Genesis 33:19
34. 1 Samuel 17:18
35. S Genesis 13:18; Genesis 35:27
36. 2 Kings 6:13
37. 1 Samuel 19:1; 2 Chronicles 24:21; Psalms 31:13,20; Psalms 37:12,32; S Matthew 12:14; Mark 14:1; Acts 23:12
38. S Genesis 28:12
39. ver 22; Jeremiah 38:6,9
40. ver 33; Leviticus 26:6,22; Deuteronomy 32:24; 2 Kings 17:25; Ezekiel 34:25
41. ver 31-33; S Genesis 4:10
42. Genesis 50:20

Footnotes 1

[a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.