the Third Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Read the Bible
The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Genesis 37:20
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- CondensedParallel Translations
Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams."
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Now then, come, let us kill him and throw him in one of the pits. Then we will say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what his dreams become."
Let's kill him and throw his body into one of the wells. We can tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what will become of his dreams."
Come now, let's kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild animal ate him. Then we'll see how his dreams turn out!"
"Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits (cisterns, underground water storage); then we will say [to our father], 'A wild animal killed and devoured him'; and we shall see what will become of his dreams!"
"Now then, come and let's kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A vicious animal devoured him.' Then we will see what will become of his dreams!"
Come now therefore, and let vs slay him, and cast him into some pitte, and wee will say, A wicked beast hath deuoured him: then wee shall see, what will come of his dreames.
So now, come and let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his dreams!"
Let's kill him and throw him into a pit and say that some wild animal ate him. Then we'll see what happens to those dreams."
So come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we'll say some wild animal devoured him. We'll see then what becomes of his dreams!"
And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams.
We should kill him now while we can. We could throw his body into one of the empty wells and tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will show him that his dreams are useless."
Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams."
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.
Come on now, let's kill him and throw his body into one of the dry wells. We can say that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams."
So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
And, Come now, and let us kill him, and throw him into one of the pits. And let us say, An evil beast has eaten him. And let us see what will become of his dreams.
come on, and let vs sley him, & cast him in a pytt, and saye: a wicked beast hath deuoured him: the shal it be sene, what his dreames are.
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams.
Come nowe therefore and let vs slaye hym, and cast hym into some pit, and we wyll say, some naughtie beast hath deuoured hym: and we shall see what wyll come of his dreames.
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say: An evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.'
Come now therefore, and let vs slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some euill beast hath deuoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreames.
Now then come, let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits; and we will say, An evil wild beast has devoured him; and we shall see what his dreams will be.
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
sle we hym, and sende we into an eld sisterne, and we schulen seie, A wielde beeste ful wickid hath deuourid hym; and thanne it schal appere what hise dremes profiten to hym.
and now, come, and we slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and have said, An evil beast hath devoured him; and we see what his dreams are.'
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.
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit; and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams."
Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, "Some wild beast has devoured him.' We shall see what will become of his dreams!"
"Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.' Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams!"
Now come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the deep holes. Then we will say that a wild animal ate him. And we will see what becomes of his dreams!"
Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
Now, therefore, come! let us slay him and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say A cruel beast, hath devoured him, - And let us see what will become of his dreams.
Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him:
Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
"Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his dreams!"
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
and let: Psalms 64:5, Proverbs 1:11, Proverbs 1:12, Proverbs 1:16, Proverbs 6:17, Proverbs 27:4, Titus 3:3, John 3:12
Some: 1 Kings 13:24, 2 Kings 2:24, Proverbs 10:18, Proverbs 28:13
and we: 1 Samuel 24:20, 1 Samuel 26:2, Matthew 2:2-16, Matthew 27:40-42, Mark 15:29-32, John 12:10, John 12:11, Acts 4:16-18
Reciprocal: Genesis 37:26 - conceal Genesis 37:30 - General Genesis 37:33 - evil beast Genesis 42:36 - Me have ye Genesis 43:26 - bowed Exodus 2:14 - Who Proverbs 19:21 - many Matthew 26:68 - Prophesy Mark 12:7 - This Mark 15:18 - Hail Luke 23:35 - derided John 7:3 - Depart Romans 3:7 - if the truth
Cross-References
This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"
And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.
Some time later, Joseph's brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks near Shechem.
"I am looking for my brothers," Joseph replied. "Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?"
Now Joseph's brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him.
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,
They 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."
Now I know for sure that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.
So Saul, accompanied by three thousand choice men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Come now therefore, and let us slay him,.... Agree to do it, and actually do it:
and cast him into some pit; or, "one of the pits" s, which were near, and were dug for the collection of rainwater, as was usual in those countries where water was scarce:
and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him; which would seem plausible, since wild beasts were frequent in those parts, as lions and bears, see 1 Kings 13:24;
and we shall see what will become of his dreams; who will be the lord then, and reign, and have the dominion, he or we.
s ×××× ××ר×ת "in unam cisternarum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "in unam ex cisternis istis", Junius Tremellius, Piscator "in unam fovearum", Schmidt.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- Joseph Was Sold into Egypt
17. ×ת×× dotayıÌn Dothain, âtwo wells?â (Gesenius)
25. × ××ת neko't âtragacanthâ or goatâs-thorn gum, yielded by the âastragalus gummiferâ, a native of Mount Lebanon. ×¦×¨× tseÌrıÌy âopobalsamum,â the resin of the balsam tree, growing in Gilead, and having healing qualities. ×× lotÌ£, ληÍδον leÌdon, âledum, ladanum,â in the Septuagint ÏÏακÏÎ·Ì stakteÌ. The former is a gum produced from the cistus rose. The latter is a gum resembling liquid myrrh.
36. פ×××פר poÌṭıÌyphar Potiphar, âbelonging to the sun.â
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 Jacobâs 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. âIn the land of his fatherâs sojournings.â This contrasts Jacob with Esau, who removed to Mount Seir. This notice precedes the phrase, âThese are the generations.â The corresponding sentence in the case of Isaac is placed at the end of the preceding section of the narrative Genesis 25:11. âThe son of seventeen years;â in his seventeenth year Genesis 37:32. âThe sons of Bilhah.â 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. âAn evil report of them.â 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 Jacobâs 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. âLoved Joseph.â He was the son of his best-loved wife, and of his old age; as Benjamin had not yet come into much notice. âA Coat of many colors.â 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 ÏιÏÏÌν ÏοικιÌÎ»Î¿Ï chitoÌn poikilos, a motley coat. âCould not bid peace to him.â 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
Josephâs 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. âFor his dreams and for his words.â 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 (ש×××× shaÌlom âpeace,â 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. âThis master of dreams;â an eastern phrase for a dreamer. âLet us slay him.â 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. âTo eat bread.â This shows the cold and heartless cruelty of their deed. âA caravanâ - a company of travelling merchants. âIshmaelites.â Ishmael left his fatherâs 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. âCame from Gilead;â 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. âSpicery.â This gum is called tragacanth, or goats-thorn gum, because it was supposed to be obtained from this plant. âBalm,â or balsam; an aromatic substance obtained from a plant of the genus Amyris, a native of Gilead. âMyrrhâ is the name of a gum exuding from the balsamodendron myrrha, growing in Arabia Felix. âLot,â 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. âTwenty silver pieces;â 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. âTorn, torn in pieces is Joseph.â The sight of the bloody coat convinces Jacob at once that Joseph has been devoured by a wild beast. âAll his daughters.â Only one daughter of Jacob is mentioned by name. These are probably his daughters-in-law. âTo the grave.â Sheol is the place to which the soul departs at death. It is so called from its ever craving, or being empty. âMinister.â This word originally means eunuch, and then, generally, any officer about the court or person of the sovereign. âCaptain of the guards.â 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 37:20. Come now and let us slay him — What unprincipled savages these must have been to talk thus coolly about imbruing their hands in an innocent brother's blood! How necessary is a Divine revelation, to show man what God hates and what he loves! Ferocious cruelty is the principal characteristic of the nations and tribes who receive not the law at his mouth.
