Study Desk

When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar reigned in his place.

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

Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”

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

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

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!”

When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”

Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.

When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.