About this Bible Study........The King James Version of the Bible is written in a beautiful form of the English language. It can be hard for modern English readers to understand.  In this study, you will find notes and summaries in brown just above the the verses from the Bible. We recommend that you read the notes and summaries first, and then read the verses in their KJV form. 

The book of Genesis was written by Moses. It is divided into three main parts.  1) God creates the universe and the first man and woman    2)God destroys the earth with a flood but saves Noah, his family, and the animals 3)God chooses Abraham and his descendants to be a great nation.

Genesis 37

Joseph's dreams 

When Joseph was 17, he was working to take care of the animals with his brothers.  His brothers did something wrong, and Joseph told his father, Jacob, about them.
[1] And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
[2] These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.


Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons.  He made him a special colorful coat - a coat of many colors.  Joseph's brothers were jealous of Joseph.  When they saw his new coat, they hated him very much. 
[3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
[4] And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Joseph had a dream one night.  He dreamed that he and his brothers were working in the field.  They were tying sheaves of wheat (stalks of wheat). The stalk that Joseph was working on stood up.  The stalks that his brothers were working on bowed down to Joseph's stalk.
[5] And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
[6] And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
[7] For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
[8] And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.


Joseph dreamed another dream.  In his 2nd dream, the sun, moon, and stars bowed down to him. 
[9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.



Joseph's family was not happy with what he said about his dreams.  His brothers were mad because they felt they were like the stalks of wheat in the first dream.  They felt that Joseph was trying to tell them that he was better than they were. His father wasn't happy about Joseph's second dream. He felt that it was a symbol that he and all of his family would bow down to Joseph.  Jacob kept Joseph's dream in mind and did not forget it.
[10] And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
[11] And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Joseph's brothers sell him

Joseph's brothers were watching the animals in another area away from their home.  Jacob asked Joseph to go and check on them.
[12] And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
[13] And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
[14] And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.


Joseph couldn't find them so he asked a man about them.  The man said they had moved the animals to Dothan.
[15] And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
[16] And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
[17] And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.


In Dothan, the brothers saw Joseph coming toward them.  Some of the brothers wanted to kill him.
[18] And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
[19] And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
[20] 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.


Reuben said that they would not kill him.  His idea was to put Joseph in a pit (a deep hole in the ground).  Then they would lie and tell Jacob that a wild animal ate him.
[21] And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
[22] And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

When Joseph arrived, they took his coat of many colors and threw him into the pit.
[23] And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
[24] And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

"Joseph Sold to the Ishmaelites" Hippolyte Flandrin From the Christian Theological Seminary web site.

After they put Joseph in the hole, they sat down to eat.  Reuben went away for a little while. The other brothers noticed some men coming toward them.  The men were Ishmaelites ( descendents from Ishmael) who were traveling to Egypt to sell things.  One of the brothers, Judah, had an idea to sell Joseph to the travelers.  Then Joseph would be a slave.  The travelers paid the brothers 20 shekels (coins) of silver.  The travelers took Joseph to Egypt.
[25] And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
[26] And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
[27] Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
[28] Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Reuben had been away from the group when the brothers sold Joseph.  When he cam back, he saw that Joseph was not in the pit.  He was very upset.  He tore his clothes.  Tearing clothes was a way to show extreme grief and sadness.  He didn't know what to do next.
[29] And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
[30] And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

The brothers killed a goat. Then they took Joseph's coat and dipped it in the blood of the goat. They took the coat home to Jacob.  When Jacob saw the coat, he knew it was Joseph's coat.  He felt that a wild animal had attacked and eaten Joseph.
[31] And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
[32] And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
[33] And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

Jacob tore his clothes because he was so upset.  He also put on sackcloth.  Sackcloth was a rough cloth that people wore when they were mourning for someone who had died.
[34] And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.


His family tried to comfort him, but Jacob said he would always mourn Joseph until he died himself.
[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 into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.


The people who bought Joseph took him to Egypt.  In Egypt, they sold him to a man named Potiphar.  Potiphar worked for Pharoah, who was the leader or king of Egypt.
[36] And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.