Joseph's story

1Jacob lived in Canaan where his father Isaac had lived.

2This story is about Jacob's family. Jacob's other name was Israel. Joseph was born when Jacob was an old man and that is why Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons. Jacob made Joseph a really special coat that had a lot of colours.Jacob gave Joseph a special coat and the brothers were jealous When Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated Joseph, and never said anything good to him. When Joseph was 17 years old, he was out in the paddocks looking after his father's sheep with his brothers. These brothers were the sons from 2 of Jacob's wives, named Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph went home and told Jacob that he did not like what his brothers were doing.

Joseph had a dream

5One day, Joseph had a dream and he told his brothers about it. He said, “I had a dream last night. All of us were out in the paddock tying up bundles of long grass, called wheat. My bundle was standing up in the middle and all your wheat was standing in a circle around my wheat. Then your wheat bowed down to my wheat.”

8Joseph's brothers said to him, “You think you will be our boss and tell us what to do.” And they hated him even more after he told them about the dream he had.

9Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. This time, the sun and the moon and 11 stars bowed down to the ground in front of me.”

10When Joseph told his father what he saw in his dream, his father growled at him and said, “You should not tell people that sort of dream. Do you really think that your mother, your brothers and I will bow down in front of you?”

11Joseph's brothers were jealous and upset with him, but his father kept thinking about Joseph's dream all the time.

Joseph was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt

12While Jacob and all his family were living in the Valley of Hebron, Joseph's brothers were looking after Jacob's sheep near Shekem. Jacob said to his son Joseph, “Your brothers are in Shekem looking after my sheep. I want you to go and see if they are alright, then come back and tell me.” Joseph said, “Yes I will go.” But when he got to Shekem, he could not find his brothers or the sheep anywhere.

15A man saw Joseph wandering around and said, “What are you looking for?”

16Joseph answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are?”

17The man said, “They were here, but I heard them say that they were going to a place called Dothan.” So Joseph left Shekem and went and found his brothers and the sheep in Dothan.

18Joseph's brothers saw him coming and they started to make plans to kill him.

19They said, “Here comes the boy that has lots of dreams.

20Come on, let's kill him and throw his body into one of the deep wells in the ground. We can tell everyone that a wild animal ate him. That way, his dreams will never come true, and he will never be our boss.”

21But Reuben heard their plans and said, “No. Don't kill him, don't even hurt him. Just put him in one of those dry wells here in the dry country.” You see, Reuben planned to save Joseph later on and give him back to his father.

23When Joseph came to his brother's camp, they grabbed him, took off his special coat,

24and pushed him into one of the deep wells in the ground. These wells used to have water in them, but now they were empty and dry.

25When Joseph's brothers sat down to eat, they saw a long line of camels coming towards them. Ishmaelite people were taking these camels from a place called Gilead to Egypt, a country to the south west. These camels carried big boxes of sweet smelling leaves, oils and medicine called Myrrh. The Ishmaelites were going to sell all these things in Egypt.

26While Reuben was somewhere else, Judah, another one of Joseph's brothers said, “I don't think it's a good idea to kill Joseph and then try to cover up his death.

27He is our brother, and our own flesh and blood. If we sell him to these Ishmaelites, we can get rid of him that way.” And his brothers thought it was a good idea.

28When the Ishmaelites, whose other name is Midianites, came to the brother's camp, Joseph's brothers pulled him up out of the hole in the ground. The brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And so, Joseph went to Egypt as a prisoner.

29When Reuben came back to the well, he found that Joseph was not there anymore. He was so upset he ripped his clothes.

30He went to his brothers and said, “The boy has gone. What am I going to do now? What will we say to our father?”

31The brothers talked about the problem and decided to trick their father. They killed a goat and put some of the blood on Joseph's special coat.

32Then they went back to their father Jacob and said, “We found this coat. Is it the coat you gave Joseph?”

33Jacob looked at the coat and said, “Yes, it is my son's coat. A wild animal has killed him, torn him apart and eaten him.”

34Jacob was so sad that he ripped his good clothes and put on rough clothes made from animal hair. Jacob cried for his son for many days.

35All Jacob's family tried to make him feel better but he was too sad. He couldn't listen to them and he said, “I will never be happy again. I will be sad for my son until the day l die.” That is how Jacob cried for his son Joseph.

36When the Midianites got to Egypt, they sold Joseph to a man named Potifar. Potifar was one of the king's special leaders. He was the captain of the guards that kept the king safe in the government building. The people in Egypt called their king, Pharaoh, and he was the boss for the whole country.