Jacob’s son Joseph had dreams

1Jacob lived in Canaan country. That’s the country where his father Isaac used to have his camp.

2This is the story about what happened to Jacob’s family. Jacob’s son Joseph was 17 years old. And Joseph and his brothers looked after the sheep that belonged to their father Jacob. Joseph used to help 4 of his brothers to look after those sheep. 2 of those brothers were Bilhah’s sons, and the other 2 were Zilpah’s sons. Bilhah and Zilpah were Jacob’s wives. And Joseph told his father that those 4 brothers were doing bad things.

3Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was an old man. So Jacob gave Joseph a special coat.

4Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than them. So they hated Joseph, and they couldn’t talk in a friendly way to him.

5One night, Joseph had a dream. The next day, he told his brothers about his dream, and they hated him even more.

6This is what Joseph told his brothers. He said, “Listen to this dream that I had.

7In my dream, you mob and me, we were out in the place where the wheat plants grow. We were cutting down those wheat plants to get the seeds from them for food. We cut down those wheat plants, and we put them in piles on the ground. Then we tied up those piles. Suddenly, the pile of wheat that I tied up, it got up from the ground, and it stood up straight, like a person. Then those piles of wheat that you mob tied up, they got up too. They went near to my wheat, and they bent down in front of it, to show it respect.”

8Then Joseph’s brothers thought, “That dream that Joseph had, it shows that he wants to be boss over us.” So they said to him, “Do you think that you are going to be a big boss over us? Do you think that you are going to tell us what to do? No way.” Joseph’s brothers were really angry about Joseph’s dream, and they were angry about those things that he said to them. So then they hated him even more.

9Later on, Joseph had another dream, and the next day, he told his brothers about his dream. He said to them, “Listen, I had another dream. In my dream, the sun, the moon, and 11 stars, they all bent down in front of me, to show me respect.”

10Joseph told his father about that dream too. Then Joseph’s father talked strongly to Joseph. He said, “That is a stupid dream. Do you really think that me and your mother and your brothers, we will all come and bend down in front of you, to show you respect? That will not happen.”

11Joseph’s brothers were really angry with him about those dreams, and they hated him even more. But Joseph’s father kept on thinking about those things that Joseph said.

Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Midian mob

12Jacob and his sons lived in a place called the Valley of Hebron. One day, Joseph’s brothers took their father’s sheep to the place called Shekem, so that the sheep had grass to eat. That place was a long way from Jacob’s camp. All of Joseph’s brothers went there, but Joseph stayed at home with his father Jacob.

13Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are looking after my sheep in Shekem. I want you to go there and see how they are going.” And Joseph said, “Yes, I will go.”

14So Jacob said to him, “Go and find out if everything is good with your brothers, and if everything is good with the sheep. Then come back here and tell me.” So Joseph left the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shekem.

15When he got to Shekem, he walked around in the grass lands and looked for his brothers. A man saw him and said, “What are you looking for?”

16Joseph said, “I’m looking for my brothers. They came to this place with my father’s sheep. Please, can you tell me where they are?”

17The man said, “Your brothers left this place. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to the place called Dothan.’” So Joseph left Shekem, and he went to Dothan. He saw his brothers there, and he started to go towards them.

18But Joseph was still a long way away, and his brothers saw him coming. So they talked quickly to each other and made a plan to kill him.

19They said to each other, “Look, there is the young man that has stupid dreams.

20Let’s kill him, and let’s throw his body into one of those big holes in the ground. Then we will tell our father, ‘A wild animal ate Joseph.’” Then they said, “If we kill Joseph, that will show that his dreams are rubbish, and that he will never be boss over us.”

21But Joseph’s oldest brother Reuben, he heard his brothers say those things, and he wanted to save Joseph. So Reuben said, “No. We can’t kill him.”

22Then Reuben said to his brothers, “Don’t murder Joseph. Just chuck him into one of those big holes in the ground, here in the desert. Don’t hurt him yourselves, just leave him there to die.” You see, Reuben wanted to save Joseph from his brothers. He thought, “Later on, I will pull Joseph out of that hole, and I will take him home to our father.”

23Then Joseph got to his brothers. He was wearing that special coat that his father gave him. So Joseph’s brothers pulled that special coat off him.

24And they grabbed him, and they chucked him into a big hole in the ground. That hole was empty, there wasn’t any water in it.

25Then Joseph’s brothers sat down to eat some food. While they were eating, they looked up, and they saw some men coming towards them with camels. Those men were from the Midian tribe. Their camels were carrying bags on their backs, and those bags had lots of bush medicine and perfumes. Those men were taking those things from Gilead country to Egypt country, to sell them there.

26One of Joseph’s brothers was called Judah. He talked to the rest of his brothers, and he said, “We talked about killing Joseph and tricking our father. But if we kill Joseph, that will be a really bad thing, and we will not get anything for ourselves.

27So let’s not kill him. Let’s sell him to this Midian mob. You know, Joseph is our brother, and we are all in the same family, so we shouldn’t hurt him.” The rest of Joseph’s brothers agreed to do what Judah said.

28So when that Midian mob got near to them, Joseph’s brothers pulled Joseph out of that hole, and they sold him to the Midian mob for 20 pieces of silver money. Then the Midian mob took Joseph to Egypt country.

29Joseph’s brother Reuben was somewhere else, so he didn’t see his brothers sell Joseph to that Midian mob. He thought that Joseph was still in that hole in the ground. And Reuben wanted to save Joseph, so he went to that hole to get him out. But he saw that Joseph wasn’t in that hole any more, and he got really upset. He was so upset that he tore his clothes.

30Then he went back to his brothers, and he said to them, “Our young brother isn’t in that hole any more. I’m his oldest brother, but now there is nothing I can do to help him.”

Joseph’s brothers tricked their father Jacob

31Joseph’s brothers wanted their father to think that an animal killed Joseph. So they killed a goat, and they got some of that goat’s blood, and they put the blood on that special coat that belonged to Joseph.

32Then they went back home, and they took Joseph’s special coat, and they showed it to their father Jacob. They said to their father, “Look, we found this coat. Does it belong to your son?”

33Jacob looked at the coat, and he knew that it belonged to Joseph. So he said, “Yes, that is my son’s coat.” And Jacob saw the blood on that coat, so he said, “I know what happened. A wild animal ate Joseph. Yes, that animal tore him into little bits.”

34So Jacob was really sad, because he thought that Joseph was dead. He was so sad that he tore his clothes. Then he put on some clothes made out of a rough cloth, called sack-cloth, and he cried. You see, in that culture, people sometimes tore their clothes and wore sack-cloth to show that they were sad. Jacob cried like that for lots of days.

35All of Jacob’s sons and daughters, they talked to Jacob, and they tried to help him feel happy again. But Jacob said, “No, I can’t be happy again. I will keep on crying for my son, until I die and go to join him.” And Jacob cried a lot for Joseph.

36But Joseph wasn’t really dead. That Midian mob, they took Joseph to Egypt country, and they sold him to a man called Potifar. That man Potifar, he worked for the big boss of Egypt, called Pharaoh. Potifar was in charge of all the soldiers that guarded Pharaoh’s house.