Joseph’s Dreams Anger His Brothers

37:1–11

37 And Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a son of seventeen years, was shepherding the flocks with his brothers, and he was a young man with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all of his sons because he was a son of his old age. So he made a multicolored tunic for him. 4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, so they hated him and were not able to speak to him peaceably.

5 Then Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they continued to hate him even more. 6 And he said to them, “Please hear this dream that I dreamed: 7 And behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of a field, and behold, my sheaf got up and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him, “Will you really reign over us? Will you really rule over us?” And they continued to hate him even more because of his dreams and because of his words.

9 Then he dreamed yet another dream, and he related it to his brothers. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 And he related it to his father and to his brothers, but his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you dreamed? Will your mother and I and your brothers really come to bow down to the ground to you?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.