Dictionary Article

Person, place, or people, the latter living on the eastern edge of Gilead, Moab, and Edom south into northwest Arabia. They had few, if any, permanent settlements.

GEN 37:25–36: RV GEN 37:25–36 · LV GEN 37:25–36 · Read together GEN 37:25–36

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OET-RV GEN 37:25

25 Then they sat down to eat, and a bit later when they looked up, look, there was a caravan of Yishmaelim (Ishmaelites) coming towards them. They had left Gilead carrying spices and balm and myrrh on their camels that they were going to take down to Mitsrayim (Egypt).

OET-RV GEN 37:26

26 Then Yehudah (Judah) said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

OET-RV GEN 37:27

27 Let’s sell him to these Yishmaelim so we won’t be guilty of killing him. After all, he’s our brother—our own flesh and blood.” And his brothers agreed.

OET-RV GEN 37:28

28 So when the Midyanite traders came past, the brothers pulled Yosef up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Yishmaelim for twenty pieces of silver. Then the traders took Yosef onwards with them to Mitsrayim.

OET-RV GEN 37:29

29 Later on, Re’uven returned to the pit, but wow, Yosef wasn’t down there, so he tore his clothes in despair

OET-RV GEN 37:30

30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there. What am I going to do?”

OET-RV GEN 37:31

31 Then they slaughtered a young goat and took Yosef’s robe and dipped it in the blood.

OET-RV GEN 37:32

32 Then they sent the coloured robe back to their father with this message: “We found this. Please examine whether or not it’s your son’s robe.”

OET-RV GEN 37:33

33 Yisrael (Israel) recognised it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Yosef was almost certainly torn to pieces.”

OET-RV GEN 37:34

34 Then Ya’akov (Jacob) ripped his clothes and put sackcloth around his waist, and he mourned for his son many days.

OET-RV GEN 37:35

35 All his other sons and all his daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “I will go down to my son in the grave mourning.” So his father wept for him.

OET-RV GEN 37:36

36 Meanwhile, the Midyanites arrived in Mitsrayim (Egypt) and sold him to Potifar—Par’oh’s (Pharaoh) captain of the guards.

OET-LV GEN 37:25

25 And_they _lived to_eat bread and_they _lifted _up eyes _of_their and_they _saw and_BEHOLD/LO/SEE a _caravan _of Yishmāˊ^ʼēlī was_coming from_Gilˊād and_camels _of_their were_carrying spice and_balm and_myrrh they_were_travelling to_take_them_down towards_Miʦrayim/(Egypt).

OET-LV GEN 37:26

26 And_ Yəhūdāh/(Judah) _he/it _said to brothers _of_his what is_the_profit that/for/because/then/when we _will _kill DOM brother _of_our and_we _will _conceal DOM blood _of_his.

OET-LV GEN 37:27

27 Come and_let_us _sell _him to_Yishmāˊ^ʼēlī and_hand _of_our not let _it _be in_him/it if/because brother _of_is_our flesh _of_our _own he and_ brothers _of_his _they _heard.

OET-LV GEN 37:28

28 And_ men Midyānite[s] traders _they _passed _by and_they _drew and_they _brought _up DOM Yōşēf from the_pit and_they _sold DOM Yōşēf to_Yishmāˊ^ʼēlī for_twenty silver and_they _brought DOM Yōşēf towards_Miʦrayim.

OET-LV GEN 37:29

29 And_ Rəʼūⱱēn _he _returned to the_pit and_BEHOLD/LO/SEE not Yōşēf was_in_pit and_he _tore DOM clothes _of_his.

OET-LV GEN 37:30

30 And_he _returned to brothers _of_his and_he _said the_boy he_is_not and_I where am_I going.

OET-LV GEN 37:31

31 And_they _took DOM the _long _garment _of Yōşēf/(Joseph) and_they _slaughtered a _male _goat _of goats and_they _dipped DOM the _long_garment in_blood.

OET-LV GEN 37:32

32 And_they _sent DOM the _long _garment _of the _palms _and _soles and_they _brought_it to father _of_their and_they _said this we _have _found investigate please the _long_garment _of your _son _of_your is_it or not.

OET-LV GEN 37:33

33 And_he_recognized _it and_he/it _said it_is_the _long _garment _of my _son _of_my an _animal wild it_has _eaten _him surely _(tear) Yōşēf he _has _been _torn _to _pieces.

OET-LV GEN 37:34

34 And_ Yaˊₐqoⱱ/(Jacob) _he _tore clothes _of_his and_he/it _assigned sackcloth on_loins _of_his and_he _mourned on his/its_son days many.

OET-LV GEN 37:35

35 And_ all _of sons _of_his and_all daughters _of_his _they _arose to_comfort_him and_he _refused to_be _comforted and_he/it _said if/because I _will _go _down to son _of_my mourning Shəʼōl_to and_ his/its_father _he _wept _for DOM_him/it.

OET-LV GEN 37:36

36 And_the_Midyānites they _sold DOM_him/it into Miʦrayim/(Egypt) to_Pōţīfar an _official _of Parˊoh the _commander _of the _bodyguards.

Midian was Isaac’s younger half brother, the fourth of six sons born to Keturah, whom Abraham married as an old man (Gn 25:1-2 (RV · LV · Read together); cf. 23:1-2 (RV · LV · Read together); 24:67 (RV · LV · Read together); 1 Chr 1:32 (RV · LV · Read together)). By calling Midian and his full brothers “the sons of Keturah” (Gn 25:4 (RV · LV · Read together); 1 Chr 1:32-33 (RV · LV · Read together)), the Bible carefully distinguishes them from Isaac, the son of Sarah, who was the one through whom God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled (Gn 12:1-3 (RV · LV · Read together); 17:15-21 (RV · LV · Read together)). In fact, Abraham and the Israelites regarded these other sons as having no more inheritance rights than a concubine’s sons (Gn 25:5-6 (RV · LV · Read together); 1 Chr 1:31 (RV · LV · Read together)).

GEN 25:5–6: RV GEN 25:5–6 · LV GEN 25:5–6 · Read together GEN 25:5–6

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Combined passage: English GEN 25:5–7 (native GEN 25:5–7; verse text cannot be split).

OET-RV GEN 25:5-7

5-7 ⇔Avraham went on to live to be 175 years old. He gave valuable gifts to all the sons of his slave-wives, then he forced them to move to the east to ensure that they would be removed from his son Yitshak (Isaac). Then he left everything else he owned to Yitshak.

OET-LV GEN 25:5

5 And_ ʼAⱱrāhām _he/it _gave DOM all _of that to_him/it to_Yiʦḩāq/(Isaac).

OET-LV GEN 25:6

6 And_to_the _sons _of the _concubines who belonged_to_ʼAⱱrāhām ʼAⱱrāhām he _gave gifts and_he_sent _them _away from_under Yiʦḩāq his/its_son in_still_he was_alive eastward_to to the_land _of the_east.

Expelled from Abraham’s family, for Isaac’s sake, they became seminomadic peoples of the deserts east and south of Palestine (Gn 25:5-6 (RV · LV · Read together)).

Of uncertain location, Midian was probably far south of Edom on the eastern side of what is today called the Gulf of Aqaba. The Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy (second century AD) mentions a city named Modiana on the coast and a Madiana 26 miles (41.8 kilometers) inland (modern el-Bed’) in this region, an identification supported by the Jewish historian Josephus (first century AD) and the Christian church historian Eusebius (early fourth century).

In early OT times Midian seems to have been the land on the edge of the deserts bordering Gilead, Moab, and Edom south even into eastern Sinai.

In the Balaam episode and its bloody aftermath (Nm 22:31 (RV · LV · Read together)), a substantial group of Midianites appears to have been living on the eastern frontier of Moab. The Moabite king Balak, who was subject to the Amorite king named Sihon (21:26-30 (RV · LV · Read together); Jer 48:45 (RV · LV · Read together)), discussed the Israelite threat with the elders of Midian, and a joint delegation was sent to Balaam (Nm 22:2-7 (RV · LV · Read together)). At Acacia in the plains of Moab (Nm 22:1 (RV · LV · Read together); 25:1 (RV · LV · Read together)), an Israelite met and married a Midianite princess (Nm 25:6-18 (RV · LV · Read together); 31:8 (RV · LV · Read together)). The Midianite kings were considered puppet kings of King Sihon (Jos 13:21 (RV · LV · Read together)). All the indications are that Midianite clans lived nearby, on the borders of Moab. Since Moab is north of Edom, the reference to an Edomite victory over Midian (Gn 36:35 (RV · LV · Read together)) might indicate a northern encroachment by the Midianites on Edomite territory.

The Midianite invasion that Gideon repulsed had all the appearances of an invasion from the east. It would therefore seem that while “the land of Midian” is a term that may refer to a territory south of Edom, Midianites were living over a much wider area—on marginal land—east of Moab and Edom and south of Edom into east Sinai and northwest Arabia.

Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary