Bereisheet (Genesis): Vayeishev > Ch 37

Jacob loved Joseph the most and Joseph’s brothers hated him for that

  • Jacob (Israel) dwelt in the land of Canaan. Joseph was 17 years old; he spent time with his brothers and told his father of their evil ways of the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons and made him a fine woolen coat. Joseph’s brothers hated him.


Joseph sees two miraculous dreams

  • Joseph saw a dream and told his brothers: "Behold, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves encircled [it] and prostrated themselves to my sheaf." His brothers continued further to hate him.
  • Joseph saw another dream and told his brothers: "Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were prostrating themselves to me." Jacob rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will we come I, your mother, and your brothers to prostrate ourselves to you to the ground?" Joseph’s brothers envied him, but his father awaited the matter.


Joseph’s brothers plot to kill him but end up selling him to merchants going to Egypt, who then sold him to the Pharaoh’s chief of slaughterers

  • Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father's flocks in Shechem. Israel sent Joseph to be with them. A man found him looking for his brothers and told him to go to Dothan, there Joseph found his brothers.
  • Joseph’s brothers decided to kill him and throw him into an empty pit. To save Joseph, Reuben asked his brothers to throw Joseph into the pit alive, without shedding blood. A caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, going down to Egypt. Judah asked his brothers, to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. They sold Joseph to the Midianite merchants for twenty silver pieces. In Egypt, the Medianites sold him to Potiphar, Pharaoh's chamberlain, chief of the slaughterers.
  • Joseph’s brothers dipped his coat in goat blood and told their father Jacob that Joseph was killed by animals. Jacob mourned for his son many days and could not be consoled.