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Home > Bible > Genesis > Chapter 37
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Genesis Chapter 37

Joseph's dreams: he is sold by his brethren, and carried into Egypt.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 And Jacob dwelt in the land of Chanaan, wherein his father sojourned. 2 And these are his generations: Joseph, when he was sixteen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, being but a boy: and he was with the sons of Bala and of Zelpha his father's wives: and he accused his brethren to his father of a most wicked crime. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours. 4 And his brethren seeing that he was loved by his father, more than all his sons, hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 Now it fell out also that he told his brethren a dream, that he had dreamed: which occasioned them to hate him the more. A dream... These dreams of Joseph were prophetical, and sent from God; as were also those which he interpreted, Genesis 40 and 41; otherwise generally speaking, the observing of dreams is condemned in the Scripture, as superstitious and sinful. See Deuteronomy 18:10; Ecclesiasticus 34:2-3. 6 And he said to them: Hear my dream which I dreamed. 7 I thought we were binding sheaves in the field: and my sheaf arose as it were, and stood, and your sheaves standing about bowed down before my sheaf. 8 His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred. 9 He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars worshipping me. 10 And when he had told this to his father, and brethren, his father rebuked him and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren worship thee upon the earth? Worship... This word is not used here to signify divine worship, but an inferior veneration, expressed by the bowing of the body, and that, according to the manner of the eastern nations, down to the ground. 11 His brethren therefore envied him: but his father considered the thing with himself.

12 And when his brethren abode in Sechem, feeding their father's flocks, 13 Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem: come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered: 14 I am ready: he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren, and the cattle: and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem: 15 And a man found him there wandering in the field, and asked what he sought. 16 But he answered: I seek my brethren, tell me where they feed the flocks. 17 And the man said to him: They are departed from this place: for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. 18 And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him: 19 And said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh. 20 Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him: 21 And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, and said: 22 Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood: but cast him into this pit, that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless: now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands and to restore him to his father. 23 And as soon as he came to his brethren, they forthwith stript him of his outside coat, that was of divers colours: 24 And cast him into an old pit where there was not water. 25 And sitting down to eat bread, they saw some Ismaelites on their way coming from Galaad, with their camels, carrying spices, and balm, and myrrh to Egypt. 26 And Juda said to his brethren: What will it profit us to kill our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 It is better that he be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands be not defiled: for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren agreed to his words. 28 And when the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites, for twenty pieces of silver: and they led him into Egypt. 29 And Ruben returning to the pit, found not the boy: 30 And rending his garments he went to his brethren, and said: The boy doth not appear, and whither shall I go? 31 And they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid, which they had killed: 32 Sending some to carry it to their father, and to say: This we have found: see whether it be thy son's coat, or not. 33 And the father acknowledging it, said: It is my son's coat, an evil wild beast hath eaten him, a beast hath devoured Joseph. 34 And tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time. 35 And all his children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning. And whilst he continued weeping, Into hell... That is, into limbo, the place where the souls of the just were received before the death of our Redeemer. For allowing that the word hell sometimes is taken for the grave, it cannot be so taken in this place; since Jacob did not believe his son to be in the grave, (whom he supposed to be devoured by a wild beast), and therefore could not mean to go down to him thither: but certainly meant the place of rest where he believed his soul to be. 36 The Madianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharao, captain of the soldiers. An eunuch... This word sometimes signifies a chamberlain, courtier, or officer of the king: and so it is taken in this place.

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Habitavit autem Jacob in terra Chanaan, in qua pater suus peregrinatus est. 2 Et hæ sunt generationes ejus: Joseph cum sedecim esset annorum, pascebat gregem cum fratribus suis adhuc puer: et erat cum filiis Balæ et Zelphæ uxorum patris sui: accusavitque fratres suos apud patrem crimine pessimo. 3 Israël autem diligebat Joseph super omnes filios suos, eo quod in senectute genuisset eum: fecitque ei tunicam polymitam. 4 Videntes autem fratres ejus quod a patre plus cunctis filiis amaretur, oderant eum, nec poterant ei quidquam pacifice loqui. 5 Accidit quoque ut visum somnium referret fratribus suis: quæ causa majoris odii seminarium fuit. 6 Dixitque ad eos: Audite somnium meum quod vidi: 7 putabam nos ligare manipulos in agro: et quasi consurgere manipulum meum, et stare, vestrosque manipulos circumstantes adorare manipulum meum. 8 Responderunt fratres ejus: Numquid rex noster eris? aut subjiciemur ditioni tuæ? Hæc ergo causa somniorum atque sermonum, invidiæ et odii fomitem ministravit. 9 Aliud quoque vidit somnium, quod narrans fratribus, ait: Vidi per somnium, quasi solem, et lunam, et stellas undecim adorare me. 10 Quod cum patri suo, et fratribus retulisset, increpavit eum pater suus, et dixit: Quid sibi vult hoc somnium quod vidisti? num ego et mater tua, et fratres tui adorabimus te super terram? 11 Invidebant ei igitur fratres sui: pater vero rem tacitus considerabat.

12 Cumque fratres illius in pascendis gregibus patris morarentur in Sichem, 13 dixit ad eum Israël: Fratres tui pascunt oves in Sichimis: veni, mittam te ad eos. Quo respondente, 14 Præsto sum, ait ei: Vade, et vide si cuncta prospera sint erga fratres tuos, et pecora: et renuntia mihi quid agatur. Missus de valle Hebron, venit in Sichem: 15 invenitque eum vir errantem in agro, et interrogavit quid quæreret. 16 At ille respondit: Fratres meos quæro: indica mihi ubi pascant greges. 17 Dixitque ei vir: Recesserunt de loco isto: audivi autem eos dicentes: Eamus in Dothain. Perrexit ergo Joseph post fratres suos, et invenit eos in Dothain. 18 Qui cum vidissent eum procul, antequam accederet ad eos, cogitaverunt illum occidere: 19 et mutuo loquebantur: Ecce somniator venit: 20 venite, occidamus eum, et mittamus in cisternam veterem: dicemusque: Fera pessima devoravit eum: et tunc apparebit quid illi prosint somnia sua. 21 Audiens autem hoc Ruben, nitebatur liberare eum de manibus eorum, et dicebat: 22 Non interficiatis animam ejus, nec effundatis sanguinem: sed projicite eum in cisternam hanc, quæ est in solitudine, manusque vestras servate innoxias: hoc autem dicebat, volens eripere eum de manibus eorum, et reddere patri suo. 23 Confestim igitur ut pervenit ad fratres suos, nudaverunt eum tunica talari et polymita: 24 miseruntque eum in cisternam veterem, quæ non habebat aquam. 25 Et sedentes ut comederent panem, viderunt Ismaëlitas viatores venire de Galaad, et camelos eorum portantes aromata, et resinam, et stacten in Ægyptum. 26 Dixit ergo Judas fratribus suis: Quid nobis prodest si occiderimus fratrem nostrum, et celaverimus sanguinem ipsius? 27 melius est ut venundetur Ismaëlitis, et manus nostræ non polluantur: frater enim et caro nostra est. Acquieverunt fratres sermonibus illius. 28 Et prætereuntibus Madianitis negotiatoribus, extrahentes eum de cisterna, vendiderunt eum Ismaëlitis, viginti argenteis: qui duxerunt eum in Ægyptum. 29 Reversusque Ruben ad cisternam, non invenit puerum: 30 et scissis vestibus pergens ad fratres suos, ait: Puer non comparet, et ego quo ibo? 31 Tulerunt autem tunicam ejus, et in sanguine hædi, quem occiderant, tinxerunt: 32 mittentes qui ferrent ad patrem, et dicerent: Hanc invenimus: vide utrum tunica filii tui sit, an non. 33 Quam cum agnovisset pater, ait: Tunica filii mei est: fera pessima comedit eum, bestia devoravit Joseph. 34 Scissisque vestibus, indutus est cilicio, lugens filium suum multo tempore. 35 Congregatis autem cunctis liberis ejus ut lenirent dolorem patris, noluit consolationem accipere, sed ait: Descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum. Et illo perseverante in fletu, 36 Madianitæ vendiderunt Joseph in Ægypto Putiphari eunucho Pharaonis, magistro militum.

Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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