The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Joseph Sold into Egypt
Genesis 37:12–30 — Joseph Sold into Egypt. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
12Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’e·ḥāw way·yê·lə·ḵū lir·‘ō·wṯ ’eṯ- ’ă·ḇî·hem ṣōn biš·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-they-went, his-brothers, to-pasture (direct-object) their-father’s flock in-Shechem.”
Where the English smooths the original
In a short time the hatred of Joseph's brethren grew into a crime. On one occasion, when they were feeding their flock at a distance from Hebron, in the neighbourhood of Shechem (Nablus, in the plain of Mukhnah)
The vale of Shechem was, from the earliest mention of Canaan, blest with extraordinary abundance of water. Therefore did the sons of Jacob go from Hebron to this place, though it must have cost them near twenty hours' travelling
One may rather wonder that he durst venture his sons and his cattle there, where that barbarous massacre had been committed, Genesis 34:25 . But those pastures being his own, and convenient for his use, he did commit himself and them to that same good Providence which watched over him
The providence of God, however, was in the whole affair, for his own glory, and the preservation of the lives of many.
Joseph is sent to inquire of their welfare (שׁלום shālom "peace," Genesis 37:4 ). With obedient promptness the youth goes to Shekem, where he learns that they had removed to Dothan, a town about twelve miles due north of Shekem.
13Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied.
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yiś·rā·’êl way·yō·mer ’el- yō·w·sêp̄ hă·lō·w ’a·ḥe·ḵā rō·‘îm biš·ḵem lə·ḵāh wə·’eš·lā·ḥă·ḵā ’ă·lê·hem hin·nê·nî way·yō·mer lōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-said Israel to Joseph, ‘Are-not your-brothers pasturing in-Shechem? Come, and-let-me-send-you to-them.’ And-he-said to-him, ‘Here-am-I.’”
Where the English smooths the original
come, and I will send thee unto them; which is pretty much he should, considering the length of the way, sixty miles, the dangerous place in which they were feeding their flocks, and especially seeing his brethren envied and hated him
Either he was solicitous of the safety of his sons while in the vicinity of Shechem (Lawson), or he hoped to effect a reconciliation between them and Joseph (Candlish).
Having kept him for some time at home, and supposing that length of time had cooled their heats, and worn out their hatred, he now sends him to them.
14Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer lōw leḵ- nā rə·’êh ’eṯ- šə·lō·wm ’a·ḥe·ḵā wə·’eṯ- haṣ·ṣōn šə·lō·wm dā·ḇār wa·hă·ši·ḇê·nî way·yiš·lā·ḥê·hū mê·‘ê·meq ḥeḇ·rō·wn way·yā·ḇō šə·ḵe·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-he-said to-him, ‘Go, please, see (direct-object) the-peace of-your-brothers and-the-peace of-the-flock, and-bring-me-back word.’ And-he-sent-him from-the-Valley-of Hebron, and-he-came toward-Shechem.”
Where the English smooths the original
Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren (literally, see the place of thy brethren ) , and well with the flocks (literally, and the peace of the flock )
Jacob might well fear lest the natives should form a confederacy against his sons, and take vengeance upon them for their cruelty. They were too fierce themselves to have any such alarm, but Jacob was of a far more timid disposition.
see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; it having been many days, and perhaps months, since he had heard anything of them
15a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?”
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wə·hin·nêh ’îš way·yim·ṣā·’ê·hū ṯō·‘eh baś·śā·ḏeh way·yiš·’ā·lê·hū hā·’îš lê·mōr mah- tə·ḇaq·qêš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-behold, a-man — and-he-found-him wandering in-the-field; and-the-man asked-him, saying, ‘What seekest-thou?’”
Where the English smooths the original
Evidently Joseph and his brethren were well known, and not unfavourably, in the region of Shechem. The lad’s wandering in uncertainty appeals to the reader’s sympathy. The Targum of Palestine says the “man” was the angel Gabriel.
but it is more probable, as Schimidt observes, that it was some man at work in the field that came upon him and took notice of him: and, behold, he was wandering in the field
And a certain man (or simply a man) found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field (obviously seeking some thing or person)
16“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
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’ā·nō·ḵî mə·ḇaq·qêš ’a·ḥay way·yō·mer ’eṯ- hag·gî·ḏāh- nā lî ’ê·p̄ōh hêm rō·‘îm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-he-said, ‘My-brothers I am-seeking; tell, please, to-me where they are-pasturing.’”
Where the English smooths the original
Whom, no doubt, he described to the man, and told him who they were, and to whom they belonged; or otherwise the man would have been at a loss to know who he meant
the youth, accepting the mission with alacrity, left the vale of Hebron, sought them at Shechem, heard of them from a man in "the field"
17“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
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nā·sə·‘ū miz·zeh kî hā·’îš way·yō·mer šā·ma‘·tî ’ō·mə·rîm nê·lə·ḵāh dō·ṯā·yə·nāh yō·w·sêp̄ way·yê·leḵ ’a·ḥar ’e·ḥāw way·yim·ṣā·’êm bə·ḏō·ṯān
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-the-man said, ‘They-have-pulled-up from-here, for I-heard them saying, “Let-us-go to-Dothan.”’ And-Joseph went after his-brothers, and-found-them in-Dothan.”
Where the English smooths the original
This town was twelve miles north of Shechem, and is famous as being the place where Elisha struck the Syrian army with blindness ( 2Kings 6:13-23 )
and Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan; which shows that he had a real desire to see them, and know their state and condition, that he might report it to his father; since he might have returned on not finding them at Shechem
Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan—Hebrew, Dothaim, or "two wells," recently discovered in the modern "Dothan," situated a few hours' distance from Shechem.
18Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him.
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way·yir·’ū ’ō·ṯōw mê·rā·ḥōq ū·ḇə·ṭe·rem yiq·raḇ ’ă·lê·hem way·yiṯ·nak·kə·lū ’ō·ṯōw la·hă·mî·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-they-saw him from-afar, and-before he-drew-near to-them, then-they-plotted-craftily against-him to-put-him-to-death.”
Where the English smooths the original
It was not in a heat, or upon a sudden provocation, that they thought to slay him, but from malice prepense, and in cold blood.
they conspired against him, to slay him; they entered into a consultation, and devised the most crafty methods they could think of to take away his life, and yet conceal the murder.
they (literally, and they ) conspired against him (or, dealt with him fraudulently) to slay him
The Holy Spirit does not cover the faults of men, as vain writers do, who make virtues out of vices.The Geneva annotator’s comment on “they conspired against him”: Scripture does not flatter the founders of the tribes.
The composite character of the narrative becomes at this point very evident.Cambridge here advances the documentary (JE) source theory; we record the observation as a scholarly opinion, not a verdict on the text’s unity.
19“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another.
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hin·nêh bā hal·lā·zeh ba·‘al ha·ḥă·lō·mō·wṯ way·yō·mə·rū ’el- ’îš ’ā·ḥîw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-they-said, a-man to-his-brother, ‘Behold, the-lord-of-dreams, this-one, comes!’”
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literally, "master of dreams"—a bitterly ironical sneer. Dreams being considered suggestions from above, to make false pretensions to having received one was detested as a species of blasphemy
Heb., this lord of dreams, a phrase expressive of contempt.
Joseph’s brethren speak derisively of this “master (Heb. baal ) of dreams” (cf. Genesis 49:23 , “archers” = “masters of arrows”; 2 Kings 1:8 , “a hairy man” = “a master of hair”). They will kill him, and so stop his dreams from coming true.
20“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”
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lə·ḵū wə·‘at·tāh wə·na·har·ḡê·hū wə·naš·li·ḵê·hū bə·’a·ḥaḏ hab·bō·rō·wṯ wə·’ā·mar·nū rā·‘āh ḥay·yāh ’ă·ḵā·lā·ṯə·hū wə·nir·’eh mah- yih·yū ḥă·lō·mō·ṯāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“‘And-now, come, and-let-us-kill-him, and-let-us-cast-him into-one of-the-pits, and-we-will-say, “An-evil beast devoured-him”; and-we-shall-see what his-dreams will-become.’”
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Heb., into one of the pits, that is, cisterns dug to catch and preserve the rain water. In summer they are dry, and a man thrown into one of them would have very little chance of escape, as they are not only deep, but narrow at the top.
and we shall see what will become of his dreams; who will be the lord then, and reign, and have the dominion, he or we.
Cast him into some pit; partly, as unworthy of burial; partly, to cover their villanous action; and partly, that they might quickly put him out of their sight and minds.
The swift passage of the purely inward sin of jealous envy into the murderous act, as soon as opportunity offered, teaches the short path which connects the inmost passions with the grossest outward deeds. Like Jonah’s gourd, the smallest seed of hate needs but an hour or two of favouring weather to become a great tree, with all obscene and blood-seeking birds croaking in its branches.Maclaren’s exposition runs over the whole scene (vv. 23–36); this excerpt bears directly on the murder-plot of v. 20.
21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said.
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rə·’ū·ḇên way·yiš·ma‘ way·yaṣ·ṣi·lê·hū mî·yā·ḏām lō nak·ken·nū nā·p̄eš way·yō·mer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-Reuben heard, and-he-delivered-him out-of-their-hand, and-said, ‘Let-us-not strike (him as to) a-soul.’”
Where the English smooths the original
God can raise up friends for his people, even among their enemies. Reuben, of all the brothers, had most reason to be jealous of Joseph; for he was the firstborn, and so entitled to those distinguishing favours which Jacob was conferring on Joseph; yet he proves his best friend.
let us not kill him; or let us not smite the soul (t); the dear soul, or take away life.
Or the act is here put for the purpose and endeavour of doing it, in which sense Balak is said to fight against Israel, Joshua 24:9 , and Abraham to offer up Isaac, Hebrews 11:17 .
22“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.
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tiš·pə·ḵū- ḏām haš·lî·ḵū ’ō·ṯōw ’el- haz·zeh ’ă·šer hab·bō·wr bam·miḏ·bār ’al- tiš·lə·ḥū- wə·yāḏ ḇōw rə·’ū·ḇên ’al- way·yō·mer ’ă·lê·hem lə·ma·‘an haṣ·ṣîl ’ō·ṯōw mî·yā·ḏām la·hă·šî·ḇōw ’el- ’ā·ḇîw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-Reuben said to-them, ‘Do-not shed blood; cast him into this the-pit that-is in-the-wilderness, and-a-hand do-not lay on-him’ — in-order that he-might-deliver-him out-of-their-hand, to-return-him to-his-father.”
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Though never represented in the Scriptures as a type of Christ, yet the whole of the Old Testament is so full of events and histories, which reappear in the Gospel narrative, that the Fathers have never hesitated in regarding Joseph, the innocent delivered to death, but raised thence to glory, as especially typifying to us our Lord.Ellicott then cites Pascal’s list of parallels (the father’s love, the mission to the brethren, the sale for silver, the rise from humiliation to be lord and saviour); see the Christ section below.
but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him: which might seem to answer the same purpose, namely, by depriving him of his life in another way, by starving him; but this was not Reuben's intention, as appears by the next clause
As Joseph would inevitably perish even in that pit, their malice was satisfied; but Reuben intended to take Joseph out again, and restore him to his father.
23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing—
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way·hî ka·’ă·šer- yō·w·sêp̄ bā ’el- ’e·ḥāw way·yap̄·šî·ṭū ’eṯ- yō·w·sêp̄ ’eṯ- kut·tā·nə·tōw ’eṯ- kə·ṯō·neṯ hap·pas·sîm ’ă·šer ‘ā·lāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-it-came-to-pass, when Joseph came to his-brothers, that-they-stripped Joseph of (direct-object) his-tunic, (direct-object) the-tunic-of the-long-pieces that-was on-him.”
Where the English smooths the original
The long-sleeved garment which he gave to the lad probably meant to indicate his purpose to bestow on him the right of the first-born forfeited by Reuben, and so the violent rage which it excited was not altogether baseless.
Imagine him advancing in all the unsuspecting openness of brotherly affection. How astonished and terrified must he have been at the cold reception, the ferocious aspect, the rough usage of his unnatural assailants!
they stripped, Joseph out of his coat; his coat of many colours, that was on him; according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, this was not one and the same coat, but divers
24and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.
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way·yiq·qā·ḥu·hū way·yaš·li·ḵū ’ō·ṯōw hab·bō·rāh wə·hab·bō·wr rêq ’ên mā·yim bōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-they-took-him, and-they-cast him toward-the-pit; and-the-pit was-empty, there-was no water in-it.”
Where the English smooths the original
To perish there with hunger and cold; so cruel were their tender mercies.
They threw Joseph into a pit, to perish there with hunger and cold; so cruel were their tender mercies. They slighted him when he was in distress, and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph
Cf. the incident in the life of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 38:6 ). Presumably this was the reason why Reuben proposes to “cast him into this pit” ( Genesis 37:22 ).
this remark, that there was no water in it, seems to be made either to furnish out a reason why Reuben directed to it, that he might be the more easily got out of it, and not be in danger of losing his life at once, or of being drowned in it
Their hypocrisy appears in this that they feared man more than God: and thought it was not murder, if they did not shed his blood or had excuses to cover their fault.
25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
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way·yê·šə·ḇū le·’ĕ·ḵāl- le·ḥem way·yiś·’ū ‘ê·nê·hem way·yir·’ū wə·hin·nêh ’ō·rə·ḥaṯ yiš·mə·‘ê·lîm bā·’āh mig·gil·‘āḏ ū·ḡə·mal·lê·hem nō·śə·’îm nə·ḵōṯ ū·ṣə·rî wā·lōṭ hō·wl·ḵîm lə·hō·w·rîḏ miṣ·rā·yə·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-they-sat to-eat bread; and-they-lifted their-eyes and-looked, and-behold, a-caravan of-Ishmaelites coming from-Gilead, their-camels bearing spicery and-balm and-myrrh, going to-bring-down to-Egypt.”
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What a view does this exhibit of those hardened profligates! Their common share in this conspiracy is not the only dismal feature in the story. The rapidity, the almost instantaneous manner in which the proposal was followed by their joint resolution, and the cool indifference, or rather the fiendish satisfaction, with which they sat down to regale themselves, is astonishing.
Dothan was situated on the great caravan line by which the products of India and Western Asia were brought to Egypt.
The caravan drew near, laden with spices: viz., נכאת, gum-tragacanth; צרי, balsam, for which Gilead was celebrated ( Genesis 43:11 ; Jeremiah 8:22 ; Jeremiah 46:11 ); and לט, ladanum, the fragrant resin of the cistus-rose.
26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
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yə·hū·ḏāh way·yō·mer ’el- ’e·ḥāw mah- be·ṣa‘ kî na·hă·rōḡ ’eṯ- ’ā·ḥî·nū wə·ḵis·sî·nū ’eṯ- dā·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-Judah said to his-brothers, ‘What profit if we-slay (direct-object) our-brother and-cover-over (direct-object) his-blood?’”
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It will be less guilt and more gain to sell him. They all agreed to this. And as Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by one of the same name too, Judas.
If we suffer him to perish in the pit, when we may sell him with advantage, and conceal his blood, i.e. his death, as the word blood is often used.
Referring to the superstition that blood, which was not covered, would cry for vengeance: see note on Genesis 4:10 .
27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed.
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lə·ḵū wə·nim·kə·ren·nū lay·yiš·mə·‘ê·lîm ’al- tə·hî- wə·yā·ḏê·nū ḇōw kî- hū ’ā·ḥî·nū ḇə·śā·rê·nū ’e·ḥāw way·yiš·mə·‘ū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“‘Come, and-let-us-sell-him to-the-Ishmaelites, and-our-hand let-it-not-be on-him; for our-brother, our-flesh, is-he.’ And-his-brothers hearkened.”
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for he is our brother, and our flesh; they had all one father, though different mothers, and therefore, as the relation was so near, some sympathy and compassion should be shown
Judah also wished to save his life, though not from brotherly love so much as from the feeling of horror, which was not quite extinct within him, at incurring the guilt of fratricide; but he would still like to get rid of him, that his dreams might not come true.
Judah proposes to sell Joseph, in order to save his life. Judah takes the lead in J’s version, as Reuben in E’s.
28So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
miḏ·yā·nîm sō·ḥă·rîm way·ya·‘aḇ·rū ’ă·nā·šîm way·yim·šə·ḵū way·ya·‘ă·lū ’eṯ- yō·w·sêp̄ min- hab·bō·wr way·yim·kə·rū ’eṯ- yō·w·sêp̄ bə·‘eś·rîm kā·sep̄ lay·yiš·mə·‘ê·lîm way·yā·ḇî·’ū ’eṯ- yō·w·sêp̄ miṣ·rā·yə·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-passed-by men, Midianites, traders; and-they-drew and-brought-up (direct-object) Joseph from the-pit, and-sold (direct-object) Joseph to-the-Ishmaelites for-twenty of-silver; and-they-brought Joseph toward-Egypt.”
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Thus did an overruling Providence lead this murderous conclave of brothers, as well as the slave merchants both following their own free courses—to be parties in an act by which He was to work out, in a marvellous manner, the great purposes of His wisdom and goodness towards His ancient Church and people.
This story seems a little involved, and the persons to whom he was sold doubtful. Here seem to be two, if not three, sorts of merchants mentioned, Ishmeelites and Midianites here, and Medanites, as it is in the Hebrew, Genesis 37:36
Twenty shekels of silver were computed, in Leviticus 27:5 , as the average worth of a male slave under twenty. It would be about £2 10s. of our money, but silver was of far greater value then than it is now.
According to E, the Midianites did this, and carried off Joseph, while his brothers were engaged in their meal. According to this account, Joseph was kidnapped, or, as he himself says ( Genesis 40:15 ), “stolen away,” not sold.Cambridge’s source-critical reconstruction (J vs. E); offered as one scholarly reading, not as the settled sense of the received text.
29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
rə·’ū·ḇên way·yā·šāḇ ’el- hab·bō·wr wə·hin·nêh yō·w·sêp̄ ’ên- bab·bō·wr way·yiq·ra‘ ’eṯ- bə·ḡā·ḏāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-Reuben returned to the-pit, and-behold, Joseph was-not in-the-pit; and-he-tore his-garments.”
Where the English smooths the original
Evidently he was not present when Joseph was sold to the Midianites. This has been made into a difficulty, but really it confirms the truth of the narrative.
He seems to have designedly taken a circuitous route, with a view of secretly rescuing the poor lad from a lingering death by starvation. His intentions were excellent, and his feelings no doubt painfully lacerated when he discovered what had been done in his absence. But the thing was of God
He rent his clothes, as the manner was upon doleful occurrences. See below, Genesis 37:34 Numbers 14:6 Ezra 9:3 Job 1:20 2:12 .
30returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yā·šāḇ ’el- ’e·ḥāw way·yō·mar hay·ye·leḏ ’ê·nen·nū wa·’ă·nî ’ā·nāh ’ă·nî- ḇā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-he-returned to his-brothers, and-said, ‘The-child is-not; and-I, where shall-I go?’”
Where the English smooths the original
He calls him the child comparatively to his brethren, though he was seventeen years old, Genesis 37:2 . The child is not, i.e. is not in the land of the living, or is dead
and I, whither shall I go? to find the child or flee from his father's face, which he could not think of seeing any more
The word “child,” yeled , is appropriate for a small boy: see Genesis 21:8 ; Genesis 21:14 .
When he came to the pit and found Joseph gone, he rent his clothes (a sign of intense grief on the part of the natural man) and exclaimed: "The boy is no more, and I, whither shall I go!"
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The scene opens in the very place that should have warned everyone away. The brothers pasture the flock in Shechem — בִּשְׁכֶם — the town where Simeon and Levi had slaughtered the men (ch. 34). Poole marvels that they “durst venture… where that barbarous massacre had been committed,” and Benson that Jacob would send the favorite son after them at all; both fall back on the same refuge — “The providence of God… was in the whole affair” (Benson). Israel’s charge to Joseph is, in the Hebrew, a charge of shalom: “see the peace of your brothers and the peace of the flock” (v. 14, lit.) — the word twice, the Pulpit Commentary insists, “the peace of the flock.” And Joseph answers with the one great word of the willing servant: הִנֵּנִי, hinnênî — “Here am I” (v. 13). Then the quiet hinge of the whole story: the lad is found “תֹעֶה in the field” (v. 15), tō‘eh, straying like a lost sheep, until an unnamed אִישׁ (’îš, “a man”) redirects him to Dothan. Cambridge feels the pathos: “The lad’s wandering in uncertainty appeals to the reader’s sympathy.” One anonymous stranger’s offhand word sends Joseph to the pit — and to Egypt.
“And they saw him from afar… and they וַיִּתְנַכְּלוּ against him” (v. 18) — way·yiṯnakkəlū, the Hitpael of the rare verb nākal, “to deal craftily, conspire with cunning” (the Pulpit Commentary: “dealt with him fraudulently”). Benson and Henry agree it was murder “from malice prepense, and in cold blood.” Their sneer names the grievance exactly: “Behold, the בַּעַל — the lord of dreams — comes!” (v. 19). Ellicott: “a phrase expressive of contempt”; JFB: “a bitterly ironical sneer.” And the plot exposes its own folly in its last clause: “we shall see what becomes of his חֲלֹמֹתָיו” (v. 20). Gill draws it taut — “who will be the lord then… he or we” — not knowing that the very pit and sale they devise to void the dreams will be the road that fulfills them.
Two brothers intervene, and neither comes off clean. Reuben “וַיַּצִּלֵהוּ out of their hands” (v. 21), way·yaṣṣilêhū — the verb nāṣal, true deliverance — pleading “let us not strike a נָפֶשׁ” (nephesh, a soul); his secret aim, the narrator discloses, was “to return him to his father” (v. 22). Benson honors him: “God can raise up friends for his people, even among their enemies… yet he proves his best friend.” Judah’s intervention is colder. “What בֶּצַע,” he asks — beṣa‘, profit — “if we slay our brother?” (v. 26), and proposes the sale “for he is our brother, our בְשָׂרֵנוּ” (v. 27). Maclaren names the moral sleight-of-hand: “hatred which has also an eye to business… is a shade or two blacker,” and the logic that says “Let us sell him… for he is our brother” treats the word brother as “buffer enough to keep these two contradictories from collision.”
The violence is told in stripped-down verbs. They וַיַּפְשִׁיטוּ him (v. 23) of the הַפַּסִּים — the kəṯōneṯ passîm, the long ornamental tunic that Maclaren reads as the token of “the right of the first-born” — and cast him into a הַבּוֹר that “was empty, there was no water in it” (v. 24). Then the detail every commentator recoils from: “they וַיֵּשְׁבוּ to eat bread” (v. 25). Maclaren quotes Fuller’s unanswerable question, “With what heart could they say grace?”; JFB calls it “the cool indifference, or rather the fiendish satisfaction… astonishing.” As they eat, a אֹרְחַת of Ishmaelites appears, camels laden with spicery, balm, and myrrh — the same three resins (K&D names each) that Jacob will one day send back down to Egypt (43:11). Joseph is drawn up and sold “for בְּעֶשְׂרִים of silver” (v. 28) — twenty, Ellicott notes, the Levitical price of a boy under twenty.
Reuben וַיָּשָׁב to the pit (v. 29) — way·yāšāḵ, the same root šūb by which he had meant to return Joseph to his father (v. 22) — and “behold, Joseph אֵין in the pit.” He וַיִּקְרַע his clothes (the verb qāra‘ that will rend Tamar’s royal tunic, 2 Sam 13:19) and breaks out: “The הַיֶּלֶד is not; and I, whither shall I go?” (v. 30). Poole hears in hayyeled, “the child,” the tenderness of the eldest for a brother of seventeen; and in “אָנָה, whither shall I go?” the panic of the one held accountable: “his father would require Joseph at his hand.” The unit ends on a question with no answer — the pit empty, the boy gone, the lie about to be told.
Read whole, the passage is — as Maclaren says — “a hideous story of vulgar hatred and cruelty,” in which “God’s name is never mentioned… and he is as far from the actors’ thoughts as from the writer’s words.” And yet the structure preaches what the narrator withholds. Every human plan misfires toward one end: the brothers plot death and produce a prince; Reuben plots rescue and loses the boy; Judah plots profit and forwards salvation. Maclaren’s image is exact — like coral insects who “blindly build… a barrier,” “even evil-doers are carrying on God’s plan, and sin is made to counterwork itself.” The interpretive key lies two chapters past the horizon, in Joseph’s own verdict (50:20), which Maclaren plants over the whole: “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good… to save much people alive.” JFB closes the same way: an “overruling Providence” bent “this murderous conclave… to work out… the great purposes of His wisdom and goodness.”
Set against the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, this passage offers a sober, fallible reading — to be tested, not trusted on our say-so.
Providence does not need to be mentioned to be at work. Maclaren’s observation is the hermeneutical center: the chapter never names God, yet the whole machinery of evil runs, against its own intent, toward deliverance. The Bible can teach the sovereignty of God most powerfully in the chapter where He is silent. The reader is left to supply from elsewhere in the canon — from Joseph’s own lips (50:20) — the sentence that interprets the silence.
Human guilt is not dissolved by divine purpose. That God “meant it for good” never makes the brothers’ deed less wicked; Scripture holds both with no embarrassment. The Geneva annotator catches the text’s own refusal to flatter its heroes — “The Holy Spirit does not cover the faults of men” — and Maclaren marvels that the founders of the tribes are painted so black: “its only explanation is its truth.”
The half-measures of Reuben and Judah are a warning. Both meant to lessen an evil; neither would simply oppose it. Maclaren’s verdict on Reuben — that compromise with sinners “breaks down, as attempts to mitigate evil by compliance… usually do” — is offered here as a reading to weigh, not a law to bind: the safe road is “the plain road of resistance to evil.”
“The pit they dug to bury his dreams became the first step of the road that crowned them.”
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The garment torn off Joseph in v. 23 is a כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים — kəṯōneṯ passîm. That exact phrase reappears in only one other narrative: the robe of Tamar, “a king’s virgin daughter,” in 2 Samuel 13:18–19 — also stripped (or torn) in an act of intimate family violence. The word pas (H6446) is rare, occurring in just five verses. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes כְּתֹנֶת (kəṯōneṯ) and the rare פַּסִּים (pas) across Genesis 37:23 and 2 Samuel 13:18 — the recorded basis of a genuine verbal link. The garment of the favored, set-apart child, violently removed, is a motif Scripture twice tells in the same words.
Genesis 37:23 · 2 Samuel 13:18 · 2 Samuel 13:19 · Genesis 37:3
basis: Verifier-computed: shared rare lexeme H6446 paç (in only 5 vv) + H3801 kᵉthôneth (26 vv) across Gen 37:23 ↔ 2 Sam 13:18; the full phrase kᵉthôneth passîm occurs in just these two narratives
The verb for the brothers’ plotting in v. 18 is וַיִּתְנַכְּלוּ, nākal — “to deal treacherously, conspire with cunning.” It is a rare word, in only four verses. One of the four is Psalm 105:25, where the LORD “turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly (nākal) with his servants” — the same Joseph-family, now in Egypt. The Verifier confirms the shared rare lexeme H5230 across Genesis 37:18 and Psalm 105:25. The psalm reads the whole sale-into-Egypt (it sings “he was sold for a servant,” Ps 105:17) as the LORD’s own foresight; the craft of the brothers and the craft worked against them in Egypt are named by one verb.
Genesis 37:18 · Psalm 105:25 · Psalm 105:17 · Numbers 25:18
basis: Verifier-computed: shared rare lexeme H5230 nâkal (in only 4 vv) across Gen 37:18 ↔ Ps 105:25; Ps 105:17 adds H4376 mâkar ("sold") for the same event
The caravan that carries Joseph away (v. 25) bears three luxury resins: נְכֹאת (spicery), צְרִי (balm), and לֹט (myrrh/ladanum). The first and third are vanishingly rare — each in only two verses of the Bible. Both other occurrences are in Genesis 43:11, where Jacob, years later, tells his sons to carry “a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh” down to Egypt as a gift to the unrecognized governor — Joseph himself. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes H5219, H3910, H6875, and H3381 (“to go down”) across the two verses. The same goods, the same descent to Egypt, bracket the exile and the exaltation of one man.
Genesis 37:25 · Genesis 43:11
basis: Verifier-computed: shared rare lexemes H5219 nᵉkôʼth (2 vv) + H3910 lôṭ (2 vv) + H6875 tsᵉrîy (6 vv) + H3381 yârad across Gen 37:25 ↔ Gen 43:11
Joseph finds his brothers “in דֹתָן” (v. 17). The place-name Dōṯān (H1886) occurs in only two verses of Scripture. The other is 2 Kings 6:13, where the Syrian army surrounds Elisha at Dothan, and the prophet’s servant sees the mountain “full of horses and chariots of fire.” The Verifier confirms the shared rare lexeme H1886 across the two verses. At one obscure town, Scripture stages two encirclements with opposite outcomes: Joseph hemmed in by his brothers and handed to slavery; Elisha hemmed in by an army and ringed by the LORD’s unseen host. The same ground holds a man delivered to affliction and a man delivered from it.
Genesis 37:17 · 2 Kings 6:13
basis: Verifier-computed: shared rare place-name H1886 Dôthân (in only 2 vv) across Gen 37:17 ↔ 2 Kings 6:13. The Verifier mechanically tiers a rare shared lexeme "verbal," but we DOWNGRADE here on editorial judgment: a place-name common to two otherwise-independent narratives is a shared setting and motif, not a quotation. Tiered structural, deliberately under-claiming.
The brothers point at the approaching figure and sneer, “the lord of dreams, הַלָּזֶה (hal·lā·zeh), comes” (v. 19) — “that one there.” The demonstrative hallāzeh (H1976) is rare, occurring in only two verses of the whole Hebrew Bible. The other is Genesis 24:65, within the same book, where Rebekah lifts her eyes, sees Isaac across the field, and asks, “Who is this man (hallāzeh) that walketh in the field to meet us?” The Verifier confirms the shared rare lexeme H1976 across Genesis 37:19 and Genesis 24:65. In both scenes a figure is spotted approaching across open country and named by this pointing word — but Rebekah’s wonder at her bridegroom is the bright mirror of the brothers’ contempt for their kin. The verbal link is genuine; the contrast in tone is the point.
Genesis 37:19 · Genesis 24:65
basis: Verifier-computed: shared rare lexeme H1976 hallâzeh (in only 2 vv) across Gen 37:19 ↔ Gen 24:65; a genuine rare verbal echo (both: a figure seen approaching across a field), not a citation
What the brothers see coming as they eat is an אֹרְחַת (’ō·rə·ḥaṯ) of Ishmaelites (v. 25) — a “caravan / travelling-company,” from ’ōraḥ, a way or road. The noun (H736) is rare, found in only two verses. Its single twin is Isaiah 21:13, “In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanites” — the same desert-trader vocabulary, the same world of camel-borne merchants crossing the wilderness. The Verifier confirms the shared rare lexeme H736 across Genesis 37:25 and Isaiah 21:13. It is a shared technical word for the nomad merchant-train, not a quotation of one text by the other.
Genesis 37:25 · Isaiah 21:13
basis: Verifier-computed: shared rare lexeme H736 ʼôrᵉchâh (in only 2 vv) across Gen 37:25 ↔ Isa 21:13; a rare shared term for a desert merchant-caravan, not a citation
The deed of v. 28, וַיִּמְכְּרוּ (“and they sold”, root mākar), becomes a fixed memory of Israel. Genesis 39:1 retells the very sale (“the Ishmaelites… brought him down… into Egypt”); Psalm 105:17 sings “he was sold for a servant”; and Stephen, in Acts 7:9, makes it the type of the rejected-then-exalted deliverer: “the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him.” The Verifier confirms the Hebrew-to-Hebrew link to Genesis 39:1 (shared H3130, H3459, H4714) as verbal; the tie to Acts 7:9, being Greek-to-Hebrew, cannot share Strong’s numbers and is therefore a structural/thematic citation, weighed below in “Christ in the Unit.”
Genesis 37:28 · Genesis 39:1 · Psalm 105:17 · Acts 7:9
basis: Verifier-computed: Gen 37:28 ↔ Gen 39:1 share H3130 Yôwçêph, H3459 Yishmâʻêʼlîy, H4714 Mitsrayim (verbal, same-language); the canonical refrain extends to Ps 105:17 (H4376 mâkar) and is cited in Acts 7:9 (cross-Testament, no shared Strong's — structural only)
When Reuben finds the pit empty he וַיִּקְרַע his garments (v. 29) — the verb qāra‘, the standard gesture of mourning and horror that Jacob himself will repeat in v. 34. The Verifier links it to 2 Samuel 13:19, where Tamar, the same chapter whose passim-tunic mirrors Joseph’s, “rent her garment” (qāra‘) in her shame. The shared lexeme is H7167, a common-to-mid-frequency verb (sixty verses), so the connection is the shared gesture — clothing torn in family catastrophe — rather than a quotation.
Genesis 37:29 · Genesis 37:34 · 2 Samuel 13:19
basis: Verifier-computed: shared lexeme H7167 qâraʻ (in 60 vv) across Gen 37:29 ↔ 2 Sam 13:19; a shared mourning-gesture motif, not a rare verbal quotation
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Matthew Henry draws the type at the very head of the unit: “Joseph was a type of Christ; for though he was the beloved Son of his Father, and hated by a wicked world, yet the Father sent him out of his bosom to visit us… He came from heaven to earth to seek and save us; yet then malicious plots were laid against him. His own not only received him not, but crucified him.” The shape is unmistakable: a father’s beloved son (v. 3), sent on an errand of peace to his own (vv. 13–14), who “saw him… and conspired” (v. 18) — the husbandmen of the parable saying “This is the heir… let us kill him” (so Benson explicitly: “come, let us kill him”). This reading is ancient and widely held.
Genesis 37:13 · Genesis 37:18 · John 1:11 · Matthew 21:38
Benson makes the connection the text almost forces: “as Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by one of the same name too, Judas.” Judah and Judas are the same name (Greek Ioudas renders Hebrew Yəhūdāh); both author a betrayal-for-silver of an innocent brother. The numbers differ — twenty (v. 28) against thirty (Zech 11:12; Matt 26:15) — and the parallel is typological, not a prophecy-fulfillment claim; we mark it as a figural reading, ancient and widely held, to be weighed against the text.
Genesis 37:26 · Genesis 37:28 · Matthew 26:14-15 · Zechariah 11:12
Stephen, before the Sanhedrin, makes this unit a deliberate type of the rejected Messiah: “the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him” (Acts 7:9). The pattern Stephen presses — the deliverer rejected by his own, then exalted to save them — is the spine of his whole sermon and points to the “Just One” his hearers had betrayed (Acts 7:52). Because this is a Greek text reflecting on a Hebrew one, there is no shared Strong’s lexeme to confirm a verbal quotation; the link is a structural/thematic citation, which the New Testament itself authorizes. Maclaren guards the typology honestly: “We do not suppose that Joseph was meant to be, in the accurate sense of the word, a type of Christ. But the coincidence is not to be passed by, that these same powerful motives of envy and of greed were combined in His case too.”
Genesis 37:28 · Acts 7:9 · Acts 7:52
Ellicott records the patristic reading at v. 22: though Joseph is “never represented in the Scriptures as a type of Christ,” yet “the Fathers have never hesitated in regarding Joseph, the innocent delivered to death, but raised thence to glory, as especially typifying to us our Lord,” and he relays Pascal’s list of parallels — the father’s love, the mission to the brethren, the conspiracy, the sale for silver, “his rising from his humiliation to be the lord and saviour of those who had wronged him; and with them the saviour also of the world.” The cistern “empty, no water in it” (v. 24) — a descent into a death-like pit, from which he is drawn up alive — has long been read as a figure of burial and resurrection. We flag this last detail as the more novel, devotional end of the typology: rich, but to be tested, not asserted.
Genesis 37:22 · Genesis 37:24 · Genesis 37:28
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain (CC0) — free to copy, quote, and build upon.
The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain works, attributed in place: Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878); Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s); Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary (1706); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871); Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685); John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63); the Geneva Study Bible notes (1599); the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1880s); the Pulpit Commentary (Spence & Exell, 1880s); Keil & Delitzsch (1860s, ET); and Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905).
The Hebrew text is the Masoretic tradition; transliterations, parsings, literal renderings, and the “where the English smooths the Hebrew” notes are this tool’s own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against a lexicon (BDB, HALOT) and a standard grammar.
Honesty notes specific to this unit:
1. The shifting names of the traders. The merchants are called “Ishmaelites” (vv. 25, 27, 28b), “Midianites” (v. 28a), and “Medanites” (v. 36). The voices divide: Keil & Delitzsch, Ellicott, JFB, and Gill harmonize them as overlapping labels for one mixed desert caravan; Poole and the Cambridge Bible reconstruct distinct groups and assign the clauses to separate documentary sources (J and E). We have presented the harmonizing reading as the older and well-attested one, while recording the source-critical observation as a named scholarly opinion (see the editorial notes at vv. 18, 28) — not adjudicating, but not hiding the seam either.
2. The “coat of many colors.” The rendering “many colors” descends from the Septuagint and Vulgate; the Hebrew passim more likely denotes a long, sleeved, or extremity-reaching tunic (so the Pulpit Commentary, “coat of ends”). Our literal notes prefer the “long-pieces” sense while naming the traditional color-rendering.
3. The cross-references. The verbal threads (Gen 37:23 ↔ 2 Sam 13:18; 37:18 ↔ Ps 105:25; 37:25 ↔ 43:11; 37:19 ↔ 24:65; 37:25 ↔ Isa 21:13) rest on shared, often rare, Hebrew lexemes computed by the Verifier and recorded in each badge. The Dothan link (37:17 ↔ 2 Kings 6:13) shares the rare place-name H1886, which the Verifier mechanically tiers “verbal”; we have deliberately downgraded it to structural/thematic, because a place-name common to two independent narratives is a shared setting, not a quotation — an honest under-claim. The link to Acts 7:9 is likewise left as structural/thematic on purpose: a Greek text cannot share a Hebrew Strong’s number, so a New-Testament citation of an Old-Testament narrative is never tiered “verbal” here, however direct the citation is. This unit contains no Joshua 1:5 material, so the standing Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 flag does not apply.
Two marks govern everything: ✦ = a human, public-domain source, quoted and named; ⚙ = machine-generated synthesis, to be verified. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)