1 Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph gave their father a bad account of them.
3 Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man: and he had a long coat made for him.
4 And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he gave his brothers an account of it, which made their hate greater than ever.
6 And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream.
7 We were in the field, getting the grain stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine.
8 And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever.
9 Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me.
10 And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers; but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this? am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you?
11 And his brothers were full of envy; but his father kept his words in mind.
12 Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well and how the flock is; then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a man saw him wandering in the country, and said to him, What are you looking for?
16 And he said, I am looking for my brothers; please give me word of where they are keeping their flock.
17 And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan.
18 But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death;
19 Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer.
20 Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams.
21 But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life.
22 Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on;
24 And they took him and put him in the hole: now the hole had no water in it.
25 Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels.
26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood?
27 Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.
28 And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.
29 Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief,
30 He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do?
31 Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,
32 And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not?
33 And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end.
34 Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.
35 And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.
36 And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.
1 Jacó habitou na terra de Canaã, onde seu pai tinha vivido como estrangeiro.
2 Esta é a história da família de Jacó: Quando José tinha dezessete anos, pastoreava os rebanhos com os seus irmãos. Ajudava os filhos de Bila e os filhos de Zilpa, mulheres de seu pai; e contava ao pai a má fama deles.
3 Ora, Israel gostava mais de José do que de qualquer outro filho, porque lhe havia nascido em sua velhice; por isso mandou fazer para ele uma túnica longa.
4 Quando os seus irmãos viram que o pai gostava mais dele do que de qualquer outro filho, odiaram-no e não conseguiam falar com ele amigavelmente.
5 Certa vez, José teve um sonho e, quando o contou a seus irmãos, eles passaram a odiá-lo ainda mais.
6 "Ouçam o sonho que tive", disse-lhes.
7 "Estávamos amarrando os feixes de trigo no campo, quando o meu feixe se levantou e ficou em pé, e os seus feixes se ajuntaram ao redor do meu e se curvaram diante dele".
8 Seus irmãos lhe disseram: "Então você vai reinar sobre nós? Quer dizer que você vai governar sobre nós? " E o odiaram ainda mais, por causa do sonho e do que tinha dito.
9 Depois teve outro sonho e o contou aos seus irmãos: "Tive outro sonho, e desta vez o sol, a lua e onze estrelas se curvavam diante de mim".
10 Quando o contou ao pai e aos irmãos, o pai o repreendeu e lhe disse: "Que sonho foi esse que você teve? Será que eu, sua mãe, e seus irmãos viremos a nos curvar até o chão diante de você? "
11 Assim seus irmãos tiveram ciúmes dele; o pai, no entanto, refletia naquilo.
12 Os irmãos de José tinham ido cuidar dos rebanhos do pai, perto de Siquém,
13 e Israel disse a José: "Como você sabe, seus irmãos estão apascentando os rebanhos perto de Siquém. Quero que você vá até lá". "Sim, senhor", respondeu ele.
14 Disse-lhe o pai: "Vá ver se está tudo bem com os seus irmãos e com os rebanhos, e traga-me notícias". Jacó o enviou quando estava no vale de Hebrom. Mas José se perdeu quando se aproximava de Siquém;
15 um homem o encontrou vagueando pelos campos e lhe perguntou: "Que é que você está procurando? "
16 Ele respondeu: "Procuro meus irmãos. Pode me dizer onde eles estão apascentando os rebanhos? "
17 Respondeu o homem: "Eles já partiram daqui. Eu os ouvi dizer: ‘Vamos para Dotã’ ". Assim José foi em busca dos seus irmãos e os encontrou perto de Dotã.
18 Mas eles o viram de longe e, antes que chegasse, planejaram matá-lo.
19 "Lá vem aquele sonhador! ", diziam uns aos outros.
20 "É agora! Vamos matá-lo e jogá-lo num destes poços, e diremos que um animal selvagem o devorou. Veremos então o que será dos seus sonhos. "
21 Quando Rúben ouviu isso, tentou livrá-lo das mãos deles, dizendo: "Não lhe tiremos a vida! "
22 E acrescentou: "Não derramem sangue. Joguem-no naquele poço no deserto, mas não toquem nele". Rúben propôs isso com a intenção de livrá-lo e levá-lo de volta ao pai.
23 Chegando José, seus irmãos lhe arrancaram a túnica longa,
24 agarraram-no e o jogaram no poço, que estava vazio e sem água.
25 Ao se assentarem para comer, viram ao longe uma caravana de ismaelitas que vinha de Gileade. Seus camelos estavam carregados de especiarias, bálsamo e mirra, que eles levavam para o Egito.
26 Judá disse então a seus irmãos: "Que ganharemos se matarmos o nosso irmão e escondermos o seu sangue?
27 Vamos vendê-lo aos ismaelitas. Não tocaremos nele, afinal é nosso irmão, é nosso próprio sangue". E seus irmãos concordaram.
28 Quando os mercadores ismaelitas de Midiã se aproximaram, seus irmãos tiraram José do poço e o venderam por vinte peças de prata aos ismaelitas, que o levaram para o Egito.
29 Quando Rúben voltou ao poço e viu que José não estava lá, rasgou suas vestes
30 e, voltando a seus irmãos, disse: "O jovem não está lá! Para onde irei agora? "
31 Então eles mataram um bode, mergulharam no sangue a túnica de José
32 e a mandaram ao pai com este recado: "Achamos isto. Veja se é a túnica de teu filho".
33 Ele a reconheceu e disse: "É a túnica de meu filho! Um animal selvagem o devorou! José foi despedaçado! "
34 Então Jacó rasgou suas vestes, vestiu-se de pano de saco e chorou muitos dias por seu filho.
35 Todos os seus filhos e filhas vieram consolá-lo, mas ele recusou ser consolado, dizendo: "Não! Chorando descerei à sepultura para junto de meu filho". E continuou a chorar por ele.
36 Nesse meio tempo, no Egito, os midianitas venderam José a Potifar, oficial do faraó e capitão da guarda.