Genesis 37 - Plain English Version(PEV)

Jacob’s son Joseph had dreams

1Jacob lived in Canaan country. That’s the country where his father Isaac used to have his camp.

2This is the story about what happened to Jacob’s family.

Jacob’s son Joseph was 17 years old. And Joseph and his brothers looked after the sheep that belonged to their father Jacob. Joseph used to help 4 of his brothers to look after those sheep. 2 of those brothers were Bilhah’s sons, and the other 2 were Zilpah’s sons. Bilhah and Zilpah were Jacob’s wives.

And Joseph told his father that those 4 brothers were doing bad things.

3Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was an old man. So Jacob gave Joseph a special coat.

4Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than them. So they hated Joseph, and they couldn’t talk in a friendly way to him.

5One night, Joseph had a dream. The next day, he told his brothers about his dream, and they hated him even more.

6This is what Joseph told his brothers. He said, “Listen to this dream that I had.

7In my dream, you mob and me, we were out in the place where the wheat plants grow. We were cutting down those wheat plants to get the seeds from them for food. We cut down those wheat plants, and we put them in piles on the ground. Then we tied up those piles. Suddenly, the pile of wheat that I tied up, it got up from the ground, and it stood up straight, like a person. Then those piles of wheat that you mob tied up, they got up too. They went near to my wheat, and they bent down in front of it, to show it respect.”

8Then Joseph’s brothers thought, “That dream that Joseph had, it shows that he wants to be boss over us.” So they said to him, “Do you think that you are going to be a big boss over us? Do you think that you are going to tell us what to do? No way.”

Joseph’s brothers were really angry about Joseph’s dream, and they were angry about those things that he said to them. So then they hated him even more.

9Later on, Joseph had another dream, and the next day, he told his brothers about his dream. He said to them, “Listen, I had another dream. In my dream, the sun, the moon, and 11 stars, they all bent down in front of me, to show me respect.”

10Joseph told his father about that dream too. Then Joseph’s father talked strongly to Joseph. He said, “That is a stupid dream. Do you really think that me and your mother and your brothers, we will all come and bend down in front of you, to show you respect? That will not happen.”

11Joseph’s brothers were really angry with him about those dreams, and they hated him even more.

29Joseph’s brother Reuben was somewhere else, so he didn’t see his brothers sell Joseph to that Midian mob. He thought that Joseph was still in that hole in the ground. And Reuben wanted to save Joseph, so he went to that hole to get him out. But he saw that Joseph wasn’t in that hole any more, and he got really upset. He was so upset that he tore his clothes.

30Then he went back to his brothers, and he said to them, “Our young brother isn’t in that hole any more. I’m his oldest brother, but now there is nothing I can do to help him.”

Joseph’s brothers tricked their father Jacob

31Joseph’s brothers wanted their father to think that an animal killed Joseph. So they killed a goat, and they got some of that goat’s blood, and they put the blood on that special coat that belonged to Joseph.

32Then they went back home, and they took Joseph’s special coat, and they showed it to their father Jacob. They said to their father, “Look, we found this coat. Does it belong to your son?”

33Jacob looked at the coat, and he knew that it belonged to Joseph. So he said, “Yes, that is my son’s coat.” And Jacob saw the blood on that coat, so he said, “I know what happened. A wild animal ate Joseph. Yes, that animal tore him into little bits.”

34So Jacob was really sad, because he thought that Joseph was dead. He was so sad that he tore his clothes. Then he put on some clothes made out of a rough cloth, called sack-cloth, and he cried. You see, in that culture, people sometimes tore their clothes and wore sack-cloth to show that they were sad.

Jacob cried like that for lots of days.

35All of Jacob’s sons and daughters, they talked to Jacob, and they tried to help him feel happy again. But Jacob said, “No, I can’t be happy again. I will keep on crying for my son, until I die and go to join him.” And Jacob cried a lot for Joseph.

36But Joseph wasn’t really dead. That Midian mob, they took Joseph to Egypt country, and they sold him to a man called Potifar. That man Potifar, he worked for the big boss of Egypt, called Pharaoh. Potifar was in charge of all the soldiers that guarded Pharaoh’s house.