World English Bible · The patriarchs
Genesis 37
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lived in the land of his travels, in the land of . This is the history of the generations of . , being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of and , his wives. brought an evil report of them to their . Now Israel loved more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colors. His brothers saw that their loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him. dreamed a , and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Please hear this which I have dreamed: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and to my sheaf." His brothers asked him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed over us?" They hated him all the more for his and for his words. He dreamed yet another , and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another : and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars to me." He told it to his and to his brothers. His rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?" His brothers envied him, but his kept this saying in . His brothers went to feed their flock in . Israel said to , "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in ? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am." He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of , and he came to . A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, "What are you looking for?" He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock." The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let's go to .'" went after his brothers, and found them in . They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, "Behold, this dreamer comes. Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his ." heard it, and him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life." said to them, "Shed no . Throw him into this pit that is in , but lay no hand on him"—that he might him out of their hand, to restore him to his . When came to his brothers, they stripped of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him; and they took him, and threw him into . was empty. There was no water in it. They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of coming from , with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to . Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his ? Come, and let's sell him to the , and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our ." His brothers listened to him. who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up out of , and sold to the for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought into . returned to , and saw that wasn't in ; and he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where will I go?" They took tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in . They took the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their , and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, and see if it is your son's tunic or not." He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's tunic. An evil animal has devoured him. is without doubt torn in pieces." tore his clothes, and put on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to to my son, ." His wept for him. sold him into to , an officer of , the captain of the guard.
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The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
All of Genesis