Genesis 37:3-23

3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.1 4And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

5And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood around, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

12And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13And Israel said to Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee to them. And he said to him, Here am I . 14And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it is well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him from the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.2 15And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? 16And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks . 17And the man said, They have departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 18And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer is coming.3 20Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him from their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. 22And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might deliver him from their hands, to bring him back to his father.

23And it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;4