Genesis 37:12-14
New Catholic Bible
12 Sold as a Slave.[a] His brothers went out to pasture the flocks of their father at Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “You know that your brothers have gone to pasture at Shechem. Come, I wish to send you to them.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
14 He said, “Go to see how things are going for your brothers and the animals, then return and tell me.” He had him leave from the Valley of Hebron and travel to Shechem.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 37:12 Some textual obscurities have led many critics to see in this passage the fusion of two different versions. In the Yahwist version the cause of the hatred would be the father’s predilection; the Yahwist tradition, which had its center in Jerusalem and in the tribe of Judah, would be focusing on the doings of its own people. In the Elohist version, however, the hatred would be caused by the dreams. In narrating a complex event the storytellers may concentrate on one element rather than another, but this does not prevent both versions from being substantially true.
Joseph, who is hated and sold through no fault of his own, suffers the consequences of the error of his father, who is unable to control his own feelings, and of the baseness of his brothers who, like so many people, are hostile to the voice of a prophet.
Joseph will be a type of the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sins of the world (1 Pet 2:24).
Genesis 37:12-14
New International Version
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,(A) 13 and Israel(B) said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.(C) Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers(D) and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.(E)
When Joseph arrived at Shechem,
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.