37:1 雅各伯定居在他父亲作客的客纳罕地方。
Jacob settled in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 37:2 以下是雅各伯的小史。若瑟十七岁时，与哥哥们一同放羊。他尚年幼，常与自己的父亲的妻子彼耳哈和齐耳帕的儿子们在一起。他不断将他们作的恶事报告给父亲。
This is his family history. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flocks with his brothers; he was an assistant to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought his father bad reports about them. 37:3 以色列爱若瑟超过其它的儿子，因为是他年老生的，并给他做了一件彩色长衫。
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. 37:4 他的哥哥们见父亲爱他胜过其余的儿子，就忌恨他，不能与他和气交谈。
When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. 37:5 若瑟作了一梦，讲给哥哥们听，因此他们越发恼恨他。
Once Joseph had a dream, which he told to his brothers: 37:6 他对他们说：「请听我作的梦：
"Listen to this dream I had. 37:7 我梦见我们同在田间捆麦子，忽然我的麦捆站起来，你们的麦捆围住我的麦捆下拜。」
There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose to an upright position, and your sheaves formed a ring around my sheaf and bowed down to it." 37:8 他哥哥们对他说：「难道你要作我们的君王﹖或者统治我们﹖」他们为了这梦和这番话，越发恼恨他。
"Are you really going to make yourself king over us?" his brothers asked him. "Or impose your rule on us?" So they hated him all the more because of his talk about his dreams. 37:9 他又作了一梦，也告诉他哥哥们说：「我又作了一梦：梦见太阳和月亮并十一颗星辰向我下拜。」
Then he had another dream, and this one, too, he told to his brothers. "I had another dream," he said; "this time, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 37:10 当他给父亲和哥哥们讲说这梦时，他父亲就责斥他说：「你作的是什么梦﹖难道我和你母亲以及你的兄弟，都要来向你叩首至地﹖」
When he also told it to his father, his father reproved him. "What is the meaning of this dream of yours?" he asked. "Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers are to come and bow to the ground before you?" 37:11 他兄弟们都忌恨他；他父亲却将这事存在心里。
So his brothers were wrought up against him but his father pondered the matter. 37:12 若瑟的哥哥们去了舍根，放他们父亲的羊。
One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem, 37:13 以色列对若瑟说：「你哥哥们不是在舍根放羊么﹖来，我打发你去看看他们。」他回答说：「我在这里。」
Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them." "I am ready," Joseph answered. 37:14 以色列对他说：「你去看看你哥哥们是否平安，羊群怎样；然后回来告诉我。」以色列便打发他由赫贝龙山谷前去；他到了舍根。
"Go then," he replied; "see if all is well with your brothers and the flocks, and bring back word." So he sent him off from the valley of Hebron. When Joseph reached Shechem, 37:15 有一个人见他在田间游荡，那人就问他说：「你寻找什么﹖」
a man met him as he was wandering about in the fields. "What are you looking for?" the man asked him. 37:17 那人答说：「他们已离开了这里；我听见他们说：我们到多堂去。」于是若瑟便去追寻他的哥哥，在多堂找到了。
The man told him, "They have moved on from here; in fact, I heard them say, ’let us go on to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. 37:18 他们老远就看见了他；在他尚未来近以前，就已决定要谋杀他。
They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. 37:19 他们彼此说：「看，那作梦的人来了
They said to one another: "Here comes that master dreamer! 37:20 我们杀掉他，将他拋在一口井里，说是猛兽吃了。看他的梦还有什么用﹖」
Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams." 37:21 勒乌本听了，就设法由他们手中救他，遂说：「我们不要害他!」
When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying: "We must not take his life. 37:22 勒乌本又对他们说：「你们不要流血；只将他丢在这旷野的井里，不可下手害他。」他的意思是想由他们手中救出他来，还给父亲。
Instead of shedding blood," he continued, "just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but don’t kill him outright." His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and restore him to his father. 37:23 若瑟一来到他哥哥们那里，他们就脱去了他穿的那件彩色长衣，抓住他，把他丢在井里；
So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on; 37:24 那井是空的，里面没有水。
then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry. 37:25 他们坐下吃饭时，举目看见一队由基肋阿得来的依市玛耳人；他们的骆驼满载树胶、香液和香料，要下到埃及去。
They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt. 37:26 犹大遂对兄弟们说：「杀害我们的弟弟，隐瞒他的血，究竟有什么益处﹖
Judah said to his brothers: "What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? 37:27 不如将他卖给依市玛耳人，免得对他下毒手，因为他究竟是我们的兄弟，是我们的骨肉。」兄弟们听从了他的意见。
Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed. 37:28 米德杨的商人经过那里时，他们便从井中拉出若瑟来，以二十块银钱卖给了依市玛耳人；他们便将若瑟带到埃及去了。
They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Some Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and took him to Egypt. 37:29 勒乌本回到井边，不见若瑟在井内，遂撕裂了自己的衣服，
When Reuben went back to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not in it, he tore his clothes, 37:30 回到兄弟们那里喊说：「孩子不见了!我可往那里去呢﹖」
and returning to his brothers, he exclaimed: "The boy is gone! And I ?where can I turn?" 37:31 他们于是拿了若瑟的长衣，杀了一只公山羊，将长衣浸在血里；
They took Joseph’s tunic, and after slaughtering a goat, dipped the tunic in its blood. 37:32 然后派人将那件彩色的长衣送给他们的父亲说：「这是我们寻得的，请你仔细看看，是不是你儿子的长衣﹖」
Then they sent someone to bring the long tunic to their father, with the message: "We found this. See whether it is your son’s tunic or not." 37:33 雅各伯仔细一看，就喊说：「是我儿子的长衣；猛兽将他吃了。若瑟被撕裂了，被撕裂了!」
He recognized it and exclaimed: "My son’s tunic! A wild beast has devoured him! Joseph has been torn to pieces!" 37:34 雅各伯遂撕裂了自己的衣服，腰间围上麻衣，为自己的儿子悲哀了多日。
Then Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned his son many days. 37:35 虽然他的儿女都来安慰他，他却不肯接受他们的安慰，说：「我只有悲哀地下到阴间，往我儿那里去!」他的父亲竟这样哀悼他。
Though his sons and daughters tried to console him, he refused all consolation, saying, "No, I will go down mourning to my son in the nether world." Thus did his father lament him. 37:36 米德杨人后来在埃及将若瑟卖给了法郎的内臣，卫队长普提法尔。
The Midianites, meanwhile, sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward.