Joseph's Coat and Dreams

Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age, the firstborn of his beloved Rachel. To show his favor, Jacob made Joseph a richly ornamented robe—some translations call it a coat of many colors.

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 'Listen to this dream I had,' he said. 'We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.'

'Do you intend to reign over us?' his brothers demanded. 'Will you actually rule us?' And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then Joseph had another dream. 'Listen,' he said, 'I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.'

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him. 'What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?' His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph was seventeen, young and perhaps unwise in sharing his dreams so openly. His brothers' hatred would soon boil over into terrible action. Yet these dreams were from God, and despite everything that would follow, they would come true.