Joseph the Righteous

He was the beloved son of Jacob, the son of his old age. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he tended his father’s flock with his brethren. His father loved him greatly and made him a coat of many colours. The Lord revealed to Joseph in dreams what would come to pass, for he saw his sheaf standing upright while the sheaves of his brethren bowed before it. He also saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars making obeisance to him. His brethren envied him because of his dreams and because of the love of his father toward him, but his father “observed the saying.”

One day Jacob sent Joseph to seek the welfare of his brethren and of the flocks. When they saw him afar off, they conspired against him, saying, “Behold, this dreamer cometh.” They stripped him of his coat of many colours and cast him into an empty pit. Afterwards they sold him for twenty pieces of silver to merchants going down into Egypt. They dipped his coat in the blood of a kid and sent it to their father, causing Jacob to believe that an evil beast had devoured his son.