TRV
Translation
King James Version
Come 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.
Complete Jewish Bible
So come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we'll say some wild animal devoured him. We'll see then what becomes of his dreams!"
Berean Standard Bible
“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”
American Standard Version
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
World English Bible Messianic
Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”
Geneva Bible (1599)
Come now therefore, and let vs slay him, and cast him into some pitte, and wee will say, A wicked beast hath deuoured him: then wee shall see, what will come of his dreames.
Young's Literal Translation
and now, come, and we slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and have said, An evil beast hath devoured him; and we see what his dreams are.'
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Commentary on Genesis 37 verses 12–22
12 ¶ And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come 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.
21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
Here is, I. The kind visit which Joseph, in obedience to his father's command, made to his brethren, who were feeding the flock at Shechem, many miles off. Some suggest that they went thither on purpose, expecting that Joseph would be sent to see them, and that then they should have an opportunity to do him a mischief. However, Joseph and his father had both of them more of the innocence of the dove than of the wisdom of the serpent, else he had never come thus into the hands of those that hated him: but God designed it all for good. See in Joseph an instance, 1. Of dutifulness to his father. Though he was his father's darling, yet he was made, and was willing to be, his father's servant. How readily does he wait his father's orders! Here I am, Gen 37:13. Note, Those children that are best beloved by their parents should be most obedient to their parents; and then their love is well-bestowed and well-returned. 2. Of kindness to his brethren. Though he knew they hated him and envied him, yet he made no objections against his father's commands, either from the distance of the place or the danger of the journey, but cheerfully embraced the opportunity of showing his respect to his brethren. Note, It is a very good lesson, though it is learnt with difficulty and rarely practised, to love those that hate us; if our relations do not their duty to us, yet we must not be wanting in our duty to them. This is thank-worthy. Joseph was sent by his father to Shechem, to see whether his brethren were well there, and whether the country had not risen upon them and destroyed them, in revenge of their barbarous murder of the Shechemites some years before. But Joseph, not finding them there, went to Dothan, which showed that he undertook this journey, not only in obedience to his father (for then he might have returned when he missed them at Shechem, having done what his father told him), but out of love to his brethren, and therefore he sought diligently till he found them. Thus, let brotherly love continue, and let us give proofs of it.
II. The bloody and malicious plot of his brethren against him, who rendered good for evil, and, for his love, were his adversaries. Observe, 1. How deliberate they were in the contrivance of this mischief: when they saw him afar off, they conspired against him, Gen 37:18. It was not in a heat, or upon a sudden provocation, that they thought to slay him, but from malice prepense, and in cold blood. Note, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; for he will be one if he have an opportunity, Jo1 3:15. Malice is a most mischievous thing, and is in danger of making bloody work where it is harboured and indulged. The more there is of a project and contrivance in a sin the worse it is; it is bad to do evil, but worse to devise it. 2. How cruel they were in their design; nothing less than his blood would satisfy them: Come, and let us slay him, Gen 37:20. Note, The old enmity hunts for the precious life. It is the blood-thirsty that hate the upright (Pro 29:10), and it is the blood of the saints that the harlot is drunk with. 3. How scornfully they reproached him for his dreams (Gen 37:19): This dreamer cometh; and (Gen 37:20), We shall see what will become of his dreams. This shows what it was that fretted and enraged them. They could not endure to think of doing homage to him; this was what they were plotting to prevent by the murder of him. Note, Men that fret and rage at God's counsels are impiously aiming to defeat them; but they imagine a vain thing, Psa 2:1-3. God's counsels will stand. 4. How they agreed to keep one another's counsel, and to cover the murder with a lie: We will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him; whereas in thus consulting to devour him they proved themselves worse than the most evil beasts; for evil beasts prey not on those of their own kind, but they were tearing a piece of themselves.
III. Reuben's project to deliver him, Gen 37:21, Gen 37:22. Note, God can raise up friends for his people, even among their enemies; for he has all hearts in his hands. Reuben, of all the brothers, had most reason to be jealous of Joseph, for he was the first-born, and so entitled to those distinguishing favours which Jacob was conferring on Joseph; yet he proves his best friend. Reuben's temper seems to have been soft and effeminate, which had betrayed him to the sin of uncleanness; while the temper of the next two brothers, Simeon and Levi, was fierce, which betrayed them to the sin of murder, a sin which Reuben startled at the thought of. Note, Our natural constitution should be guarded against those sins to which it is most inclinable, and improved (as Reuben's here) against those sins to which it is most averse. Reuben made a proposal which they thought would effectually answer their intention of destroying Joseph, and yet which he designed should answer his intention of rescuing Joseph out of their hands and restoring him to his father, probably hoping thereby to recover his father's favour, which he had lately lost; but God overruled all to serve his own purpose of making Joseph an instrument to save much people alive. Joseph was here a type of Christ. Though he was the beloved Son of his Father, and hated by a wicked world, yet the Father sent him out of his bosom to visit us in great humility and love. He came from heaven to earth, to seek and save us; yet then malicious plots were laid against him. He came to his own, and his own not only received him not, but consulted against him: This is the heir, come let us kill him; Crucify him, crucify him. This he submitted to, in pursuance of his design to redeem and save us.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 12–22. Public domain.
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Clement of RomeAD 99
Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4
Every kind of honour and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was fulfilled that which is written, "My beloved ate and drank, and was enlarged and became fat, and kicked." [Deuteronomy 32:15] Hence flowed emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder, war and captivity. So the worthless rose up against the honoured, those of no reputation against such as were renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against those advanced in years. For this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you, inasmuch as every one abandons the fear of God, and has become blind in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by which death itself entered into the world. [Wisdom 2:24]
For thus it is written: "And it came to pass after certain days, that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice unto God; and Abel also brought of the firstlings of his sheep, and of the fat thereof. And God had respect to Abel and to his offerings, but Cain and his sacrifices He did not regard. And Cain was deeply grieved, and his countenance fell. And God said to Cain, Why are you grieved, and why is your countenance fallen? If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be at peace: your offering returns to yourself, and you shall again possess it. And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go into the field. And it came to pass, while they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." [Genesis 4:3-8] You see, brethren, how envy and jealousy led to the murder of a brother. Through envy, also, our father Jacob fled from the face of Esau his brother [Genesis 27:41-45]. Envy made Joseph be persecuted unto death, and to come into bondage. [Genesis 37:18-28] Envy compelled Moses to flee from the face of Pharaoh king of Egypt, when he heard these words from his fellow-countryman, "Who made you a judge or a ruler over us? Will you kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" [Exodus 2:14] On account of envy, Aaron and Miriam had to make their abode without the camp. [Numbers 12:14-15] Envy brought down Dathan and Abiram alive to Hades, through the sedition which they excited against God's servant Moses. [Numbers 16:33] Through envy, David not only underwent the hatred of foreigners, but was also persecuted by Saul king of Israel. [1 Samuel 21:10-15]
Ambrose of MilanAD 397
On Joseph the Patriarch
And in Genesis they also said, “And we shall see what will become of his dreams.” This is written in regard to Joseph, but it is fulfilled in regard to Christ, when the Jews said in the course of his passion, “If he is the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusts in God; let him deliver him now, if he wants him.” But were those brothers so unholy as to kill their brother? And from what source do the merits of the mighty patriarchs derive, so that the law designates the tribes of the entire people by their names? How are names of holiness in accord with marks of crime? In this also they served as a model of the people; their own souls were not toiling under a burden of crime. This gave rise to all the enmity and the plotting of fratricide; the enmity is by way of figure, the holiness by way of love.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Genesis 37:20 captures the chilling conspiracy of Joseph's older brothers, who, consumed by intense jealousy over his prophetic dreams and their father Jacob's overt favoritism, plot to murder him. Their proposal to "slay him" and then fabricate a story of an "evil beast" devouring him reveals their profound moral depravity and willingness to commit fratricide and elaborate deception. Their ultimate aim, expressed in the defiant challenge, "we shall see what will become of his dreams," was to nullify God's perceived plan for Joseph, asserting their own control over his destiny.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Genesis 37:20 is rich with literary devices that amplify its dramatic and thematic significance. The most prominent is Foreshadowing, as Joseph's unjust suffering at the hands of his brothers directly foreshadows the later betrayal and suffering of Jesus Christ, who was also rejected by His own people. There is profound Irony in the brothers' defiant declaration, "we shall see what will become of his dreams," because their very act of attempting to thwart Joseph's destiny ultimately becomes the catalyst for its fulfillment. Their plan, intended to destroy his dreams, is precisely what God uses to bring them to pass. The brothers' concoction of a story about an "evil beast" is a clear instance of Deception, highlighting the pervasive nature of sin and its tendency to hide behind lies. Finally, the "pit" itself functions as Symbolism, representing not only a physical grave but also a descent into despair, isolation, and near-death, a motif that will recur in Joseph's life.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
The brothers' plot in Genesis 37:20 serves as a stark illustration of the destructive nature of sin, particularly unchecked jealousy and hatred, which can escalate into murderous intent and elaborate deception, mirroring the initial sin of Cain against Abel. Their defiant challenge to Joseph's dreams also represents humanity's futile attempts to thwart God's sovereign purposes and control destiny outside of His divine plan. Despite the profound wickedness of the brothers' actions, this event paradoxically served as a pivotal moment in God's overarching plan for Joseph and the preservation of Israel, demonstrating His ability to use human evil for His redemptive purposes.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Genesis 37:20 serves as a potent warning against the corrosive power of unchecked jealousy and hatred, urging us to confront such destructive emotions before they lead to grave sin within our relationships and communities. The brothers' descent from envy to murderous intent reminds us that sin, when nurtured, grows in intensity and seeks to destroy. This passage also profoundly reassures us of God's unwavering sovereignty; even the most malicious human intentions cannot ultimately derail His divine plans. Instead, God can orchestrate seemingly evil circumstances for His greater redemptive purposes, transforming adversity into a pathway for blessing, as dramatically demonstrated in Joseph's life and his eventual reconciliation and forgiveness towards his brothers (Genesis 45:5). We are called to trust in God's overarching plan, even when circumstances appear chaotic or unjust, knowing that He works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did Joseph's brothers plot to kill him rather than simply abandon or harm him?
Answer: The brothers' intent to "slay him" was driven by a desire for absolute finality, not merely to remove Joseph from their presence but to utterly nullify his prophetic dreams and any perceived future authority. Their hatred was so intense that they sought to eliminate him as a direct challenge to what they believed was God's favor upon him, asserting their own control over his destiny. Their extreme reaction underscores the depth of their animosity and their desire to prevent any future fulfillment of his dreams.
What is the significance of casting Joseph into a "pit"?
Answer: The Hebrew word for "pit" is bor (בּוֹר), which refers to a dry cistern or well, often used for water storage. This choice was strategic for several reasons: it was a convenient, remote location for disposal, allowing for secrecy; it could be covered, making discovery difficult; and it provided a plausible scenario for the "evil beast" lie, implying Joseph had fallen in or been dragged there. It served as a means to hide their crime and ensure his presumed death, while also providing a temporary holding place before they decided his ultimate fate.
How does the brothers' malicious plot ultimately serve God's plan?
Answer: Despite the brothers' wicked intentions, this act of attempted fratricide became a crucial, albeit dark, step in God's larger redemptive plan. It set in motion the events that would lead Joseph to Egypt, where he would eventually rise to power, preserve his family from famine, and lay the groundwork for the nation of Israel. As Joseph later declared, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). This demonstrates God's sovereign ability to use human sin and adversity to achieve His righteous purposes, turning a malicious act into a pathway for salvation and blessing for an entire people.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The narrative of Joseph, particularly his rejection and suffering at the hands of his own brothers as depicted in Genesis 37:20, profoundly foreshadows the life and mission of Jesus Christ. Like Joseph, Jesus was rejected by His own people (John 1:11), betrayed by those close to Him (Matthew 26:47-49), and unjustly condemned to death despite His innocence. The brothers' desire to "slay him" and nullify his dreams mirrors the world's opposition to God's divine plan for His Son. Yet, just as Joseph's suffering led to his exaltation and the salvation of his family from famine, Christ's crucifixion, though a heinous act of human evil, was God's sovereign plan for the salvation of humanity. Through His death and resurrection, Christ was exalted to the highest place (Philippians 2:9-11), becoming the ultimate deliverer who turned human wickedness into divine good, offering spiritual sustenance and eternal life to all who believe. Joseph's journey from the pit to the palace vividly illustrates the pathway of Christ's suffering, death, and glorious resurrection, through which He became the Savior of the world (John 3:16).