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Genesis 37:31

in Genesis 37

Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood;

KJV

And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

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This verse in Genesis 37

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And they took Joseph's coat,.... After they had told Reuben what they had done with him, who being willing to make the best of things as it was, joined with them in the following scheme: by this it appears, that when they took Joseph out of the pit they did not put his coat on him, but sold him naked, or almost so, to the merchants: and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; that being, as the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi observe, most like to human blood.

This site's exposition

slaughtered a young goat

on Genesis 37:31-33

Jacob had deceived his blind father with goat skins and his brother's garment at Genesis 27:16, and his sons bring him goat's blood and his son's robe. They hand him the robe and ask him to examine it, and he reaches the conclusion himself. Gill reports the rabbinic observation that goat's blood resembles a man's.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On Joseph the Patriarch · Written before 397.

proposed

Now the fact that they sprinkled his tunic with the blood of a goat seems to have this meaning, that they attacked with false testimony and brought into enmity for sin him who forgives the sins of all people. For us there is a lamb, for them a goat. For us the Lamb of God has been killed, who took from us the sins of the world, whereas for them a goat piled up sins and amassed offenses. Therefore "fill up the measure of your fathers."

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

they took Joseph's coat--The commission of one sin necessarily leads to another to conceal it; and the scheme of deception which the sons of Jacob planned and practised on their aged father was a necessary consequence of the atrocious crime they had perpetrated.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּקְח֖וּand they took

    vaiyikchuH3947 →966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כְּתֹ֣נֶת[the] long garment of

    ketonetH3801 →29 times

  • יוֹסֵ֑ףJoseph

    yosefH3130 →213 times

  • וַֽיִּשְׁחֲטוּ֙and they slaughtered

    vaiyishchatuH7819 →

  • שְׂעִ֣ירa male goat of

    seirH8163 →59 times

  • עִזִּ֔יםgoats

    ʾizimH5795 →74 times

  • וַיִּטְבְּל֥וּand they dipped

    vaiyitbeluH2881 →

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַכֻּתֹּ֖נֶתthe long garment

    hakutonetH3801 →29 times

  • בַּדָּֽם׃in the blood

    badamH1818 →360 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Proverbs 28:13

    He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 1:8–10

      If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

    • Psalms 32:3–5

      When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

    • Job 31:33

      if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

    • Luke 15:18–24

      I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

    • Jeremiah 3:12–13

      Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be…

  • Through

    Genesis 37:23

    So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing—

    it leads to

    • Genesis 42:21

      Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress…

    • Genesis 37:31–33

      Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

    • Genesis 37:3

      Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 37 →

This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph the Patriarch; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 37 →