Genesis 37:31

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

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

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

ASV

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

YLT

And they take the coat of Joseph, and slaughter a kid of the goats, and dip the coat in the blood,

DBT

And they took Joseph's vest, and slaughtered a buck of the goats, and dipped the vest in the blood;

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Commentary voices

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Voices2

On this verse

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."

Ambrose of Milan· On Joseph the Patriarch, 397patristic

Related commentary

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.

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Voices on this verse

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Cross-references

3 linked verses

The verses this one reaches3

Genesis 37:23
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing—
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.
Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Original language

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Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

Featured studies

Featured studyJoseph — Genesis 37–50This study walks through this verse.

About this book

Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866) — public domain

Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Moses — by traditional attribution; the book is the first of the Pentateuch
Date: Composed c. 15th–13th century BC; draws on older patriarchal sources (the toledoth framework is internal)

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
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—
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.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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Continue: Genesis 37 →