創世記37: 1-11

37:1 雅各住在迦南地，就是他父親寄居的地。
37:2 雅各的記略如下。約瑟十七歲與他哥哥們一同牧羊。他是個童子，與他父親的妾辟拉、悉帕的兒子們常在一處。約瑟將他哥哥們的惡行報給他們的父親。
37:3 以色列原來愛約瑟過於愛他的眾子，因為約瑟是他年老生的；他給約瑟做了一件彩衣。
37:4 約瑟的哥哥們見父親愛約瑟過於愛他們，就恨約瑟，不與他說和睦的話。
37:5 約瑟做了一夢，告訴他哥哥們，他們就越發恨他。
37:6 約瑟對他們說：「請聽我所做的夢：
37:7 我們在田裡捆禾稼，我的捆起來站著，你們的捆來圍著我的捆下拜。」
37:8 他的哥哥們回答說：「難道你真要作我們的王嗎？難道你真要管轄我們嗎？」他們就因為他的夢和他的話越發恨他。
37:9 後來他又做了一夢，也告訴他的哥哥們說：「看哪，我又做了一夢，夢見太陽、月亮，與十一個星向我下拜。」
37:10 約瑟將這夢告訴他父親和他哥哥們，他父親就責備他說：「你做的這是甚麼夢！難道我和你母親、你弟兄果然要來俯伏在地，向你下拜嗎？」
37:11 他哥哥們都嫉妒他，他父親卻把這話存在心裡。

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

² This is the account of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate^[a] robe for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ 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.”
⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

************

    上帝用夢中的異象來告訴約瑟他的將來會如何，使約瑟自小就與其他兄弟不同。也因為這樣，約瑟和其他的兄弟有不同的人生處境。

    不過，這不代表基督就是從約瑟的後代而出，上帝的做為其妙，他在這時也默默在預備基督，保守以色列的後裔。

    約瑟的一生也從這樣的異夢開始！我們看見他小時候穿彩衣，是多麼蒙雅各喜愛，因為他是拉結所生，而拉結是雅各最愛的妻子！