Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.
Parallel translations
- WEB His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.
- KJV And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.
- BSB Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem.
- NKJV Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.
- NASB Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joseph's brothers went to pasture the flock near Shechem. This sets the scene for Joseph being sent to them.
Overview
The brothers traveled to Shechem to graze their father's flocks, a place with painful family history (Genesis 34). Their distance from home creates the opportunity for the events that follow. This simple movement of shepherds becomes the occasion through which God will set His larger plan in motion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Gen 33:18Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city.
- Gen 37:1Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan.
- Gen 34:25–31On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 37:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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