And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no.
Parallel translations
- WEB They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, “We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son’s coat or not.”
- BSB They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”
- NKJV Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”
- NASB and they sent the multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”
- NLT They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”
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
They send the bloodied coat to Jacob, asking him to identify whether it is Joseph's. They let the evidence imply Joseph's death without openly lying.
Overview
The brothers bring the blood-stained coat to their father and coldly ask him to examine whether it is his son's. By inviting Jacob to draw his own conclusion, they deceive him while avoiding a direct lie. Their cruelty toward their grieving father exposes how deeply sin had corrupted the family that bore God's promise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Luke 15:30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
- Gen 37:3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
- Gen 44:20–23And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.
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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 37:32 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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