Portion 9 of 54 · Genesis
וַיֵּשֶׁב
Vayeshev
A favoured son with a loud coat and louder dreams is thrown in a pit by his own brothers.
Start by reading it
Genesis 37:1–40:23
4 chapters. About 16 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Amos 2:6–3:8
What happens
- 01
Jacob loves Joseph more, and dresses him to show it. The brothers hate him.
- 02
Joseph tells them his dreams, in which they bow to him. They sell him into Egypt.
- 03
The story pauses for Judah and Tamar, where a wronged woman forces a powerful man to admit he was in the wrong.
- 04
In Egypt Joseph is falsely accused, jailed, and interprets two dreams. Then he is forgotten.
The thing most people walk past
The portion ends in a forgotten cell
It ends with 'yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.' The Bible is willing to leave a good man in prison at the end of a week's reading. It does not rush to comfort.
One verse to carry
and they took him, and cast him into the pit—and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
The detail is not decoration. It is the sentence that tells you they meant it, and it is how the story of Israel in Egypt begins.
A question to sit with
Judah says of Tamar, 'She hath been more righteous than I.' What does it take for someone with power to say that out loud?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.