Genesis 37:16
ESV
"I am seeking my brothers," he said. "Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock."
NIV
He replied, "I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"
NASB
He said, 'I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.'
CSB
"I’m looking for my brothers," Joseph said. "Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?"
NLT
I’m looking for my brothers,' Joseph replied. 'Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?'
KJV
And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
NKJV
So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
What does Genesis 37:16 mean?
Jacob sent Joseph to Shechem to gather a report on the flocks from his brothers (Genesis 37:12–14). It might have been suspicion which motivated Jacob, since Joseph arrives to find they are not in the expected location. Instead, he finds himself wandering the fields looking for the family. A stranger noticed the lost-looking 17–year-old and asked what he is searching for. Now Joseph asks where his brothers have gone.The following verse reveals they have moved the flocks to Dothan, even farther from home (Genesis 37:17). By the time Joseph finds them, he will truly be isolated from any protection his father might have provided. Joseph's furious and jealous older brothers are stung by Jacob's favoritism (Genesis 37:3–5) and Joseph's dreams (Genesis 37:5, 9). Catching their hated sibling far from home is an opportunity they won't pass up (Genesis 37:18, 28).
Genesis 37:12–36 describes how Joseph's wildly resentful brothers finally get rid of him. They hate Joseph for being Jacob's favorite (Genesis 37:3) and for his grandiose dreams (Genesis 37:5, 9). When Joseph arrives alone at the camp of his brothers, very far from home, they have an opportunity. Only Reuben's intervention keeps them from killing Joseph outright. Instead, while Reuben is absent, the brothers sell Joseph to passing slave traders and later convince their father he has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph becomes a slave in an Egyptian home. Genesis 39 will return to Joseph's story.
Joseph, 17, is deeply loved by his father Jacob and deeply resented by his ten older brothers thanks to Jacob's favoritism. Jacob gives Joseph a princely robe, and Joseph reports dreams that predict his family will one day bow before him. When alone with Joseph in the wilderness, the brothers decide to kill him. Reuben stops them, suggesting they throw him alive into a pit, instead. While Reuben is gone, however, the brothers sell Joseph to slave-traders, later convincing their father Joseph has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph is placed in the home of an Egyptian nobleman.
