Verse

Genesis 37:32

ESV And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, "This we have found; please identify whether it is your son 's robe or not."
NIV They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe."
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.'
CSB They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe 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?'
KJV 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.
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?”

What does Genesis 37:32 mean?

To cover up selling their brother Joseph to slave traders (Genesis 37:18–30), Joseph's older brothers have stained his ornate coat (Genesis 37:3–4) in goat's blood to simulate an attack from a wild animal. Now, having returned home, they bring the ruined coat to Jacob and ask him to identify whether this was Joseph's coat or not.

Of course, they know the answer. There is no question whose robe this is, and that Jacob will recognize it. The question is deeply cruel. For their scheme to hold up, they need to Jacob to believe with certainty that Joseph is truly dead. They pose the identification of the robe as a question only he can answer, as if they were unsure.

As one might expect, Jacob will not take the news well (Genesis 37:33–35). In a poignant twist, Jacob's shattered reaction to this news will influence Judah—mastermind of the plot—to avoid grieving his father again. Years later, he will offer himself as collateral to protect another of Jacob's sons by Rachel (Genesis 44:18, 30–34).
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Context Summary
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.
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Chapter Summary
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.
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