Bible Strands
Genesis 37:5
Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph narrates a dream to his brothers immediately after his father’s visible favoritism has already bred their hostility. The report occurs at the moment their resentment prevents them from speaking kindly to him.
The words — The Hebrew וַיּוֹסִיפוּ (va/i.yo.Si.fu) means “they increased,” coupled with עוֹד שְׂנֹא (od se.No') “hate again,” marking a quantitative escalation of their animosity. The verb וַיַּחֲלֹם (va/i.ya.cha.Lom) “he dreamed” and וַיַּגֵּד (va/i.ya.Ged) “he told” frame the sequence of revelation and speech that triggers the shift.
The thread — Dream sequences function as narrative pivots in patriarchal and prophetic accounts, appearing in Jacob’s ladder vision at Genesis 28:12, Joseph’s later recollection of these same dreams in Genesis 42:9, and Daniel’s alarmed visions in Daniel 4:5.
Why it lands — The text records a factual escalation of familial hatred directly following Joseph’s disclosure, demonstrating how the reporting of a vision can intensify existing conflict rather than immediately produce reconciliation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Cross-references
- Genesis 28:12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
- Genesis 42:9 Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
- Daniel 4:5 I had a dream, and it frightened me; while I was in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me.
- John 17:14 I have given them Your word and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
- Genesis 37:4 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
- Numbers 12:6 He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
- Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.
- 1 Kings 3:5 One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
- Joel 2:28 And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
- Genesis 37:8 “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.