ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Genesis 37.35

Book: Genesis · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

33. And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces. 34. And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

35. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.

  1. And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:33-36, ASV)
WEB

33. He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.” 34. Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

35. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning.” His father wept for him.

  1. The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:33-36, WEB)
KJV

33. And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

35. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

  1. And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard. officer: Heb. eunuch: but the word doth signify not only eunuchs, but also chamberlains, courtiers, and officers captain: or, chief marshal: Heb. chief of the slaughter men, or executioners (Genesis 37:33-36, KJV)
YLT

33. And he discerneth it, and saith, 'My son's coat! an evil beast hath devoured him; torn, torn is Joseph!' 34. And Jacob rendeth his raiment, and putteth sackcloth on his loins, and becometh a mourner for his son many days,

35. and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuseth to comfort himself, and saith, 'For, I go down mourning unto my son, to Sheol,' and his father weepeth for him.

  1. And the Medanites have sold him unto Egypt, to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, head of the executioners. (Genesis 37:33-36, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Jacob, refusing comfort
  • Audience: his sons and daughters
  • Location: Canaan
  • Time period: the patriarchal age, commonly placed in the early second millennium BC

Theological reading

All his sons and daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused, saying, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning.

The verse is the first occurrence of Sheol in Scripture and is therefore load-bearing for the doctrine of the intermediate state. Jacob expects to go down to it and to be with Joseph, whom he believes dead, which indicates a conception of continued existence rather than annihilation, without any of the developed expectation of later texts.

Sheol here is not a place of punishment. Jacob is the righteous patriarch and he expects to go there, which tells against reading the word as equivalent to hell in the New Testament sense. Its content in the Hebrew Bible is largely shadowy: the dead are there, the living are not, and it is spoken of as down.

The refusal of comfort is also characteristic. The narrative gives him no consolation for twenty-two chapters, and when it comes it is the discovery that the grief was founded on a deception by his own sons.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.