Jacob

===In Hebron===
{{main|Joseph (Genesis)#Plot against Joseph|l1=Plot against Joseph}}
The house of Jacob dwelt in [[Hebron]],<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:14|HE}}</ref> in the land of Canaan. His flocks were often fed in the pastures of [[Shechem]]<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:12|HE}}</ref><ref>Josephus. ''The Antiquities of the Jews'', Book II, 2.4.18</ref> as well as [[Dothan (ancient city)|Dothan]].<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:16,17|HE}}</ref> Of all the children in his household, he loved Rachel's firstborn son, Joseph, the most. Thus Joseph's half brothers were jealous of him and they ridiculed him often. Joseph even told his father about all of his half brothers' misdeeds. When Joseph was 17 years old, Jacob made a long coat or [[coat of many colors|tunic of many colors]] for him. Seeing this, the half brothers began to hate Joseph. Then Joseph began to have dreams that implied that his family would bow down to him. When he told his brothers about such dreams, it drove them to conspire against him. When Jacob heard of these dreams, he rebuked his son for proposing the idea that the house of Jacob would even bow down to Joseph. Yet, he contemplated his son's words about these dreams.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:1–11|HE}}</ref>

[[File:Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari - 'Joseph's Coat Brought to Jacob', oil on canvas, c. 1640, El Paso Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|left|''Joseph's Coat Brought to Jacob''<br>by [[Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari]], c. 1640]]
Sometime afterward, the sons of Jacob by Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah, were feeding his flocks in Shechem. Jacob wanted to know how things were doing, so he asked Joseph to go down there and return with a report.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:12–14|HE}}</ref> This was the last time he would ever see his son in Hebron. Later that day, the report that Jacob ended up receiving came from Joseph's brothers who brought before him a coat laden with blood. Jacob identified the coat as the one he made for Joseph. At that moment he cried "It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces." He rent his clothes and put sackcloth around his waist mourning for days. No one from the house of Jacob could comfort him during this time of bereavement.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:31–35|HE}}</ref>

The truth was that Joseph's older brothers had turned on him, apprehended him and ultimately sold him into slavery on a caravan headed for Egypt.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:36|HE}}</ref>