Joseph is the favorite son, and everyone knows it. His father Jacob gives him a special coat — long sleeves, bright colors — that his ten older brothers do not get. Joseph has two big dreams about sheaves and stars bowing down to him, and he can''t help telling everyone about them. The brothers hate him for it. One afternoon when Joseph comes out to the fields to check on them, they grab him, strip off the coat, and throw him into an empty cistern. They sell him to a passing caravan headed for Egypt. They dip the coat in goat''s blood and bring it home to Jacob, who weeps for the son he thinks is dead. This is the first part of one of the longest, most painful, and most redemptive family stories in the Bible.