In the Hebrew Bible, the coat of many colors or ketonet passim (Biblical Hebrew : כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים, romanized: kəṯoneṯ passim) is the name for the garment that the Biblical Joseph owned; it was given to him by his father Jacob in Vayeshev (Genesis 37).
Joseph's father, Jacob (also called Israel), favored him and gave Joseph the coat as a gift; as a result, he was envied by his brothers, who saw the special coat as an indication that Joseph would assume family leadership. His brothers' suspicion grew when Joseph told them of his two dreams (Genesis 37:11) [1] in which all the brothers bowed down to him. The narrative tells that his brothers plotted against him when he was 17, and would have killed him had not the eldest brother Reuben interposed. He persuaded them instead to throw Joseph into a pit and secretly planned to rescue him later. However, while Reuben was absent, the others planned to sell him to a company of Ishmaelite merchants. When the passing Midianites arrived, the brothers dragged Joseph up and sold him to the merchants for 20 pieces of silver. The brothers then dipped Joseph's coat in goat blood and showed it to their father, saying that Joseph had been torn apart by wild beasts.
According to the King James Version, Genesis 37:3 reads, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours." [3]
The Septuagint translation of the passage uses the word ποικίλος (poikilos), [4] which indicates "many coloured"; [5] the Jewish Publication Society of America Version also employs the phrase "coat of many colours". [6] On the other hand, the Revised Standard Version and the Revised English Bible translate ketonet passim as "a long robe with sleeves" [7] while the New International Version notes the translation difficulties in a footnote, and translates it as "a richly ornamented robe". [8]
Aryeh Kaplan in The Living Torah gives a range of possible explanations, calling the coat a "royal garment". It notes that passim has been translated as 'colorful, embroidered, striped, or with pictures,' also suggesting that the word could mean a "long garment" which reaches the hands and feet. The book also acknowledges that the word could discuss the material of the coat, which may have been wool or silk. [9]
James Swanson suggests that the phrase indicates a "tunic or robe unique in design for showing special favour or relationship" and that "either the robe was very long-sleeved and extending to the feet, or a richly-ornamented tunic either of special colour design or gold threading, both ornamental and not suitable for working." [10]
The phrase is used one other time in the Hebrew Scriptures, to describe the garment worn by Tamar, daughter of David, in 2 Samuel 13:18–19. [11]
In Thomas Mann's tetralogy Joseph and His Brothers, the Coat of Many Colors acts as a central symbol. Mann was keenly interested in the coat and studied its etymology, referring to it in German with translations that reflect both the many-colored and long-sleeved aspects of the garment, as well as calling it by the untranslated ketonet passim. The coat appears at critical points in all four of the novels, and Mann alters the Biblical history to have the coat exist long before Joseph, symbolically tying the garment back to the veil of Ishtar who appears in the prologue of the narrative. The coat is covered in images which refer back to ancient Mesopotamian myths, contributing to the way in which Mann associates Joseph with characters from other religious traditions such as the Buddha and Hermes. [12]
Recent scholarship, especially among literary critics, has noted how the exhortation to "identify" and the theme of recognition in Genesis 37:32–33 also appears in 38:25–26, in the story of Judah and Tamar. [13] This serves to connect the chapters and unify the narrative. Victor Hamilton calls these "intentional literary parallels," [14] while Robert Alter suggests that the verb identify plays "a crucial thematic role in the dénouement of the Joseph story when he confronts his brothers in Egypt, he recognizing them, they failing to recognize him." [15]
Abel is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was a younger brother of Cain, and the second son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd who offered his firstborn flock up to God as an offering. God accepted his offering but not his brother's. Cain then killed Abel out of jealousy.
Jacob, later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, and Islam. Jacob first appears in the Book of Genesis, originating from the Hebrew tradition in the Torah. Described as the son of Isaac and Rebecca, and the grandson of Abraham, Sarah, and Bethuel, Jacob is presented as the second-born among Isaac's children. His fraternal twin brother is the elder, named Esau, according to the biblical account. Jacob is said to have bought Esau's birthright and, with his mother's help, deceived his aging father to bless him instead of Esau. Later in the narrative, following a severe drought in his homeland of Canaan, Jacob and his descendants, with the help of his son Joseph, moved to Egypt where Jacob died at the age of 147. He is supposed to have been buried in the Cave of Machpelah.
The Septuagint, sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy, and often abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. The full Greek title derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates that "the laws of the Jews" were translated into the Greek language at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Onan was a figure detailed in the Book of Genesis chapter 38, as the second son of Judah who married the daughter of Shuah the Canaanite. Onan had an older brother Er and a younger brother, Shelah as well.
Sefer haYashar is a medieval Hebrew midrash, also known as the Toledot Adam and Divrei haYamim heArukh. The Hebrew title "Sefer haYashar" might be translated as the "Book of the Correct Record", but it is known in English translation mostly as The Book of Jasher following English tradition. Its author is unknown.
Joseph is an important Hebrew figure in the Bible's Book of Genesis and in the Quran. He was the first of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel. He is the founder of the Tribe of Joseph among the Israelites. His story functions as an explanation for Israel's residence in Egypt. He is the favourite son of the patriarch Jacob, and his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Biblical Egypt, where he eventually ends up incarcerated. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. Jacob's family travels to Egypt to escape the famine, and it is through him that they are given leave to settle in the Land of Goshen.
In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices to God, but God favored Abel's sacrifice instead of Cain's. Cain then murdered Abel, whereupon God punished Cain by condemning him to a life of wandering. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod, where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch.
Judah was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah and the founder of the Tribe of Judah of the Israelites. By extension, he is indirectly the eponym of the Kingdom of Judah, the land of Judea, and the word Jew.
In the Book of Genesis, Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah (twice), as well as the mother of two of his children: the twins Perez and Zerah.
An ephod was a type of apron that, according to the Hebrew Bible, was worn by the High Priest of Israel, an artifact and an object to be revered in ancient Israelite culture, and was closely connected with oracular practices and priestly ritual.
Reuben or Reuven was the first of the six sons of Jacob and Leah, according to the Book of Genesis. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Reuben.
Vayeshev, Vayeishev, or Vayesheb is the ninth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah constitutes Genesis 37:1–40:23. The parashah tells the stories of how Jacob's other sons sold Joseph into captivity in Egypt, how Judah wronged his daughter-in-law Tamar who then tricked him into fulfilling his oath, and how Joseph served Potiphar and was imprisoned when falsely accused of assaulting Potiphar's wife.
Vayigash or Vaigash is the eleventh weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 44:18–47:27.
Miketz or Mikeitz is the tenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 41:1–44:17. The parashah tells of Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph's rise to power in Egypt, and Joseph's testing of his brothers.
The priestly tunic was as an undergarment or shirt worn by the High Priest and priests when they served in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem.
Tamar was a princess of Israel, the daughter of King David and sister of Absalom in 2 Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, she is raped by her half-brother Amnon.
The clothing of the people in biblical times was made from wool, linen, animal skins, and perhaps silk. Most events in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament take place in ancient Israel, and thus most biblical clothing is ancient Hebrew clothing. They wore underwear and cloth skirts.
The Hebrew Bible contains a number of references to rape and other forms of sexual violence, both in the Law of Moses, its historical narratives and its prophetic poetry.
Hosea 11, the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hosea in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, has been called "one of the high points in the Old Testament". In the Hebrew Bible is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. According to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, this chapter contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Hosea, son of Beeri, about God's former benefits, and Israel's ingratitude resulting in punishment, but God still promises restoration.
Ezra 9 is the ninth chapter of the Book of Ezra in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and book of Nehemiah as one book. Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra-Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles, but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from the 5th century BCE is the final author of these books. The section comprising chapters 7 to 10 mainly describes the activities of Ezra the scribe and the priest. This chapter and the next deal with the problem of intermarriage, starting with the introduction of the crisis, then Ezra's public mourning and prayer of shame. J. Gordon McConville suggests that this chapter is central to the Book of Ezra because it draws a sharp contrast between what the people of God ought to be and what they actually are.
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