Genesis 37:9 (WEB)
He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Genesis 37:9–11 (KJV)
9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
Key words
- הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְהַיָּרֵחַ וְאַחַד עָשָׂר כּוֹכָבִיםhashemesh vehayyareach ve'achad asar kokhavim · Hebrew
- 'the sun and the moon and the eleven stars' — which Jacob himself decodes: 'I and thy mother and thy brethren' (v. 10). The moon is Rachel.
- מִשְׁתַּחֲוִיםmishtachavim · Hebrew
- 'made obeisance' — the whole family bows to Joseph, as Egypt will.
- שָׁמַר אֶת־הַדָּבָרshamar et-haddavar · Hebrew
- 'his father observed the saying' (v. 11) — kept it in mind; compare Mary, who 'kept all these things' (Luke 2:19, 51).
Why it matters
Joseph dreams that the sun, moon and eleven stars bow to him, and Jacob reads the sun as himself, the moon as Joseph's mother, and the stars as his brothers. Pitre argues, with most commentators, that the Woman of Revelation 12:1 — clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, crowned with twelve stars — is built directly on this dream (pp 150–151). The moon is Rachel; the twelve stars are the twelve tribes; the Woman is the mother of the Messiah exalted above the patriarchs, and the crown makes her the queen of Israel (p 79).