Genesis 37:15

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 37:15 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
Genesis 37:15 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 37

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
15And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And a certain man found him, etc.] Many of the Jewish writers f1640 say, this was an angel, the angel Gabriel, in the likeness of a man; but according to Aben Ezra, it was a traveller he met on the road; but it is more probable, as Schimidt observes, that it was some man at work in the field that came upon him and took notice of him: and, behold, [he was] wandering in the field; in some field near Shechem, perhaps the same his father Jacob had purchased, and where he expected to have found his brethren, and was looking out for them, going to and fro in search of them; which the labouring man in the field observed: and the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? seeing him walking about,…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“- Joseph Was Sold into Egypt 17. דתין dotayı̂n Dothain, “two wells?” (Gesenius) 25. נכאת neko't “tragacanth” or goat’s-thorn gum, yielded by the “astragalus gummifer”, a native of Mount Lebanon. צרי tsērı̂y “opobalsamum,” the resin of the balsam tree, growing in Gilead, and having healing qualities. לט loṭ, λῆδον lēdon, “ledum, ladanum,” in the Septuagint στακτή staktē. The former is a gum produced from the cistus rose. The latter is a gum resembling liquid myrrh. 36. פוטיפר pôṭı̂yphar Potiphar, “belonging to the sun.” The sketch of the race of Edom, given in the preceding piece, we have seen, reaches down to the time of Moses. Accordingly, the history of Jacob’s seed, which is…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification