Coat of many colors
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- This article is about the garment in the bible. For the Dolly Parton album, see Coat of Many Colors.
In the Hebrew Bible, the coat of many colors is the name for the (possibly) multicolored garment that Joseph owned. It may be a mistranslation, and the actual nature of the garment is subject to argument.
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[edit] The problem of translation
The Hebrew original of Kethoneth passim for coat of many colors may be translated in a wealth of ways [1], one of which is coat of many colors.
[edit] The Jewish Tanakh
The Septuagint translation of the Jewish Tanakh word indicates "many colors," but the Hebrew original may merely mean "long coat with stripes."
[edit] The Christian Bible
The "coat of many colours" in English is a question of translation made most famous by the still-in-print King James Bible of 1611, whose 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.
The Revised Standard Bible (1952) translates the same passage as
- Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves.
One of the oldest translations of the Christian Bible into English, the Wyclif Bible (1380 to 1390), translates the passage as
- Forsothe Israel louyde Joseph ouer alle hise sones, for he hadde gendrid hym in eelde; and he made to Joseph a cote of many colours.
Hence the "cote of many colours" is extremely old in English.
[edit] The story as related in Genesis
Joseph's father Jacob 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 indicating that Joseph would assume family leadership. His brothers' suspicion grew when Joseph told them of his two dreams (Genesis 37:11) in which all the brothers bowed down to him. The narrative tells that his brothers plotted against him one day 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.
[edit] The story in popular culture
- Popular culture, notably the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, popularized the story and the "coat of many colors" translation. In 1971, Dolly Parton referred to the story in the song Coat of Many Colors.
- John Aldi named his backing band the 'Technicolour Dreamcoats,' after another night of binge drinking Aldi found himself on the floor of a church where a group of children were performing the story of Joseph and his coat of many colours, the story inspired John so much that he ran back to the recording studio to tell the band of his new name change.
