Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors: Bible Story for Kids

The Boy Who Changed His Clothes

Sovereignty
Forgiveness
Trust

Bible reference:: Genesis 37, 39-45, 50
Ages:: 3-10
Reading time:: 6 minutes
Pages:: 32

Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors, told through everything Joseph wore after it: a slave's scratchy tunic, a prisoner's tattered rags, and one more set of clothes nobody expected. His brothers took the coat. They could not touch the God who stayed with him in every single one.

Good for: Big Changes, It's Not Fair, When Others Are Mean

Read the full illustrated story in the app

The story arc

Four moments that carry the story. Tap any Bible reference to read the passage.

1
The Colorful Coat
Jacob gives Joseph a beautiful colorful coat, but his jealous brothers tear it off and throw him in a dark pit.
Genesis 37:3-23Read the Bible passage
³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colours. ⁴His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him. ⁵Joseph dreamt a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. ⁶He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamt: ⁷for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. ⁹He dreamt yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamt yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” ¹⁰He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamt? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?” ¹¹His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind. ¹²His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.” ¹⁴He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. ¹⁵A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.” ¹⁷The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes. ²⁰Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, “Let’s not take his life.” ²²Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. ²³When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colours that was on him;
Genesis 37:3-23 (World English Bible, British Edition)
2
The Slave Tunic
Sold into slavery, Joseph wears a scratchy tunic and works hard. Even in this unfair place, God is with him.
Genesis 39:2Read the Bible passage
²The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Genesis 39:2 (World English Bible, British Edition)
3
The Prison Rags
Joseph is unfairly thrown into a dark prison and wears tattered rags. But God is STILL with him.
Genesis 39:20-21Read the Bible passage
²⁰Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody. ²¹But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Genesis 39:20-21 (World English Bible, British Edition)
4
The Royal Linen
God gives Joseph the meaning of Pharaoh's dream! He is dressed in royal linen to save the world from hunger.
Genesis 41:42Read the Bible passage
⁴²Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.
Genesis 41:42 (World English Bible, British Edition)

Core truths

SOVEREIGNTY

Human evil and unfair circumstances cannot stop God's good and unstoppable plan for our lives.

THE FAITHFULNESS BADGE

Awarded for trusting that God is with you in the bright times and the dark times.

FORGIVENESS

Because Joseph trusted God's bigger plan, he was able to offer radical grace to the brothers who hurt him.

Why it matters

Shifts the focus from "Why is this happening to me?" to the comforting truth of "God is with me in this."
Comforts children by showing that feelings of unfairness and sadness don't mean God has forgotten them.
Models profound, Christ-like forgiveness in the face of deep betrayal and hurt.