Genesis 37:33

37:33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! ¹  Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

Genesis 37:20

37:20 Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild ²  animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!” ³ 

[37:33]  ¹ sn A wild animal has eaten him. Jacob draws this conclusion on his own without his sons actually having to lie with their words (see v. 20). Dipping the tunic in the goat’s blood was the only deception needed.

[37:20]  ² tn The Hebrew word can sometimes carry the nuance “evil,” but when used of an animal it refers to a dangerous wild animal.

[37:20]  ³ tn Heb “what his dreams will be.”