Genesis 37-38

New American Standard Bible

Joseph’s Dreams

37 Now Jacob lived in ^(A)the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan. ² These are the records of the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, when he was ^(B)seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, while he was still a youth, along with ^(C)the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a ^(D)bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was ^(E)the son of his old age; and he made him a ^[a](F)multicolored tunic. ⁴ And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they ^(G)hated him and could not speak to him ^[b]on friendly terms.

⁵ Then Joseph ^[c](H)had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have ^[d]had; ⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and ^(I)bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ Then his brothers said to him, “^(J)Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he ^[e]had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have ^[f]had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have ^[g]had? Am I and your mother and ^(K)your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ And ^(L)his brothers were jealous of him, but his father ^(M)kept the matter in mind.

¹² Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not pasturing the flock in ^(N)Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “^[h]I will go.” ¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of ^(O)Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “^[i]What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷ Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to ^(P)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

The Plot against Joseph

^18 [j]When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they ^(Q)plotted against him to put him to death. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “^[k]Here comes this dreamer! ²⁰ Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and ^(R)we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹ But ^(S)Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands ^[l]by saying, “Let’s not ^[m]take his life.” ²² Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father. ²³ So it came about, when Joseph ^[n]reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the ^[o]multicolored tunic that was on him; ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat ^[p]a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of ^(T)Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying ^(U)labdanum resin, ^(V)balsam, and ^[q]myrrh, ^[r]on their way to bring them down to Egypt. ²⁶ And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and ^(W)cover up his blood? ^27 (X)Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then some ^(Y)Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and ^(Z)sold ^[s]him to the Ishmaelites for ^[t]twenty shekels of silver. So ^(AA)they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^(AB)tore his garments. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “^(AC)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” ³¹ So ^(AD)they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³² and they sent the ^[u]multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please ^[v]examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” ³³ Then he ^[w]examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. ^(AE)A vicious animal has devoured him; ^(AF)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ So Jacob ^(AG)tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will ^(AH)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the ^[x]Midianites ^(AI)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.

Judah and Tamar

38 And it came about at that time, that Judah ^[y]departed from his brothers and ^[z]visited a certain ^(AJ)Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. ² Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was ^(AK)Shua; and he took her as a wife and had relations with her. ³ And she conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him ^(AL)Er. ⁴ Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she named him ^(AM)Onan. ⁵ She gave birth to yet another son and named him ^(AN)Shelah; and it was at Chezib ^[aa]that she gave birth to him.

⁶ Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But ^(AO)Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life. ⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “^(AP)Have relations with your brother’s wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a ^[ab]child for your brother.” ⁹ Now Onan knew that the ^[ac](AQ)child would not be his; so when he had relations with his brother’s wife, he ^[ad]wasted his seed on the ground so that he would not give ^[ae]a child to his brother. ¹⁰ But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; so He ^(AR)took his life also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “^(AS)Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he ^[af]thought, “I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹² Now ^[ag]after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when ^[ah]the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at ^(AT)Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ And Tamar was told, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to ^(AU)Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she ^[ai]removed her widow’s garments and ^(AV)covered herself with a ^[aj]veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of ^[ak]Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and ^(AW)she had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “^[al]Here now, let me have relations with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may have relations with me?” ¹⁷ He said, therefore, “I will send you a ^[am]young goat from the flock.” She then said, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?” ¹⁸ He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “^(AX)Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had relations with her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and departed, and ^[an]removed her ^[ao]veil and put on her widow’s garments.

²⁰ When Judah sent the ^[ap]young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. ²¹ He asked the people of her place, saying, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no temple prostitute here.” ²² So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the people of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’” ²³ Then Judah said, “Let her ^[aq]keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. ^[ar]After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”

²⁴ Now it was about three months later that Judah was ^[as]informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and behold, she is also pregnant by prostitution.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out and ^(AY)have her burned!” ²⁵ It was while she was being brought out that she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” She also said, “^(AZ)Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?” ²⁶ And Judah recognized them, and said, “^(BA)She is more righteous than I, since ^(BB)I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not ^[at]have relations with her again.

²⁷ It came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were ^(BC)twins in her womb. ²⁸ Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, that one baby put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But it came about as he drew back his hand that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named ^[au](BD)Perez. ³⁰ Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named ^[av](BE)Zerah.