Genesis 37-40
New Catholic Bible
Joseph, the Suffering Righteous One[a]
Chapter 37
Hated by His Brothers.[b] 1 Jacob dwelt in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the story of the descendants of Jacob.
Joseph was seventeen years old and tended the flocks with his brothers. He was young and stayed with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father. Now Joseph told his father bad reports about them.
3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons because he was the son of his old age, and he had a long tunic made for him. 4 His brothers, seeing that their father loved him most of all his sons, hated him and could not speak peaceably with him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers, which made them hate him all the more. 6 He told them, “Listen to this dream that I had. 7 We were tying sheaves of grain in the fields, and my sheaf rose up and stood straight, while your sheaves came around and bowed before mine.”
8 His brothers said, “Would you like to reign over us and be our master?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and for what he had told them.
9 He had another dream and told it to his brothers saying, “I had another dream; listen. The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down before me.”
10 He told it to his father and brothers, and his father scolded him and said, “What type of dream is this? Must I and your mother and your brothers bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept these things in mind.
12 Sold as a Slave.[c] His brothers went out to pasture the flocks of their father at Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “You know that your brothers have gone to pasture at Shechem. Come, I wish to send you to them.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
14 He said, “Go to see how things are going for your brothers and the animals, then return and tell me.” He had him leave from the Valley of Hebron and travel to Shechem.
15 As Joseph was wandering through the fields, he found a man who asked him, “For whom are you looking?”
16 He answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me how to find where they are pasturing their flocks.”
17 That man said, “They pulled up their camp from here and I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ”
Joseph therefore went in search of his brothers, and he found them in Dothan. 18 They saw him from a distance, and, before he could draw close to them, they plotted to put him to death.
19 They said to one another, “Here comes the dreamer. 20 Come, let us kill him and throw him in some cistern. We will say, ‘A wild animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.”
21 But Reuben heard this and wanted to save him from their hands. He said, “Let us not take his life.” 22 Then he said to them, “Do not spill his blood. Throw him into this cistern in the desert, but do not lay your hands upon him.” He intended to save him from their hands and restore him to their father.
23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the long tunic that he wore. 24 They took him and cast him into a dry cistern.
25 They then sat down to eat. When they looked up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites from Gilead with camels laden with gums, balm, and myrrh. It was carrying these things to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What would we gain if we killed our brother and concealed his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. This way, we will not have laid hands on him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” His brothers agreed with him.
28 Now some Ishmaelite traders passed by, and his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Thus Joseph was brought into Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern, he found that Joseph was no longer there. He ripped his garments, 30 and he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! Where can I turn?”
31 They took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the tunic in its blood. 32 They then sent their father the long tunic and dispatched this message, “We have found this; do you know if this is your son’s tunic?”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob ripped his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned his son for many days. 35 All his sons and his daughters came to console him, but he did not want to be consoled. He said, “No! I wish to go down into the netherworld mourning my son!” Thus did his father weep for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, a counselor of Pharaoh and a commander of the guard.
Chapter 38
The Sons of Judah.[d] 1 At that time Judah set out from his brothers and made camp with a man named Hirah, an Adullamite. 2 Here Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her. 3 She conceived and bore a son and named him Er. 4 She conceived another time and bore a son and named him Onan. 5 She bore still another son and named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she gave birth to him.
6 Judah took a wife for his firstborn son Er, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, the firstborn of Judah, did things that were wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord caused him to die.
8 Judah then said to Onan, “Marry the wife of your brother to fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her and to assure descendants for your brother.”[e] 9 But Onan knew that the child would not have been considered to be his own. Every time that he slept with the wife of his brother, he spilled his seed on the ground so that he would not have to give his brother a son.[f] 10 This greatly displeased the Lord, and the Lord caused him to die, too.
11 Thereupon Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Return to the house of your father as a widow until my son Shelah will have grown up.” For he thought, “Let him not die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and returned to the house of her father.
12 Quite some time later the daughter of Shua, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah had finished his time of mourning, he went to Timnah to the sheep shearers. Hirah, the Adullamite, went with him.
13 Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law has gone to Timnah, to the sheep shearers of his flock.” 14 Tamar took off her clothes of mourning, put on a veil, and completely covered herself. Then she went and sat at the gate to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She realized that Shelah had already grown up, but she had not yet been given to him in marriage.[g]
15 [h]Judah saw her and thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He headed over to her and said, “Let me sleep with you.” He did not know that this was his daughter-in-law.
She said, “What will you give me to sleep with me?”
17 He said, “I will send a goat from the flock.”
She said, “Will you give me a pledge to hold until you will have sent it?”
18 “What pledge shall I give you?” he asked.
“Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.”
He gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived. 19 Then she got up and left. She took off her veil and put her clothes of mourning back on.
20 Judah sent his friend the Adullamite with the goat to claim the pledge from the woman, but he could not find her. 21 He asked the men of that place, “Where is the temple prostitute who was in Enaim alongside the road?”
They answered, “There has never been a temple prostitute there.”
22 So he returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her. Even the men of that place said, ‘There has never been a temple prostitute there.’ ”
23 Judah said, “Let her keep them. Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent her the goat, but you could not find her.”
24 About three months later, Judah was brought the following news: “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, played the harlot and she is also pregnant from her harlotry.” Judah said, “Let her be brought out and burned!”
25 She had already been brought out when she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The man to whom these objects belong is the father of the child.” She continued, “Do you know to whom this signet ring, cord, and staff belong?”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is innocent and I am guilty, for I did not give her my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
27 When her time to give birth arrived, it was discovered that she had twins in her womb. 28 While she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it to the hand saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But, when he pulled his hand back, his brother came out. She said, “What a breach you have opened for yourself!” He was named Perez. 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied around his hand, came out. He was named Zerah.
Chapter 39
Joseph, Blessed of God.[i] 1 When Joseph was brought down into Egypt, Potiphar, a counselor of Pharaoh and the commander of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.
2 The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered. He remained in the house of the Egyptian, his master. 3 His master realized that the Lord was with him and that whatever he undertook prospered. 4 Thus Joseph found favor with him and became his personal attendant. Potiphar even placed him in charge of his household and he entrusted him with all his possessions. 5 From the moment that he was made overseer and entrusted with his possessions, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that Potiphar had, whether in the house or out in the fields. 6 He entrusted Joseph with all that he had, and he did not concern himself with anything other than the food he ate.
The Righteous One Calumniated.[j] Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 7 After some time, the wife of his master set her eyes upon Joseph and said to him, “Sleep with me!”
8 But he refused and said to the wife of his master, “Look, my lord does not worry about anything in his house and he has entrusted me with all his possessions. 9 He has no more authority in this house than I do. He has not kept anything from me but you, for you are his wife. How could I ever do this evil thing and sin against God?” 10 Although she spoke every day to Joseph, he would not agree to sleep with her or even to be near her.
11 One day he entered the house to do his work, but none of the servants was around. 12 She took hold of his tunic saying, “Sleep with me!” But he left his tunic in her hands and ran out of the house.
13 Seeing that he had left his tunic in her hands and that he had fled outside, 14 she called out to the servants and told them, “Look, this Hebrew has been brought into the house to mock us! He came in to lie with me, but I screamed out loud. 15 As soon as he heard me raise my voice and call out, he left his tunic with me and ran out of the house.”
16 She left the tunic lying next to her until her master came home. 17 Then she told him these same things: “That Hebrew servant, whom you brought to our house, seized me to insult me. 18 But as soon as I cried out and shouted, he left his tunic next to me and ran out of the house.”
19 When the master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your servant has done to me,” he became very angry. 20 He seized Joseph and put him into the prison where they held royal prisoners.
21 But the Lord was with Joseph. He showed him kindness and caused him to find favor with the chief jailer. 22 The chief jailer entrusted all the prisoners to Joseph. Whatever had to be done there, he did it. 23 The chief jailer did not have to worry about any of those things that were entrusted to Joseph, for the Lord was with him and made whatever he did prosper.
Chapter 40
A Prophet in Suffering.[k] 1 Some time later, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two eunuchs, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in prison in the care of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was being held. 4 The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to their service. They thus remained in prison for a while.
5 Now, the same night, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, both had a dream, each one having his own dream that had its own meaning.
6 The next morning Joseph came to them and saw that they were troubled. 7 He asked the eunuchs of Pharaoh who were with him in prison, in the house of his master, “Why are you so sad today?”
8 They said, “We had a dream, but no one can interpret it.”
Joseph said to them, “Does not God have the power of interpreting? Tell your dreams to me.”
9 The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said, “In my dream I was standing in front of a vine 10 on which there were three branches. As soon as it sprouted, the flowers bloomed, and it brought forth clusters of grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh’s cup in my hand. I took the grapes and squeezed their juice into Pharaoh’s cup. I then gave Pharaoh the cup.”
12 Joseph told him, “Here is the interpretation. The three branches are three days. 13 In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you will give Pharaoh his cup just as you once did when you were his cupbearer. 14 When you are happy again, please remember that I was with you. Do me this favor: speak of me to Pharaoh and get me out of here. 15 I was unjustly carried away from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which I should have been placed in this dungeon.”
16 The chief baker, seeing that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, said to him, “As for me, in my dream I was standing with three baskets of white bread on my head. 17 In the baskets on my head were all different kinds of food for Pharaoh that would be prepared by a baker. But birds ate the food from the baskets that I had on my head.”
18 Joseph answered and said, “Here is the interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head and have you impaled; and the birds will eat away your flesh.”
20 Three days later, it was the birthday of Pharaoh, and there was a banquet for all his ministers. He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and lifted off the head of the chief baker before all his ministers. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his office as cupbearer, so that he would hand the cup to Pharaoh. 22 He had the chief baker impaled, just as Joseph had said in his interpretation.
23 But the cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 37:1 Under the rule of the Hyksos, who had come from Asia Minor (ca. 1750–1560 B.C.), Semites who had immigrated with them into Lower Egypt would fill high offices. The events of Joseph’s life seem to fit better into a somewhat later period, at the beginning of the 18th dynasty (16th century B.C.), when it was still possible for Asiatics to hold high offices in Egypt. Joseph, who has been given the position of viceroy, finds himself charged with saving the people from famine and then with settling his own people in Goshen, a fertile region on the edges of the delta. The story, which belongs in the sapiential genre, combines contributions from the Yahwist and Elohist sources to bring to light the providential aspects hidden in the mystery of the suffering righteous man (Gen 45:4-13; 50:19-21).
It is evident that the Lord does not intervene openly but through the interplay of circumstances and the more or less upright behavior of individuals, but he does provide for the well-being of the vast human family by using the activity of those whom he has chosen; he even uses their sin to save them. The narrator has all the sons of Jacob going down into Egypt; as the ancestors of the twelve tribes they prepare the way, in a suitable environment, for the growth of the chosen people, which will, at the proper time, enter the Promised Land. - Genesis 37:1 The story brings out the three reasons that feed a growing hatred in Joseph’s brothers: his reporting of stories about them, their father’s predilection for him, and his dreams. The long tunic is a princely garment, quite different from the short coat worn by shepherds, and Jacob was seriously imprudent in thus differentiating among his sons. As for the dreams, the Bible warns that these are most often vain (Deut 13:2-4; Jer 29:8-9); sometimes God does use them to make himself known to human beings (Num 12:6), but he alone explains their meaning (Gen 40:8; 41:16). Joseph will later on show that he himself possesses this special prophetic charism.
- Genesis 37:12 Some textual obscurities have led many critics to see in this passage the fusion of two different versions. In the Yahwist version the cause of the hatred would be the father’s predilection; the Yahwist tradition, which had its center in Jerusalem and in the tribe of Judah, would be focusing on the doings of its own people. In the Elohist version, however, the hatred would be caused by the dreams. In narrating a complex event the storytellers may concentrate on one element rather than another, but this does not prevent both versions from being substantially true.
Joseph, who is hated and sold through no fault of his own, suffers the consequences of the error of his father, who is unable to control his own feelings, and of the baseness of his brothers who, like so many people, are hostile to the voice of a prophet.
Joseph will be a type of the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sins of the world (1 Pet 2:24). - Genesis 38:1 In contrast to the innocent Joseph, who is struck down by the evil deeds of others, stand the moral troubles of the House of Judah, which, in combination with the corruption and violence of the other brothers, make it resemble a flower that is beaten down by a storm. It is, however, to the credit of Judah, who had suggested the selling of Joseph (Gen 37:26-27), that he later redeems himself by offering himself as a slave in the place of Benjamin in order to spare his father suffering that might prove fatal.
The present story gives the juridical reason why Perez, an ancestor of David (Ru 4:18, 22), is regarded as Judah’s firstborn son; it is an application, although an abnormal one, of the law of the levirate, which is of very ancient origin; it was already followed by the Assyrians and Hittites and was later adopted by Israel (Deut 25:5-10). The detail about the birth of the twins (Gen 38:28-30) seems to point to a usurpation in favor of Perez. But above and beyond the juridical considerations, we have here the disconcerting choices of the Lord. When his time comes, Joseph will enjoy the rights of a firstborn in the inheritance of his father (Gen 48–49), but the Messiah will be the descendant of Judah and Tamar by way of Perez. God does not prefer the most worthy, and he uses sinners in weaving the web of salvation. - Genesis 38:8 This verse describes “the law of the levirate” (from the Latin, levir, meaning “brother-in-law), which was decreed in Deuteronomy (25:5-6) and constituted a legal obligation in Israel (see Mt 22:24).
- Genesis 38:9 The law of the levirate required that in marrying Tamar, widow of Er, Onan should provide the dead man with a posterity. His sin is twofold: against social justice and Tamar, by deliberately and unlawfully preventing primogeniture, and against marriage, by frustrating its purposes.
- Genesis 38:14 Tamar wants her right to children respected, no matter what the cost; Judah was preventing her from exercising this right (see v. 26).
- Genesis 38:15 We might question why Judah was so open about his relations with a prostitute yet ready to put his daughter-in-law to death for being one. The answer lies in the place of women in that time and place. The most important task of women was to bear children to perpetuate the family line. In order to ensure that the children really belonged to the husband, the bride was expected to be a virgin and to refrain from having relations with anyone but her husband. If a wife became an adulteress, she risked the penalty of death. There were, however, some women who did not belong to any man. They could be temple prostitutes supported by offerings or common harlots supported by the men who sought them out. The children of such women were nobody’s heirs, and the men who used their services did not adulterate anyone’s bloodlines. In opposition to such a secular outlook Scripture enhances the status of women (Gen 1:27f; 2:23) and strongly condemns prostitution (Lev 19:29).
- Genesis 39:1 Joseph becomes the majordomo of the captain of the guard, in which capacity he is a model of honor, fidelity, and constancy. He is living proof of the words of St. Paul that “God makes all things work together for good for those who love him” (Rom 8:28).
- Genesis 39:6 Despite the powerful temptation, the young man remains heroically faithful to the word given to his master no matter what the cost. And God comes to his aid as he does to all those who love him in adversity as well as in success.
- Genesis 40:1 The ancients regarded dreams as a way in which the divinity came in contact with human beings and revealed the future; God alone, however, could make known the meaning of these dreams.
