Judah and Tamar

38 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and ^(A)turned aside to a certain ^(B)Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. ² There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was ^(C)Shua. He took her and went in to her, ³ and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name ^(D)Er. ⁴ She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name ^(E)Onan. ⁵ Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name ^(F)Shelah. Judah^[a] was in Chezib when she bore him.

⁶ And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But Er, Judah's firstborn, ^(G)was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. ⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to ^(H)your brother's wife and ^(I)perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” ⁹ But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother's wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. ¹⁰ And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, ^(J)“Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained ^(K)in her father's house.

¹² In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah ^(L)was comforted, he went up to ^(M)Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴ she took off her widow's garments ^(N)and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to ^(O)Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, ^(P)and she had not been given to him in marriage. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷ He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” ¹⁸ He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, ^(Q)“Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she arose and went away, and taking off ^(R)her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. ²¹ And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute^[b] who was at ^(S)Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” ²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” ²³ And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law ^(T)has been immoral.^[c] Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.”^[d] And Judah said, “Bring her out, and ^(U)let her be burned.” ²⁵ As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, ^(V)the signet and the cord and the staff.” ²⁶ Then Judah identified them and said, ^(W)“She is more righteous than I, since ^(X)I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

²⁷ When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called ^(Y)Perez.^{[e] 30} Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called ^(Z)Zerah.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and ^(AA)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(AB)had bought him from the ^(AC)Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ^2 (AD)The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(AE)caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph ^(AF)found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house ^(AG)and put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵ From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house ^(AH)for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶ So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was ^(AI)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and ^(AJ)he has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and ^(AK)sin against God?” ¹⁰ And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he ^(AL)would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹ But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ^12 (AM)she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³ And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶ Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷ and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰ And Joseph's master took him and ^(AN)put him into the ^(AO)prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹ But ^(AP)the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love ^(AQ)and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²² And the keeper of the prison ^(AR)put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³ The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because ^(AS)the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Joseph Interprets Two Prisoners' Dreams

40 Some time after this, the ^(AT)cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. ² And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ^3 (AU)and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.

⁵ And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, ^(AV)“Why are your faces downcast today?” ⁸ They said to him, ^(AW)“We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, ^(AX)“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰ and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.” ¹² Then Joseph said to him, ^(AY)“This is its interpretation: ^(AZ)the three branches are three days. ¹³ In three days Pharaoh will ^(BA)lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For ^(BB)I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and ^(BC)here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷ and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸ And Joseph answered and said, ^(BD)“This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. ^19 (BE)In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and ^(BF)hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

²⁰ On the third day, which was Pharaoh's ^(BG)birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and ^(BH)lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ^21 (BI)He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and ^(BJ)he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. ²² But he ^(BK)hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

James Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. ² He killed ^(A)James the brother of John ^(B)with the sword, ³ and when he saw ^(C)that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during ^(D)the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ And when he had seized him, he put him ^(E)in prison, delivering him over to four ^(F)squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest ^(G)prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Peter Is Rescued

⁶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^(H)bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷ And behold, ^(I)an angel of the Lord ^(J)stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. ^(K)He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And ^(L)the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and ^(M)put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but ^(N)thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. ^(O)It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹ When Peter ^(P)came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that ^(Q)the Lord has sent his angel and ^(R)rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^(S)John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and ^(T)were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, ^(U)a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter's voice, ^(V)in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is ^(W)his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But ^(X)motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to ^(Y)James and to ^(Z)the brothers.”^[a] Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ^(AA)ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and ^(AB)having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain,^[b] they asked for peace, because ^(AC)their country depended on the king's country for food. ²¹ On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. ²² And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” ²³ Immediately ^(AD)an angel of the Lord struck him down, because ^(AE)he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

²⁴ But ^(AF)the word of God increased and multiplied.

^25 (AG)And Barnabas and Saul returned from^[c] Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them ^(AH)John, whose other name was Mark.