Beginning
Judah's family[a]
38 At that time, Judah left his brothers. He went to stay with a man from the town of Adullam. His name was Hirah. 2 While he was there, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man called Shua. Judah married her and he had sex with her. 3 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Judah gave him the name ‘Er’. 4 His wife became pregnant again, and she gave birth to another son. She gave him the name ‘Onan’. 5 Later, she gave birth to another son. She gave him the name ‘Shelah’. She gave birth to Shelah in Kezib.
6 Judah found a wife for his oldest son, Er. Her name was Tamar. 7 But the Lord saw that Er, Judah's firstborn son, was very bad. So the Lord caused him to die. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, ‘You should marry your dead brother's wife and have sex with her. You are her dead husband's brother. You must have a son who will become your dead brother's descendant.’[b]
9 But Onan did not want Tamar to give birth to his child. He knew that the child would not belong to him. So when he had sex with his brother's wife Tamar, he made his semen go onto the ground. Onan did this so that Tamar would not give birth to a child for his dead brother.
10 What Onan did was bad, and the Lord was not pleased with him. So the Lord caused Onan to die too. 11 Then Judah said to his son's widow, Tamar, ‘Go back to your father's house and live there as a widow. Stay there until my son Shelah grows older.’ Judah thought, ‘I do not want Shelah to die in the way that his brothers died.’ So Tamar went to live in her father's house.
12 After a long time, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had stopped being sad because of her death, he left his home to travel. He went with his friend, Hirah the Adullamite, to a place called Timnah. He went to see the men who were cutting the wool from his sheep. 13 Someone told Tamar, ‘Your husband's father is going to Timnah to get the wool from his sheep.’
14 Tamar knew that Judah's son Shelah had now become a man. But Judah had not yet let Shelah marry her. So Tamar took off her widow's clothes and she put on other clothes. She covered her head with a veil. She did not want anyone to recognize her. Then she sat at the gate of Enaim. Enaim is a town on the road that goes to Timnah.
15 Judah saw her as she sat there. He thought that she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. 16 He did not know that she was his son's widow. He went to her at the side of the road. He said, ‘Let me have sex with you.’ Tamar asked him, ‘If I have sex with you, what will you give me?’ 17 Judah replied, ‘I will take a young goat from my animals and I will give it to you.’ Tamar said, ‘Please give me something now to show me that you will really send the goat to me.’ 18 Judah asked her, ‘What should I give you?’ Tamar replied, ‘Give me your special ring and the string that holds it. And give me the stick that is in your hand.’[c] So Judah gave them to her. He had sex with her. As a result, she became pregnant.
19 After this, Tamar left there and she took off her veil. She put her widow's clothes on again.
20 Judah sent his friend Hirah, the Adullamite, to take a young goat back to where the woman had been. Judah wanted to get his special things back from the woman. But Hirah could not find the woman. 21 He asked some men who lived there, ‘Where is the temple prostitute who sat by the road at Enaim?’[d] But the men said, ‘There has not been any prostitute here.’
22 So Hirah went back to Judah, with the goat. He told him, ‘I did not find her. The men who lived there said, “There has not been any temple prostitute here.” ’ 23 So Judah said, ‘Let her keep the things that I gave to her. People will laugh at me if you go back there again. I sent this young goat for her, as I promised, but you could not find her.’
24 Three months later, someone told Judah, ‘Your dead son's wife, Tamar, has become a prostitute and now she is pregnant.’ Judah said, ‘Take her out of the town and burn her to death!’ 25 So they took Tamar away to kill her. But she sent a message to her dead husband's father. She said, ‘The man that these things belong to had sex with me. That is why I am pregnant. Look at these things carefully. Do you know who the ring, its string, and the stick belong to?’
26 Judah saw that the things belonged to him. He said, ‘She is more honest than I am. She has done this because I would not give her to my son, Shelah, as his wife.’ Judah did not have sex with Tamar again.
27 The time came for Tamar to give birth, and there were twins! 28 While she was giving birth, one baby put out his hand. The woman who was helping Tamar tied a red string to that baby's arm. She said, ‘This baby came out first.’ 29 But then the baby moved his hand back inside and his brother came out first. The woman said, ‘You have opened a way for yourself to come out!’ So they gave him the name ‘Perez’.[e] 30 Then his brother came out, with the red string on his arm. They gave him the name ‘Zerah’.
Joseph in Egypt
39 The Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt and they sold him there as a slave. Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites. He was one of Pharaoh's officers. He had authority over all the guards. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, so that good things happened to him. Joseph lived in the house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. He saw that the Lord helped Joseph to do good work. 4 So Joseph pleased Potiphar. Potiphar gave Joseph authority as his special servant. Joseph took care of everything that belonged to Potiphar. 5 From the time that Potiphar gave Joseph authority over everything in his house, the Lord blessed the people of Potiphar's house, his animals and his crops. The Lord blessed Potiphar because of Joseph.
6 So Potiphar told Joseph to take care of everything that belonged to him. Potiphar did not worry about anything in his house. The only thing that he thought about was the food that he ate.
Joseph was a strong and handsome man. 7 After some time had passed, Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph was handsome. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ 8 But Joseph refused to do that. He said, ‘My master does not need to think about anything in the house. I take care of everything that belongs to him. 9 No one has more authority in this house than I do. My master keeps nothing from me, except you. That is because you are his wife. I could not do such a bad thing. I could not do a sin that is against God.’
10 Potiphar's wife continued to speak to Joseph every day. But he would not agree to go to bed with her. He would not even go near her. 11 One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. None of the other servants were there in the house. 12 Potiphar's wife suddenly took hold of Joseph's coat. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ Joseph left his coat in her hand and he ran out of the house.
13 Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand. She saw that he had run out of the house. 14 So she called her servants to come. She said to them, ‘Look at this! The Hebrew man that Potiphar brought to work here does not respect us! He came in here and he tried to have sex with me. But I screamed loudly. 15 When he heard me scream like that, he ran out of the house. But he left his coat here with me.’
16 Potiphar's wife kept the coat beside her until Joseph's master, Potiphar, came home. 17 Then she told him this story: ‘The Hebrew slave that you brought to us tried to insult me. He wanted to sleep with me. 18 But I screamed loudly for help. So he left his coat with me and he ran out of the house.’
19 Joseph's master heard the story that his wife told him. She said, ‘This is what your slave did to me.’ When Potiphar heard that, he was very angry. 20 He took hold of Joseph, and he put him in prison. It was the place where the king put his own prisoners. 21 While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was still with him. He was kind to Joseph. He caused the leader of the prison guards to like Joseph. 22 So this man gave Joseph authority over all the other prisoners. Joseph was responsible for everything that they did in the prison. 23 The prison guard did not worry about anything that Joseph had authority over. He saw that the Lord was with Joseph. Whatever Joseph did, the Lord helped him to do it well.
Joseph tells two people what their dreams mean
40 Some time later, two of the king's officers made him angry. One of them was the king's cupbearer.[f] The other was the king's baker.
2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, both the cupbearer and the baker. 3 Pharaoh put them in the same prison that Joseph was in. That was in the house of the captain of the king's guards. 4 They were in the prison for a long time. The captain of the guards made Joseph their servant, to help them. 5 One night, both of the king's officers had a dream. Each dream had its own meaning.
6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were upset. 7 So Joseph asked the two officers, ‘What are you sad about?’ 8 They replied, ‘We both had dreams last night, but there is nobody to tell us what they mean.’ Joseph said, ‘Only God can tell you the meaning of dreams. Tell your dreams to me.’
9 So the king's cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said, ‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me. 10 There were three branches on it. New leaves came on the branches, and then flowers came. After that, there were grapes which became ripe. 11 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and I squeezed them. Then I put the juice into the cup and I gave the cup to Pharaoh.’
12 Joseph said, ‘This is what your dream means. The three branches tell us about three days. 13 In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and he will make you his officer again.[g] You will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand, as you did before. 14 But when these good things happen to you, remember to be kind to me. Tell Pharaoh about me so that I will get out of this prison. 15 Men took hold of me in the land of the Hebrews and they brought me here. Even here, I have not done anything wrong. I should not be in this prison.’
16 The king's baker heard what Joseph had said to the cupbearer. He realized that the meaning of the cupbearer's dream was good. So he said to Joseph, ‘This was my dream: I had three baskets of bread on my head. 17 The top basket contained many different kinds of bread for Pharaoh. But birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.’
18 Joseph said, ‘This is what your dream means. The three baskets tell us about three days. 19 In three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head. He will hang you on a tree. Then birds will eat the meat off your body.’
20 Three days later, it was Pharaoh's birthday. He gave a feast for all his officers. He lifted up the head of the cupbearer and he lifted off the head of the baker! He brought them both out of the prison so that all his officers could see.
21 Pharaoh caused the cupbearer to be his own cupbearer again. As a result, the cupbearer put Pharaoh's cup into his hand again, as he did before. 22 But Pharaoh hanged the baker to kill him.
So it all happened in the way that Joseph said it would happen. 23 But the cupbearer did not think about Joseph at all. He completely forgot about him.
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