Chronological

Judah’s Life among the Adullamites

38 Right about then, Judah left his brothers and went to live with an Adullamite man named Hirah. ² There Judah met^[a] the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married^[b] her, had sexual relations with her, ³ and she conceived, bore a son, and named him Er. ⁴ Later, she conceived again, bore another son, and named him Onan. ⁵ Then she bore yet another son and named him Shelah. Judah was living in Kezib when she bore him.

⁶ Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. ⁷ But the Lord considered Er, Judah’s oldest son, to be wicked—so he put him to death. ⁸ So Judah instructed Onan, “You are to have sexual relations with your dead brother’s wife, performing the duty of a brother-in-law with her, and have offspring for your brother.”

⁹ But Onan knew that the offspring wouldn’t be his own heir, so whenever he had sexual relations with his brother’s wife, he would spill his semen on the ground to avoid fathering offspring for his brother. ¹⁰ The Lord considered what Onan was doing to be evil, so he put him to death, too.

¹¹ After this, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” But he was really thinking, “…otherwise, Shelah^[c] might die like his brothers.” So Tamar left and lived in her father’s house. ¹² Some years later, Shua’s daughter (that is, Judah’s wife) died. As Judah was grieving, he visited the shearers of his flock in Timnah, accompanied by his Adullamite friend Hirah.

Tamar Avenges Judah’s Treachery

¹³ “Look!” somebody reported to Tamar, “Your father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her mourning apparel, covered herself with a shawl, and concealed her outward appearance. Then she went out and sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she knew that even though Shelah had grown up, she wasn’t being given to him as his wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, since she had concealed her face. ¹⁶ So on the way, he turned aside, approached her, and said, “Come on! Let’s have some sex!” But he didn’t realize that he was talking to his own daughter-in-law.

“What will you give me,” she asked, “in order to have sex with me?”

¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat from the flock,” he responded.

But she pressed him, asking, “What security will you put up until you’ve sent it?”

¹⁸ Then he asked, “What pledge do you want me to give you?”

“Your signet ring, cord, and the staff in your hand,” she suggested. So he gave them to her, had sex with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left. Later, she took off her shawl and put on her mourning clothes.

²⁰ Later on, Judah sent his Adullamite friend to take her a young goat, intending to retrieve what he had put up as security from the woman, but he could not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived in that area, “Where’s that temple prostitute who was sitting alongside the road at Enaim?”

But they replied, “There’s been no temple prostitute here.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I haven’t found her. Also, the men who are from there said, ‘There’s been no prostitute here.’”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her have those things.^[d] Otherwise, we’ll become contemptible. I sent this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

Tamar’s Pregnancy Rebukes Judah

²⁴ Three months later, it was reported to Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution!^[e] And look! She’s pregnant because of it!”

“Bring her out,” Judah responded. “Let’s burn her to death!”

²⁵ While they were bringing her out, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong. Furthermore,” she added, “tell me to whom this signet ring, cord, and staff belongs.”

²⁶ When Judah recognized them, he admitted, “She is more upright than I, because I never did give her my son Shelah.” And he never had sex with her again.

²⁷ Later, when it was time for Tamar^[f] to give birth, she was carrying twins in her womb! ²⁸ While she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, so the midwife grabbed it and tied something scarlet around his hand, observing, “This one came out first.”

²⁹ As it was, he withdrew his hand, and then his brother was born. Amazed, the midwife^[g] cried out loud, “What’s this? A breach birth?” So that boy^[h] was named Perez.^{[i] 30} Afterwards, his brother came out, and around his hand was the scarlet. So they named him Zerah.^[j]

Joseph is Delivered to Potiphar

39 Meanwhile, Joseph had been delivered to Egypt and turned over to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s court officials and the Commander-in-Chief of the imperial guards. An Egyptian, he bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there.

² But the Lord was with Joseph. He became a very prosperous man while in the house of his Egyptian master, ³ who could see that the Lord was with Joseph,^[k] because the Lord made everything prosper that Joseph^[l] did. ⁴ That’s how Joseph pleased Potiphar^[m] as he served him. Eventually, Potiphar appointed Joseph as overseer of his entire household. Moreover, he entrusted everything that he owned into his care.^{[n] 5} From the time he appointed Joseph to be overseer over his entire household and everything that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The Lord’s blessing rested on Joseph,^[o] whether in Potiphar’s household or in Potiphar’s fields. ⁶ Everything that he owned, he entrusted into Joseph’s care. He never concerned himself about anything, except for the food he ate.

Potiphar’s Wife Accuses Joseph

Now Joseph was well built and good looking. ⁷ That’s why, sometime later, Joseph’s master’s wife looked straight at Joseph and propositioned him: “Come on! Let’s have a little sex!”^[p]

⁸ But he refused, telling his master’s wife, “Look! My master doesn’t have to worry about anything in the house with me in charge, and he has entrusted everything into my care. ⁹ No one has more authority in this house than I do. He has withheld nothing from me, except you, and that’s because you’re his wife. So how can I commit such a horrible evil? How can I sin against God?”

¹⁰ She kept on talking to him like this day after day, but he wouldn’t listen to her. Not only would he refuse to have sex with her, he refused even to stay around her. ¹¹ One day, though,^[q] he went into the house to do his work. None of the household servants^[r] were inside, ¹² so she grabbed Joseph^[s] by his outer garment and demanded “Let’s have some sex!”

Instead, Joseph ran outside, leaving his outer garment still in her hand. ¹³ When she realized that he had left his outer garment right there in her hand, she ran outside ¹⁴ and yelled for her household servants. “Look!” she cried out. “My husband^[t] brought in a Hebrew man to humiliate us. He came in here to have sex with me, but I screamed out loud! ¹⁵ When he heard me starting to scream, he left his outer garment with me and fled outside.” ¹⁶ She kept his outer garment by her side until Joseph’s master came home, ¹⁷ and then this is what she told him: “That Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came in here to rape^[u] me. ¹⁸ But when I started to scream, he left his outer garment with me and ran outside.”

Joseph is Locked in Prison

¹⁹ When Joseph’s master heard his wife’s claim to the effect that “This is how your servant treated me,” he flew into a rage, ²⁰ arrested Joseph, and locked him up in the same prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph remained there in prison.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph. He extended gracious love to him, causing the prison warden to be pleased with Joseph.^{[v] 22} So the prison warden entrusted into Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were confined in prison. Whatever they did, Joseph was in charge of the work detail.^{[w] 23} The prison warden did not have to worry about anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him. That’s why Joseph prospered in everything he did.

Pharaoh’s Two Servants

40 Some time later, both the senior security advisor^[x] to the king of Egypt and his head chef^[y] offended their master, Egypt’s king. ² Pharaoh was so angry with his two officers—his senior security advisor and his head chef— ³ that he locked them up in the prison dungeon operated by the captain of the guard, the very place where Joseph was imprisoned. ⁴ The captain of the guard entrusted them to Joseph’s custody, who took care of them, since they were to remain there in custody for a number of days.

⁵ Then the two of them each had a dream. They both had their dreams the same night, and there were separate interpretations for each dream—the senior security advisor and the head chef to the king of Egypt, who had confined them in prison. ⁶ When Joseph came to see them in the morning, he noticed how downcast they looked! They were both very sad. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in prison in his master’s house, “Why are you so sad today?”

⁸ “We had a dream,” they replied, “but there’s no one to interpret it.”

“Interpretations belong to God,” Joseph told them, “so please tell me your stories.”

The Security Advisor’s Dream

⁹ So the senior security advisor related his dream to Joseph. “In my dream,” he said, “all of a sudden there was a vine in front of me! ¹⁰ On the vine were three branches that budded. Blossoms shot out, and clusters grew up that produced ripe grapes. ¹¹ Then, with Pharaoh’s cup in my hand, I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, then handed the cup directly to Pharaoh.”

¹² Then Joseph told him, “This is what your dream means:^[z] The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days, Pharaoh will encourage you^[aa] and return you to your responsibilities. You’ll attend to Pharaoh’s personal wine cup, just as you did when you were his senior security advisor. ¹⁴ But keep me in mind when things go well for you. Be sure to extend kindness to me by remembering me to Pharaoh. Bring me out of this prison,^{[ab] 15} because I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. Not only that, I haven’t done anything that deserves me being confined to this pit.”

The Head Chef’s Dream

¹⁶ When the head chef heard that the interpretation was good, he told Joseph, “I was also in my dream. All of a sudden, there were three baskets with white bread stacked on top of my head. ¹⁷ There was all kinds of food in the basket that was on top, including baked food for Pharaoh. The birds were eating them from the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ Joseph replied, “This is what your dream means:^[ac] The three baskets are also three days. ¹⁹ Within three more days, Pharaoh will behead you and hang you on gallows,^[ad] where birds will eat your flesh from you.”

The Dreams are Fulfilled

²⁰ On the third day, which just happened to be Pharaoh’s birthday, he threw a party for all his servants. He lifted the head of both his senior security advisor and of his head chef in front of his servants— ²¹ that is, he restored his senior security advisor to his former responsibilities, including attending to Pharaoh’s personal wine cup, ²² but he beheaded and^[ae] hanged the head chef, just as Joseph had interpreted for them. ²³ Despite all of this, the senior security advisor not only didn’t remember Joseph, he deliberately forgot him.