Old/New Testament

Esau's family

36 This is the report about Esau and his family. (Esau is also called Edom.)

² Esau took women from Canaan to be his wives. They were:

⁴ Esau's wife Adah gave birth to a son called Eliphaz. Basemath gave birth to a son called Reuel. ⁵ Oholibamah gave birth to three sons: Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were Esau's sons that were born in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Esau went to a land that was a long way from his brother Jacob. He took with him his wives, his sons and daughters and everyone in his house. He took his animals and all the things that he had got while he lived in Canaan. ⁷ Esau and Jacob both had too many animals to live together in the same place. There was not enough land to give food to all their animals. ⁸ So Esau went to live in the hills of Seir. He was also called Edom.

⁹ This is a list of Esau's descendants, the Edomites. They lived in the hill country of Seir.

¹⁰ These are the names of Esau's sons:

¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. ¹² Esau's son Eliphaz also had a slave wife. Her name was Timna. She gave birth to a son called Amalek. Those were the grandsons of Esau's wife, Adah.

¹³ The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. Those were grandsons of Esau's wife, Basemath. ¹⁴ Esau's wife Oholibamah was the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon. Her sons were Jeush, Jalam and Korah.

¹⁵ These were Esau's descendants who became leaders of their clans: The sons of Esau's firstborn son, Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶ Korah, Gatam and Amalek. These were the clan leaders who were descendants of Eliphaz in Edom. They were grandsons of Adah.

¹⁷ The sons of Esau's son, Reuel, who became clan leaders in Edom were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. They were grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath.

¹⁸ The sons of Esau's wife, Oholibamah, who became clan leaders were Jeush, Jalam and Korah. Oholibamah was the daughter of Anah.

¹⁹ All those were the sons of Esau and they became the leaders of their clans.

²⁰ These were the descendants of Seir the Horite. They lived in that land before Esau arrived there. They were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These descendants of Seir were leaders of the Horite clans in Edom. ²² Lotan's sons were Hori and Homam. Lotan's sister was Timna. ²³ Shobal's sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. ²⁴ Zibeon's sons were Aiah and Anah. This was the same Anah who found a place with hot water in the wilderness when he was taking care of his father Zibeon's donkeys. ²⁵ Anah's children were Dishon and Oholibamah (his daughter). ²⁶ Dishon's sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. ²⁷ Ezer's sons were Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. ²⁸ Dishan's sons were Uz and Aran.

²⁹ These were the leaders of the Horite clans in the land of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰ Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.

³¹ Before any kings ruled over the Israelites, these kings ruled in the land of Edom: ³² Beor's son Bela became king of Edom. His city was called Dinhabah. ³³ When Bela died, Zerah's son Jobab became the next king. ³⁴ When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became the next king. ³⁵ When Husham died, Bedad's son Hadad became the next king. Bedad had won the war against the Midianites in the region of Moab. Hadad's city was called Avith. ³⁶ When Hadad died, Samlah became the next king. He was from Masrekah. ³⁷ When Samlah died, Shaul became the next king. He was from Rehoboth on the river. ³⁸ When Shaul died, Akbor's son Baal-Hanan became the next king. ³⁹ When Baal-Hanan died, Hadad became the next king. His city was called Pau. Hadad's wife was Mehetabel. She was the daughter of Matred, and the granddaughter of Me-Zahab.

⁴⁰ These descendants of Esau were the leaders of their clans: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹ Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴² Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³ Magdiel and Iram. These were the leaders who lived with their families in different places in the land. Each place was called the same name as the clan leader who lived there.

All those people are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.

Joseph and his brothers

37 Jacob lived in Canaan, the land where his father had lived.^[a]

² This is the report about Jacob and his family.

Joseph was Jacob's son. When he was 17 years old, he took care of his father's sheep and goats. He did this together with his brothers. These were the sons of his father's wives, Bilhah and Zilpah. Sometimes Joseph told his father bad things about his brothers.

³ Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other sons. This was because Joseph was born when Jacob was old. So Jacob made a special coat for Joseph. ⁴ Joseph's brothers knew that Jacob loved him more than he loved them. So they hated Joseph. They could not say anything nice to him.

⁵ One night, Joseph had a dream and he told his brothers about it. When they heard about the dream, Joseph's brothers hated him even more than they did before. ⁶ Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Listen to what happened in my dream: ⁷ We were out in the field tying the crops together into bundles. Then my bundle stood up. Your bundles stood in a circle round my bundle. And all your bundles bent down to respect my bundle.’

⁸ Joseph's brothers said to him, ‘Do you really think that you will be like a king and rule over us like that?’ They hated Joseph even more because of what he told them about his dream.

⁹ Then Joseph had another dream and he told his brothers about it. He said, ‘Listen to me. I have had another dream. This is what happened: The sun, the moon and 11 stars bent down in front of me.’ ¹⁰ Joseph told his father and his brothers about the dream. Jacob, his father, was angry with him. He said to Joseph, ‘You should not tell us about a dream like that! Do you really think that I, your mother and your brothers will come and bend down in front of you?’ ¹¹ Joseph's brothers were very jealous of him. But Jacob thought carefully about what Joseph had said.

¹² One day, Joseph's brothers had taken their father's sheep to eat grass in the fields. This was near Shechem city. ¹³ Jacob said to Joseph, ‘You know that your brothers have taken my sheep to eat grass near Shechem. I want you to go to them.’ Joseph replied, ‘I am ready to go.’ ¹⁴ So Jacob said to Joseph, ‘Go and see if your brothers are well. See if the sheep have enough grass to eat. Then come back and tell me news about them.’ Then Jacob sent Joseph from the Valley of Hebron to go to them. ¹⁵ When Joseph arrived near Shechem and he was walking in the fields there, a man met him. He asked Joseph, ‘What are you looking for?’ ¹⁶ Joseph replied, ‘I am looking for my brothers. They have taken the sheep to eat grass. Please tell me where they are.’ ¹⁷ The man said, ‘They have moved away from here. I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’

So Joseph went to look for his brothers. He found them at Dothan. ¹⁸ But his brothers recognized Joseph, while he was still far away. Before he had arrived where they were, they decided on a way to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, ‘Here comes the man who likes to dream! ²⁰ We will kill him. We can throw him into one of the dry wells. We can tell people that a wild animal ate him. Then his dreams will never become true!’

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to save Joseph from the other brothers. He said, ‘We should not kill him. ²² Do not even get his blood on your hands. Just throw him into this dry well here in the wilderness. But do not attack him.’ Reuben said this to save Joseph, so that his brothers would not kill him. Then later, Reuben could take Joseph back to his father.

²³ So Joseph arrived at where his brothers were. He was wearing his special coat, but they took it off him. ²⁴ Then they took hold of Joseph and they threw him into the empty well. It had no water in it.

²⁵ Then the brothers sat down to eat their meal. They looked up and they saw a group of Ishmaelites coming towards them. They were coming from Gilead region. They were riding on camels that carried spices, and different kinds of oils for medicine. They were taking them to sell in Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, ‘We could kill our brother and then hide his body. But then we will not get anything for ourselves. ²⁷ So let us sell him to these Ishmaelites. We do not need to hurt him. Then we will not have to kill him. We should remember that he is our brother. He is our own relative.’ Judah's brothers agreed with what he said. ²⁸ When the Midianite traders came near to Joseph's brothers, they pulled him out of the dry well. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 silver coins. The Ishmaelites took Joseph with them to Egypt.

²⁹ Later, Reuben returned to the dry well. He saw that Joseph was not there. He tore his clothes because he was very upset. ³⁰ Reuben went back to his brothers. He said to them, ‘The boy is not in the well! What can I do now?’^[b]

³¹ Then the brothers killed a goat. They took its blood and they put the blood all over Joseph's special coat. ³² They took the coat back to their father and they told him, ‘We found this coat. Look at it. Tell us if it is your son's coat.’ ³³ Jacob saw that it was Joseph's coat. He said, ‘It is my son's coat! A wild animal must have eaten him! The animal has torn Joseph's body into pieces.’

³⁴ Jacob was so upset that he tore his own clothes. He put on clothes made from sackcloth to show how sad he was. He wept for many days because his son had died.

³⁵ All Jacob's sons and daughters came to comfort him. But Jacob was very sad, so they could not make him happy. Jacob said, ‘I will be sad until the day that I die, because my son is dead.’ Jacob wept because Joseph was dead.

³⁶ While this was happening, the Midianites took Joseph into Egypt. They sold him to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officers. Potiphar had authority over all of Pharaoh's guards.

Judah's family^[c]

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.’^[d]

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.’^[e] 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?’^[f] 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’.^{[g] 30} Then his brother came out, with the red string on his arm. They gave him the name ‘Zerah’.

²¹ At that time, a man will let people kill his own brother. A father will let people kill his own child. Children will be against their parents. They will even ask people to kill their parents. ²² All people will hate you because you are my disciples. But God will save the person who remains strong until the end. ²³ If people in any town hurt you because of me, you should leave that town immediately. Go to another town. I tell you this: You will not have enough time to speak your message in all the towns of Israel. I, the Son of Man, will return before that can happen.

²⁴ A student is not more important than his teacher is. A servant is not more important than his master is. ²⁵ A student should be happy if he becomes like his teacher. A servant should be happy if he becomes like his master. People have called me, the master of the house, Beelzebul. You are like those people who live in my house. So do not be surprised when people call you even worse names than they call me.

²⁶ So do not be afraid of these people. They hide the things that they do. But there will be a time when other people will see those things. Everyone will know all their secrets. ²⁷ I tell you things secretly, like people do in the dark. But you must tell people these things clearly in the light of day. I have said things very quietly into your ears. But now you must shout those things loudly from the tops of the houses.^[a]

²⁸ Do not be afraid of those people who can kill only your body. These people cannot kill your soul. No, it is God that you should be afraid of. He can kill your body, and then he can also destroy your soul in hell. ²⁹ Think about this. People sell two birds for just one small coin. But God takes care of these little birds. Not one of them can fall to the ground unless God lets it happen. ³⁰ God even knows how many hairs there are on your head. ³¹ So do not be afraid of those people who are against you. You are more valuable to God than many little birds.

³² You should say clearly to other people, “I believe in Jesus.” If you do that, I will say to my Father in heaven, “This is someone who is my disciple.” ³³ But if you say to other people, “I do not believe in Jesus,” I will then say to my Father in heaven, “I do not know that person. He is not one of my disciples.”

³⁴ I will tell you why I have come into the world. I did not come so that everyone would agree with each other. No, I came to put people against one another, to fight against each other.^[b]

³⁷ Nobody should love his own father and mother more than he loves me. If he does, he cannot be my disciple. Nobody should love his own son or daughter more than he loves me. If he does, then he cannot be my disciple. ³⁸ If you really want to be one of my disciples, you must be ready to die for me. Live like a person who carries his own cross to go and die. ³⁹ Whoever wants to keep his life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me will have true life.’

Jesus teaches about God's gifts

⁴⁰ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone accepts you in his home, then he is also accepting me. And anyone who accepts me, also accepts my Father God, who sent me. ⁴¹ Somebody may accept a prophet into his home because the visitor is a prophet of God. God will bless that person like he blesses a prophet. Or he may accept a good man who obeys God, because the man is good. God will bless that person like he blesses the good man. ⁴² People may think that my disciples are unimportant. But God will bless anyone who gives even a drink of cold water to one of them. I tell you, that person will never lose God's help.’