37 Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan. 2This, then, is the line of Jacob:
At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought bad reports of them to their father. 3Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him an ornamented tunic.a 4And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him.
5Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6He said to them, “Hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf.” 8His brothers answered, “Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to rule over us?” And they hated him even more for his talk about his dreams.
9He dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: And this time, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10And when he told it to his father and brothers, his father berated him. “What,” he said to him, “is this dream you have dreamed? Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow low to you to the ground? 11So his brothers were wrought up at him, and his father kept the matter in mind.
12One time, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem, 13Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing at Shechem. Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “I am ready.” 14And he said to him, “Go and see how your brothers are and how the flocks are faring, and bring me back word.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
When he reached Shechem, 15a man came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16He answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Could you tell me where they are pastur-ing?” 17The man said, “They have gone from here, for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothan.” So Joseph followed his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18They saw him from afar, and before he came close to them they conspired to kill him. 19They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer! 20Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we can say, ‘A savage beast devoured him.’ We shall see what comes of his dreams!” 21But when Reuben heard it, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let us not take his life.” 22And Reuben went on, “Shed no blood! Cast him into that pit out in the wilderness, but do not touch him yourselves”—intending to save him from them and restore him to his father. 23When Joseph came up to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the ornamented tunic that he was wearing, 24and took him and cast him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25Then they sat down to a meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels bearing gum, balm, and ladanum to be taken to Egypt. 26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? 27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let us not do away with him our-selves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. 28When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the pit. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought Joseph to Egypt.
29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he rent his clothes. 30Returning to his brothers, he said, “The boy is gone! Now, what am I to do?” 31Then they took Joseph’s tunic, slaugh-tered a kid, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32They had the ornamented tunic taken to their father, and they said, “We found this. Please examine it; is it your son’s tunic or not?” 33He recognized it, and said, “My son’s tunic! A savage beast devoured him! Joseph was torn by a beast!” 34Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and observed mourning for his son many days. 35All his sons and daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, saying. “No, I will go down mourning to my son in Sheol.” Thus his father bewailed him.
36The Midianites,b meanwhile, sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, a cour-tier of Pharaoh and his chief steward.
38 About that time Judah left his brothers and camped near a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. 2There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and cohab-ited with her. 3She conceived and bore a son, and he named him Er. 4She conceived again and bore a son, and named him Onan. 5Once again she bore a son, and named him Shelah; he was at Chezib when she bore him.
6Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. 7But Er, Judah’s first-born, was displeasing to the LORD, and the LORD took his life. 8Then Judah said to Onan, “Join with your brother’s wife and do your duty by her as a brother-in-law,a and provide offspring for your brother.” 9But Onan, knowing that the seed would not count as his, let it go to wasteb whenever he joined with his brother’s wife, so as not to provide offspring for his brother. 10What he did was displeasing to the LORD, and He took his life also. 11Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Stay as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”—for he thought, “He too might die like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
12A long time afterward, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When c-his period of mourning was over,-c Judah went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, together with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13And Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is coming up to Timnah for the sheepshearing.” 14So she took off her widow’s garb, covered her face with a veil, and, wrapping herself up, sat down at the entrance to Enaim,d which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, yet she had not been given to him as wife. 15When Judah saw her, he took her for a harlot; for she had covered her face. 16So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here, let me sleep with you”—for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. “What,” she asked, “will you pay for sleeping with me?” 17He replied, “I will send a kid from my flock.” But she said, “You must leave a pledge until you have sent it.” 18And he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your seal and cord, and the staff which you carry.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived by him. 19Then she went on her way. She took off her veil and again put on her widow’s garb.
20Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to redeem the pledge from the woman; but he could not find her. 21He inquired of the people of that town, “Where is the cult prostitute, the one at Enaim, by the road?” But they said, “There has been no prostitute here.” 22So he re-turned to Judah and said, “I could not find her; moreover, the towns-people said: There has been no prostitute here.” 23Judah said, “Let her keep them, lest we become a laughingstock. I did send her this kid, but you did not find her.”
24About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot; in fact, she is with child by harlotry.” “Bring her out,” said Judah, “and let her be burned.” 25As she was being brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, “I am with child by the man to whom these belong.” And she added, “Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?” 26Judah recognized them, and said, “She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he was not intimate with her again.
27When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb! 28While she was in labor, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife tied a crimson thread on that hand, to signify: This one came out first. 29But just then he drew back his hand, and out came his brother; and she said, “What a breache you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez. 30Afterward his brother came out, on whose hand was the crimson thread; he was named Zerah.f
39 When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain Egyptian, Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward, bought him from the
