Genesis 37-38

Good News Translation

Joseph and His Brothers

37 Jacob continued to live in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived, ² and this is the story of Jacob's family.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, took care of the sheep and goats with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's concubines. He brought bad reports to his father about what his brothers were doing.

³ Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he had been born to him when he was old. He made a long robe with full sleeves^[a] for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated their brother so much that they would not speak to him in a friendly manner.

⁵ One time Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more. ⁶ He said, “Listen to the dream I had. ⁷ We were all in the field tying up sheaves of wheat, when my sheaf got up and stood up straight. Yours formed a circle around mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸ “Do you think you are going to be a king and rule over us?” his brothers asked. So they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of what he said about them.

⁹ Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers, “I had another dream, in which I saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.”

¹⁰ He also told the dream to his father, and his father scolded him: “What kind of a dream is that? Do you think that your mother, your brothers, and I are going to come and bow down to you?” ^11 (A)Joseph's brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept thinking about the whole matter.

Joseph Is Sold and Taken to Egypt

¹² One day when Joseph's brothers had gone to Shechem to take care of their father's flock, ¹³ Jacob said to Joseph, “I want you to go to Shechem, where your brothers are taking care of the flock.”

Joseph answered, “I am ready.”

¹⁴ His father told him, “Go and see if your brothers are safe and if the flock is all right; then come back and tell me.” So his father sent him on his way from Hebron Valley.

Joseph arrived at Shechem ¹⁵ and was wandering around in the country when a man saw him and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ “I am looking for my brothers, who are taking care of their flock,” he answered. “Can you tell me where they are?”

¹⁷ The man said, “They have already left. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan.” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸ They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted against him and decided to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer. ²⁰ Come on now, let's kill him and throw his body into one of the dry wells. We can say that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.”

²¹ Reuben heard them and tried to save Joseph. “Let's not kill him,” he said. ²² “Just throw him into this well in the wilderness, but don't hurt him.” He said this, planning to save him from them and send him back to his father. ²³ When Joseph came up to his brothers, they ripped off his long robe with full sleeves.^{[b] 24} Then they took him and threw him into the well, which was dry.

²⁵ While they were eating, they suddenly saw a group of Ishmaelites traveling from Gilead to Egypt. Their camels were loaded with spices and resins. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother and covering up the murder? ²⁷ Let's sell him to these Ishmaelites. Then we won't have to hurt him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed, ^28 (B)and when some Midianite traders came by, the brothers^[c] pulled Joseph out of the well and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben came back to the well and found that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes in sorrow. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there! What am I going to do?”

³¹ Then they killed a goat and dipped Joseph's robe in its blood. ³² They took the robe to their father and said, “We found this. Does it belong to your son?”

³³ He recognized it and said, “Yes, it is his! Some wild animal has killed him. My son Joseph has been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ Jacob tore his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. He mourned for his son a long time. ³⁵ All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “I will go down to the world of the dead still mourning for my son.” So he continued to mourn for his son Joseph.

³⁶ Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites had sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of the king's officers, who was the captain of the palace guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 About that time Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah, who was from the town of Adullam. ² There Judah met a young Canaanite woman whose father was named Shua. He married her, ³ and she bore him a son, whom he named Er. ⁴ She became pregnant again and bore another son and named him Onan. ⁵ Again she had a son and named him Shelah. Judah was at Achzib when the boy was born.

⁶ For his first son Er, Judah got a wife whose name was Tamar. ⁷ Er's conduct was evil, and it displeased the Lord, so the Lord killed him. ⁸ Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, “Go and sleep with your brother's widow. Fulfill your obligation to her as her husband's brother, so that your brother may have descendants.” ⁹ But Onan knew that the children would not belong to him, so when he had intercourse with his brother's widow, he let the semen spill on the ground, so that there would be no children for his brother. ¹⁰ What he did displeased the Lord, and the Lord killed him also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up.” He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.

¹² After some time Judah's wife died. When he had finished the time of mourning, he and his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. ¹³ Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. ¹⁴ So she changed from the widow's clothes she had been wearing, covered her face with a veil, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, a town on the road to Timnah. As she well knew, Judah's youngest son Shelah was now grown up, and yet she had not been given to him in marriage.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had her face covered. ¹⁶ He went over to her at the side of the road and said, “All right, how much do you charge?” (He did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.)

She said, “What will you give me?”

¹⁷ He answered, “I will send you a young goat from my flock.”

She said, “All right, if you will give me something to keep as a pledge until you send the goat.”

¹⁸ “What shall I give you as a pledge?” he asked.

She answered, “Your seal with its cord and the walking stick you are carrying.” He gave them to her. Then they had intercourse, and she became pregnant. ¹⁹ Tamar went home, took off her veil, and put her widow's clothes back on.

²⁰ Judah sent his friend Hirah to take the goat and get back from the woman the articles he had pledged, but Hirah could not find her. ²¹ He asked some men at Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”

“There has never been a prostitute here,” they answered.

²² He returned to Judah and said, “I couldn't find her. The men of the place said that there had never been a prostitute there.”

²³ Judah said, “Let her keep the things. We don't want people to laugh at us. I did try to pay her, but you couldn't find her.”

²⁴ About three months later someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a whore, and now she is pregnant.”

Judah ordered, “Take her out and burn her to death.”

²⁵ As she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man who owns these things. Look at them and see whose they are—this seal with its cord and this walking stick.”

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is in the right. I have failed in my obligation to her—I should have given her to my son Shelah in marriage.” And Judah never had intercourse with her again.

²⁷ When the time came for her to give birth, it was discovered that she was going to have twins. ²⁸ While she was in labor, one of them put out an arm; the midwife caught it, tied a red thread around it, and said, “This one was born first.” ²⁹ But he pulled his arm back, and his brother was born first. Then the midwife said, “So this is how you break your way out!” So he was named Perez.^{[d] 30} Then his brother was born with the red thread on his arm, and he was named Zerah.^[e]