Genesis 38–39

JUDAH AND TAMAR

38At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite^o named Hirah. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her. ³She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.^{p 4}She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan. ⁵She gave birth to another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that^BC she gave birth to him.

⁶Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord put him to death.^{a 8}Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law^b and produce offspring for your brother.”^{c 9}But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. ¹⁰What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so he put him to death also.

¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.”^d For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time^D Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah^e to his sheepshearers. ¹³Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face,^f covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

¹⁶He went over to her and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.^g

She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with me?”

¹⁷“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied.

But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”

¹⁸“What should I give you?” he asked.

She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

²⁰When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her. ²¹He asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There has been no cult prostitute here,” they answered.

²²So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and besides, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’ ”

²³Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

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

“Bring her out,” Judah said, “and let her be burned to death!”^h

²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?”

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right^A than I,ⁱ since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, “This one came out first.” ²⁹But then he pulled his hand back, out came his brother, and she said, “What a breakout you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez.^{Bj 30}Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.^C

JOSEPH IN POTIPHAR’S HOUSE

39Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites^k who had brought him there. ²The Lord was with Joseph,^l and he became a successful man, serving^D in the household of his Egyptian master. ³When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,^{m 4}Joseph found favorⁿ with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.^{E 5}From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph.^a The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields. ⁶He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority;^F he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.^{b 7}After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

⁸But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.^{A 9}No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”^c

¹⁰Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.^{B 11}Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.^{C 12}She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. ¹³When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside, ¹⁴she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could. ¹⁵When he heard me screaming for help,^D he left his garment beside me and ran outside.”

¹⁶She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me, ¹⁸but when I screamed for help,^E he left his garment beside me and ran outside.”

¹⁹When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious ²⁰and had him thrown into prison,^d where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

JOSEPH IN PRISON

²¹But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.^e He granted him favor with the prison warden.^{f 22}The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority,^F and he was responsible for everything that was done there. ²³The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority,^G because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.^g