Genesis 36–38

Esau’s Family

36These are the family records ^jof Esau (that is, Edom ^k). ²Esau took his wives from the Canaanite women: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, ^lOholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter ^mof Zibeon the Hivite, ³and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁿ⁴Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, ⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau’s sons, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Esau took his wives, sons, daughters, and all the people of his household, as well as his herds, all his livestock, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan; he went to a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷For their possessions were too many for them to live together, ^oand because of their herds, the land where they stayed could not support them. ^p8So Esau (that is, Edom) lived in the mountains of Seir. ^q

⁹These are the family records of Esau, father of the Edomites in the mountains of Seir.

¹⁰These are the names of Esau’s sons: ^r

Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah,

and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were

Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

¹²Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz,

bore Amalek to Eliphaz.

These were the sons of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹³These are Reuel’s sons:

Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁴These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah

daughter of Anah and granddaughter ^sof Zibeon:

She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom.

¹⁵These are the chiefs of Esau’s sons:

the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn:

Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

¹⁶Korah, ^tGatam, and Amalek.

These are the chiefs of Eliphaz

in the land of Edom.

These are the sons of Adah.

¹⁷These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son:

Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

These are the chiefs of Reuel

in the land of Edom.

These are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah:

Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

These are the chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah

daughter of Anah.

¹⁹These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom),

and these are their chiefs.

Seir’s Family

²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, ^u

the inhabitants of the land:

Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

These are the chiefs of the Horites,

the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman.

Timna was Lotan’s sister.

²³These are Shobal’s sons:

Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴These are Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah.

This was the Anah who found the hot springs ^vin the wilderness

while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.

²⁵These are the children of Anah:

Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

²⁶These are Dishon’s sons:

Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷These are Ezer’s sons:

Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸These are Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites:

Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

³⁰Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

These are the chiefs of the Horites,

according to their divisions, in the land of Seir.

Rulers of Edom

³¹These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom ^w

before any king ruled over the Israelites:

³²Bela son of Beor ruled in Edom;

the name of his city was Dinhabah.

³³When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became king in his place.

³⁴When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became king in his place.

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad became king in his place.

He defeated Midian in the field of Moab;

the name of his city was Avith.

³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah became king in his place.

³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates River became king in his place.

³⁸When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor became king in his place.

³⁹When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar ^xbecame king in his place.

His city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel

daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

⁴⁰These are the names of Esau’s chiefs,

according to their families and their localities,

by their names:

Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

⁴³Magdiel, and Iram.

These are Edom’s chiefs,

according to their settlements in the land they possessed.

Esau ^ywas father of the Edomites.

Joseph’s Dreams

37Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. ^z2These are the family records of Jacob.

At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, ^aand he brought a bad report about them to their father. ^b

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, ^cand he made a robe of many colors ^dfor him. ⁴When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

⁵Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” ^e

⁸“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Are your mother and brothers and I going to come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹His brothers were jealous of him, ^fbut his father kept the matter in mind. ^g

Joseph Sold into Slavery

¹²His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. ¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”

“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, ^hand he went to Shechem.

¹⁵A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” ⁱSo Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. ^j19They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer! ^k20Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. ^lHe said, “Let’s not take his life.” ^m22Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

²³When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. ²⁴Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat a meal. ⁿThey looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. ^oTheir camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt. ^p

²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed. ²⁸When Midianite ^qtraders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. ^r

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. ^s30He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?” ^t31So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. ³²They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”

³³His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!” ^u34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.

Judah and Tamar

38At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite ^vnamed 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. ^w4She 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 ^xyshe 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. ^z8Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law ^aand produce offspring for your brother.” ^b9But 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.” ^cFor he thought,…