Genesis 36–38

The Descendants of Esau

36Now these are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom). ²Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite, ³and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth. ⁴And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bore Reuel; ⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. ⁶And Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the persons of his household, and his sheep and goats, and all his cattle, and all the goods that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷For their possessions were too many to live together,^a so that the land of their sojourning was not able to support them on account of their livestock. ⁸So Esau dwelled in the hill country of Seir (Esau, that is Edom).

⁹Now these are the descendants of Esau, the father of Edom, in the hill country of Seir. ¹⁰These are the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz, the son of Adah, the wife of Esau; Reuel, the son of Basemath, the wife of Esau. ¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹²(Now Timnah was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau. And she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, the wife of Esau. ¹³Now these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau. ¹⁴Now these are the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon, the wife of Esau: She bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷Now these are the sons of Reuel, the son of Esau: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau. ¹⁸Now these are the sons of Oholibamah, the wife of Esau: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the chiefs born of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the wife of Esau. ¹⁹These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs (that is, Edom). ²⁰These are the sons of Seir, the Horite, 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. ²²And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. And Lotan’s sister was Timna. ²³Now these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. ²⁴Now these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is Anah who found the hot springs in the desert while he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. ²⁵Now these are the sons of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ²⁶Now these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran. ²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. ²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

The Kings of Edom

³¹Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites.^{b 32}Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom. And the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³And Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zerah from Bozrah, reigned in his place. ³⁴And Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. ³⁵And Husham died, and Hadad, son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field^c of Moab reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶And Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place. ³⁷And Samlah died, and Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates^d reigned in his place. ³⁸And Shaul died, and Baal-Hanan, the son of Acbor, reigned in his place. ³⁹And Baal-Hanan the son of Acbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Pau, and the name of his wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. ⁴⁰Now these are the names of the chiefs of Esau according to their families, according to their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom) according to their settlements in the land of their possession.

The Dreams of Joseph

37And Jacob settled in the land of the sojourning of his father, in the land of Canaan. ²These are the generations^a of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years old,^b was shepherding the flock with his brothers. Now he was a helper with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was a son of his old age. And he made a robe with long sleeves^c for him. ⁴When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and were not able to speak peaceably to him.

⁵And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers. And they hated him even more.^{d 6}And he said to them, “Listen now to this dream that I dreamed. ⁷Now behold, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field and, behold, my sheaf stood up and it remained standing. Then behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸Then his brothers said to him, “Will you really reign over us? Or will you truly rule over us?” And they hated him even more^e on account of his dream and because of his words. ⁹Then he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream again, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰And he told it to his father and to his brothers. And his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the ground to you?” ¹¹And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold Into Slavery by his Brothers

¹²Now his brothers went to pasture the flock of their father in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing in Shechem? Come, let me send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ¹⁴Then he said to him, “Go now, see if it goes well for your brothers and for the flock,^f then return word to me.” And he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem. ¹⁵And a man found him, and behold, he^g was wandering about in a field. And the man asked him, “What do you seek?” ¹⁶And he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing.” ¹⁷And the man said, “They have moved on from here, for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” Then Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. ¹⁸And they saw him from a distance. And before he drew near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹And each said to his brothers, “Look, this master of dreams is coming. ²⁰Now then, come, let us kill him and throw him in one of the pits. Then we will say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what his dreams become.” ²¹And Reuben heard it and delivered him from their hand and said, “We must not take his life.” ²²And Reuben said to them, “You must not shed blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the desert, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that he might rescue him from their hand to return him to his father. ²³And it happened that as Joseph came to his brothers they stripped Joseph of his robe, the robe with long sleeves,^h that was upon him. ²⁴And 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 some food. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead. And their camels were carrying aromatic gum and balm and spices on the wayⁱ to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but our hand shall not be against him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. ²⁸Then Midianite traders passed by. And they^j drew Joseph up and brought him up from the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph to Egypt. ²⁹Then Reuben returned to the pit and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. And he tore his clothes. ³⁰And he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone!^k Now I, what can I do?”^{l 31}Then they took the robe of Joseph and slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. ³²Then they sent the robe with long sleeves^m and they brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it. Is it the robe of your son or not?” ³³And he recognized it and said, “The robe of my son! A wild animal has devoured him! Joseph is surely torn to pieces!” ³⁴And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵And all his sons and all his daughters tried to console him, but he refused to be consoled. And he said, “No, I shall go down to my son, to Sheol, mourning.” And his father wept for him. ³⁶And the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh, a commander of the guard.

Judah and Tamar

38And it happened that at that time Judah went down from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. ²And Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite there whose name was Shua. And he took her and went in to her. ³And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. ⁴And she conceived again and bore a son, and he called his name Onan. ⁵And…