Genesis 36–38

Esau’s Family

36This is the family history of Esau (also called Edom). ²Esau married women from the land of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite; ³and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau. Basemath gave him Reuel, ⁵and Oholibamah gave him Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau’s sons who were born in the land of Canaan.

⁶Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the people who lived with him, his herds and other animals, and all the belongings he had gotten in Canaan, and he went to a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷Esau and Jacob’s belongings were becoming too many for them to live in the same land. The land where they had lived could not support both of them, because they had too many herds. ⁸So Esau lived in the mountains of Edom. (Esau is also named Edom.)

⁹This is the family history of Esau. He is the ancestor of the Edomites, who live in the mountains of Edom.

¹⁰Esau’s sons were Eliphaz, son of Adah and Esau, and Reuel, son of Basemath and Esau.

¹¹Eliphaz had five sons: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹²Eliphaz also had a slave woman named Timna, and Timna and Eliphaz gave birth to Amalek. These were Esau’s grandsons by his wife Adah.

¹³Reuel had four sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were Esau’s grandsons by his wife Basemath.

¹⁴Esau’s third wife was Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. (Anah was the son of Zibeon.) Esau and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These were the leaders that came from Esau: Esau’s first son was Eliphaz. From him came these leaders: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were the leaders that came from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the grandsons of Adah.

¹⁷Esau’s son Reuel was the father of these leaders: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the leaders that came from Reuel in the land of Edom. They were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸Esau’s wife Oholibamah gave birth to these leaders: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the leaders that came from Esau’s wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. ¹⁹These were the sons of Esau (also called Edom), and these were their leaders.

²⁰These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These sons of Seir were the leaders of the Horites in Edom.

²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam. (Timna was Lotan’s sister.)

²³The sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah. Anah is the man who found the hot springs in the desert while he was caring for his father’s donkeys.

²⁵The children of Anah were Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

²⁶The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

²⁷The sons of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸The sons of Dishan were Uz and Aran.

²⁹These were the names of the Horite leaders: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

These men were the leaders of the Horite families who lived in the land of Edom.

³¹These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before the Israelites ever had a king:

³²Bela son of Beor was the king of Edom. He came from the city of Dinhabah.

³³When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah became king. Jobab was from Bozrah.

³⁴When Jobab died, Husham became king. He was from the land of the Temanites.

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who had defeated Midian in the country of Moab, became king. Hadad was from the city of Avith.

³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah became king. He was from Masrekah.

³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul became king. He was from Rehoboth on the Euphrates River.

³⁸When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Acbor became king.

³⁹When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad became king. He was from the city of Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, who was the daughter of Me-Zahab.

⁴⁰These Edomite leaders, listed by their families and regions, came from Esau. Their names were Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. They were the leaders of Edom. (Esau was the father of the Edomites.) The area where each of these families lived was named after that family.

Joseph the Dreamer

37Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived. ²This is the family history of Jacob:

Joseph was a young man, seventeen years old. He and his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, cared for the flocks. Joseph gave his father bad reports about his brothers. ³Since Joseph was born when his father Israel ⁿ was old, Israel loved him more than his other sons. He made Joseph a special robe with long sleeves. ⁴When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated their brother and could not speak to him politely.

⁵One time Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more. ⁶Joseph said, “Listen to the dream I had. ⁷We were in the field tying bundles of wheat together. My bundle stood up, and your bundles of wheat gathered around it and bowed down to it.”

⁸His brothers said, “Do you really think you will be king over us? Do you truly think you will rule over us?” His brothers hated him even more because of his dreams and what he had said.

⁹Then Joseph had another dream, and he told his brothers about it also. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. I saw the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.”

¹⁰Joseph also told his father about this dream, but his father scolded him, saying, “What kind of dream is this? Do you really believe that your mother, your brothers, and I will bow down to you?” ¹¹Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, but his father thought about what all these things could mean.

¹²One day Joseph’s brothers went to Shechem to graze their father’s flocks. ¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Go to Shechem where your brothers are grazing the flocks.”

Joseph answered, “I will go.”

¹⁴His father said, “Go and see if your brothers and the flocks are all right. Then come back and tell me.” So Joseph’s father sent him from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph came to Shechem, ¹⁵a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶Joseph answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing the flocks?”

¹⁷The man said, “They have already gone. I heard them say they were going to Dothan.” So Joseph went to look for his brothers and found them in Dothan.

Joseph Sold into Slavery

¹⁸Joseph’s brothers saw him coming from far away. Before he reached them, they made a plan to kill him. ¹⁹They said to each other, “Here comes that dreamer. ²⁰Let’s kill him and throw his body into one of the wells. We can tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

²¹But Reuben heard their plan and saved Joseph, saying, “Let’s not kill him. ²²Don’t spill any blood. Throw him into this well here in the desert, but don’t hurt him!” Reuben planned to save Joseph later and send him back to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they pulled off his robe with long sleeves ²⁴and threw him into the well. It was empty, and there was no water in it.

²⁵While Joseph was in the well, the brothers sat down to eat. When they looked up, they saw a group of Ishmaelites traveling from Gilead to Egypt. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh.

²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide his death? ²⁷Let’s sell him to these Ishmaelites. Then we will not be guilty of killing our own brother. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” And the other brothers agreed. ²⁸So when the Midianite traders came by, the brothers took Joseph out of the well and sold him to the Ishmaelites for eight ounces of silver. And the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben came back to the well and Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes to show he was upset. ³⁰Then he went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there! What shall I do?” ³¹The brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. ³²Then they brought the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, “We found this robe. Look it over carefully and see if it is your son’s robe.”

³³Jacob looked it over and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some savage animal has eaten him. My son Joseph has been torn to pieces!” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes and put on rough cloth to show that he was upset, and he continued to be sad about his son for a long time. ³⁵All of his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he could not be comforted. He said, “I will be sad about my son until the day I die.” So Jacob cried for his son Joseph.

³⁶Meanwhile the Midianites who had bought Joseph had taken him to Egypt. There they sold him to Potiphar, an officer to the king of Egypt and captain of the palace guard.

Judah and Tamar

38About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah in the town of Adullam. ²There Judah met a Canaanite girl, the daughter of a man named Shua, and married her. Judah had sexual relations with her, ³and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom Judah named Er. ⁴Later she gave birth to another son and named him Onan. ⁵Still later she had another son and named him Shelah. She was at Kezib when this third son was born.

⁶Judah chose a girl named Tamar to be the wife of his first son Er. ⁷But Er, Judah’s oldest son, did what the Lord said was evil, so the Lord killed him. ⁸Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and have sexual relations with your dead brother’s wife. ⁿ It is your duty to provide children for your brother in this way.”

⁹But Onan knew that the children would not belong to him, so when he was supposed to have sexual relations with Tamar he did not complete the sex act. This made it impossible for Tamar to become…