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 pregnant and for Er to have descendants. ¹⁰The Lord was displeased by this wicked thing Onan had done, so the Lord killed Onan also. ¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go back to live in your father’s house, and don’t marry until my young son Shelah grows up.” Judah was afraid that Shelah also would die like his brothers. So Tamar returned to her father’s home.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah had gotten over his sorrow, he went to Timnah to his men who were cutting the wool from his sheep. His friend Hirah from Adullam went with him. ¹³Tamar learned that Judah, her father-in-law, was going to Timnah to cut the wool from his sheep. ¹⁴So she took off the clothes that showed she was a widow and covered her face with a veil to hide who she was. Then she sat down by the gate of Enaim on the road to Timnah. She did this because Judah’s younger son Shelah had grown up, but Judah had not made plans for her to marry him.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face with a veil. ¹⁶So Judah went to her and said, “Let me have sexual relations with you.” He did not know that she was Tamar, his daughter-in-law.

She asked, “What will you give me if I let you have sexual relations with me?”

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

She answered, “First give me something to keep as a deposit until you send the goat.”

¹⁸Judah asked, “What do you want me to give you as a deposit?”

Tamar answered, “Give me your seal and its cord, ⁿ and give me your walking stick.” So Judah gave these things to her. Then Judah and Tamar had sexual relations, and Tamar became pregnant. ¹⁹When Tamar went home, she took off the veil that covered her face and put on the clothes that showed she was a widow.

²⁰Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat to find the woman and get back his seal and the walking stick he had given her, but Hirah could not find her. ²¹He asked some of the people at the town of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”

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

²²So he went back to Judah and said, “I could not find the woman, and the people who lived there said, ‘There has never been a prostitute here.’ ”

²³Judah said, “Let her keep the things. I don’t want people to laugh at us. I sent her the goat as I promised, but you could not find her.”

²⁴About three months later someone told Judah, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, is guilty of acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”

Then Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned to death.”

²⁵When the people went to bring Tamar out, she sent a message to her father-in-law that said, “The man who owns these things has made me pregnant. Look at this seal and its cord and this walking stick, and tell me whose they are.”

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I. She did this because I did not give her to my son Shelah as I promised.” And Judah did not have sexual relations with her again.

²⁷When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her body. ²⁸While she was giving birth, one baby put his hand out. The nurse tied a red string on his hand and said, “This baby came out first.” ²⁹But he pulled his hand back in, so the other baby was born first. The nurse said, “So you are able to break out first,” and they named him Perez. ⁿ ³⁰After this, the baby with the red string on his hand was born, and they named him Zerah.

Joseph Is Sold to Potiphar

39Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar was an officer to the king of Egypt and the captain of the palace guard. He bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ²The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. He lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.

³Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord made Joseph successful in everything he did. ⁴So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph and allowed him to be his personal servant. He put Joseph in charge of the house, trusting him with everything he owned. ⁵When Joseph was put in charge of the house and everything Potiphar owned, the Lord blessed the people in Potiphar’s house because of Joseph. And the Lord…

Read in Logos

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Footnotes

nIsrael Also called Jacob.
nGo … wife It was a custom in Israel that if a man died without children, one of his brothers would marry the widow. If a child was born, it would be considered the dead man’s child.
nseal … cord A seal was used like a rubber stamp, and people ran a string through it to tie around the neck. They wrote a contract, folded it, put wax or clay on the contract, and pressed the seal onto it as a signature.
nPerez This name means “breaking out.”