Genesis 36–38

The Family Line of Esau

36Here is the story of Esau. Esau was also called Edom.

²Esau got his wives from among the women of Canaan. He married Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. He also married Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. ³And he married Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael and the sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah had Eliphaz by Esau. Basemath had Reuel. ⁵Oholibamah had Jeush, Jalam and Korah. All of them were Esau’s sons. They were born in Canaan.

⁶Esau moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob. He took with him his wives, his sons and daughters, and all of the people who lived with him. He also took his livestock and all of his other animals. He took everything he had gotten in Canaan.

⁷Jacob and Esau owned so much that they couldn’t remain together. There wasn’t enough land for both of them. They had too much livestock. ⁸So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. Esau was also called Edom.

⁹Here is the story of Esau. He’s the father of the people of Edom. They live in the hill country of Seir.

¹⁰Here are the names of Esau’s sons.

They are Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were

Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz.

¹²Esau’s son Eliphaz also had a concubine named Timna. She had Amalek by Eliphaz. They were grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹³The sons of Reuel were

Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. They were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁴Esau’s wife Oholibamah was the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon. She had Jeush, Jalam and Korah by Esau.

¹⁵Here are the chiefs who were among Esau’s sons.

Eliphaz was Esau’s oldest son. The sons of Eliphaz were

Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶Korah, Gatam and Amalek. They were the chiefs in Edom who were sons of Eliphaz. They were Adah’s grandsons.

¹⁷The sons of Esau’s son Reuel were

Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. They were the chiefs in Edom who were sons of Reuel. They were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah were

Chiefs Jeush, Jalam and Korah. They were the chiefs who were sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah. She was Anah’s daughter.

¹⁹That was the family line of Esau. And those were the chiefs. Esau was also called Edom.

²⁰Seir the Horite had sons living in the same area.

They were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. The sons of Seir in Edom were Horite chiefs.

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. He was the Anah who discovered the hot springs of water in the desert. He found them while he was taking care of the donkeys that belonged to his father Zibeon.

²⁵The children of Anah were

Dishon and Oholibamah. Oholibamah was the 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.

²⁹The Horite chiefs were

Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. They were the Horite chiefs in the land of Seir. They are listed tribe by tribe.

The Rulers of Edom

³¹Before Israel had a king, there were kings who ruled in Edom.

³²Bela became the king of Edom. Bela was the son of Beor. Bela’s city was called Dinhabah.

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

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

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad became the next king. Hadad was the son of Bedad. Hadad had won the battle over Midian in the country of Moab. Hadad’s city was called Avith.

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

³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul became the next king. Shaul was from Rehoboth on the river.

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

³⁹When Baal-Hanan died, Hadad became the next king. Hadad’s city was called Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel. She was the daughter of Matred. Matred was the daughter of Me-Zahab.

⁴⁰Here are the chiefs who were in the family line of Esau. They are listed by name as chiefs in charge of their tribes and territories. They are

Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³Magdiel and Iram. They were the chiefs of Edom. They ruled over their settlements in the land where they lived.

That’s the end of the story of Esau. He was the father of the people of Edom.

Joseph Has Two Dreams

37Jacob lived in the land of Canaan. It’s the land where his father had stayed.

²Here is the story of Jacob.

Joseph was a young man. He was 17 years old. He was taking care of the flocks with some of his brothers. They were the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought their father a bad report about them.

³Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. Joseph had been born to him when he was old. Israel made him a beautiful robe.

⁴Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. So they hated Joseph. They couldn’t even speak one kind word to him.

⁵Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Listen to the dream I had. ⁷We were tying up bundles of grain out in the field. Suddenly my bundle rose and stood up straight. Your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it.”

⁸His brothers said to him, “Do you plan to be king over us? Will you really rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream. They didn’t like what he had said.

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

¹⁰He told his father as well as his brothers. Then his father objected. He said, “What about this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers really do that? Will we really come and bow down to the ground in front of you?”

¹¹His brothers were jealous of him. But his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers

¹²Joseph’s brothers had gone to take care of their father’s flocks near Shechem. ¹³Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are taking care of the flocks near Shechem. Come. I’m going to send you to them.”

“All right,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴So Israel said to him, “Go to your brothers. See how they are doing. Also see how the flocks are doing. Then come back and tell me.” So he sent him away from the Hebron Valley.

Joseph arrived at Shechem. ¹⁵A man found him wandering around in the fields. He asked Joseph, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are taking care of their flocks?”

¹⁷“They’ve moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”

So Joseph went to look for his brothers. He found them near Dothan. ¹⁸But they saw him a long way off. Before he reached them, they made plans to kill him.

¹⁹“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. ²⁰“Come. Let’s kill him. Let’s throw him into one of these empty wells. Let’s say that a wild animal ate him up. Then we’ll see whether his dreams will come true.”

²¹Reuben heard them. He tried to save Joseph from them. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. ²²“Let’s not spill any blood. Throw him into this empty well here in the desert. But don’t harm him yourselves.”

Reuben said that to save Joseph from them. He was hoping he could take him back to his father.

²³When Joseph came to his brothers, he was wearing his beautiful robe. They took it away from him. ²⁴And they threw him into the well. The well was empty. There wasn’t any water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat their meal. As they did, they saw some Ishmaelite traders coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, lotion and myrrh. They were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and try to cover up what we’ve done? ²⁷Come. Let’s sell him to these traders. Let’s not harm him ourselves. After all, he’s our brother. He’s our own flesh and blood.” Judah’s brothers agreed with him.

²⁸The traders from Midian came by. Joseph’s brothers pulled him up out of the well. They sold him to the Ishmaelite traders for eight ounces of silver. Then the traders took him to Egypt.

²⁹Later, Reuben came back to the empty well. He saw that Joseph wasn’t there. He was so upset that he tore his clothes. ³⁰He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Now what should I do?”

³¹Then they got Joseph’s beautiful robe. They killed a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³²They took it back to their father. They said, “We found this. Take a look at it. See if it’s your son’s robe.”

³³Jacob recognized it. He said, “It’s my son’s robe! A wild animal has eaten him up. Joseph must have been torn to pieces.”

³⁴Jacob tore his clothes. He put on black clothes. Then he sobbed over his son for many days.

³⁵All of Jacob’s other sons and daughters came to comfort him. But they weren’t able to. He said, “I’ll be full of sorrow when I go down into the grave to be with my son.” So Joseph’s father sobbed over him.

³⁶But the traders from Midian sold Joseph to Potiphar in Egypt. Potiphar was one of Pharaoh’s officials. He was the captain of the palace guard.

Judah and Tamar

38At that time, Judah left his brothers. He went down to stay with a man named Hirah. Hirah was from the town of Adullam.

²There Judah met the daughter of a man from Canaan. His name was Shua. Judah married her and made love to her. ³She became pregnant. She had a son. They named him Er. ⁴She became pregnant again and had another son. She named him Onan. ⁵She had still another son. She named him Shelah. He was born at Kezib.

⁶Judah got a wife for his oldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. ⁷But Judah’s oldest son Er was evil in the Lord’s eyes. So the Lord put him to death.

⁸…