Genesis 38–39

Judah and Tamar

38At that time, Judah^u left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam^v named Hirah.^{w 2}There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua.^x He married her and made love to her; ³she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er.^{y 4}She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.^{z 5}She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah.^a It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.^{b 7}But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight;^c so the Lord put him to death.^d

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”^{e 9}But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. ¹⁰What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.^f

¹¹Judah then said to his daughter-in-law^g Tamar,^h “Live as a widow in your father’s householdⁱ until my son Shelah^j grows up.”^k For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua,^l died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah,^m to the men who were shearing his sheep,ⁿ and his friend Hirah the Adullamite^o went with him.

¹³When Tamar^p was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,”^{q 14}she took off her widow’s clothes,^r covered herself with a veil^s to disguise herself, and then sat down^t at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah.^u For she saw that, though Shelah^v had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute,^w for she had covered her face. ¹⁶Not realizing^x that she was his daughter-in-law,^y he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”^z

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?”^a she asked.

¹⁷“I’ll send you a young goat^b from my flock,” he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge^c until you send it?” she asked.

¹⁸He said, “What pledge should I give you?”

“Your seal^d and its cord, and the staff^e in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.^{f 19}After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes^g again.

²⁰Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite^h in order to get his pledgeⁱ back from the woman, but he did not find her. ²¹He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute^j who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

²²So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’ ”

²³Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has,^k or we will become a laughingstock.^l After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”^m

²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”ⁿ

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I,^o since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.^p” And he did not sleep with her again.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.^{q 28}As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife^r took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist^s and said, “This one came out first.” ²⁹But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out,^t and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.^{au 30}Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist,^v came out. And he was named Zerah.^bw

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39Now Joseph^x had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard,^y bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.^z

²The Lord was with Joseph^a so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³When his master saw that the Lord was with him^b and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,^{c 4}Joseph found favor in his eyes^d and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household,^e and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.^{f 5}From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household^g of the Egyptian because of Joseph.^h The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.^{i 6}So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care;^j with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,^{k 7}and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”^l

⁸But he refused.^m “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.^{n 9}No one is greater in this house than I am.^o My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”^{p 10}And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused^q to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹One day he went into the house to attend to his duties,^r and none of the household servants^s was inside. ¹²She caught him by his cloak^t and said, “Come to bed with me!”^u But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.^v

¹³When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴she called her household servants.^w “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew^x has been brought to us to make sport of us!^y He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.^{z 15}When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”^a

¹⁶She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she told him this story:^b “That Hebrew^c slave^d you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.^{e 20}Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison,^f the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹the Lord was with him;^g he showed him kindness^h and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.^{i 22}So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.^{j 23}The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s^k care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.^l