Study Desk

Then they sat down to eat a meal.^(l) They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.^(m) Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.⁽ⁿ⁾

Then Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh," and they agreed.

When Midianite^(o) traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.^(p)

When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.^(q)

He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone! What am I going to do?"^[d]

So they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it. Is it your son's robe or not?"

His father recognized it. "It is my son's robe," he said. "A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!"^(r)

Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." And his father wept for him.

Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.

At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite^(a) named Hirah.

There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.

She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.^(b)

She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan.

She gave birth to another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that^[a][b] she gave birth to him.

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the Lord 's sight, and the Lord put him to death.^(c)

Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law^(d) and produce offspring for your brother."^(e)

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

What he did was evil in the Lord 's sight, so He put him to death also.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up."^(f) For he thought, "He might die too, like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

After a long time^[c] Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah^(g) to the sheepshearers.

Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

So she took off her widow's clothes, veiled her face,^(h) covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim,^[d] which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

He went over to her and said, "Come, let me sleep with you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.⁽ⁱ⁾ She said, "What will you give me for sleeping with me?"

"I will send you a young goat from my flock," he replied. But she said, "Only if you leave something with me until you send it."

"What should I give you?" he asked. She answered, "Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand." So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she got pregnant by him.

She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow's clothes back on.

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

He asked the men of the place, "Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?" "There has been no cult prostitute here," they answered.

So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, "I couldn't find her, and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.'"

Judah replied, "Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn't find her."

About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant." "Bring her out!" Judah said. "Let her be burned to death!"^(j)

As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong." And she added, "Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?"

Judah recognized them and said, "She is more in the right^[e] than I,^(k) since I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not know her intimately again.

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, "This one came out first."

But then he pulled his hand back, and his brother came out. Then she said, "You have broken out first!" So he was named Perez.^[f](l)

Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.^[g]

Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites^(a) who had brought him there.

The Lord was with Joseph,^(b) and he became a successful man, serving^[a] in the household of his Egyptian master.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,^(c)

Joseph found favor in his master's sight^(d) and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.^[b]

From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph.^(e) The Lord 's blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.

He left all that he owned under Joseph's authority;^[c] he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.^(f)

After some time^[d] his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, "Sleep with me."

But he refused. "Look," he said to his master's wife, "with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.^[e]

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?"^(g)

Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused^[f] to go to bed with her.^[g]

Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.^[h]

She grabbed him by his garment and said, "Sleep with me!" But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,

she called the household servants. "Look," she said to them, "my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.

When he heard me screaming for help,^[i] he left his garment with me and ran outside."

She put Joseph's garment beside her until his master came home.

Then she told him the same story: "The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me,

but when I screamed for help,^[j] he left his garment with me and ran outside."

When his master heard the story his wife told him—"These are the things your slave did to me"—he was furious

and had him thrown into prison,^(h) where the king's prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.⁽ⁱ⁾ He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.^(j)

The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph's authority,^[k] and he was responsible for everything that was done there.

The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority,^[l] because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.^(k)

After this, the Egyptian king's cupbearer^(a) and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.

Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard^(b) in the prison where Joseph was confined.

The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he became their personal attendant. And they were in custody for some time.^[a]

The Egyptian king's cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught.

So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were in custody with him in his master's house, "Why do you look so sad today?"^(c)

"We had dreams," they said to him, "but there is no one to interpret them." Then Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams."^(d)