Genesis 38 – 39

Judah and Tamar

Genesis 38

¹ About that time Judah went down from his brothers and visited a man from Adullam named Hirah. ² There Judah saw a daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He took her as a wife and went to her. ³ She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er. ⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Onan. ⁵ She gave birth to yet another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to Shelah.

⁶ Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn. Her name was Tamar. ⁷ It turned out that Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him.

⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Go to your brother’s wife. Perform your duty for her as the brother of her deceased husband and provide offspring ^[1] for your brother.” ⁹ Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he went to his brother’s wife, he wasted his semen on the ground, so that he would not provide offspring for his brother. ¹⁰ But the thing that he did was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him also.

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah is grown up.” Actually he had said to himself, “I do not want him to die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹² After some time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ Tamar was told, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ She took off the garments that identified her as a widow, covered herself with her veil, disguised herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not going to be given to him as a wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He turned to her by the roadside and said, “Please, let me come to you,” because he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me, so that you may come to me?”

¹⁷ He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.”

She said, “Will you give me something as a security deposit until you send the goat?”

¹⁸ He said, “What should I give you as a deposit?”

She said, “Your stamp seal on its cord and your staff that is in your hand.”

He gave them to her and went to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left. Later she took off her veil and put her widow’s garments back on.

²⁰ Judah sent the young goat with his friend, the Adullamite, to get back the deposit from the woman’s possession, but he could not find her. ²¹ So he asked the men from that place, “Where is the sacred prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?”

They said, “There hasn’t been any sacred prostitute here.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and the men of the place said, ‘There hasn’t been any sacred prostitute here.’”

²³ Judah said, “Let her keep it, so that we are not disgraced. Look, I did send this young goat, but you were unable to find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has prostituted herself, and even worse, she is pregnant by prostitution.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and burn her.”

²⁵ When she was brought, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” She also said, “Please help me identify whose these are—this stamp seal on its cord and the staff.”

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah, my son.” But he was not intimate with her again.

²⁷ When the time came for her to go into labor, it turned out that there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ When she was in labor, one of the twins put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But then after he had pulled back his hand, his brother came out first, so she said, “What a breakthrough you made for yourself!” That is why he was named Perez. ^{[2] 30} Afterward his brother who had the scarlet thread on his hand came out, so he was named Zerah. ^[3]

Joseph in Egypt

Genesis 39

¹ When Joseph was brought down to Egypt, Potiphar the Egyptian, who was an officer ^[4] of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down to Egypt. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he became successful. He served in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made everything that he touched a success. ⁴ Joseph found favor in his sight. Joseph served him, and he made Joseph manager of his household. He put Joseph in charge of everything.

⁵ From the time that Potiphar made him manager of his household, in charge of everything that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake, and the blessing of the Lord rested on everything that he had, both in the house and in the fields. ⁶ So he left Joseph in charge of everything that he had. He did not concern himself with anything except the food that he ate.

Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷ Sometime after all this, his master’s wife had her eye on Joseph, and she said, “Come, lie down with me.”

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not concern himself with anything that has been entrusted to me in the house. He has put me in charge of everything that he has. ⁹ He has no one in this house greater than I am, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁰ She kept speaking to Joseph day after day, but he would not listen to her. He would not lie down beside her or even be with her. ¹¹ But one day when he went into the house to do his work, none of the men of the household were there inside the house. ¹² She caught him by his garment and said, “Come, lie down with me!” He left behind his garment in her hand and ran outside.

¹³ When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “Look, my husband has brought a Hebrew man in to put us to shame. He came in to lie down with me, but I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁶ She kept his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ This is what she told him: “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came to me to put me to shame and said to me, ‘Let me lie down with you.’ ^{[5] 18} And look, when I screamed and cried out, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became very angry. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined, so Joseph was kept in prison there.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph. He showed mercy to him and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison. ²² The warden of the prison made Joseph responsible for all the prisoners who were in the prison. Joseph was responsible for whatever they did there. ²³ The warden of the prison did not pay attention to anything that was under his authority, because the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord made everything that he did succeed.