Genesis 37-39

New King James Version

Joseph Dreams of Greatness

37 Now Jacob dwelt in the land ^(A)where his father was a ^[a]stranger, in the land of Canaan. ² This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought ^(B)a bad report of them to his father.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was ^(C)the son of his old age. Also he ^(D)made him a tunic of many colors. ⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they ^(E)hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶ So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ^7 (F)There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, ^(G)the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

¹⁰ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and ^(H)your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹ And ^(I)his brothers envied him, but his father ^(J)kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in ^(K)Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of ^(L)Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵ Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

¹⁶ So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. ^(M)Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

¹⁷ And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in ^(N)Dothan.

¹⁸ Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, ^(O)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ Then they said to one another, “Look, this ^[b]dreamer is coming! ^20 (P)Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹ But ^(Q)Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³ So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they ^(R)stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴ Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

^25 (S)And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of ^(T)Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, ^(U)balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and ^(V)conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(W)let not our hand be upon him, for he is ^(X)our brother and ^(Y)our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸ Then ^(Z)Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, ^(AA)and sold him to the Ishmaelites for ^(AB)twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he ^(AC)tore his clothes. ³⁰ And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad ^(AD)is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

³¹ So they took ^(AE)Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. ³² Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

³³ And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A ^(AF)wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Then Jacob ^(AG)tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and ^(AH)mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters ^(AI)arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For ^(AJ)I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶ Now ^(AK)the ^[c]Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and ^(AL)visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. ² And Judah ^(AM)saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was ^(AN)Shua, and he married her and went in to her. ³ So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name ^(AO)Er. ⁴ She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name ^(AP)Onan. ⁵ And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name ^(AQ)Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him.

⁶ Then Judah ^(AR)took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was ^(AS)Tamar. ⁷ But ^(AT)Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, ^(AU)and the Lord killed him. ⁸ And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to ^(AV)your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” ⁹ But Onan knew that the heir would not be ^(AW)his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. ¹⁰ And the thing which he did ^[d]displeased the Lord; therefore He killed ^(AX)him also.

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, ^(AY)“Remain a widow in your father’s house till my son Shelah is grown.” For he said, “Lest he also die like his brothers.” And Tamar went and dwelt ^(AZ)in her father’s house.

¹² Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah ^(BA)was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up ^(BB)to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and ^(BC)sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw ^(BD)that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷ And he said, ^(BE)“I will send a young goat from the flock.”

So she said, ^(BF)“Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

¹⁸ Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

So she said, ^(BG)“Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ So she arose and went away, and ^(BH)laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. ²¹ Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was ^[e]openly by the roadside?”

And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.”

²⁴ And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has ^(BI)played the harlot; furthermore she is ^[f]with child by harlotry.”

So Judah said, “Bring her out ^(BJ)and let her be burned!”

²⁵ When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, ^(BK)“Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”

²⁶ So Judah ^(BL)acknowledged them and said, ^(BM)“She has been more righteous than I, because ^(BN)I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he ^(BO)never knew her again.

²⁷ Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb. ²⁸ And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called ^(BP)Perez.^{[g] 30} Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called ^(BQ)Zerah.

Joseph a Slave in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken ^(BR)down to Egypt. And ^(BS)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(BT)bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. ^2 (BU)The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³ And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(BV)made all he did ^[h]to prosper in his hand. ⁴ So Joseph ^(BW)found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him ^(BX)overseer of his house, and all that he had he put ^[i]under his authority. ⁵ So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that ^(BY)the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. ⁶ Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s ^[j]hand, and he did not know what he had except for the ^[k]bread which he ate.

Now Joseph ^(BZ)was handsome in form and appearance.

⁷ And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife ^[l]cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ^(CA)“Lie with me.”

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. ⁹ There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. ^(CB)How then can I do this great wickedness, and ^(CC)sin against God?”

¹⁰ So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he ^(CD)did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.

¹¹ But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, ¹² that she ^(CE)caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. ¹³ And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, ¹⁴ that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a ^(CF)Hebrew to ^[m]mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”

¹⁶ So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she ^(CG)spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; ¹⁸ so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

¹⁹ So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his ^(CH)anger was aroused. ²⁰ Then Joseph’s master took him and ^(CI)put him into the ^(CJ)prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He ^(CK)gave^[n] him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²² And the keeper of the prison ^(CL)committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. ²³ The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under ^[o]Joseph’s authority, because ^(CM)the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.