37 And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father sojourned—in the land of Canaan.

² These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them.

³ And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was son of his old age; and he made him a vest of many colours.

⁴ And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, and they hated him, and could not greet him with friendliness.

⁵ And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told [it] to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.

⁶ And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream, which I have dreamt:

⁷ Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields, and lo, my sheaf rose up, and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves came round about and bowed down to my sheaf.

⁸ And his brethren said to him, Wilt thou indeed be a king over us? wilt thou indeed rule over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamt another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.

¹⁰ And he told [it] to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream which thou hast dreamt? Shall we indeed come, I and thy mother and thy brethren, to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

¹¹ And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying.

¹² And his brethren went to feed their father's flock at Shechem.

¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed [the flock] at Shechem? Come, that I may send thee to them. And he said to him, Here am I.

¹⁴ And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again. And he sent him out of the vale of Hebron; and he came towards Shechem.

¹⁵ And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the country; and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

¹⁶ And he said, I am seeking my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed [their flocks].

¹⁷ And the man said, They have removed from this; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸ And when they saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to put him to death.

¹⁹ And they said one to another, Behold, there comes that dreamer!

²⁰ And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams.

²¹ And Reuben heard [it], and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life.

²² And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood: cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness; but lay no hand upon him—in order that he might deliver him out of their hand, to bring him to his father again.

²³ And it came to pass when Joseph came to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his vest, the vest of many colours, which he had on;

²⁴ and they took him and cast him into the pit; now the pit was empty—there was no water in it.

²⁵ And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead; and their camels bore tragacanth, and balsam, and ladanum—going to carry [it] down to Egypt.

²⁶ And Judah said to his brethren, What profit is it that we kill our brother and secrete his blood?

²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites; but let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened [to him].

²⁸ And Midianitish men, merchants, passed by; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver-pieces; and they brought Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph [was] not in the pit; and he rent his garments,

³⁰ and returned to his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, where shall I go?

³¹ And they took Joseph's vest, and slaughtered a buck of the goats, and dipped the vest in the blood;

³² and they sent the vest of many colours and had it carried to their father, and said, This have we found: discern now whether it is thy son's vest or not.

³³ And he discerned it, and said, [It is] my son's vest! an evil beast has devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces!

³⁴ And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said, For I will go down to my son into Sheol mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶ And the Midianites sold him into Egypt, to Potiphar, a chamberlain of Pharaoh, the captain of the life-guard.

38 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a man of Adullam whose name was Hirah.

² And Judah saw there the daughter of a Canaanitish man whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in to her.

³ And she conceived and bore a son; and he called his name Er.

⁴ And she again conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

⁵ And again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah; and he was at Chezib when she bore him.

⁶ And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

⁷ And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah slew him.

⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and fulfil to her the brother-in-law's duty, and raise up seed to thy brother.

⁹ But when Onan knew that the seed should not be his own, it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled [it] on the ground, in order to give no seed to his brother.

¹⁰ And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and he slew him also.

¹¹ And Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in thy father's house, until Shelah my son is grown; for he said, Lest he die also, as his brethren. And Tamar went and remained in her father's house.

¹² And as the days were multiplied, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. And Judah was comforted, and he went up to his sheep-shearers, to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.

¹⁴ And she put the garments of her widowhood off from her, and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the entry of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as wife.

¹⁵ And Judah saw her, and took her for a harlot; because she had covered her face.

¹⁶ And he turned aside to her by the way, and said, Come, I pray thee, let me go in to thee; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in to me?

¹⁷ And he said, I will send [thee] a kid of the goats from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give [me] a pledge, until thou send it?

¹⁸ And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy lace, and thy staff which is in thy hand. And he gave [it] her, and went in to her; and she conceived by him.

¹⁹ And she arose and went away; and she laid by her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand; but he found her not.

²¹ And he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the prostitute that was at Enaim, by the way-side? And they said, There was no prostitute here.

²² And he returned to Judah, and said, I have not found her; and also the men of the place said, No prostitute has been here.

²³ Then Judah said, Let her take [it] for herself, lest we be put to shame. Behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.

²⁴ And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law has committed fornication, and behold, she is also with child by fornication. And Judah said, Bring her forth, that she may be burned.

²⁵ When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man to whom these [belong] am I with child; and she said, Acknowledge, I pray thee, whose are this signet, and this lace, and this staff.

²⁶ And Judah acknowledged [them], and said, She is more righteous than I, because I have not given her to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.

²⁷ And it came to pass at the time of her delivery, that behold, twins were in her womb.

²⁸ And it came to pass when she brought forth, that one stretched out [his] hand, and the midwife took it and bound round his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

²⁹ And it came to pass as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out; and she said, How hast thou broken forth! on thee be the breach! And they called his name Pherez.

³⁰ And afterwards came out his brother, round whose hand was the scarlet thread; and they called his name Zerah.

39 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, a chamberlain of Pharaoh, the captain of the life-guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down thither.

² And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

³ And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

⁴ And Joseph found favour in his eyes, and attended on him; and he set him over his house, and all that he had he gave into his hand.

⁵ And it came to pass from the time he had set him over his house and all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Jehovah was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

⁶ And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and took cognizance of nothing with him, save the bread that he ate. And Joseph was of a beautiful form and of a beautiful countenance.

⁷ And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and said, Lie with me!

⁸ But he refused, and said to his master's wife, Behold, my master takes cognizance of nothing with me: what is in the house, and all that he has, he has given into my hand.

⁹ There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he withheld anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife; and how should I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

¹⁰ And it came to pass as she spoke to Joseph day by day and he hearkened not to her, to lie with her [and] to be with her,

¹¹ that on a certain day he went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there in the house.

¹² Then she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me! But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran out.

¹³ And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled forth,

¹⁴ that she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought in a Hebrew man to us, to mock us: he came in to me, to lie with me; and I cried with a loud voice;

¹⁵ and it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went out.

¹⁶ And she laid his garment by her until his lord came home.

¹⁷ And she spoke to him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew bondman that thou hast brought to us came in to me to mock me;

¹⁸ and it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled forth.

¹⁹ And it came to pass when his lord heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying, After this manner did thy bondman to me, that his wrath was kindled.

²⁰ And Joseph's lord took him and put him into the tower-house, [the] place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the tower-house.

²¹ And Jehovah was with Joseph, and extended mercy to him, and gave him favour in the eyes of the chief of the tower-house.

²² And the chief of the tower-house committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the tower-house; and whatever they had to do there he did.

²³ The chief of the tower-house looked not to anything under his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and what he did, Jehovah made it prosper.