Joseph the Dreamer

37 Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived. ² This is the family history of Jacob:

Joseph was a young man, seventeen years old. He and his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, cared for the flocks. Joseph gave his father bad reports about his brothers. ³ Since Joseph was born when his father Israel^[a] was old, Israel loved him more than his other sons. He made Joseph a special robe with long sleeves. ⁴ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated their brother and could not speak to him politely.

⁵ One time Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more. ⁶ Joseph said, “Listen to the dream I had. ⁷ We were in the field tying bundles of wheat together. My bundle stood up, and your bundles of wheat gathered around it and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers said, “Do you really think you will be king over us? Do you truly think you will rule over us?” His brothers hated him even more because of his dreams and what he had said.

⁹ Then Joseph had another dream, and he told his brothers about it also. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. I saw the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.”

¹⁰ Joseph also told his father about this dream, but his father scolded him, saying, “What kind of dream is this? Do you really believe that your mother, your brothers, and I will bow down to you?” ¹¹ Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, but his father thought about what all these things could mean.

¹² One day Joseph’s brothers went to Shechem to graze their father’s flocks. ¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Go to Shechem where your brothers are grazing the flocks.”

Joseph answered, “I will go.”

¹⁴ His father said, “Go and see if your brothers and the flocks are all right. Then come back and tell me.” So Joseph’s father sent him from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph came to Shechem, ¹⁵ a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ Joseph answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing the flocks?”

¹⁷ The man said, “They have already gone. I heard them say they were going to Dothan.” So Joseph went to look for his brothers and found them in Dothan.

Joseph Sold into Slavery

¹⁸ Joseph’s brothers saw him coming from far away. Before he reached them, they made a plan to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, “Here comes that dreamer. ²⁰ Let’s kill him and throw his body into one of the wells. We can tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

²¹ But Reuben heard their plan and saved Joseph, saying, “Let’s not kill him. ²² Don’t spill any blood. Throw him into this well here in the desert, but don’t hurt him!” Reuben planned to save Joseph later and send him back to his father. ²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they pulled off his robe with long sleeves ²⁴ and threw him into the well. It was empty, and there was no water in it.

²⁵ While Joseph was in the well, the brothers sat down to eat. When they looked up, they saw a group of Ishmaelites traveling from Gilead to Egypt. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh.

²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide his death? ²⁷ Let’s sell him to these Ishmaelites. Then we will not be guilty of killing our own brother. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” And the other brothers agreed. ²⁸ So when the Midianite traders came by, the brothers took Joseph out of the well and sold him to the Ishmaelites for eight ounces of silver. And the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben came back to the well and Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes to show he was upset. ³⁰ Then he went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there! What shall I do?” ³¹ The brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. ³² Then they brought the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, “We found this robe. Look it over carefully and see if it is your son’s robe.”

³³ Jacob looked it over and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some savage animal has eaten him. My son Joseph has been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes and put on rough cloth to show that he was upset, and he continued to be sad about his son for a long time. ³⁵ All of his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he could not be comforted. He said, “I will be sad about my son until the day I die.” So Jacob cried for his son Joseph.

³⁶ Meanwhile the Midianites who had bought Joseph had taken him to Egypt. There they sold him to Potiphar, an officer to the king of Egypt and captain of the palace guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah in the town of Adullam. ² There Judah met a Canaanite girl, the daughter of a man named Shua, and married her. Judah had sexual relations with her, ³ and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom Judah named Er. ⁴ Later she gave birth to another son and named him Onan. ⁵ Still later she had another son and named him Shelah. She was at Kezib when this third son was born.

⁶ Judah chose a girl named Tamar to be the wife of his first son Er. ⁷ But Er, Judah’s oldest son, did what the Lord said was evil, so the Lord killed him. ⁸ Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and have sexual relations with your dead brother’s wife.^[b] It is your duty to provide children for your brother in this way.”

⁹ But Onan knew that the children would not belong to him, so when he was supposed to have sexual relations with Tamar he did not complete the sex act. This made it impossible for Tamar to become pregnant and for Er to have descendants. ¹⁰ The Lord was displeased by this wicked thing Onan had done, so the Lord killed Onan also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go back to live in your father’s house, and don’t marry until my young son Shelah grows up.” Judah was afraid that Shelah also would die like his brothers. So Tamar returned to her father’s home.

¹² After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah had gotten over his sorrow, he went to Timnah to his men who were cutting the wool from his sheep. His friend Hirah from Adullam went with him. ¹³ Tamar learned that Judah, her father-in-law, was going to Timnah to cut the wool from his sheep. ¹⁴ So she took off the clothes that showed she was a widow and covered her face with a veil to hide who she was. Then she sat down by the gate of Enaim on the road to Timnah. She did this because Judah’s younger son Shelah had grown up, but Judah had not made plans for her to marry him.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face with a veil. ¹⁶ So Judah went to her and said, “Let me have sexual relations with you.” He did not know that she was Tamar, his daughter-in-law.

She asked, “What will you give me if I let you have sexual relations with me?”

¹⁷ Judah answered, “I will send you a young goat from my flock.”

She answered, “First give me something to keep as a deposit until you send the goat.”

¹⁸ Judah asked, “What do you want me to give you as a deposit?”

Tamar answered, “Give me your seal and its cord,^[c] and give me your walking stick.” So Judah gave these things to her. Then Judah and Tamar had sexual relations, and Tamar became pregnant. ¹⁹ When Tamar went home, she took off the veil that covered her face and put on the clothes that showed she was a widow.

²⁰ Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat to find the woman and get back his seal and the walking stick he had given her, but Hirah could not find her. ²¹ He asked some of the people at the town of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”

They answered, “There has never been a prostitute here.”

²² So he went back to Judah and said, “I could not find the woman, and the people who lived there said, ‘There has never been a prostitute here.’”

²³ Judah said, “Let her keep the things. I don’t want people to laugh at us. I sent her the goat as I promised, but you could not find her.”

²⁴ About three months later someone told Judah, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, is guilty of acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”

Then Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned to death.”

²⁵ When the people went to bring Tamar out, she sent a message to her father-in-law that said, “The man who owns these things has made me pregnant. Look at this seal and its cord and this walking stick, and tell me whose they are.”

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I. She did this because I did not give her to my son Shelah as I promised.” And Judah did not have sexual relations with her again.

²⁷ When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her body. ²⁸ While she was giving birth, one baby put his hand out. The nurse tied a red string on his hand and said, “This baby came out first.” ²⁹ But he pulled his hand back in, so the other baby was born first. The nurse said, “So you are able to break out first,” and they named him Perez.^{[d] 30} After this, the baby with the red string on his hand was born, and they named him Zerah.

Joseph Is Sold to Potiphar

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar was an officer to the king of Egypt and the captain of the palace guard. He bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. He lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.

³ Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord made Joseph successful in everything he did. ⁴ So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph and allowed him to be his personal servant. He put Joseph in charge of the house, trusting him with everything he owned. ⁵ When Joseph was put in charge of the house and everything Potiphar owned, the Lord blessed the people in Potiphar’s house because of Joseph. And the Lord blessed everything that belonged to Potiphar, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So Potiphar left Joseph in charge of everything he owned and was not concerned about anything except the food he ate.

Joseph Is Put into Prison

Now Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷ After some time the wife of Joseph’s master began to desire Joseph, and one day she said to him, “Have sexual relations with me.”

⁸ But Joseph refused and said to her, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has put me in charge of everything he owns. ⁹ There is no one in his house greater than I. He has not kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How can I do such an evil thing? It is a sin against God.”

¹⁰ The woman talked to Joseph every day, but he refused to have sexual relations with her or even spend time with her.

¹¹ One day Joseph went into the house to do his work as usual and was the only man in the house at that time. ¹² His master’s wife grabbed his coat and said to him, “Come and have sexual relations with me.” But Joseph left his coat in her hand and ran out of the house.

¹³ When she saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hands and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called to the servants in her house and said, “Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to shame us. He came in and tried to have sexual relations with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ My scream scared him and he ran away, but he left his coat with me.” ¹⁶ She kept his coat until her husband came home, ¹⁷ and she told him the same story. She said, “This Hebrew slave you brought here came in to shame me! ¹⁸ When he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat.”

¹⁹ When Joseph’s master heard what his wife said Joseph had done, he became very angry. ²⁰ So Potiphar arrested Joseph and put him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were put. And Joseph stayed there in the prison.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him kindness and caused the prison warden to like Joseph. ²² The prison warden chose Joseph to take care of all the prisoners, and he was responsible for whatever was done in the prison. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in everything he did.

Jesus Offers Rest to People

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the people who are wise and smart. But you have shown them to those who are like little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, this is what you really wanted.

²⁷ “My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son, except the Father. And no one knows the Father, except the Son and those whom the Son chooses to tell.

²⁸ “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. ³⁰ The burden that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus was walking through some fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were hungry, so they began to pick the grain and eat it. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath day.”

³ Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? ⁴ He went into God’s house, and he and those with him ate the holy bread, which was lawful only for priests to eat. ⁵ And have you not read in the law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break this law about the Sabbath day? But the priests are not wrong for doing that. ⁶ I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. ⁷ The Scripture says, ‘I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.’^[a] You don’t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.

⁸ “So the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”

Jesus Heals a Man’s Hand

⁹ Jesus left there and went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ where there was a man with a crippled hand. They were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they asked him, “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?”^[b]

¹¹ Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, you will help it out of the ditch. ¹² Surely a human being is more important than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it became well again, like the other hand. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

Jesus Is God’s Chosen Servant

¹⁵ Jesus knew what the Pharisees were doing, so he left that place. Many people followed him, and he healed all who were sick. ¹⁶ But Jesus warned the people not to tell who he was. ¹⁷ He did these things to bring about what Isaiah the prophet had said: