Genesis 37

• 1. So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived.
• 2. This is the history of Jacob's family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father's flocks with his half brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.
• 3. Now Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day he gave Joseph a special gift--a beautiful robe.
• 4. But his brothers hated Joseph because of their father's partiality. They couldn't say a kind word to him.
• 5. One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more.
• 6. "Listen to this dream," he announced.
• 7. "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!"
• 8. "So you are going to be our king, are you?" his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.
• 9. Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen to this dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!"
• 10. This time he told his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "Will your mother, your brothers, and I actually come and bow before you?"
• 11. But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father gave it some thought and wondered what it all meant.
• 12. Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem.
• 13. When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, "Your brothers are over at Shechem with the flocks. I'm going to send you to them.I'm ready to go," Joseph replied.
• 14. "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me word." So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from his home in the valley of Hebron.
• 15. When he arrived there, a man noticed him wandering around the countryside. "What are you looking for?" he asked.
• 16. "For my brothers and their flocks," Joseph replied. "Have you seen them?"
• 17. "Yes," the man told him, "but they are no longer here. I heard your brothers say they were going to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.
• 18. When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance and made plans to kill him.
• 19. "Here comes that dreamer!" they exclaimed.
• 20. "Come on, let's kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what becomes of all his dreams!"
• 21. But Reuben came to Joseph's rescue. "Let's not kill him," he said.
• 22. "Why should we shed his blood? Let's just throw him alive into this pit here. That way he will die without our having to touch him." Reuben was secretly planning to help Joseph escape, and then he would bring him back to his father.
• 23. So when Joseph arrived, they pulled off his beautiful robe
• 24. and threw him into the pit. This pit was normally used to store water, but it was empty at the time.
• 25. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they noticed a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking spices, balm, and myrrh from Gilead to Egypt.
• 26. Judah said to the others, "What can we gain by killing our brother? That would just give us a guilty conscience.
• 27. Let's sell Joseph to those Ishmaelite traders. Let's not be responsible for his death; after all, he is our brother!" And his brothers agreed.
• 28. So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt.
• 29. Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the pit. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in anguish and frustration.
• 30. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, "The boy is gone! What can I do now?"
• 31. Then Joseph's brothers killed a goat and dipped the robe in its blood.
• 32. They took the beautiful robe to their father and asked him to identify it. "We found this in the field," they told him. "It's Joseph's robe, isn't it?"
• 33. Their father recognized it at once. "Yes," he said, "it is my son's robe. A wild animal has attacked and eaten him. Surely Joseph has been torn in pieces!"
• 34. Then Jacob tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He mourned deeply for his son for many days.
• 35. His family all tried to comfort him, but it was no use. "I will die in mourning for my son," he would say, and then begin to weep.
• 36. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

Genesis 38

• 1. About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he visited a man named Hirah.
• 2. There he met a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her.
• 3. She became pregnant and had a son, and Judah named the boy Er.
• 4. Then Judah's wife had another son, and she named him Onan.
• 5. And when she had a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah's birth, they were living at Kezib.
• 6. When his oldest son, Er, grew up, Judah arranged his marriage to a young woman named Tamar.
• 7. But Er was a wicked man in the LORD's sight, so the LORD took his life.
• 8. Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, "You must marry Tamar, as our law requires of the brother of a man who has died. Her first son from you will be your brother's heir."
• 9. But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with Tamar, he spilled the semen on the ground to keep her from having a baby who would belong to his brother.
• 10. But the LORD considered it a wicked thing for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the LORD took Onan's life, too.
• 11. Then Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, not to marry again at that time but to return to her parents' home. She was to remain a widow until his youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry her. (But Judah didn't really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went home to her parents.
• 12. In the course of time Judah's wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep.
• 13. Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law had left for the sheep-shearing at Timnah.
• 14. Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but they had not called her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow's clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah.
• 15. Judah noticed her as he went by and thought she was a prostitute, since her face was veiled.
• 16. So he stopped and propositioned her to sleep with him, not realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law. "How much will you pay me?" Tamar asked.
• 17. "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," Judah promised. "What pledge will you give me so I can be sure you will send it?" she asked.
• 18. "Well, what do you want?" he inquired. She replied, "I want your identification seal, your cord, and the walking stick you are carrying." So Judah gave these items to her. She then let him sleep with her, and she became pregnant.
• 19. Afterward she went home, took off her veil, and put on her widow's clothing as usual.
• 20. Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat back to her and to pick up the pledges he had given her, but Hirah couldn't find her.
• 21. So he asked the men who lived there, "Where can I find the prostitute who was sitting beside the road at the entrance to the village?We've never had a prostitute here," they replied.
• 22. So Hirah returned to Judah and told him that he couldn't find her anywhere and that the men of the village had claimed they didn't have a prostitute there.
• 23. "Then let her keep the pledges!" Judah exclaimed. "We tried our best to send her the goat. We'd be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again."
• 24. About three months later, word reached Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, was pregnant as a result of prostitution. "Bring her out and burn her!" Judah shouted.
• 25. But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: "The man who owns this identification seal and walking stick is the father of my child. Do you recognize them?"
• 26. Judah admitted that they were his and said, "She is more in the right than I am, because I didn't keep my promise to let her marry my son Shelah." But Judah never slept with Tamar again.
• 27. In due season the time of Tamar's delivery arrived, and she had twin sons.
• 28. As they were being born, one of them reached out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around the wrist of the child who appeared first, saying, "This one came out first."
• 29. But then he drew back his hand, and the other baby was actually the first to be born. "What!" the midwife exclaimed. "How did you break out first?" And ever after, he was called Perez.
• 30. Then the baby with the scarlet thread on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.

Genesis 39

• 1. Now when Joseph arrived in Egypt with the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard.
• 2. The LORD was with Joseph and blessed him greatly as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.
• 3. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.
• 4. So Joseph naturally became quite a favorite with him. Potiphar soon put Joseph in charge of his entire household and entrusted him with all his business dealings.
• 5. From the day Joseph was put in charge, the LORD began to bless Potiphar for Joseph's sake. All his household affairs began to run smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished.
• 6. So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't have a worry in the world, except to decide what he wanted to eat! Now Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man.
• 7. And about this time, Potiphar's wife began to desire him and invited him to sleep with her.
• 8. But Joseph refused. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household.
• 9. No one here has more authority than I do! He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God."
• 10. She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.
• 11. One day, however, no one else was around when he was doing his work inside the house.
• 12. She came and grabbed him by his shirt, demanding, "Sleep with me!" Joseph tore himself away, but as he did, his shirt came off. She was left holding it as he ran from the house.
• 13. When she saw that she had his shirt and that he had fled,
• 14. she began screaming. Soon all the men around the place came running. "My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to insult us!" she sobbed. "He tried to rape me, but I screamed.
• 15. When he heard my loud cries, he ran and left his shirt behind with me."
• 16. She kept the shirt with her, and when her husband came home that night,
• 17. she told him her story. "That Hebrew slave you've had around here tried to make a fool of me," she said.
• 18. "I was saved only by my screams. He ran out, leaving his shirt behind!"
• 19. After hearing his wife's story, Potiphar was furious!
• 20. He took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held.
• 21. But the LORD was with Joseph there, too, and he granted Joseph favor with the chief jailer.
• 22. Before long, the jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.
• 23. The chief jailer had no more worries after that, because Joseph took care of everything. The LORD was with him, making everything run smoothly and successfully.

New Living Translation: 13 of 324 days.