Genesis 38-40

Easy-to-Read Version

Judah and Tamar

38 About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah from the town of Adullam. ² Judah met a Canaanite girl there and married her. The girl’s father was named Shua. ³ The Canaanite girl gave birth to a son and named him Er. ⁴ Later, she gave birth to another son and named him Onan. ⁵ Then she had another son named Shelah. Judah lived in Kezib when his third son was born.

⁶ Judah chose a woman named Tamar to be the wife of his first son Er. ⁷ But Er did many bad things. The Lord was not happy with him, so the Lord killed him. ⁸ Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and sleep with your dead brother’s wife.^[a] Become like a husband to her. If children are born, they will belong to your brother Er.”

⁹ Onan knew that the children from this union would not belong to him. He had sexual relations with Tamar, but he did not allow himself to stay inside her. ¹⁰ This made the Lord angry. So he killed Onan also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go back to your father’s house. Stay there and don’t marry until my young son Shelah grows up.” Judah was afraid that Shelah would also be killed like his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father’s home.

¹² Later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah’s time of sadness, he went to Timnah with his friend Hirah from Adullam. Judah went to Timnah to have the wool cut from his sheep. ¹³ Tamar learned that Judah, her father-in-law, was going to Timnah to cut the wool from his sheep. ¹⁴ Tamar always wore clothes that showed that she was a widow. So she put on some different clothes and covered her face with a veil. Then she sat down near the road going to Enaim, a town near Timnah. Tamar knew that Judah’s younger son Shelah was now grown up, but Judah would not make plans for her to marry him.

¹⁵ Judah traveled on that road and saw her, but he thought that she was a prostitute. (Her face was covered with a veil like a prostitute.) ¹⁶ So he went to her and said, “Let me have sex with you.” (Judah did not know that she was Tamar, his daughter-in-law.)

She said, “How much will you give me?”

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

She answered, “I agree to that. But first you must give me something to keep until you send me the goat.”

¹⁸ Judah asked, “What do you want me to give you as proof that I will send you the goat?”

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

²⁰ Later, Judah sent his friend Hirah to Enaim to give the prostitute the goat he promised. Judah also told Hirah to get the special seal and the walking stick from her, but Hirah could not find her. ²¹ He asked some of the men at the town of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”

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

²² So Judah’s friend went back to Judah and said, “I could not find the woman. The men who live in that place said that there was never a prostitute there.”

²³ So Judah said, “Let her keep the things. I don’t want people to laugh at us. I tried to give her the goat, but we could not find her. That is enough.”

Tamar Is Pregnant

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

Then Judah said, “Take her out and burn her.”

²⁵ The men went to Tamar to kill her, but she sent a message to her father-in-law that said, “The man who made me pregnant is the man who owns these things. Look at them. Whose are they? Whose special seal and string is this? Whose walking stick is this?”

²⁶ Judah recognized these things and said, “She is right. I was wrong. I did not give her my son Shelah like I promised.” And Judah did not sleep with her again.

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

Joseph Is Sold to Potiphar in Egypt

39 The traders^[e] who bought Joseph took him down to Egypt. They sold him to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Potiphar. ² The Lord helped Joseph become a successful man. Joseph lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.

³ Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did. ⁴ So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph. He allowed Joseph to work for him and to help him rule the house. Joseph was the ruler over everything Potiphar owned. ⁵ After Joseph was made the ruler over the house, the Lord blessed the house and everything that Potiphar owned. The Lord also blessed everything that grew in Potiphar’s fields. The Lord did this because of Joseph. ⁶ So Potiphar allowed Joseph to take responsibility for everything in the house. Potiphar didn’t have to worry about anything except deciding what to eat.

Joseph Refuses Potiphar’s Wife

Joseph was a very handsome, good-looking man. ⁷ After some time, the wife of Joseph’s master began to pay special attention to him. One day she said to him, “Sleep with me.”

⁸ But Joseph refused. He said, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has given me responsibility for everything here. ⁹ My master has made me almost equal to him in his house. I cannot sleep with his wife! That is wrong! It is a sin against God.”

¹⁰ The woman talked with Joseph every day, but he refused to sleep with her. ¹¹ One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. He was the only man in the house at the time. ¹² His master’s wife grabbed his coat and said to him, “Come to bed with me.” But Joseph ran out of the house so fast that he left his coat in her hand.

¹³ The woman saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand and had run out of the house. ¹⁴ She called to the men outside and said, “Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to make fun of us. He came in and tried to attack me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ My scream scared him and he ran away, but he left his coat with me.” ¹⁶ Then she kept his coat until her husband, Joseph’s master, came home. ¹⁷ She told her husband the same story. She said, “This Hebrew slave you brought here tried to attack me! ¹⁸ But when he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat.”

¹⁹ Joseph’s master listened to what his wife said, and he became very angry. ²⁰ So Potiphar put Joseph into the prison where the king’s enemies were held, and that is where Joseph remained.

Joseph in Prison

²¹ The Lord was with Joseph and continued to show his kindness to him, so the commander of the prison guards began to like Joseph. ²² The commander of the guards put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. Joseph was their leader, but he still did the same work they did. ²³ The commander of the guards trusted Joseph with everything that was in the prison. This happened because the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did.

Joseph Explains Two Dreams

40 Later, two of Pharaoh’s servants did something wrong to Pharaoh. These servants were the baker and the man who served wine to Pharaoh. ² Pharaoh became angry with his baker and wine server, ³ so he put them in the same prison as Joseph. Potiphar, the commander of Pharaoh’s guards, was in charge of this prison. ⁴ The commander put the two prisoners under Joseph’s care. The two men continued to stay in prison for some time. ⁵ One night both of the prisoners had a dream. The baker and the wine server each had his own dream, and each dream had its own meaning. ⁶ Joseph went to them the next morning and saw that the two men were worried. ⁷ He asked them, “Why do you look so worried today?”

⁸ The two men answered, “We both had dreams last night, but we don’t understand what we dreamed. There is no one to explain the dreams to us.”

Joseph said to them, “God is the only one who can understand and explain dreams. So I beg you, tell me your dreams.”

The Wine Server’s Dream

⁹ So the wine server told Joseph his dream. The server said, “I dreamed I saw a vine. ¹⁰ On the vine there were three branches. I watched the branches grow flowers and then become grapes. ¹¹ I was holding Pharaoh’s cup, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I gave the cup to Pharaoh.”

¹² Then Joseph said, “I will explain the dream to you. The three branches mean three days. ¹³ Before the end of three days, Pharaoh will forgive you and allow you to go back to your work. You will do the same work for Pharaoh as you did before. ¹⁴ But when you are free, remember me. Be good to me and help me. Tell Pharaoh about me so that I can get out of this prison. ¹⁵ I was kidnapped and taken from the land of my people, the Hebrews. I have done nothing wrong! I should not be in prison.”

The Baker’s Dream

¹⁶ The baker saw that the other servant’s dream was good, so he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. I dreamed there were three baskets of bread on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket there were all kinds of baked food for the king, but birds were eating this food.”

¹⁸ Joseph answered, “I will tell you what the dream means. The three baskets mean three days. ¹⁹ Before the end of three days, the king will take you out of this prison and cut off your head! He will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat it.”

Joseph Is Forgotten

²⁰ Three days later it was Pharaoh’s birthday. He gave a party for all his servants. At the party Pharaoh allowed the wine server and the baker to leave the prison. ²¹ He freed the wine server and gave him his job back, and once again the wine server put a cup of wine in Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But Pharaoh hanged the baker, and everything happened the way Joseph said it would. ²³ But the wine server did not remember to help Joseph. He said nothing about him to Pharaoh. The wine server forgot about Joseph.