Genesis 38-41

Genesis 38

¹Now at that time, Judah went away from his brothers and became the friend of a man of Adullam named Hirah.

²And there he saw the daughter of a certain man of Canaan named Shua, and took her as his wife.

³And she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Er.

⁴And again she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Onan.

⁵Then she had another son, to whom she gave the name Shelah; she was at Chezib when the birth took place.

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

⁷Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.

⁹But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother.

¹⁰And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death, like his brother.

¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to your father's house and keep yourself as a widow till my son Shelah becomes a man: for he had in his mind the thought that death might come to him as it had come to his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father's house.

¹²And after a time, Bath-shua, Judah's wife, came to her end; and after Judah was comforted for her loss, he went to Timnah, where they were cutting the wool of his sheep, and his friend Hirah of Adullam went with him.

¹³And when Tamar had news that her father-in-law was going up to Timnah to the wool-cutting,

¹⁴She took off her widow's clothing, and covering herself with her veil, she took her seat near Enaim on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was now a man, but she had not been made his wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her he took her to be a loose woman of the town, because her face was covered.

¹⁶And turning to her by the roadside, he said to her, Let me come in to you; for he had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me as my price?

¹⁷And he said, I will give you a young goat from the flock. And she said, What will you give me as a sign till you send it?

¹⁸And he said, What would you have? And she said, Your ring and its cord and the stick in your hand. So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she became with child by him.

¹⁹Then she got up and went away and took off her veil and put on her widow's clothing.

²⁰Then Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat, to get back the things which he had given as a sign to the woman: but she was not there.

²¹And he put questions to the men of the place, saying, Where is the loose woman who was in Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There was no such woman there.

²²So he went back to Judah, and said, I have not seen her, and the men of the place say that there is no such woman there.

²³And Judah said, Let her keep the things, so that we may not be shamed; I sent the young goat, but you did not see the woman.

²⁴Now about three months after this, word came to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had been acting like a loose woman and was with child. And Judah said, Take her out and let her be burned.

²⁵And while she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, The man whose property these things are, is the father of my child: say then, whose are this ring and this cord and this stick?

²⁶Then Judah said openly that they were his, and said, She is more upright than I am, for I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he had no more connection with her.

²⁷And when the time came for her to give birth, it was clear that there were two children in her body.

²⁸And while she was in the act of giving birth, one of them put out his hand; and the woman who was with her put a red thread round his hand, saying, This one came out first.

²⁹But then he took his hand back again, and his brother came first to birth: and the woman said, What an opening you have made for yourself! So he was named Perez.

³⁰And then his brother came out, with the red thread round his hand, and he was named Zerah.

Genesis 39

¹Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

²And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well; and he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian.

³And his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well.

⁴And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house and gave him control over all he had.

⁵And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field.

⁶And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face.

⁷And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover.

⁸But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control;

⁹So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?

¹⁰And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her.

¹¹Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside.

¹²And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away.

¹³And when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat,

¹⁴She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry;

¹⁵And hearing it he went running out without his coat.

¹⁶And she kept his coat by her, till his master came back.

¹⁷Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me;

¹⁸And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat.

¹⁹And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry.

²⁰And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house.

²¹But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend.

²²And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there.

²³And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.

Genesis 40

¹Now after these things the chief servant who had the care of the wine, and the chief bread-maker in Pharaoh's house, did something against Pharaoh's orders;

²And Pharaoh was angry with his two servants, with the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker;

³And he put them in prison under the care of the captain of the army, in the same prison where Joseph himself was shut up.

⁴And the captain put them in Joseph's care, and he did what was needed for them; and they were kept in prison for some time.

⁵And these two had a dream on the same night; the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, the two of them had dreams with a special sense.

⁶And in the morning when Joseph came to them he saw that they were looking sad.

⁷And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad?

⁸Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream?

⁹Then the chief wine-servant gave Joseph an account of his dream, and said, In my dream I saw a vine before me;

¹⁰And on the vine were three branches; and it seemed as if it put out buds and flowers, and from them came grapes ready for cutting.

¹¹And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and crushing them into Pharaoh's cup, gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

¹²Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three branches are three days;

¹³After three days Pharaoh will give you honour, and put you back into your place, and you will give him his cup as you did before, when you were his wine-servant.

¹⁴But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me and say a good word for me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison:

¹⁵For truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews; and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison.

¹⁶Now when the chief bread-maker saw that the first dream had a good sense, he said to Joseph, I had a dream; and in my dream there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

¹⁷And in the top basket were all sorts of cooked meats for Pharaoh; and the birds were taking them out of the baskets on my head.

¹⁸Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three baskets are three days;

¹⁹After three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison, hanging you on a tree, so that your flesh will be food for birds.

²⁰Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his servants; and he gave honour to the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker among the others.

²¹And he put the chief wine-servant back in his old place; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

²²But the chief bread-maker was put to death by hanging, as Joseph had said.

²³But the wine-servant did not keep Joseph in mind or give a thought to him.

Genesis 41

¹Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;

²And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.

³And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows.

⁴And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.

⁵But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.

⁶And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.

⁷And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.

⁸And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.

⁹Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;

¹⁰Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;

¹¹And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.

¹²And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them.

¹³And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh.

¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.

¹⁶Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.

¹⁷Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:

¹⁸And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;

¹⁹Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;

²⁰And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;

²¹And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep.

²²And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:

²³And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:

²⁴And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.

²⁵Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁶The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.

²⁷The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.

²⁸As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.

²⁹Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;

³⁰And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;

³¹And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.

³²And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.

³³And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt.

³⁴Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.

³⁵And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it.

³⁶And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.

³⁷And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

³⁸Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

³⁹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:

⁴⁰You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.

⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.

⁴²Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck;

⁴³And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁵And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses.

⁴⁸And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town.

⁴⁹So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured.

⁵⁰And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.

⁵¹And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.

⁵²And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.

⁵³And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.

⁵⁴Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.

⁵⁶And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.