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Genesis 38 ... page 40
come and bow to the ground before you?” 11But
while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams 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 pasturing
the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will 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 a report.” So Jacob sent him
on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from
their home in the valley of Hebron.
15 When he arrived there, a man from the area
noticed him wandering around the countryside.
“What are you looking for?” he asked.
16“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing
their sheep?”
17“Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved
on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to
Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.
Joseph Sold into Slavery
18When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they
recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19“Here
comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s
kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns.
We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten
him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his
dreams!”
21But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he
came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he
said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s
just throw him into this empty cistern here in the
wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a
hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to
rescue Joseph and return him to his father.
23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped
off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24Then
they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern.
Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in
it. 25 Then, just as they were sitting down to eat,
they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the
distance coming toward them. It was a group of
Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm,
and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.
26Judah said to his brothers, “What will we
gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover
up the crime. 27 Instead of hurting him, let’s sell
him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is
our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his
brothers agreed. 28So when the Ishmaelites, who
were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to
them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders
took him to Egypt.
29 Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that
Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief.
30Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”
31 Then the brothers killed a young goat and
dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. 32 They sent
the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe
belong to your son?”
33 Their father recognized it immediately.
“Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal
must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been
torn to pieces!” 34Then Jacob tore his clothes and
dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply
for his son for a long time. 35His family all tried
to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.
“I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he
would say, and then he would weep.
36Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in
Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was
captain of the palace guard.
CHAPTER
38
Judah and Tamar
About this time, Judah left home and moved to
Adullam, where he stayed with a man named
Hirah. 2 There he saw a Canaanite woman, the
daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he
slept with her, 3she became pregnant and gave
birth to a son, and he named the boy Er. 4Then she
became pregnant again and gave birth to another
son, and she named him Onan. 5And when she
gave birth to a third son, she named him Shelah.
At the time of Shelah’s birth, they were living at
Kezib.
6In the course of time, Judah arranged for his
firstborn son, Er, to marry a young woman named
Tamar. 7 But Er was a wicked man in the Lord’s
sight, so the Lord took his life. 8Then Judah said
to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and marry Tamar, as our
law requires of the brother of a man who has died.
You must produce an heir for your brother.”
9 But Onan was not willing to have a child who
would not be his own heir. So whenever he had
intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled
the semen on the ground. This prevented her
from having a child who would belong to his
