Hands-On Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 71
page 41
10But
brother.
the Lord considered it evil for
Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the
Lord took Onan’s life, too.
11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-inlaw, “Go back to your parents’ home and remain a
widow until my son Shelah is old enough to
marry you.” (But Judah didn’t really intend to do
this because he was afraid Shelah would also die,
like his two brothers.) So Tamar went back to live
in her father’s home.
12 Some years later Judah’s wife died. After the
time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend
Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep. 13 Someone
told Tamar, “Look, your father-in-law is going up
to Timnah to shear his sheep.”
14 Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up,
but no arrangements had been made for 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 road to Timnah. 15Judah noticed her and
thought she was a prostitute, since she had covered her face. 16So he stopped and propositioned
her. “Let me have sex with you,” he said, not realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law.
“How much will you pay to have sex with me?”
Tamar asked.
17“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,”
Judah promised.
“But what will you give me to guarantee that
you will send the goat?” she asked.
18 “What kind of guarantee do you want?” he
replied.
She answered, “Leave me your identification
seal and its cord and the walking stick you are
carrying.” So Judah gave them to her. Then he
had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. 19Afterward she went back home, took off
her veil, and put on her widow’s clothing as
usual.
20Later Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat to the woman and
to pick up the things he had given her as his
guarantee. But Hirah couldn’t find her. 21So he
asked the men who lived there, “Where can I
find the shrine prostitute who was sitting beside
the road at the entrance to Enaim?”
“We’ve never had a shrine prostitute here,”
they replied.
22 So Hirah returned to Judah and told him, “I
couldn’t find her anywhere, and the men of the
village claim they’ve never had a shrine prostitute there.”
... Genesis 39
23 “Then let her keep the things I gave her,” Ju-
dah said. “I sent the young goat as we agreed, but
you couldn’t find her. We’d be the laughingstock
of the village if we went back again to look for
her.”
24About three months later, Judah was told,
“Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has acted like
a prostitute. And now, because of this, she’s
pregnant.”
“Bring her out, and let her be burned!” Judah
demanded.
25 But as they were taking her out to kill her,
she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The
man who owns these things made me pregnant.
Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking
stick are these?”
26Judah recognized them immediately and
said, “She is more righteous than I am, because I
didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.”
And Judah never slept with Tamar again.
27 When the time came for Tamar to give birth,
it was discovered that she was carrying twins.
28While she was in labor, one of the babies
reached out his hand. The midwife grabbed it
and tied a scarlet string around the child’s wrist,
announcing, “This one came out first.” 29 But
then he pulled back his hand, and out came his
brother! “What!” the midwife exclaimed. “How
did you break out first?” So he was named Perez.
30Then the baby with the scarlet string on his
wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.
CHAPTER
39
Joseph in Potiphar’s House
When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an
Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the
guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in
everything he did as he served in the home of his
Egyptian master. 3Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving
him success in everything he did. 4This pleased
Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire
household and everything he owned. 5From the
day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s
household and property, the Lord began to bless
Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his
household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops
and livestock flourished. 6So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over
everything he owned. With Joseph there, he
didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of
food to eat!
