Through the Bible – Day 15

₁Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived, ₂and this is the story of his family.

When Jacob's son Joseph was seventeen years old, he took care of the sheep with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. But he was always telling his father all sorts of bad things about his brothers.

₃Jacob loved Joseph more than he did any of his other sons, because Joseph was born after Jacob was very old. Jacob had given Joseph a fine coat ₄to show that he was his favourite son, and so Joseph's brothers hated him and would not be friendly to him.

₅One day, Joseph told his brothers what he had dreamed, and they hated him even more. ₆Joseph said, “Let me tell you about my dream. ₇We were out in the field, tying up bundles of wheat. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles gathered around and bowed down to it.”

₈His brothers asked, “Do you really think you are going to be king and rule over us?” Now they hated Joseph more than ever because of what he had said about his dream.

₉Joseph later had another dream, and he told his brothers, “Listen to what else I dreamed. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me.”

₁₀When he told his father about this dream, his father became angry and said, “What's that supposed to mean? Are your mother and I and your brothers all going to come and bow down in front of you?” ₁₁Joseph's brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept wondering about the dream.

₁₂One day when Joseph's brothers had taken the sheep to a pasture near Shechem, ₁₃his father Jacob said to him, “I want you to go to your brothers. They are with the sheep near Shechem.”

“Yes, sir,” Joseph answered.

₁₄His father said, “Go and find out how your brothers and the sheep are doing. Then come back and let me know.” So he sent him from Hebron Valley.

Joseph was near Shechem ₁₅and wandering through the fields, when a man asked, “What are you looking for?”

₁₆Joseph answered, “I'm looking for my brothers who are watching the sheep. Can you tell me where they are?”

₁₇“They're not here any more,” the man replied. “I overheard them say they were going to Dothan.”

Joseph left and found his brothers in Dothan. ₁₈But before he got there, they saw him coming and made plans to kill him. ₁₉They said to one another, “Look, here comes the hero of those dreams! ₂₀Let's kill him and throw him into a pit and say that some wild animal ate him. Then we'll see what happens to those dreams.”

₂₁Reuben heard this and tried to protect Joseph from them. “Let's not kill him,” he said. ₂₂“Don't murder him or even harm him. Just throw him into a dry well out here in the desert.” Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.

₂₃When Joseph came to his brothers, they pulled off his fine coat ₂₄and threw him into a dry well.

₂₅As Joseph's brothers sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with all kinds of spices that they were taking to Egypt. ₂₆So Judah said, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide his body? ₂₇Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not harm him. After all, he is our brother.” And the others agreed.

₂₈When the Midianite merchants came by, Joseph's brothers took him out of the well, and for twenty pieces of silver they sold him to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt.

₂₉When Reuben returned to the well and did not find Joseph there, he tore his clothes in sorrow. ₃₀Then he went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

₃₁Joseph's brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph's fine coat in its blood. ₃₂After this, they took the coat to their father and said, “We found this! Look at it carefully and see if it belongs to your son.”

₃₃Jacob knew it was Joseph's coat and said, “It's my son's coat! Joseph has been torn to pieces and eaten by some wild animal.”

₃₄Jacob mourned for Joseph a long time, and to show his sorrow he tore his clothes and wore sackcloth. ₃₅All Jacob's children came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will go to my grave, mourning for my son.” So Jacob kept on grieving.

₃₆Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt to a man named Potiphar, who was the king's official in charge of the palace guard.

₁About that time Judah left his brothers in the hill country and went to live near his friend Hirah in the town of Adullam. ₂While there he met the daughter of Shua, a Canaanite man. Judah married her, ₃and they had three sons. He named the first one Er; ₄she named the next one Onan. ₅The third one was born when Judah was in Chezib, and she named him Shelah.

₆Later, Judah chose Tamar as a wife for Er, his eldest son. ₇But Er was very evil, and the LORD took his life. ₈So Judah told Onan, “It's your duty to marry Tamar and have a child for your brother.”

₉Onan knew the child would not be his, and when he had sex with Tamar, he made sure that she would not get pregnant. ₁₀The LORD wasn't pleased with Onan and took his life too.

₁₁Judah did not want the same thing to happen to his son Shelah, and he told Tamar, “Go home to your father and live there as a widow until my son Shelah is grown up.” So Tamar went to live with her father.

₁₂Some years later Judah's wife died, and he mourned for her. He then went with his friend Hirah to the town of Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. ₁₃Tamar found out that her father-in-law Judah was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. ₁₄She also realized that Shelah was now a grown man, but she had not been allowed to marry him. So she decided to dress in something other than her widow's clothes and to cover her face with a veil. After this, she sat outside the town of Enaim on the road to Timnah.

₁₅When Judah came along, he did not recognize her because of the veil. He thought she was a prostitute ₁₆and asked her to sleep with him. She asked, “What will you give me if I do?”

₁₇“One of my young goats,” he answered.

“What will you give me to keep until you send the goat?” she asked.

₁₈“What do you want?” he asked in return.

“The ring on that cord around your neck,” was her reply. “I also want the special walking stick you have with you.” He gave them to her, they slept together, and she became pregnant.

₁₉After returning home, Tamar took off the veil and dressed in her widow's clothes again.

₂₀Judah sent his friend Hirah to take a goat to the woman, so he could get back the ring and walking stick, but she wasn't there. ₂₁Hirah asked the people of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who sat along the road outside your town?”

“There's never been one here,” they answered.

₂₂Hirah went back and told Judah, “I couldn't find the woman, and the people of Enaim said no prostitute had ever been there.”

₂₃“If you couldn't find her, we'll just let her keep the things I gave her,” Judah answered. “And we'd better forget about the goat, or else we'll look like fools.”

₂₄About three months later someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has behaved like a prostitute, and now she's pregnant!”

“Drag her out of town and burn her to death!” Judah shouted.

₂₅As Tamar was being dragged off, she sent someone to tell her father-in-law, “The man who gave me this ring, this cord, and this walking stick is the one who got me pregnant.”

₂₆“Those are mine!” Judah admitted. “She's a better person than I am, because I broke my promise to let her marry my son Shelah.” After this, Judah never slept with her again.

_27-28Tamar later gave birth to twins. But before either of them was born, one of them stuck a hand out of her womb. The woman who was helping tied a red thread around the baby's hand and explained, “This one came out first.”

₂₉Straight away his hand went back in, and the other child was born first. The woman then said, “What an opening you've made for yourself!” So they named the baby Perez. ₃₀When the brother with the red thread came out, they named him Zerah.