Genesis 36-38

1This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).

2Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,

3and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

4And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath gave birth to Reuel,

5and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

6Later, Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the people of his household, along with his livestock, all his other animals, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob.

7For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock.

8So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir.

9This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir.

10These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

11The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

12Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

13These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

14These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah (daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon) whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

15These are the chiefs among the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

16Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. They are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Adah.

17These are the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

18These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. They are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

19All these are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and they were their chiefs.

20These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

21Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.

22The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Timna was Lotan’s sister.

23These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

24These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.)

25These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

26These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

27These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

28These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

29These are the chiefs of the Horites: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

30Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their divisions in the land of Seir.

31These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:

32Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

33When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.

34When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

35When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith.

36When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.

37When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place.

38When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

39When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadad reigned in his place. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

40These are the names of Esau’s chiefs, according to their families and regions, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

41Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

42Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

43Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was the father of the Edomites.

1Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan.

2This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

3Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.

4When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

5Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

6He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

7We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”

8“Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.

9Then Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

11And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.

12Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem.

13Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied.

14Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,

15a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?”

16“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

17“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

18Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him.

19“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another.

20“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”

21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said.

22“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.

23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing—

24and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.

25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.

26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed.

28So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,

30returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

31Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

32They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

33His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

35All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

1About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite.

2There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.

3So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.

4Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.

5Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

6Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

7But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.

8Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”

9But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

10What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.

11Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

12After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.

13When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

14she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.

16Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.

17“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”

18“What pledge should I give you?” he asked. She answered, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

19Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again.

20Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

21He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered.

22So Hirah returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, ‘No shrine prostitute has been here.’”

23“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”

24About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”

25As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?”

26Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.

27When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

28And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. “This one came out first,” she announced.

29But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez.

30Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.