Genesis 36 - 39 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Generations of Esau

36Now these are the generations of ^aEsau (that is, Edom).

²Esau ^atook his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and ^bOholibamah the daughter of Anah and the ^cgranddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ³also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. ⁴And Adah bore ^aEliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, ⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶^aThen Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all ¹his household, and his livestock and all his cattle and all his acquired goods, which he had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and he went to a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷^aFor their possessions had become too great for them to ¹live together, and the ^bland where they ^csojourned could not sustain them because of their livestock. ⁸So Esau lived in the hill country of ^aSeir; Esau is ^bEdom.

⁹These then are the generations of Esau the father of ¹the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. ¹⁰These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, ¹Zepho and Gatam and Kenaz. ¹²Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore ^aAmalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah. ¹³These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁴These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the ¹granddaughter of Zibeon: ²she bore to Esau, Jeush and Jalam and Korah.

¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, ¹⁶chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs ¹descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs ¹descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁸These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs ¹descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ¹⁹These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

²⁰These are the sons of Seir ^athe Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, ²¹and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs ¹descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and ¹Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. ²³These are the sons of Shobal: ¹Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, ²Shepho and Onam. ²⁴These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. ²⁵These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ²⁶These are the sons of ¹^,^aDishon: ²Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. ²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and ¹Akan. ²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, ³⁰chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs ¹descended from the Horites, according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir.

³¹Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any ^aking of the sons of Israel reigned. ³²^aAnd Bela the son of Beor became king in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place. ³⁴Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place. ³⁵Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who struck down Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place. ³⁷Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the ¹River became king in his place. ³⁸Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place. ³⁹Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and ¹Hadar became king in his place; and the name of his city was ²Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰Now these are the names of the chiefs ¹descended from Esau, according to their families and their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief ²Alvah, chief Jetheth, ⁴¹chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, ⁴²chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, ⁴³chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of ¹the Edomites), according to their places of habitation in the land of their possession.

The Generations of Jacob

37Now Jacob lived in ^athe land ¹where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. ²These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when ^aseventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with ^bthe sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back an ^cevil report about them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was ^athe son of his old age; and he made him a ¹^,^bvaricolored tunic. ⁴And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and so they ^ahated him and could not speak to him in peace.

Joseph’s Dreams

⁵Then Joseph ¹^,^ahad a dream, and he told it to his brothers; so they hated him even more. ⁶And he said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have ¹had: ⁷Indeed, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf rose up and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and ^abowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸Then his brothers said to him, “^aAre you really going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he ¹had still another dream and recounted it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have ²had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have ¹had? Shall I and your mother and ^ayour brothers really come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” ¹¹^aAnd his brothers were jealous of him, but his father ^bkept the saying in mind.

¹²Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in ^aShechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “¹I will go.” ¹⁴Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of ^aHebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “¹What are you seeking?” ¹⁶And he said, “I am seeking my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷Then the man said, “They have journeyed from here; for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to ^aDothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹⁸And they saw him from a distance, and before he came close to them, they ^aplotted against him to put him to death. ¹⁹Then they said to one another, “¹Here comes this dreamer! ²⁰“So now, come and let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits; and ^awe will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹But ^aReuben heard this and delivered him out of their hands and said, “Let us not strike down his life.” ²²Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not put forth your hands against him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands to return him to his father. ²³Now it happened, when Joseph ¹reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his ²tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; ²⁴and they took him and cast him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵And they sat down to eat ¹a meal. Then they lifted up their eyes and saw, and behold, a caravan of ^aIshmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ²^,^baromatic gum and ³^,^cbalm and ⁴myrrh, going to bring them down to Egypt. ²⁶And Judah said to his brothers, “What gain is it that we kill our brother and ^acover up his blood? ²⁷“^aCome and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸Then some ^aMidianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and ^bsold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for ¹twenty shekels of silver. Thus ^cthey brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹Then Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^atore his garments. ³⁰Then he returned to his brothers and said, “^aThe boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” ³¹So ^athey took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³²and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please recognize it—whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” ³³And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. ^aA wild beast has devoured him; ^bJoseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴So Jacob ^atore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will ^ago down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶Meanwhile, the ¹Midianites ^asold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.

Judah and Tamar

38Now it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain ^aAdullamite, whose name was Hirah. ²And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was ^aShua; and he took her and went in to her. ³So she conceived and bore a son, and he named him ^aEr. ⁴Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she named him ^aOnan. ⁵And she bore still another son, and she named him ^aShelah; and it was at Chezib ¹that she bore him.

⁶Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷But ^aEr, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh put him to death. ⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “^aGo in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a seed for your brother.” ⁹And Onan knew that the ^aseed would not be his; and it happened that when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted it on the ground in order not to give seed to his brother. ¹⁰But what he did was displeasing in the sight of Yahweh; so He ^aput him to death also. ¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “^aLive as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he ¹thought, “I am afraid lest he also die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹²And ¹after a considerable time, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Then Judah was comforted, and he went up to his sheepshearers at ^aTimnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³Then it was told to Tamar, “¹Behold, your father-in-law is going up to ^aTimnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴So she removed her widow’s garments from herself and ^acovered herself with a ¹veil and wrapped herself. And she sat at the entrance of ²Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and ^bshe had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵Then Judah saw her, and he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here now, let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷He said, therefore, “I will send you a ¹young goat from the flock.” She said, moreover, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?” ¹⁸Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “^aYour signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹Then she arose and went. And she removed her ¹veil from herself and put on her widow’s garments.

²⁰Then Judah sent the ¹young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. ²¹So he asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the cult prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no cult prostitute here.” ²²So he returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’” ²³Then Judah said, “Let her ¹keep them, lest we become a laughingstock. Behold, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”

²⁴Now it happened about three months later that it was told to Judah saying, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out and ^alet her be burned!” ²⁵It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these things belong.” And she said, “^aPlease recognize this and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?” ²⁶And Judah recognized them and said, “^aShe is more righteous than I, inasmuch as ^bI did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not ¹know her again.

²⁷Now it happened at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were ^atwins in her womb. ²⁸And it happened, while she was giving birth, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹And then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. So she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named ¹^,^aPerez. ³⁰Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named ¹^,^aZerah.

Joseph in Potiphar’s House

39Now Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian official of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him ¹from the ^aIshmaelites, who had brought him down there. ²^aAnd Yahweh was with Joseph, so he became a ¹successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³Now his master ^asaw that Yahweh was with him and how Yahweh ^bcaused all that he did to succeed in his hand. ⁴So Joseph ^afound favor in his sight and ¹attended on him; and he appointed him overseer over his house, and ^ball that he owned he gave in his hand. ⁵Now it happened that from the time he appointed him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, Yahweh ^ablessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus ^bthe blessing of Yahweh was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. ⁶So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s hand; and with him there he did not ¹concern himself with anything except the ²food which he ³ate. Now Joseph was ^abeautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.

⁷And it happened after these events ^athat his master’s wife ¹set her eyes on Joseph and said, “^bLie with me.” ⁸But ^ahe refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master ¹does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has given all that he owns into my hand. ⁹“¹^,^aThere is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and ^bsin against God?” ¹⁰So it happened that as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her.

¹¹Now it happened ¹one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. ¹²Then she seized him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. ¹³Now it happened, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, ¹⁴that she called to the men of her household and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in a ¹Hebrew to us to laugh at us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I ²screamed. ¹⁵“Now it happened that when he heard that I raised my voice and ¹screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” ¹⁶And she placed his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she ^aspoke to him ¹with these words, saying, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to laugh at me; ¹⁸and as I raised my voice and ¹screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Joseph Is Put into Jail

¹⁹Now it happened that when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “¹This is what your slave did to me,” ^ahis anger burned. ²⁰So Joseph’s master took him and ^aput him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. ²¹But ^aYahweh was with Joseph and ¹extended lovingkindness to him and ^bgave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. ²²So the chief jailer ^agave into the hand of Joseph all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was ¹the one who did it. ²³^aThe chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s hand because ^bYahweh was with him; and whatever he did, ^cYahweh made to succeed.