Genesis 39:5 T 43
brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing
offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the
Lord put him to death also.
11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your
father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may
die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.
12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah
had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were
shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.
13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to
shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s c lothes, covered herself with a
veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is
on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up,
she had not been given to him as his wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered
her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her
by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me s leep with you.”
“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.
“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.
18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?”
“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he
gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 After
she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.
20 Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his f riend the Adullamite in
order to get his p
ledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. 21 He
asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was be
side the road at Enaim?”
“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.
22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men
who lived t here said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’ ”
23 Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laugh
ingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is
guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”
Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”
25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I
am pregnant by the man who owns t hese,” she said. And she added, “See if
you recognize whose seal and cord and staff t hese are.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since
I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
27 When the time came for her to give birth, t here were twin boys in her
womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the mid
wife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came
out first.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she
said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. a 30 Then
his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was
named Zerah. b
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
39
Now Joseph had been taken down to E
gypt. Poti p
har, an Egyptian who
was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him
from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he l ived in the h
ouse
of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and
that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in
his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his house
hold, and he entrusted to his care everything he o
wned. 5 From the time he
a 29
Perez means breaking out. b 30 Zerah can mean scarlet or brightness.