Study Desk

And the man said, "They have moved from here. For I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph followed his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Come, 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 to him.

Some Midianite traders were passing by. So the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the hole. And they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt.

Jacob looked at it and said, "It is my son's coat! A wild animal has eaten him! For sure Joseph has been torn to pieces!"

So Jacob tore his clothes and dressed in clothes made from hair. He had sorrow for his son many days.

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him. But he would not be comforted. He said, "I will go down to the grave in sorrow for my son." And his father cried for him.

Judah chose a wife for his first-born son Er. Her name was Tamar.

Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife. Do your duty as her brother-in-law. Have children for your brother."

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Stay in your father's house as a woman whose husband has died, until my son Shelah is grown." For he thought, "I am afraid that he also may die like his brothers." So Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

So she took off the clothes of a woman whose husband has died and put on other clothes and covered her face with cloth. Then she sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown, and she had not been given to him for a wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a woman who sold the use of her body. For she had covered her face.

When she was brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "I am going to have a baby by the man who owns these things." She said, "Look and see, who owns this ring for marking a name, and this string and stick?"

When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were two babies.

But when he pulled away his hand, his brother was born. Then she said, "What an opening you have made for yourself!" So he was given the name of Perez.

So Joseph found favor in his eyes, and worked only for him. Potiphar made him the one to watch over his house and take care of all that he owned.

The head of the soldiers had Joseph watch over them. He took care of them, and they were in prison for a long time.

So he asked these men who had worked for Pharaoh and who were with him in prison in his boss's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?"

For I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews. And here also I have done nothing for which they should put me in prison."

All kinds of food for Pharaoh were in the top basket. But the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head."

On the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, he made a special supper for his servants. He gave honor to the head cup-carrier and the head bread-maker among his servants.