Peace of Our Savior Lutheran Church and Preschool - WELS

Genesis 38 – 39

Judah and Tamar

Genesis 38

¹ About that time Judah went down from his brothers and visited a man from Adullam named Hirah. ² There Judah saw a daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He took her as a wife and went to her. ³ She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er. ⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Onan. ⁵ She gave birth to yet another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to Shelah.

⁶ Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn. Her name was Tamar. ⁷ It turned out that Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him.

⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Go to your brother’s wife. Perform your duty for her as the brother of her deceased husband and provide offspring ^[1] for your brother.” ⁹ Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he went to his brother’s wife, he wasted his semen on the ground, so that he would not provide offspring for his brother. ¹⁰ But the thing that he did was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him also.

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah is grown up.” Actually he had said to himself, “I do not want him to die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹² After some time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ Tamar was told, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ She took off the garments that identified her as a widow, covered herself with her veil, disguised herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not going to be given to him as a wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He turned to her by the roadside and said, “Please, let me come to you,” because he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me, so that you may come to me?”

¹⁷ He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.”

She said, “Will you give me something as a security deposit until you send the goat?”

¹⁸ He said, “What should I give you as a deposit?”

She said, “Your stamp seal on its cord and your staff that is in your hand.”

He gave them to her and went to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left. Later she took off her veil and put her widow’s garments back on.

²⁰ Judah sent the young goat with his friend, the Adullamite, to get back the deposit from the woman’s possession, but he could not find her. ²¹ So he asked the men from that place, “Where is the sacred prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?”

They said, “There hasn’t been any sacred prostitute here.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and the men of the place said, ‘There hasn’t been any sacred prostitute here.’”

²³ Judah said, “Let her keep it, so that we are not disgraced. Look, I did send this young goat, but you were unable to find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has prostituted herself, and even worse, she is pregnant by prostitution.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and burn her.”

²⁵ When she was brought, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” She also said, “Please help me identify whose these are—this stamp seal on its cord and the staff.”

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah, my son.” But he was not intimate with her again.

²⁷ When the time came for her to go into labor, it turned out that there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ When she was in labor, one of the twins put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But then after he had pulled back his hand, his brother came out first, so she said, “What a breakthrough you made for yourself!” That is why he was named Perez. ^{[2] 30} Afterward his brother who had the scarlet thread on his hand came out, so he was named Zerah. ^[3]

Joseph in Egypt

Genesis 39

¹ When Joseph was brought down to Egypt, Potiphar the Egyptian, who was an officer ^[4] of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down to Egypt. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he became successful. He served in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made everything that he touched a success. ⁴ Joseph found favor in his sight. Joseph served him, and he made Joseph manager of his household. He put Joseph in charge of everything.

⁵ From the time that Potiphar made him manager of his household, in charge of everything that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake, and the blessing of the Lord rested on everything that he had, both in the house and in the fields. ⁶ So he left Joseph in charge of everything that he had. He did not concern himself with anything except the food that he ate.

Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷ Sometime after all this, his master’s wife had her eye on Joseph, and she said, “Come, lie down with me.”

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not concern himself with anything that has been entrusted to me in the house. He has put me in charge of everything that he has. ⁹ He has no one in this house greater than I am, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁰ She kept speaking to Joseph day after day, but he would not listen to her. He would not lie down beside her or even be with her. ¹¹ But one day when he went into the house to do his work, none of the men of the household were there inside the house. ¹² She caught him by his garment and said, “Come, lie down with me!” He left behind his garment in her hand and ran outside.

¹³ When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “Look, my husband has brought a Hebrew man in to put us to shame. He came in to lie down with me, but I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁶ She kept his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ This is what she told him: “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came to me to put me to shame and said to me, ‘Let me lie down with you.’ ^{[5] 18} And look, when I screamed and cried out, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became very angry. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined, so Joseph was kept in prison there.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph. He showed mercy to him and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison. ²² The warden of the prison made Joseph responsible for all the prisoners who were in the prison. Joseph was responsible for whatever they did there. ²³ The warden of the prison did not pay attention to anything that was under his authority, because the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord made everything that he did succeed.

Genesis 37

Trouble in Jacob’s Family

¹ Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided as an alien, that is, in the land of Canaan.

² This is the account about the development of the family of Jacob:

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers. He was just a boy compared to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son born in his old age, ^[1] and he made him a special robe. ^{[2] 4} His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him in a friendly way.

⁵ Once Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, so they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷ There we were, binding sheaves in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “So will you really reign over us? Will you really have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more because of his dreams and what he said.

⁹ Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. This is what I saw: The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” ¹⁰ He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept what he had said in mind.

¹² His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Go, I will send you to them.”

Joseph said to him, “Yes, I will do it.”

¹⁴ Israel said to him, “Please go and see whether everything is going well with your brothers and with the flock. Then bring me word again.” So he sent him off from the valley at Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem.

¹⁵ A man met him as he was wandering in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.”

¹⁷ The man said, “They have left here. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”

Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸ They saw him in the distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, “Look, here comes this master of dreams. ²⁰ Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we will say, ‘A wild animal has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

²¹ Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” ²² Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this cistern that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” He said this so that he could rescue him out of their hands and restore him to his father.

²³ And so when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the special robe he was wearing. ²⁴ Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ They sat down to eat bread, and they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, which they were going to deliver to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there in killing our brother and concealing his blood? ²⁷ Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, since he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers listened to him. ²⁸ As the Midianites, who were merchants, were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces ^[3] of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the cistern, he saw that Joseph was not in the cistern, so he tore his clothing. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is no longer here, and as for me, where will I go now?”

³¹ Then they took Joseph’s robe, killed a male goat, and dipped the robe in the goat’s blood. ³² They took the special robe, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Examine it now, and see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

³³ He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A wild animal has devoured him. Without a doubt Joseph has been torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Jacob tore his clothing, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. ³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “No, I will mourn for my son until I go down to the grave.” So his father wept for him.

³⁶ In Egypt the Midianites sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, who was the captain of the guard.

Genesis 36

Esau’s Descendants

¹ Now this is the account about the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom): ² Esau took Canaanite women as his wives. They were Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. ³ He also married Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

⁴ Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau.

Basemath gave birth to Reuel.

⁵ Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, along with his livestock, all his animals, and all the possessions that he had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and he went into another land, away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ Their herds were too large for them to stay together, and the land where they had settled could not support both of them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is another name for Edom.)

⁹ This is the account about the descendants of Esau, who was the founding father of Edom in the hill country of Seir:

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

¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹² Timna was the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

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

¹⁴ The following were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon. She gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah for Esau.

The Chiefs of the Clans of Edom

¹⁵ The following are the chiefs of the clans of the descendants of Esau:

From the descendants of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau they were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, ¹⁶ Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These are the chiefs who descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the descendants of Adah.

¹⁷ The following are the descendants of Esau’s son Reuel: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs who descended from Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸ The following are the descendants of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, and Chief Korah. These are the chiefs who came from Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah. ¹⁹ These are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

Other People of Edom

²⁰ The following are the sons of Seir the Horite, who lived in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs who descended from the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.

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

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

²⁴ The following are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the wilderness as he was feeding the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

²⁵ The following are the descendants of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

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

²⁷ The following are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Za’avan, and Akan.

²⁸ The following are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹ The following are the chiefs who descended from the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, ³⁰ Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishan. These are the chiefs who came from the Horites, according to their chiefdoms in the land of Seir.

Kings of Edom

³¹ The following are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel:

³² Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³ Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place.

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

³⁵ Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the territory of Moab, reigned in his place. The name of his city was Avith.

³⁶ Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place.

³⁷ Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his place.

³⁸ Shaul died, and Baal Hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

³⁹ Baal Hanan son of Achbor died, and Hadad ^[1] reigned in his place. The name of his city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ The following are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, listed according to their clans, their territory, and their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, ⁴¹ Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, ⁴² Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, ⁴³ Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to the territory they inhabited in the land they possessed. (Edom is another name for Esau, the father of the Edomites.)

Genesis 35

The Return to Bethel

¹ God said to Jacob, “Get up and go to Bethel, and live there. Make an altar there for God, who appeared to you when you fled from the presence of Esau your brother.”

² Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothing. ³ Let’s get up and go to Bethel. I will make an altar there for God, who answered me in the day when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I have traveled.”

⁴ They gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ They set out, and terror from God fell on the cities that were around them, so they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. ⁶ So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ He built an altar there and named the place El Beth El, ^[1] because God had been revealed to him there, when he fled from the presence of his brother.

⁸ Deborah, who was Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under the oak below Bethel. So the place was named Allon Bacuth. ^[2]

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Paddan Aram, and he blessed him. ^{[3] 10} God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will not be Jacob anymore. Your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. ^{[4] 11} God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a community of nations will descend from you, and kings will come from your body. ¹² The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give also to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

¹³ God left him in the place where he had spoken with him, ¹⁴ and Jacob set up a memorial in the place where God had spoken with him. It was a memorial stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.

Jacob’s Sons

¹⁶ Then they traveled from Bethel. As they were coming close to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. She was experiencing hard labor, ¹⁷ and when she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”

¹⁸ Then as her life was slipping away ^[5] (for she was dying), she named her son Benoni, ^[6] but his father named him Benjamin. ^{[7] 19} So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set up a memorial stone on her grave. It is the marker for Rachel’s tomb to this day. ²¹ Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ^[8]

²² While Israel lived in that region, Reuben went and lay down with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons.

²³ The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s maid) were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s maid) were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷ Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre near Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided as aliens.

The Death of Isaac

²⁸ The days of Isaac’s life were one hundred eighty years. ²⁹ Isaac breathed his last and died. He was gathered to his people. He had lived a long, full life. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

Genesis 34

Dinah and Shechem

¹ Dinah, Jacob’s daughter by Leah, went out to see the young women of the land. ² Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the chief of that part of the land, saw her and took her, lay down with her, and humiliated her. ^{[1] 3} He had a strong desire for Dinah, ^[2] the daughter of Jacob, and he was in love with the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ^{[3] 4} Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”

⁵ When Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, his sons were out in the field with his livestock, so Jacob kept quiet about it until they came back. ⁶ Hamor the father of Shechem came to talk with Jacob. ⁷ The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it. The men were shocked by the outrage, and they were very angry, because he had disgraced Israel by lying down with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that should not be done. ⁸ Hamor spoke with them. He said, “My son Shechem has a deep longing for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. ⁹ Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You may live among us, and the land will be open to you. Live in it, conduct trade, and acquire property in it.”

¹¹ Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you ask from me I will give. ¹² No matter how great a bride price and gift ^[4] you demand, I will give it. Just give me the young woman as a wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this—giving our sister to a man who is uncircumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent to your offer: If all your males become circumcised as we are, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not accept our terms and undergo circumcision, then we will take our sister, ^[5] and we will be gone.”

¹⁸ Their offer pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay acting on it, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter, and he was the most important ^[6] of all the household of his father. ²⁰ Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and discussed this with the men of their city. They said, ²¹ “These men want peace with us. So let them live in the land and trade in it. Look, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives for ourselves, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and to become one people with us: if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. ²³ Won’t all their livestock, all their possessions, and all their animals become ours? So let’s accept their offer, so that they will settle among us.”

²⁴ Everyone who assembled at the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to Shechem his son. So all the males who assembled at the gate of the city were circumcised. ²⁵ Then on the third day, when they were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, attacked the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword. They took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left.

²⁷ Jacob’s sons then came to the dead bodies and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, everything that was in the city, everything that was in the countryside, ²⁹ and all their wealth. They took all their little ones and their wives as captives. They looted everything that was in the houses.

³⁰ Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me. You have made me stink to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”

³¹ But they said, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”