CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]. Common English Bible

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Reuben returned to the cistern and found that Joseph wasn't in it, he tore his clothes. ³⁰Then he returned to his brothers and said, "The boy's gone! And I--where can I go now?"

      ³¹His brothers took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. ³²They took the long robe, brought it to their father, and said, "We found this. See if it's your son's robe or not."

      ³³He recognized it and said, "It's my son's robe! A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph must have been torn to pieces!"³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put a simple mourning cloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. ³⁵All of his sons and daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, telling them, "I'll go to my grave mourning for my son." And Joseph's father wept for him. ³⁶Meanwhile the Midianites had sold Joseph to the Egyptians, to Potiphar, Pharaoh's chief officer, commander of the royal guard.

Tamar's place in Judah's family

      Genesis 38At that time, Judah moved away from his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her. After he slept with her, ³she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she^h named Er. ⁴She became pregnant again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan. ⁵Then she gave birth to one more son and named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she gave birth to him.

      ⁶Judah married his oldest son Er to a woman named Tamar. ⁷But the LORD considered Judah's oldest son Er immoral, and the LORD put him to death. ⁸Judah said to Onan, "Go to your brother's wife, do your duty as her brother-in-law, and provide children for your brother."⁹Onan knew the children wouldn't be his so when he slept with his brother's wife, he wasted his semen on the ground, so he wouldn't give his brother children. ¹⁰The LORD considered what he did as wrong and put him to death too. ¹¹Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Stay as a widow in your father's household until my son Shelah grows up." He thought Shelah would die like his brothers had. So Tamar went and lived in her father's household.

      ¹²After a long time, Judah's wife the daughter of Shua died. Then, after a period of mourning, he and his neighbor Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah, to those who were shearing his sheep. ¹³Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is now on his way up to Timnah to shear his sheep."¹⁴So Tamar took off the clothing she wore as a widow, covered herself with a veil, put on makeup,ⁱ and sat down at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah, since she realized that although Shelah had already grown up, she hadn't been given to him as a wife.

      ¹⁵Judah saw her and thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. ¹⁶He turned to her beside the road and said, "Let me sleep with you," because he didn't know she was his daughter-in-law.

      She said, "What will you give me for sleeping with you?"

      ¹⁷He said, "I will give you a kid goat from my flock."

      She said, "Only if you give me some deposit, as security to guarantee that you will send it."

      ¹⁸He said, "What kind of deposit should I give you?"

      And she said, "Your seal, its cord, and the staff in your hand." He gave these to her, slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

      ¹⁹Then she got up, left, and took off her veil, dressing once again in the clothing she wore as a widow. ²⁰Judah sent the kid goat with his neighbor Hirah the Adullamite so he could take back the deposits from the woman, but he couldn't find her. ²¹He asked the locals of that place, "Where's the consecrated worker^j who was at Enaim on the road?"

      But they said, "There's no consecrated worker here."

      ²²So he went back to Judah and said, "I couldn't find her. The locals even said, 'There's no holy woman here.'"

      ²³Judah said, "Let her keep everything so we aren't laughed at. I did send this kid goat, but you couldn't find her."

      ²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has become a prostitute and is now pregnant because of it."

      And Judah said, "Bring her out so that she may be burned."

      ²⁵When she was brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, "I'm pregnant by the man who owns these things. See if you recognize whose seal, cord, and staff these are."

      ²⁶Judah recognized them and said, "She's more righteous than I am, because I didn't allow her to marry my son Shelah." Judah never knew her intimately again.

      ²⁷When she gave birth, she discovered she had twins in her womb. ²⁸At birth, one boy put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a red thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first."²⁹As soon as he pulled his hand back, his brother came out, and she said, "You've burst out on your own." So he was named Perez.^{k 30}Afterward, his brother with the red thread on his hand came out, and he was named Zerah.^l

Joseph's rise and betrayal

      Genesis 39When Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, Potiphar, Pharaoh's chief officer, the commander of the royal guard and an Egyptian, purchased him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ²The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man and served in his Egyptian master's household. ³His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did successful. ⁴Potiphar thought highly of Joseph, and Joseph became his assistant; he appointed Joseph head of his household and put everything he had under Joseph's supervision. ⁵From the time he appointed Joseph head of his household and of everything he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian's household because of Joseph. The LORD blessed everything he had, both in the household and in the field. ⁶So he handed over everything he had to Joseph and didn't pay attention to anything except the food he ate.

      Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

      ⁷Some time later, his master's wife became attracted to Joseph and said, "Sleep with me."

      ⁸He refused and said to his master's wife, "With me here, my master doesn't pay attention to anything in his household; he's put everything he has under my supervision. ⁹No one is greater than I am in this household, and he hasn't denied me anything except you, since you are his wife. How could I do this terrible thing and sin against God?"¹⁰Every single day she tried to convince him, but he wouldn't agree to sleep with her or even to be with her.

      ¹¹One day when Joseph arrived at the house to do his work, none of the household's men were there. ¹²She grabbed his garment, saying, "Lie down with me." But he left his garment in her hands and ran outside. ¹³When she realized that he had left his garment in her hands and run outside, ¹⁴she summoned the men of her house and said to them, "Look, my husband brought us a Hebrew to ridicule us. He came to me to lie down with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵When he heard me raise my voice and scream, he left his garment with me and ran outside."¹⁶She kept his garment with her until Joseph's master came home, ¹⁷and she told him the same thing: "The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us, to ridicule me, came to me;¹⁸but when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment with me and ran outside."

      ¹⁹When Joseph's

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