¹ At that time Juda went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Odollamite, named Hiras.

² And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her.

³ And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her.

⁴ And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan.

⁵ She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. after whose birth, she ceased to bear any more.

⁶ And Juda took a wife for Her his firstborn, whose name was Thamar.

⁷ And Her, the firstborn of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.

⁸ Juda, therefore add to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.

⁹ He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.

¹⁰ And therefore the Lord slew him, be- cause he did a detestable thing.

¹¹ Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter in law: Remain a widow in thy father's house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way and dwelt in her father's house.

¹² And after many days were past, the daughter of Sue the wife of Juda died: and when he had taken comfort after his mourning, he went up to Thamnas, to the shearers of his sheep, he and Hiras the Odollamite the shepherd of his flock.

¹³ And it was told Thamar that her father in law was come up to Thamnas to shear his sheep.

¹⁴ And she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil: and changing her dress, sat in the cross way, that leadeth to Thamnas: because Sela was grown up, and she had not been married to him.

¹⁵ When Juda saw her, he thought she was a harlot: for she had covered her face, lest she should be known.

¹⁶ And going to her, he said: Suffer me to lie with thee: for he knew her not to be his daughter in law. And she answered: What wilt thou give me to en joy my company?

¹⁷ He said: I will send thee a kid out of the flock. And when she said again: I will suffer what thou wilt, if thou give a pledge, till thou send what thou promisest,

¹⁸ Juda said: What wilt thou have for a pledge ? She answered: Thy ring and bracelet, and the staff which thou holdest in thy hand. The woman therefore at one copulation conceived.

¹⁹ And she arose and went her way: and putting off the apparel which she had taken, put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ And Juda sent a kid by his shepherd, the Odollamite, that he might receive the pledge again, which he had given to the woman: but he, not finding her,

²¹ asked the men of that place : Where is the woman that sat in the cross way? And when they all made answer: There was no harlot in this place,

²² He returned to Juda, and said to him: I have not found her; moreover the men of that place said to me, that there never sat a harlot there.

²³ Juda said : Let her take it to herself ; surely she cannot charge us with a,lie: I sent the kid which I promised: and thou didst not find her.

²⁴ And behold after three months they told a lie, saying: Thamar, thy daughter in law hath played the harlot, and she appeareth to have a big belly. And Juda said : Bring her out that she may be burnt.

²⁵ But when she was led to execution, she sent to her father in law, saying: By the man, to whom these things belong, I am with child. See whose ring, and bracelet, and staff this is.

²⁶ But he acknowledging the gifts, said: She is juster than I: because I did not give her to Sela, my son. However, he knew her no more.

²⁷ And when she was ready to be brought to bed, there appeared twins in her womb: and in the very delivery of the infants, one put forth a hand, whereon the midwife tied a scarlet thread, saying:

²⁸ This shall come forth the first.

²⁹ But he drawing back his hand, the other came forth: and the woman said: Why is the partition divided for thee? and therefore called his name Phares.

³⁰ Afterwards his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread: and she called him Zara.

¹ Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan.

² This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.

⁴ His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.

⁵ Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.

⁶ He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:

⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf."

⁸ His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, 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 is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?"

¹¹ His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

¹² His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

¹³ Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am."

¹⁴ He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, "What are you looking for?"

¹⁶ He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock."

¹⁷ The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.

¹⁸ They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.

¹⁹ They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes.

²⁰ Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams."

²¹ Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life."

²² Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"--that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.

²³ It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him;

²⁴ and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

²⁵ They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

²⁷ Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him.

²⁸ Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he tore his clothes.

³⁰ He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where will I go?"

³¹ They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in the blood.

³² They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not."

³³ He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces."

³⁴ Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning." His father wept for him.

³⁶ The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard.