In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.
He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”
He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—”
Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.
And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.”
So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’”
And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”
As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”
When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.
And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”
Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.
His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.
From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field.
So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.
But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house,
she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.
And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house,
she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice.
And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.”
and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me.
But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”
As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled.
And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.
The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.
Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt.
And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined.
The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.
And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation.
When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.
So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me,
and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes.
Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.”
Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house.
For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head,
and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.”
And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days.
In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”
On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.
But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
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