Study Desk

Joseph was born at a time when his father Israel was very old, so Israel loved him more than he loved his other sons. Jacob gave him a special coat, which was long and very beautiful.

His father said, "Go and see if your brothers are safe. Come back and tell me if my sheep are all fine." So Joseph's father sent him from the Valley of Hebron to Shechem.

The man said, "They have already gone away. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers and found them in Dothan.

So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit will we get if we kill our brother and hide his death?

Jacob was so sorry about his son that he tore his clothes. Then Jacob put on special clothes to show that he was sad. He continued to be sad about his son for a long time.

All of Jacob's sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but Jacob was never comforted. He said, "I will be sad about my son until the day I die." So Jacob continued to mourn his son Joseph.

But Er did many bad things. The Lord was not happy with him, so the Lord killed him.

This made the Lord angry. So he killed Onan also.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Go back to your father's house. Stay there and don't marry until my young son Shelah grows up." Judah was afraid that Shelah would also be killed like his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father's home.

Tamar always wore clothes that showed that she was a widow. So she put on some different clothes and covered her face with a veil. Then she sat down near the road going to Enaim, a town near Timnah. Tamar knew that Judah's younger son Shelah was now grown up, but Judah would not make plans for her to marry him.

So he went to her and said, "Let me have sex with you." (Judah did not know that she was Tamar, his daughter-in-law.) She said, "How much will you give me?"

So Judah's friend went back to Judah and said, "I could not find the woman. The men who live in that place said that there was never a prostitute there."

So Judah said, "Let her keep the things. I don't want people to laugh at us. I tried to give her the goat, but we could not find her. That is enough."

But that baby pulled his hand back in, so the other baby was born first. So the nurse said, "You were able to break out first!" So they named him Perez.

So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph. He allowed Joseph to work for him and to help him rule the house. Joseph was the ruler over everything Potiphar owned.

So Potiphar allowed Joseph to take responsibility for everything in the house. Potiphar didn't have to worry about anything except deciding what to eat. Joseph was a very handsome, good-looking man.

His master's wife grabbed his coat and said to him, "Come to bed with me." But Joseph ran out of the house so fast that he left his coat in her hand.

So Potiphar put Joseph into the prison where the king's enemies were held, and that is where Joseph remained.

The Lord was with Joseph and continued to show his kindness to him, so the commander of the prison guards began to like Joseph.

so he put them in the same prison as Joseph. Potiphar, the commander of Pharaoh's guards, was in charge of this prison.