Study Desk

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

When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.

"Now then, come and let's kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A vicious animal devoured him.' Then we will see what will become of his dreams!"

Then Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him"—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father.

Then they sat down to eat a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying labdanum resin, balsam, and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.

So they took Joseph's tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood;

Then he examined it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A vicious animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!"

So Jacob tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her as a wife and had relations with her.

And she conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.

Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.

Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

Then Judah said to Onan, "Have relations with your brother's wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a child for your brother."

Now Onan knew that the child would not be his; so when he had relations with his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground so that he would not give a child to his brother.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up"; for he thought, "I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers." So Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

Now after a considerable time Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

So she removed her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife.

When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

He said, therefore, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She then said, "Will you give a pledge until you send it?"