The Berean Pursuit
About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite. There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her. So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er. Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan. Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.
Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother."
But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother's wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may die too, like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.
After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah. When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep," she removed her widow's garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you."
"What will you give me for sleeping with you?" she inquired.
"I will send you a young goat from my flock," Judah answered.
But she replied, "Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it."
"What pledge should I give you?" he asked.
She answered, "Your seal and your cord, and the staff in your hand." So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow's garments again.
Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her. He asked the men of that place, "Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?"
"No shrine prostitute has been here," they answered.
So Hirah returned to Judah and said, "I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, 'No shrine prostitute has been here.'?"
"Let her keep the items," Judah replied. "Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her."
About three months later, Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant."
"Bring her out!" Judah replied. "Let her be burned to death!"
As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong." And she added, "Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?"
Judah recognized the items and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not have relations with her again.
When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb. And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. "This one came out first," she announced. But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, "You have broken out first!" So he was named Perez. Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.
Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.
When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did, Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant.
Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned. From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian's household on account of him. The LORD's blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field. So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph's care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after some time his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, "Sleep with me."
But he refused. "Look," he said to his master's wife, "with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?"
Although Potiphar's wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, "Sleep with me!" But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. "Look," she said, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
So Potiphar's wife kept Joseph's cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him the same story: "The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is what your slave did to me," he burned with anger. So Joseph's master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king's prisoners were confined.
While Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph's care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Some time later, the king's cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant.
After they had been in custody for some time, both of these men-the Egyptian king's cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison-had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.
When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master's house, "Why are your faces so downcast today?"
"We both had dreams," they replied, "but there is no one to interpret them."
Then Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams."
So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: "In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand."
Joseph replied, "This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon."
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, "I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head. In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head."
Joseph replied, "This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body."
On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.
The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.
Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate.
So Pilate questioned Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"
"You have said so," Jesus replied.
And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things.
Then Pilate questioned Him again, "Have You no answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!"
But to Pilate's amazement, Jesus made no further reply.
Now it was Pilate's custom at the feast to release to the people a prisoner of their choosing. And a man named Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to keep his custom.
"Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" Pilate asked. For he knew it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.
So Pilate asked them again, "What then do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?"
And they shouted back, "Crucify Him!"
"Why?" asked Pilate. "What evil has He done?"
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify Him!"
And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.
Then the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called the whole company together. They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and set it on His head. And they began to salute Him: "Hail, King of the Jews!"
They kept striking His head with a staff and spitting on Him. And they knelt down and bowed before Him. After they had mocked Him, they removed the purple robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.
Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull. There they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it.
And they crucified Him.
They also divided His garments by casting lots to decide what each of them would take.
It was the third hour when they crucified Him. And the charge inscribed against Him read:
THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Along with Jesus, they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left.
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, come down from the cross and save Yourself!"
In the same way, the chief priests and scribes mocked Him among themselves, saying, "He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
When some of those standing nearby heard this, they said, "Behold, He is calling Elijah."
And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine. He put it on a reed and held it up for Jesus to drink, saying, "Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down."
But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
And there were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed Jesus and ministered to Him while He was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.
Now it was already evening. Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent Council member who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.
Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he summoned the centurion to ask if this was so. When Pilate had confirmed it with the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
So Joseph bought a linen cloth, took down the body of Jesus, wrapped it in the cloth, and placed it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where His body was placed.