09.Vayeshev

Parasha 09: Vayeshev (Ya’akov continued living)

Genesis 37:1–40:23 (CJB)

¹ Ya‘akov continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Kena‘an.

² Here is the history of Ya‘akov. When Yosef was seventeen years old he used to pasture the flock with his brothers, even though he was still a boy. Once when he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, he brought a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Isra’el loved Yosef the most of all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to hate him and reached the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner.

⁵ Yosef had a dream which he told his brothers, and that made them hate him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine. ⁷ We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field when suddenly my bundle got up by itself and stood upright; then your bundles came, gathered around mine and prostrated themselves before it.” ⁸ His brothers retorted, “Yes, you will certainly be our king. You’ll do a great job of bossing us around!” And they hated him still more for his dreams and for what he said.

⁹ He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Here, I had another dream, and there were the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.” ¹⁰ He told his father too, as well as his brothers, but his father rebuked him: “What is this dream you have had? Do you really expect me, your mother and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves before you on the ground?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

(ii) ¹² After this, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s sheep in Sh’khem, ¹³ Isra’el asked Yosef, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the sheep in Sh’khem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁴ He said to him, “Go now, see whether things are going well with your brothers and with the sheep, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him away from the Hevron Valley, and he went to Sh’khem, ¹⁵ where a man found him wandering around in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ “I’m looking for my brothers,” he answered. “Tell me, please, where are they pasturing the sheep?” ¹⁷ The man said, “They’ve left here; because I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dotan.’ ” Yosef went after his brothers and found them in Dotan.

¹⁸ They spotted him in the distance, and before he had arrived where they were, they had already plotted to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, “Look, this dreamer is coming! ²⁰ So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we’ll say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” ²¹ But when Re’uven heard this, he saved him from being destroyed by them. He said, “We shouldn’t take his life. ²² Don’t shed blood,” Re’uven added. “Throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” He intended to rescue him from them later and restore him to his father.

(iii) ²³ So it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, ²⁴ and took him and threw him into the cistern (the cistern was empty; without any water in it). ²⁵ Then they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim coming from Gil‘ad, their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. ²⁶ Y’hudah said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim, instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers paid attention to him. ²⁸ So when the Midyanim, merchants, passed by, they drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef on to Egypt.

²⁹ Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef wasn’t in it, tore his clothes in mourning. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?”

³¹ They took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² Then they sent the long-sleeved robe and brought it to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” ³³ He recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!” ³⁴ Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. ³⁵ Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶ In Egypt the Midyanim sold Yosef to Potifar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard.

38 (iv) ¹ It was at this time that Y’hudah went off from his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah who was an ‘Adulami. ² There Y’hudah saw one of the daughters of a certain Kena‘ani whose name was Shua, and he took her and slept with her. ³ She conceived and had a son, whom he named ‘Er. ⁴ She conceived again and had a son, and she called him Onan. ⁵ Then she conceived yet again and had a son whom she called Shelah; he was in K’ziv when she gave birth to him.

⁶ Y’hudah took a wife for ‘Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But ‘Er, Y’hudah’s firstborn, was evil from Adonai’s perspective, so Adonai killed him. ⁸ Y’hudah said to Onan, “Go and sleep with your brother’s wife—perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and preserve your brother’s line of descent.” ⁹ However, Onan knew that the child would not count as his; so whenever he had intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled the semen on the ground, so as not to give his brother offspring. ¹⁰ What he did was evil from Adonai’s perspective, so he killed him too.

¹¹ Then Y’hudah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Stay a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “I don’t want him to die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived at home with her father. ¹² In due time, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Y’hudah, died. After Y’hudah had been comforted, he went up to be with his sheep-shearers in Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the ‘Adulami. ¹³ Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law has gone up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her widow’s clothes, completely covered her face with her veil, and sat at the entrance to ‘Einayim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she still was not being given to him as his wife. ¹⁵ When Y’hudah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ So he went over to her where she was sitting and said, not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, “Come, let me sleep with you.” She answered, “What will you pay to sleep with me?” ¹⁷ He said, “I will send you a kid from the flock of goats.” She said, “Will you also give me something as a guarantee until you send it” ¹⁸ He answered, “What should I give you as a guarantee?” She said, “Your seal, with its cord, and the staff you’re carrying in your hand.” So he gave them to her, then went and slept with her; and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ She got up and went away, took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes.

²⁰ Y’hudah sent the kid with his friend the ‘Adulami to receive the guarantee items back from the woman, but he couldn’t find her. ²¹ He asked the people near where she had been, “Where is the prostitute who was on the road at ‘Einayim?” But they answered, “There hasn’t been any prostitute here.” ²² So he returned to Y’hudah and said, “I couldn’t find her; also the people there said, ‘There hasn’t been any prostitute here.’ ” ²³ Y’hudah said, “All right, let her keep the things, so that we won’t be publicly shamed. I sent the kid, but you didn’t find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Y’hudah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been acting like a whore; moreover, she is pregnant as a result of her prostitution.” Y’hudah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned alive!” ²⁵ When she was brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong. Determine, I beg you, whose these are—the signet, the cords and the staff.” ²⁶ Then Y’hudah acknowledged owning them. He said, “She is more righteous than I, because I didn’t let her become the wife of my son Shelah.” And he never slept with her again.

²⁷ When she went into labor, it became evident that she was going to have twins. ²⁸ As she was in labor, one of them put out his hand; and the midwife took his hand and tied a scarlet thread on it, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But then he withdrew his hand, and his brother came out; so she said, “How did you manage to break out first?” Therefore he was named Peretz [breaking out]. ³⁰ Then out came his brother, with the scarlet thread on his hand, and he was given the name Zerach [scarlet].

39 (v) ¹ Yosef was brought down to Egypt, and Potifar, an officer of Pharaoh’s and captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Yishma‘elim who had brought him there. ² Adonai was with Yosef, and he became wealthy while he was in the household of his master the Egyptian. ³ His master saw how Adonai was with him, that Adonai prospered everything he did. ⁴ Yosef pleased him as he served him, and his master appointed him manager of his household; he entrusted all his possessions to Yosef. ⁵ From the time he appointed him manager of his household and all his possessions, Adonai blessed the Egyptian’s household for Yosef’s sake; Adonai’s blessing was on all he owned, whether in the house or in the field. ⁶ So he left all his possessions in Yosef’s care; and because he had him, he paid no attention to his affairs, except for the food he ate.

Now Yosef was well-built and handsome as well. (vi) ⁷ In time, the day came when his master’s wife took a look at Yosef and said, “Sleep with me!” ⁸ But he refused, saying to his master’s wife, “Look, because my master has me, he doesn’t know what’s going on in this house. He has put all his possessions in my charge. ⁹ In this house I am his equal; he hasn’t withheld anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ But she kept pressing him, day after day. Nevertheless, he didn’t listen to her; he refused to sleep with her or even be with her.

¹¹ However, one day, when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men living in the house was there indoors, ¹² she grabbed him by his robe and said, “Sleep with me!” But he fled, leaving his robe in her hand, and got himself outside. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his robe in her hand and had escaped, ¹⁴ she called the men of her house and said to them, “Look at this! My husband brought in a Hebrew to make fools of us. He came in and wanted to sleep with me, but I yelled out loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me yelling like that, he left his robe with me and ran out.” ¹⁶ She put the robe aside until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she said to him, “This Hebrew slave you brought us came in to make a fool of me. ¹⁸ But when I yelled out, he left his robe with me and fled outside.” ¹⁹ When his master heard what his wife said as she showed him, “Here’s what your slave did to me,” he became furious. ²⁰ Yosef’s master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king’s prisoners were kept; and there he was in the prison.

²¹ But Adonai was with Yosef, showing him grace and giving him favor in the sight of the prison warden. ²² The prison warden made Yosef supervisor of all the prisoners in the prison; so that whatever they did there, he was in charge of it. ²³ The prison warden paid no attention to anything Yosef did, because Adonai was with him; and whatever he did, Adonai prospered.

40 (vii) ¹ Some time later it came about that the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker gave offense to their lord the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh became angry with his two officers the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ³ So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, in the same place where Yosef was kept. ⁴ The captain of the guard charged Yosef to be with them, and he became their attendant while they remained in prison.

⁵ One night the two of them, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and his baker, there in prison, both had dreams, each dream with its own meaning. ⁶ Yosef came in to them in the morning and saw that they looked sad. ⁷ He asked Pharaoh’s officers there with him in the prison of his master’s house, “Why are you looking so sad today?” ⁸ They said to him, “We each had a dream, and there’s no one around who can interpret it.” Yosef said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”

⁹ Then the chief cupbearer told Yosef his dream: “In my dream, there in front of me was a vine, ¹⁰ and the vine had three branches. The branches budded, then it suddenly began to blossom, and finally clusters of ripe grapes appeared. ¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, so I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and gave the cup to Pharaoh.” ¹² Yosef said to him, “Here is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office: you will be giving Pharaoh his cup as you used to when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But remember me when it goes well with you; and show me kindness, please; and mention me to Pharaoh, so that he will release me from this prison. ¹⁵ For the truth is that I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and here too I have done nothing wrong that would justify putting me in this dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Yosef, “I too saw in my dream: there were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷ In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸ Yosef answered, “Here is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from off of you—he will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

(Maftir) ²⁰ On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he gave a party for all his officials, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his officials. ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer back to his position, so that he again gave Pharaoh his cup. ²² But he hanged the chief baker, as Yosef had interpreted to them. ²³ Nevertheless, the chief cupbearer didn’t remember Yosef, but forgot him.

Haftarah Vayeshev: ‘Amos (Amos) 2:6–3:8

Amos 2:6–3:8 (CJB)

⁶ Here is what Adonai says:

“For Isra’el’s three crimes,

no, four—I will not reverse it—

because they sell the upright for silver

and the poor for a pair of shoes,

⁷  grinding the heads of the poor in the dust

and pushing the lowly out of the way;

father and son sleep with the same girl,

profaning my holy name;

⁸  lying down beside any altar

on clothes taken in pledge;

drinking wine in the house of their God

bought with fines they imposed.

⁹  “I destroyed the Emori before them;

though tall as cedars and strong as oaks,

I destroyed their fruit above

and their root below.

¹⁰  More than that, I brought you up from Egypt,

led you forty years in the desert,

so that you could have the Emori’s land.

¹¹  I raised up some of your sons to be prophets,

other young men of yours to be n’zirim.

People of Isra’el!

Isn’t that true?” asks Adonai.

¹²  But you gave the n’zirim wine to drink

and ordered the prophets, ‘Don’t prophesy!’

¹³  “Enough! I will make all this crush you,

just as a cart overloaded with grain

crushes what’s under it.

¹⁴  Even the swift won’t be able to flee;

the strong won’t be able to use their strength,

the warriors won’t save themselves.

¹⁵  Archers won’t be able to stand,

the fastest runners won’t save themselves,

those on horses won’t save themselves.

¹⁶  On that day even the bravest warriors

will throw off their weapons and flee,” says Adonai.

3 ¹ “Listen to this word which Adonai has spoken against you, people of Isra’el, against the entire family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:

²  “Of all the families on earth,

only you have I intimately known.

This is why I will punish you

for all your crimes.”

³  Do two people travel together

without having so agreed?

⁴  Does a lion roar in the forest

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion growl in his lair

if it has caught nothing?

⁵  Does a bird get caught in a trap on the ground

if it hasn’t been baited?

Does a trap spring up from the ground

when it has taken nothing?

⁶  When the shofar is blown in the city,

don’t the people tremble?

Can disaster befall a city

without Adonai’s having done it?

⁷  Adonai, God, does nothing without

revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

⁸  The lion has roared. Who will not fear?

Adonai, God, has spoken. Who will not prophesy?

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Vayeshev:

Matthew 1:18–25 (CJB)

¹⁸ Here is how the birth of Yeshua the Messiah took place. When his mother Miryam was engaged to Yosef, before they were married, she was found to be pregnant from the Ruach HaKodesh. ¹⁹ Her husband-to-be, Yosef, was a man who did what was right; so he made plans to break the engagement quietly, rather than put her to public shame. ²⁰ But while he was thinking about this, an angel of Adonai appeared to him in a dream and said, “Yosef, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miryam home with you as your wife; for what has been conceived in her is from the Ruach HaKodesh. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘Adonai saves,’] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet,

²³  “The virgin will conceive and bear a son,

and they will call him ‘Immanu El.”

(The name means, “God is with us.”)

²⁴ When Yosef awoke he did what the angel of Adonai had told him to do—he took Miryam home to be his wife, ²⁵ but he did not have sexual relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Yeshua.

Acts 7:9–16 (specifically vv. 9–10)