Jacob and his twelve sons settle in Hebron. His favorite is the 17-year-old Joseph, to whom he gifts a coat of many colors. The other brothers, naturally, are jealous, and Joseph doesn’t exactly make things better when he shares two of his dreams, both of which foretell that Joseph will one day rule over the rest of his brothers.

Simeon and Levi plot to kill Joseph, but Reuben intervenes and suggests that they throw him in a pit instead. While Joseph is in the pit, Judah sells him to a band of Ishmaelites. The brothers, meanwhile, dip the technicolor coat in goat’s blood and show it to Jacob, making it look like Joseph was eaten by a wild animal.We get an account of Judah’s sons, two of whom die young. The elder son’s wife, Tamar, disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces Judah. When he hears that she is pregnant, he accuses her of harlotry and orders her executed, but Tamar then produces a few of Judah’s belongings she had kept in lieu of payment, and Judah is forced to admit that he is the father. Tamar gives birth to twins, Peretz and Zerach.

 

Joseph, meanwhile, is taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s ministers. He soon becomes successful and is appointed overseer of Potiphar’s property, but when he rebukes the advances of Potiphar’s wife, she accuses Joseph of trying to force himself on her, and Joseph is thrown in jail. There, he gains the trust of his jailers and is promoted to a position in the prison’s administration.While in prison, Joseph meets Pharaoh’s butler and baker, both incarcerated for offending the king. They have troubling dreams, which Joseph interprets. Joseph then asks the butler to intervene on his behalf, but the butler forgets and does nothing to help.

"Take a census of the entire community of the Israelites by families, by their paternal houses, by the number of their names, a head count of every male."