The Favored Son
Yaakov settles in the land of Canaan, and his son Yosef, seventeen years old, tends the flocks with his brothers and brings their father troubling reports about them. Yaakov loves Yosef more than his other children and gives him a fine coat of many colors, a mark of favor that makes his brothers hate him so much that they cannot speak a kind word to him. Then Yosef dreams that his brothers' sheaves of grain bow down to his own, and dreams again that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bow before him. His brothers seethe with envy at his boldness, while his father quietly keeps the strange dreams in mind.
Sold into Egypt
Yaakov sends Yosef to check on his brothers as they pasture the flocks near Shechem, and when they see him approaching they plot to kill the dreamer. Reuven (Reuben) persuades them instead to throw him into a pit, hoping to rescue him later, and they strip off his coat and cast him in. When a caravan of traders passes, the brothers sell Yosef for twenty pieces of silver, and he is carried down to Egypt. They dip his coat in goat's blood and bring it to their father, who recognizes it, believes a wild beast has devoured his son, and mourns so bitterly that he refuses all comfort. In Egypt Yosef is sold to Potifar, an officer of Par'oh (Pharaoh).
Yehuda and Tamar
The narrative pauses to follow Yehuda, who leaves his brothers, marries, and has three sons. His eldest marries a woman named Tamar but dies, and when the second son also dies after refusing to father a child in his brother's name, Yehuda holds back his youngest son from her. Tamar veils herself and sits by the road, and Yehuda, not recognizing her, leaves his seal, cord, and staff as a pledge for payment. When she is later found to be with child and is condemned to death, she sends out the pledges, and Yehuda admits that she is more righteous than he, for he had denied her his son. She gives birth to twins, Peretz (Perez) and Zerach (Zerah), and from Peretz the royal line of David will one day come.
In Potifar's House
In Egypt God is with Yosef, and everything he does prospers, so Potifar places his entire household in Yosef's trusted care. Potifar's wife tries again and again to seduce the handsome young man, but Yosef refuses, unwilling to betray his master or to sin against God. One day she seizes his garment and demands that he lie with her, and when he flees, leaving the garment in her hand, she uses it to accuse him falsely. Potifar has Yosef thrown into the prison where the king's captives are held.
Dreams in the Dungeon
Even in prison God is with Yosef, and the warden puts all the prisoners in his charge. Par'oh's chief cupbearer and chief baker are jailed there, and one night each of them has a troubling dream. Yosef interprets them: in three days the cupbearer will be restored to his position, but the baker will be put to death. He begs the cupbearer to remember him and speak to Par'oh on his behalf, yet when the cupbearer is freed exactly as foretold, he forgets all about Yosef, who remains in prison as the parsha ends.