Genesis 25; Genesis 26; Genesis 27; Genesis 28; Genesis 29; Genesis 30; Genesis 31; Genesis 32; Genesis 33; Genesis 34; Genesis 35; Genesis 36; Genesis 37; Genesis 38; Genesis 39; Genesis 40; Genesis 41; Genesis 42; Genesis 43; Genesis 44; Genesis 45; Genesis 46; Genesis 47; Genesis 48; Genesis 49; Genesis 50

Genesis 25

1 Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah,

2 and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's sons were the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

4 And Midian's sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.

5 Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.

6 And Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, but while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.

7 This is the length of Abraham's life: 175 years.

8 He took his last breath and died at a ripe old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people.

9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.

10 This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

12 These are the family records of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave, bore to Abraham.

13 These are the names of Ishmael's sons; their names according to the family records are: Nebaioth, Ishmael's firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

16 These are Ishmael's sons, and these are their names by their villages and encampments: 12 leaders of their clans.

17 This is the length of Ishmael's life: 137 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people.

18 And they settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt as you go toward Asshur. He lived in opposition to all his brothers.

19 These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac.

20 Isaac was 40 years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, and sister of Laban the Aramean.

21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

22 But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.

23 And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two people will [come] from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

24 When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

25 The first one came out reddish, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.

26 After this, his brother came out grasping Esau's heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, exhausted.

30 He said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I'm exhausted." That is why he was [also] named Edom.

31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

32 "Look," said Esau, "I'm about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?"

33 Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.

34 Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 26

1 There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham's time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

2 The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about;

3 stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring,

5 because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions."

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say "my wife," [thinking], "The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman."

8 When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, "So she is really your wife! How could you say, 'She's my sister'?" Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might die on account of her."

10 Then Abimelech said, "What is this you've done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us."

11 So Abimelech warned all the people with these words: "Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die."

12 Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times [what was sown]. The Lord blessed him,

13 and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.

14 He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.

15 The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father's slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us."

17 So Isaac left there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

18 Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Moreover, Isaac's slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.

20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Quarrel because they quarreled with him.

21 Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Hostility.

22 He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Open Spaces and said, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba,

24 and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham."

25 So he built an altar there, worshiped the Lord, and pitched his tent there. Isaac's slaves also dug a well there.

26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you."

28 They replied, "We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties-between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you:

29 You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have only done what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord."

30 So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank.

31 They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

32 On that same day Isaac's slaves came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, "We have found water!"

33 He called it Oath. Therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.

34 When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis 27

1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he answered, "Here I am."

2 He said, "Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death.

3 Take your [hunting] gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me.

4 Then make me the delicious food that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die."

5 Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in,

6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said,

7 'Bring me some game and make some delicious food for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord's presence before I die.'

8 Now obey every order I give you, my son.

9 Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father-the kind he loves.

10 Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies."

11 Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin.

12 Suppose my father touches me. Then I will seem to be deceiving him, and I will bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself."

13 His mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me."

14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved.

15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there at the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them.

16 She put the goatskins on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.

17 Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

18 When he came to his father, he said, "My father." And he answered, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

19 Jacob replied to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me."

20 But Isaac said to his son, "How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?" He replied, "Because the Lord your God worked it out for me."

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?"

22 So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

24 Again he asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he replied, "I am."

25 Then he said, "Serve me, and let me eat some of my son's game so that I can bless you." Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Please come closer and kiss me, my son."

27 So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said: Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.

28 May God give to you- from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land- an abundance of grain and new wine.

29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow down to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.

30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from the hunt.

31 He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat some of his son's game, so that you may bless me."

32 But his father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am Esau your firstborn son."

33 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. "Who was it then," he said, "who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!"

34 When Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me-me too, my father!"

35 But he replied, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

36 So he said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing." Then he asked, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"

37 But Isaac answered Esau: "Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?"

38 Esau said to his father, "Do you only have one blessing, my father? Bless me-me too, my father!" And Esau wept loudly.

39 Then his father Isaac answered him: Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above.

40 You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck.

41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart: "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

42 When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.

43 So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

44 and stay with him for a few days until your brother's anger subsides-

45 until your brother's rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?"

46 So Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm sick of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like one of them, what good is my life?"

Genesis 28

1 Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: "Don't take a wife from the Canaanite women.

2 Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.

4 May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."

5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman.

7 And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.

8 Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

9 so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.

11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

12 And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it.

13 The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on.

14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

17 He was afraid and said, "What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven."

18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it

19 and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz.

20 Then Jacob made a vow: "If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,

21 and if I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God.

22 This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God's house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me."

Genesis 29

1 Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country.

2 He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. A large stone covered the opening of the well.

3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the [shepherds] would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep. The stone was then placed back on the well's opening.

4 Jacob asked the men at the well, "My brothers! Where are you from?" "We're from Haran," they answered.

5 "Do you know Laban son of Nahor?" Jacob asked them. They answered, "We know [him]."

6 "Is he well?" Jacob asked. "Yes," they said, "and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep."

7 Then Jacob said, "Look, it is still broad daylight. It's not time for the animals to be gathered. Water the flock, then go out and let them graze."

8 But they replied, "We can't, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well's opening. Then we will water the sheep."

9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

10 As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban's daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban's sheep.

11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.

12 He told Rachel that he was her father's relative, Rebekah's son. She ran and told her father.

13 When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

14 Laban said to him, "Yes, you are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

15 Laban said to him, "Just because you're my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."

16 Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.

17 Leah had delicate eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

18 Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, "I'll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."

19 Laban replied, "Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me."

20 So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her."

22 So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast.

23 That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

24 And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.

25 When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Wasn't it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?"

26 Laban answered, "It is not the custom in this place to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the firstborn.

27 Complete this week [of wedding celebration], and we will also give you this [younger] one in return for working yet another seven years for me."

28 And Jacob did just that. He finished the week [of celebration], and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

29 And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.

30 Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

32 Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, "The Lord has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now."

33 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, "The Lord heard that I am unloved and has given me this [son] also." So she named him Simeon.

34 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, "At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons." Therefore he was named Levi.

35 And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, "This time I will praise the Lord." Therefore she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

Genesis 30

1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children], she envied her sister. "Give me sons, or I will die!" she said to Jacob.

2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld children from you?"

3 Then she said, "Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she'll bear [children] for me so that through her I too can build [a family]."

4 So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

6 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son," and she named him Dan.

7 Rachel's slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

8 Rachel said, "In [my] wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won," and she named him Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

10 Leah's slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

11 Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" and she named him Gad.

12 When Leah's slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

13 Leah said, "I am happy that the women call me happy," so she named him Asher.

14 Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

15 But Leah replied to her, "Isn't it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son's mandrakes?" "Well," Rachel said, "you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."

16 When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So Jacob slept with her that night.

17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

18 Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband," and she named him Issachar.

19 Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

20 "God has given me a good gift," Leah said. "This time my husband will honor me because I have borne him six sons," and she named him Zebulun.

21 Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

22 Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb.

23 She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my shame."

24 She named him Joseph: "May the Lord add another son to me."

25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

26 Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you."

27 But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, [stay.] I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you."

28 Then Laban said, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

29 So Jacob said to him, "You know what I have done for you and your herds.

30 For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The Lord has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?"

31 Laban asked, "What should I give you?" And Jacob said, "You don't need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.

32 Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. [Such] will be my wages.

33 In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. [If I have] any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen."

34 "Good," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."

35 That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats-every one that had any white on it-and every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.

36 He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban's flock.

37 Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled [the bark], exposing white stripes on the branches.

38 He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep-in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

39 The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.

40 Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked and the completely dark sheep in Laban's flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn't put them with Laban's sheep.

41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches.

42 As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

43 And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 31

1 Now Jacob heard what Laban's sons were saying: "Jacob has taken all that was our father's and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father."

2 And Jacob saw from Laban's face that his attitude toward him was not the same.

3 Then the Lord said to him, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."

4 Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field [where] his flocks were.

5 He said to them, "I can see from your father's face that his attitude toward me is not the same, but the God of my father has been with me.

6 You know that I've worked hard for your father

7 and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me.

8 If he said, 'The spotted sheep will be your wages,' then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, 'The streaked sheep will be your wages,' then all the sheep were born streaked.

9 God has taken your father's herds and given them to me.

10 "When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.

11 In that dream the Angel of God said to me, 'Jacob!' and I said: Here I am.

12 And He said, 'Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

13 I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to Me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.' "

14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him, "Do we have any portion or inheritance in our father's household?

15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has certainly spent our money.

16 In fact, all the wealth that God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you."

17 Then Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels.

18 He took all the livestock and possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, and he drove his herds to go to the land of his father Isaac in Canaan.

19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household idols.

20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, not telling him that he was fleeing.

21 He fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

23 So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him at Mount Gilead.

24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. "Watch yourself!" God warned him. "Don't say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."

25 When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched [their tents] in the hill country of Gilead.

26 Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war!

27 Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres,

28 but you didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly.

29 I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: 'Watch yourself. Don't say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.'

30 Now you have gone off because you long for your father-but why have you stolen my gods?"

31 Jacob answered, "I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

32 If you find your gods with anyone [here], he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it." Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen [the idols].

33 So Laban went into Jacob's tent, then Leah's tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

34 Now Rachel had taken Laban's household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

35 She said to her father, "Sir, don't be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my monthly period." So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

36 Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. "What is my crime?" he said to Laban. "What is my sin, that you have pursued me?

37 You've searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us.

38 I've been with you these 20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock.

39 I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded [payment] from me for what was stolen by day or by night.

40 There I was-the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

41 For 20 years I have worked in your household-14 years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks-and you have changed my wages 10 times!

42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night."

43 Then Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

44 Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us."

45 So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker.

46 Then Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound.

47 Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.

48 Then Laban said, "This mound is a witness between me and you today." Therefore the place was called Galeed,

49 and [also] Mizpah, for he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.

50 If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me."

51 Laban also said to Jacob, "Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me.

52 This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm.

53 The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor-the gods of their father-will judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

55 Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.

Genesis 32

1 Jacob went on his way, and God's angels met him.

2 When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's camp." So he called that place Mahanaim.

3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

4 He commanded them, "You are to say to my lord Esau, 'This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I have sent [this message] to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.' "

6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you-and he has 400 men with him."

7 Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, cattle, and camels.

8 He thought, "If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape."

9 Then Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, 'Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,'

10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps.

11 Please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children.

12 You have said, 'I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.' "

13 He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau:

14 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,

15 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.

16 He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, "Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds."

17 And he told the first one: "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose [animals] are these ahead of you?'

18 then tell him, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.' "

19 He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, "Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.

20 You are to also say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.' " For he thought, "I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me."

21 So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok.

23 He took them and brought them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

25 When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob's hip as they wrestled and dislocated his hip socket.

26 Then He said to Jacob, "Let Me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me."

27 "What is your name?" the man asked. "Jacob!" he replied.

28 "Your name will no longer be Jacob," He said. "It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

29 Then Jacob asked Him, "Please tell me Your name." But He answered, "Why do you ask My name?" And He blessed him there.

30 Jacob then named the place Peniel, "For," [he said,] "I have seen God face to face, and I have been delivered."

31 The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel-limping on his hip.

32 That is why, to this day, the Israelites don't eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because He struck Jacob's hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Genesis 33

1 Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves.

2 He put the female slaves first, Leah and her sons next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

3 He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept.

5 When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, "Who are these with you?" He answered, "The children God has graciously given your servant."

6 Then the female slaves and their children approached [him] and bowed down.

7 Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

8 So Esau said, "What do you mean by this whole procession I met?" "To find favor with you, my lord," he answered.

9 "I have enough, my brother," Esau replied. "Keep what you have."

10 But Jacob said, "No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, [and it is] like seeing God's face, since you have accepted me.

11 Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need." So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

12 Then Esau said, "Let's move on, and I'll go ahead of you."

13 Jacob replied, "My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.

14 Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir."

15 Esau said, "Let me leave some of my people with you." But he replied, "Why do that? Please indulge me, my lord."

16 On that day Esau started on his way back to Seir,

17 but Jacob went on to Succoth. He built a house for himself and stalls for his cattle; that is why the place was called Succoth.

18 After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the Canaanite city of Shechem and camped in front of the city.

19 He purchased a section of the field from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100 qesitahs, where he had pitched his tent.

20 And he set up an altar there and called it "God, the God of Israel."

Genesis 34

1 Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area.

2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her.

3 He became infatuated with Dinah, daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her.

4 "Get me this girl as a wife," he told his father Hamor.

5 Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his cattle in the field, he remained silent until they returned.

6 Meanwhile, Shechem's father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.

7 Jacob's sons returned from the field when they heard [about the incident] and were deeply grieved and angry. For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by sleeping with Jacob's daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

8 Hamor said to Jacob's sons, "My son Shechem is strongly attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

9 Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 Live with us. The land is before you. Settle here, move about, and acquire property in it."

11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Grant me this favor, and I'll give you whatever you say.

12 Set for me the compensation and the gift; I'll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife!"

13 But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

14 "We cannot do this thing," they said to them. "Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us.

15 We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are.

16 Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people.

17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go."

18 Their words seemed good in the eyes of Hamor and his son Shechem.

19 The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father's house.

20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men there.

21 "These men are peaceful toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them.

22 But the men will agree to live with us and be one people only on this condition: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

23 Won't their herds, their possessions, and all their livestock become ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us."

24 All the able-bodied men listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the able-bodied men were circumcised.

25 On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away.

27 Jacob's [other] sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled.

28 They took their sheep, cattle, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.

29 They captured all their possessions, children, and wives, and plundered everything in the houses.

30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."

31 But they answered, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"

Genesis 35

1 God said to Jacob, "Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."

2 So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

3 We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone."

4 Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem.

5 When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob's sons.

6 So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

7 Jacob built an altar there and called the place God of Bethel because it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

8 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Oak of Weeping.

9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.

10 God said to him: Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but Israel will be your name. So He named him Israel.

11 God also said to him: I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.

12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. And I will give the land to your descendants after you.

13 Then God withdrew from him at the place where He had spoken to him.

14 Jacob set up a marker at the place where He had spoken to him-a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

16 They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.

17 During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for this is another son for you."

18 With her last breath-for she was dying-she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.

19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

20 Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel's grave to this day.

21 Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the tower at Eder.

22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had 12 sons:

23 Leah's sons were Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Rachel's slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

26 The sons of Leah's slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

28 Isaac lived 180 years.

29 He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 36

1 These are the family records of Esau (that is, Edom).

2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanite women: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;

3 and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

4 Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel,

5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau's sons, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

6 Esau took his wives, sons, daughters, and all the people of his household, as well as his herds, all his livestock, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan; he went to a land away from his brother Jacob.

7 For their possessions were too many [for them] to live together, and because of their herds, the land where they stayed could not support them.

8 So Esau (that is, Edom) lived in the mountains of Seir.

9 These are the family records of Esau, father of the Edomites in the mountains of Seir.

10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz son of Esau's wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esau's wife Basemath.

11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

12 Timna, a concubine of Esau's son Eliphaz, bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Esau's wife Adah.

13 These are Reuel's sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau's wife Basemath.

14 These are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon: She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom.

15 These are the chiefs of Esau's sons: the sons of Eliphaz, Esau's firstborn: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Adah.

17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath.

18 These are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the chiefs of Esau's wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman. Timna was Lotan's sister.

23 These are Shobal's sons: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

24 These are Zibeon's sons: Aiah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.

25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

26 These are Dishon's sons: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

27 These are Ezer's sons: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

28 These are Dishan's sons: Uz and Aran.

29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their divisions, in the land of Seir.

31 These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites:

32 Bela son of Beor ruled in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

33 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah ruled in his place.

34 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites ruled in his place.

35 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad ruled in his place. He defeated Midian in the field of Moab; the name of his city was Avith.

36 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah ruled in his place.

37 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River ruled in his place.

38 When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor ruled in his place.

39 When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar ruled in his place. His city was Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

40 These are the names of Esau's chiefs, according to their families and their localities, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

43 Magdiel, and Iram. These are Edom's chiefs, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was father of the Edomites.

Genesis 37

1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

2 These are the family records of Jacob. At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man [was working] with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son [born to him] in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:

7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf."

8 "Are you really going to reign over us?" his brothers asked him. "Are you really going to rule us?" So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

9 Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. "Look," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me."

10 He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. "What kind of dream is this that you have had?" he said. "Are your mother and brothers and I going to bow down to the ground before you?"

11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter [in mind].

12 His brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem.

13 Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers, you know, are pasturing [the flocks] at Shechem. Get ready. I'm sending you to them." "I'm ready," Joseph replied.

14 Then Israel said to him, "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

15 A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

16 "I'm looking for my brothers," Joseph said. "Can you tell me where they are pasturing [their flocks]?"

17 "They've moved on from here," the man said. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.' " So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

19 They said to one another, "Here comes that dreamer!

20 Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams!"

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, "Let's not take his life."

22 Reuben also said to them, "Don't shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him"-intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.

26 Then Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our [own] flesh." His brothers agreed.

28 When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone! What am I going to do?"

31 So they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

32 They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it. Is it your son's robe or not?"

33 His father recognized it. "It is my son's robe," he said. "A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!"

34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." And his father wept for him.

36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.

Genesis 38

1 At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah.

2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.

3 She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.

4 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan.

5 She gave birth to another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

7 Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the Lord's sight, and the Lord put him to death.

8 Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother."

9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

10 What he did was evil in the Lord's sight, so He put him to death also.

11 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, "He might die too, like his brother." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

12 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 Timnah to the sheepshearers.

13 Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

14 So she took off her widow's clothes, veiled [her face], covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

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

16 He went over to her and said, "Come, let me sleep with you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me for sleeping with me?"

17 "I will send you a young goat from my flock," he replied. But she said, "Only if you leave something [with me] until you send it."

18 "What should I give you?" he asked. She answered, "Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand." So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she got pregnant by him.

19 She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow's clothes back on.

20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

21 He asked the men of the place, "Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?" "There has been no cult prostitute here," they answered.

22 So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, "I couldn't find her, and furthermore, the men of the place said, 'There has been no cult prostitute here.' "

23 Judah replied, "Let her keep [the items] for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn't find [her]."

24 About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant." "Bring her out!" Judah said. "Let her be burned [to death]!"

25 As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law [this message]: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong." And she added, "Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?"

26 Judah recognized [them] and said, "She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not know her intimately again.

27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet [thread] around it, announcing, "This one came out first."

29 But then he pulled his hand back, and his brother came out. Then she said, "You have broken out [first]!" So he was named Perez.

30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet [thread] tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.

Genesis 39

1 Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian [named] Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,

4 Joseph found favor in his master's sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.

5 From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph. The Lord's blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.

6 He left all that he owned under Joseph's authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

7 After some time his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, "Sleep with me."

8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.

9 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?"

10 Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.

11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants was there.

12 She grabbed him by his garment and said, "Sleep with me!" But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

13 When she realized that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,

14 she called the household servants. "Look," she said to them, "my husband brought a Hebrew man to us to make fun of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.

15 When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside."

16 She put Joseph's garment beside her until his master came home.

17 Then she told him the same story: "The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to me to make fun of me,

18 but when I screamed for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside."

19 When his master heard the story his wife told him-"These are the things your slave did to me"-he was furious

20 and had him thrown into prison, where the king's prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

21 But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

22 The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph's authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there.

23 The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.

Genesis 40

1 After this, the king of Egypt's cupbearer and his baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.

2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined.

4 The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he became their personal attendant. And they were in custody for some time.

5 The cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught.

7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were in custody with him in his master's house, "Why are your faces sad today?"

8 "We had dreams," they said to him, "but there is no one to interpret them." Then Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me [your dreams]."

9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: "In my dream there was a vine in front of me.

10 On the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and its clusters ripened into grapes.

11 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand."

12 "This is its interpretation," Joseph said to him. "The three branches are three days.

13 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand the way you used to when you were his cupbearer.

14 But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.

15 For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should put me in the dungeon."

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, "I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head.

17 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."

18 "This is its interpretation," Joseph replied. "The three baskets are three days.

19 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head-from off you-and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh from your body."

20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker:

21 he restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand;

22 but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them.

23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Genesis 41

1 Two years later Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,

2 when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds.

3 After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside those cows along the bank of the Nile.

4 The sickly, thin cows ate the healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

5 He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, full and good, came up on one stalk.

6 After them, seven heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up.

7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven full, good ones. Then Pharaoh woke up, and it was only a dream.

8 When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I remember my faults.

10 Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guard.

11 He and I had dreams on the same night; each dream had its own meaning.

12 Now a young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams for us, and each had its own interpretation.

13 It turned out just the way he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged."

14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to Pharaoh.

15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it."

16 "I am not able to," Joseph answered Pharaoh. "It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer."

17 So Pharaoh said to Joseph: "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

18 when seven well-fed, healthy-looking cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds.

19 After them, seven other cows-ugly, very sickly, and thin-came up. I've never seen such ugly ones as these in all the land of Egypt.

20 Then the thin, ugly cows ate the first seven well-fed cows.

21 When they had devoured them, you could not tell that they had devoured them; their appearance was as bad as it had been before. Then I woke up.

22 In my dream I had also seen seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stalk.

23 After them, seven heads of grain- withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind-sprouted up.

24 The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full ones. I told this to the magicians, but no one can tell me what it means."

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's dreams mean the same thing. God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years. The dreams mean the same thing.

27 The seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven worthless, scorched heads of grain are seven years of famine.

28 "It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt.

30 After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land.

31 The abundance in the land will not be remembered because of the famine that follows it, for the famine will be very severe.

32 Because the dream was given twice to Pharaoh, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and He will soon carry it out.

33 "So now, let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh do this: Let him appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth [of the harvest] of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

35 Let them gather all the [excess] food during these good years that are coming, store the grain under Pharaoh's authority as food in the cities, and preserve [it].

36 The food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt. Then the country will not be wiped out by the famine."

37 The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.

38 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find anyone like this, a man who has the spirit of God in him?"

39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you.

40 You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you."

41 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, "See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt."

42 Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

43 He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and [servants] called out before him, "Abrek!" So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your permission no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."

45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

47 During the seven years of abundance the land produced outstanding harvests.

48 Joseph gathered all the [excess] food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and placed it in the cities. He placed the food in every city from the fields around it.

49 So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance-like the sand of the sea-that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure.

50 Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore [them] to him.

51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, meaning, "God has made me forget all my hardship in my father's house."

52 And the second son he named Ephraim, meaning, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

53 Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

55 Extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, "Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you."

56 Because the famine had spread across the whole country, Joseph opened up [all the storehouses] and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

57 The whole world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, for the famine was severe all over the earth.

Genesis 42

1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at each other?

2 Listen," he went on, "I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die."

3 So 10 of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4 But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, "Something might happen to him."

5 The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked. "From the land of Canaan to buy food," they replied.

8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

9 Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land."

10 "No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food," they said.

11 "We are all sons of one man. We are honest; your servants are not spies."

12 "No," he said to them. "You have come to see the weakness of the land."

13 But they replied, "We, your servants, were 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living."

14 Then Joseph said to them, "I have spoken: 'You are spies!'

15 This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

16 Send one of your number to get your brother. The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true. If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

17 So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

18 On the third day Joseph said to them, "I fear God-do this and you will live.

19 If you are honest men, let one of you be confined to the guardhouse, while the rest of you go and take grain [to relieve] the hunger of your households.

20 Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won't die." And they consented to this.

21 Then they said to each other, "It is plain that we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us."

22 But Reuben replied: "Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn't listen. Now we must account for his blood!"

23 They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.

24 He turned away from them and wept. Then he turned back and spoke to them. He took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.

25 Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man's money to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out.

26 They loaded the grain on their donkeys and left there.

27 At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his money there at the top of the bag.

28 He said to his brothers, "My money has been returned! It's here in my bag." Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"

29 When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them:

30 "The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

31 But we told him: We are honest men and not spies.

32 We were 12 brothers, sons of the same father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.

33 The man who is the lord of the country said to us, 'This is how I will know if you are honest men: Leave one brother with me, take [food to relieve] the hunger of your households, and go.

34 Bring back your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will then give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the country.' "

35 As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his bag of money! When they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid.

36 Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!"

37 Then Reuben said to his father, "You can kill my two sons if I don't bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you."

38 But Jacob answered, "My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow."

Genesis 43

1 Now the famine in the land was severe.

2 When they had used up the grain they had brought back from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy us some food."

3 But Judah said to him, "The man specifically warned us: 'You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.'

4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.

5 But if you will not send him, we will not go, for the man said to us, 'You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.' "

6 "Why did you cause me so much trouble?" Israel asked. "Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?"

7 They answered, "The man kept asking about us and our family: 'Is your father still alive? Do you have [another] brother?' And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, 'Bring your brother here'?"

8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the boy with me. We will be on our way so that we may live, and not die-neither we, nor you, nor our children.

9 I will be responsible for him. You can hold me personally accountable! If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will be guilty before you forever.

10 If we had not wasted time, we could have come back twice by now."

11 Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift-some balsam and some honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds.

12 Take twice as much money with you. Return the money that was returned [to you] in the top of your bags. Perhaps it was a mistake.

13 Take your brother also, and go back at once to the man.

14 May God Almighty cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived."

15 The men took this gift, double the amount of money, and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, "Take the men to [my] house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon."

17 The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph's house.

18 But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph's house. They said, "We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys."

19 So they approached Joseph's steward and spoke to him at the doorway of the house.

20 They said, "Sir, we really did come down here the first time only to buy food.

21 When we came to the place where we lodged for the night and opened our bags of grain, each one's money was at the top of his bag! It was the full amount of our money, and we have brought it back with us.

22 We have brought additional money with us to buy food. We don't know who put our money in the bags."

23 Then the steward said, "May you be well. Don't be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your money." Then he brought Simeon out to them.

24 The man brought the men into Joseph's house, gave them water to wash their feet, and got feed for their donkeys.

25 Since the men had heard that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph's arrival at noon.

26 When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

27 He asked if they were well, and he said, "How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?"

28 They answered, "Your servant our father is well. He is still alive." And they bowed down to honor him.

29 When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?" Then he said, "May God be gracious to you, my son."

30 Joseph hurried out because he was overcome with emotion for his brother, and he was about to weep. He went into an inner room to weep.

31 Then he washed his face and came out. Regaining his composure, he said, "Serve the meal."

32 They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is abhorrent to them.

33 They were seated before him in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at each other in astonishment.

34 Portions were served to them from Joseph's table, and Benjamin's portion was five times larger than any of theirs. They drank, and they got drunk with Joseph.

Genesis 44

1 Then Joseph commanded his steward: "Fill the men's bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one's money at the top of his bag.

2 Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one's bag, along with his grain money." So he did as Joseph told him.

3 At morning light, the men were sent off with their donkeys.

4 They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid evil for good?

5 Isn't this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wrong!' "

6 When he overtook them, he said these words to them.

7 They said to him, "Why does my lord say these things? Your servants could not possibly do such a thing.

8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal gold and silver from your master's house?

9 If any of us is found to have it, he must die, and we also will become my lord's slaves."

10 The steward replied, "What you have said is proper, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless."

11 So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.

12 The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

13 Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.

15 "What is this you have done?" Joseph said to them. "Didn't you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?"

16 "What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants' iniquity. We are now my lord's slaves-both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found."

17 Then Joseph said, "I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father."

18 But Judah approached him and said, "Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.

19 My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'

20 and we answered my lord, 'We have an elderly father and a young brother, the child of his old age. The boy's brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'

21 Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him to me so that I can see him.'

22 But we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.'

23 Then you said to your servants, 'If your younger brother does not come down with you, you will not see me again.'

24 "This is what happened when we went back to your servant my father: We reported your words to him.

25 But our father said, 'Go again, and buy us some food.'

26 We told him, 'We cannot go down unless our younger brother goes with us. But if our younger brother isn't with us, we cannot see the man.'

27 Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.

28 One left-I said that he must have been torn to pieces-and I have never seen him again.

29 If you also take this one from me and anything happens to him, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.'

30 "So, if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us-his life is wrapped up with the boy's life-

31 when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hairs of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

32 Your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, 'If I do not return him to you, I will always bear the guilt for sinning against [you,] my father.'

33 Now please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave, in place of the boy. Let him go back with his brothers.

34 For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the grief that would overwhelm my father."

Genesis 45

1 Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, "Send everyone away from me!" No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers.

2 But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh's household heard it.

3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were too terrified to answer him.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please, come near me," and they came near. "I am Joseph, your brother," he said, "the one you sold into Egypt.

5 And now don't be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.

6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.

7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.

8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

9 "Return quickly to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.

10 You can settle in the land of Goshen and be near me-you, your children, and grandchildren, your sheep, cattle, and all you have.

11 There I will sustain you, for there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you, your household, and everything you have will become destitute." '

12 Look! Your eyes and my brother Benjamin's eyes can see that it is I [, Joseph,] who am speaking to you.

13 Tell my father all about my glory in Egypt and about all you have seen. And bring my father here quickly."

14 Then Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder.

15 Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

16 When the news reached Pharaoh's house, "Joseph's brothers have come," Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and go on back to the land of Canaan.

18 Get your father and your households, and come back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you can eat from the richness of the land.'

19 You are also commanded, 'Do this: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children, your wives, and bring your father here.

20 Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.' "

21 The sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

22 He gave each of the brothers changes of clothes, but he gave Benjamin 300 pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.

23 He sent his father the following: 10 donkeys carrying the best products of Egypt, and 10 female donkeys carrying grain, food, and provisions for his father on the journey.

24 So Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, "Don't argue on the way."

25 So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.

26 They said, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!" Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

27 But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

28 Then Israel said, "Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go to see him before I die."

Genesis 46

1 Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

2 That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: "Jacob, Jacob!" He said. And Jacob replied, "Here I am."

3 God said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.

4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will put his hands on your eyes."

5 Jacob left Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and their wives.

6 They also took their cattle and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Then Jacob and all his children with him went to Egypt.

7 His sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters, indeed all his offspring, he brought with him to Egypt.

8 These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who went to Egypt: Jacob's firstborn: Reuben.

9 Reuben's sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

10 Simeon's sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

11 Levi's sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

12 Judah's sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. Perez's sons: Hezron and Hamul.

13 Issachar's sons: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron.

14 Zebulun's sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

15 These were Leah's sons born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, as well as his daughter Dinah. The total number of persons: 33.

16 Gad's sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

17 Asher's sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah's sons were Heber and Malchiel.

18 These were the sons of Zilpah-whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah-that she bore to Jacob: 16 persons.

19 The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

20 Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt. They were born to him by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, a priest at On.

21 Benjamin's sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

22 These were Rachel's sons who were born to Jacob: 14 persons.

23 Dan's son: Hashum.

24 Naphtali's sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore to Jacob: seven persons.

26 The total number of persons belonging to Jacob-his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob's sons-who came to Egypt: 66.

27 And Joseph's sons who were born to him in Egypt: two persons. All those of Jacob's household who had come to Egypt: 70 persons.

28 Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to prepare for his arrival at Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen,

29 Joseph hitched [the horses to] his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, threw his arms around him, and wept for a long time.

30 Then Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen your face [and know] you are still alive!"

31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

32 The men are shepherds; indeed they raise livestock. They have brought their sheep and cattle and all that they have.

33 When Pharaoh addresses you and asks, 'What is your occupation?'

34 you are to say, 'Your servants, both we and our fathers, have raised livestock from our youth until now.' Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians."

Genesis 47

1 So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: "My father and my brothers, with their sheep and cattle and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen."

2 He took five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.

3 Then Pharaoh asked his brothers, "What is your occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants, both we and our fathers, are shepherds."

4 Then they said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live in the land for a while because there is no grazing land for your servants' sheep, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen."

5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "[Now that] your father and brothers have come to you,

6 the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They can live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock."

7 Joseph then brought his father Jacob and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 Then Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many years have you lived?"

9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, "My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not surpassed the years of my fathers during their pilgrimages."

10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from Pharaoh's presence.

11 Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food for their dependents.

13 But there was no food in that entire region, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted by the famine.

14 Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain they were purchasing, and he brought the money to Pharaoh's house.

15 When the money from the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us food. Why should we die here in front of you? The money is gone!"

16 But Joseph said, "Give me your livestock. Since the money is gone, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock."

17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for the horses, the herds of sheep, the herds of cattle, and the donkeys. That year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

18 When that year was over, they came the next year and said to him, "We cannot hide from our lord that the money is gone and that all our livestock belongs to our lord. There is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.

19 Why should we perish here in front of you-both us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. Then we with our land will become Pharaoh's slaves. Give us seed so that we can live and not die, and so that the land won't become desolate."

20 In this way, Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field since the famine was so severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's,

21 and Joseph moved the people to the cities from one end of Egypt to the other.

22 The only land he didn't acquire was that of the priests, for it was their allotment from Pharaoh. They lived off the allotment Pharaoh had given them; therefore they did not sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, "Understand today that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you. Sow it in the land.

24 At harvest, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and as food for yourselves, your households, and your dependents."

25 And they said, "You have saved our lives. We have found favor in our lord's eyes and will be Pharaoh's slaves."

26 So Joseph made it a law, still in effect today in the land of Egypt, that a fifth [of the produce] belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land does not belong to Pharaoh.

27 Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property in it and became fruitful and very numerous.

28 Now Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years, and his life span was 147 years.

29 When the time drew near for him to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh [and promise me] that you will deal with me in faithful love. Do not bury me in Egypt.

30 When I lie down with my fathers, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place." Joseph answered, "I will do what you have asked."

31 And Jacob said, "Swear to me." So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed [in thanks] at the head of his bed.

Genesis 48

1 Some time after this, Joseph was told, "Your father is weaker." So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.

3 Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

4 He said to me, 'I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations [come from] you, and I will give this land as an eternal possession to your descendants to come.'

5 Your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are now mine. Ephraim and Manasseh belong to me just as Reuben and Simeon do.

6 Children born to you after them will be yours and will be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance.

7 When I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way, some distance from Ephrath in the land of Canaan. I buried her there along the way to Ephrath," (that is, Bethlehem).

8 When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, "Who are these?"

9 And Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons God has given me here." So Jacob said, "Bring them to me and I will bless them."

10 Now Jacob's eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought them to him, and he kissed and embraced them.

11 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face [again], but now God has even let me see your offspring."

12 Then Joseph took them from his [father's] knees and bowed with his face to the ground.

13 Then Joseph took them both-with his right hand Ephraim toward Israel's left, and with his left hand Manasseh toward Israel's right-and brought them to Israel.

14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and crossing his hands, put his left on Manasseh's head, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 Then he blessed Joseph and said: The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

16 the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm- may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow to be numerous within the land.

17 When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, he thought it was a mistake and took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's.

18 Joseph said to his father, "Not that way, my father! This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation."

20 So he blessed them that day with these words: Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh," putting Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Look! I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

22 Over and above what I am giving your brothers, I am giving you the one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow."

Genesis 49

1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel:

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power.

4 Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it-he got into my bed.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons.

6 May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen.

7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel! I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel.

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.

9 Judah is a young lion- my son, you return from the kill- he crouches; he lies down like a lion and like a lioness-who wants to rouse him?

10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, or the staff from between his feet, until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.

11 He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon.

14 Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags.

15 He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer.

16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 He will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horses' heels so that its rider falls backwards.

18 I wait for Your salvation, Lord.

19 Gad will be attacked by [marauding] bands, but he will attack their heels.

20 Asher's food will be rich, and he will produce royal delicacies.

21 Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

22 Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; its branches climb over the wall.

23 The archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him.

24 Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

25 by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb.

26 The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince of his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears [his prey]. In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the plunder."

28 These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

29 Then he commanded them: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.

32 The field and the cave in it [were purchased] from the Hittites."

33 When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.

Genesis 50

1 Then Joseph, leaning over his father's face, wept and kissed him.

2 He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel.

3 They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

4 When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh's household, "If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that

5 my father made me take an oath, saying, 'I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return."

6 So Pharaoh said, "Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath."

7 Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him,

8 along with all Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their sheep, and their cattle were left in the land of Goshen.

9 Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession.

10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father.

11 When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians." Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim. It is across the Jordan.

12 So Jacob's sons did for him what he had commanded them.

13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

14 After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, "If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the wrong we caused him."

16 So they sent this message to Joseph, "Before he died your father gave a command:

17 'Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers' transgression and their sin-the wrong they caused you.' Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when their message came to him.

18 Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, "We are your slaves!"

19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result-the survival of many people.

21 Therefore don't be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

22 Joseph and his father's household remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years.

23 He saw Ephraim's sons to the third generation; the sons of Manasseh's son Machir were recognized by Joseph.

24 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

25 So Joseph made the Israelites take an oath: "When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here."

26 Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.