¹Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. ²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” ⁴So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ⁸From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD. ⁹And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev. ¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman, ¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.” ¹⁴So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh. ¹⁶He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. ¹⁷The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.

Chapter 13 ¹So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him. ²And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold. ³From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched, ⁴to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD. ⁵Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist. ⁷And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land. ⁸So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are kinsmen. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.” ¹⁰And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company. ¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. ¹³But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD. ¹⁴After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west, ¹⁵for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. ¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Chapter 14 ¹In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim ²went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ⁴For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert. ⁷Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar. ⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country. ¹¹The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way. ¹²They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since Lot was living in Sodom. ¹³Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram. ¹⁴And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people. ¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High— ¹⁹and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²⁰and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. ²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.” ²²But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²³that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share for the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.”

Chapter 15 ¹After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” ²But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.” ⁴Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness. ⁷The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” ⁸But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?” ⁹And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him. ¹³Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions. ¹⁵You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” ¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses. ¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Chapter 16 ¹Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. ²So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. ⁴And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.” ⁶“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her. ⁷Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. ⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied. ⁹So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.” ¹¹The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction. ¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” ¹³So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

Chapter 17 ¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless. ²I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.” ⁹God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you. ¹⁰This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹²Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring. ¹³Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” ¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah. ¹⁶And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.” ¹⁷Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!” ¹⁹But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ²²When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. ²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him. ²⁴So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵and his son Ishmael was thirteen; ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷And all the men of Abraham’s household—both servants born in his household and those purchased from foreigners—were circumcised with him.

Chapter 18 ¹Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. ²And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. ³“My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. ⁴Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.” ⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.” ⁷Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate. ⁹“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied. ¹⁰Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent. ¹¹And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. ¹²So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” ¹³And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah was afraid, so she denied it and said, “I did not laugh.” “No,” replied the LORD, “but you did laugh.” ¹⁶When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off. ¹⁷And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.” ²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous, ²¹I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.” ²²And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. ²³Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there? ²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” ²⁶So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.” ²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes— ²⁸suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.” ²⁹Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.” ³⁰Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.” ³¹And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.” ³²Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.” ³³When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

Chapter 19 ¹Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown, ²and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” ³But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house. ⁵They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!” ⁶Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him. ⁷“Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing! ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” ⁹“Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door. ¹⁰But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door. ¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. ¹⁵At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them. ¹⁷As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” ¹⁸But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please! ¹⁹Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. ²⁰Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.” ²¹“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate. ²²Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar. ²³And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar. ²⁴Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived. ³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave. ³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth. ³²Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.” ³³So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.” ³⁵So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Chapter 20 ¹Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar, ²Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. ³One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.” ⁴Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? ⁵Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” ⁶Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and all who belong to you.” ⁸Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified. ⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.” ¹⁰Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do such a thing?” ¹¹Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’ ¹²Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife. ¹³So when God had me journey from my father’s house, I said to Sarah, ‘This is how you can show your loyalty to me: Wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ¹⁴So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.” ¹⁶And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.” ¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children— ¹⁸for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.

Chapter 21 ¹Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised. ²So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised. ³And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him. ⁴When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.” ⁷She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” ⁸So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. ⁹But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son, ¹⁰and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!” ¹¹Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned. ¹³But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies. ¹⁸Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer. ²¹And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. ²²At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. ²³Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.” ²⁴And Abraham replied, “I swear it.” ²⁵But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized, ²⁶Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.” ²⁷So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. ²⁸Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock, ²⁹and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?” ³⁰He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.” ³¹So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. ³²After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. ³⁴And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Chapter 22 ¹Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. ²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” ³So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated. ⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.” ⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. ⁷Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together. ⁹When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” ¹³Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” ¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ¹⁶saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba. ²⁰Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. ²⁴Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Chapter 23 ¹Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ²She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her. ³Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, ⁴“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.” ⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.” ⁷Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸“If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.” ¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, ¹¹“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.” ¹²Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants. ¹⁷So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over ¹⁸to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

Chapter 24 ¹By now Abraham was old and well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. ²So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh, ³and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling, ⁴but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.” ⁵The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” ⁶Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there. ⁷The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” ⁹So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim. ¹¹As evening approached, he made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town at the time when the women went out to draw water. ¹²“O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Here I am, standing beside the spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Now may it happen that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.” ¹⁵Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. ¹⁶Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin who had not had relations with any man. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again. ¹⁷So the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and she quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink. ¹⁹After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.” ²⁰And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, until she had drawn water for all his camels. ²¹Meanwhile, the man watched her silently to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey a success. ²²And after the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring weighing a beka, and two gold bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels. ²³“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” ²⁴She replied, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.” ²⁵Then she added, “We have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place for you to spend the night.” ²⁶Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, ²⁷saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” ²⁸The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring. ³⁰As soon as he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and heard Rebekah’s words, “The man said this to me,” he went and found the man standing by the camels near the spring. ³¹“Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” said Laban. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³²So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were brought to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of his companions. ³³Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.” ³⁴“I am Abraham’s servant,” he replied. ³⁵“The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns. ³⁷My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred to take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’ ⁴⁰And he told me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house. ⁴¹And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’ ⁴²So when I came to the spring today, I prayed: O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only You would make my journey a success! ⁴³Here I am, standing beside this spring. Now if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jar,’ ⁴⁴and she replies, ‘Drink, and I will draw water for your camels as well,’ may she be the woman the LORD has appointed for my master’s son. ⁴⁵And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ ⁴⁶She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. ⁴⁷Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. ⁴⁸Then I bowed down and worshiped the LORD; and I blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right road to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; but if not, let me know, so that I may go elsewhere.” ⁵⁰Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter. ⁵¹Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.” ⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. ⁵³Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.” ⁵⁵But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so. After that, she may go.” ⁵⁶But he replied, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷So they said, “We will call the girl and ask her opinion.” ⁵⁸They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she replied. ⁵⁹So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.” ⁶¹Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. ⁶²Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev. ⁶³Early in the evening, Isaac went out to the field to meditate, and looking up, he saw the camels approaching. ⁶⁴And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel ⁶⁵and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “It is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done. ⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

Chapter 25 ¹Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah, ²and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites. ⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah. ⁵Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. ⁷Abraham lived a total of 175 years. ⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people. ⁹His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. ¹⁰This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah. ¹¹After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi. ¹²This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes. ¹⁷Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. ¹⁸Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers. ¹⁹This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. ²²But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD, ²³and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” ²⁴When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. ²⁵The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau. ²⁶After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. ²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ²⁸Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished. ³⁰He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.) ³¹“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied. ³²“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” ³³“Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright. ³⁴Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Chapter 26 ¹Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. ²The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you. ³Stay 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. ⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, ⁵because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” ⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.” ⁸When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.” ¹⁰“What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” ¹²Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, ¹³and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy. ¹⁴He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham. ¹⁶Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.” ¹⁷So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them. ¹⁹Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh water there. ²⁰But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. ²²He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” ²³From there Isaac went up to Beersheba, ²⁴and that night the LORD appeared to him 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 descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.” ²⁵So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there. ²⁶Later, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. ²⁷“Why have you come to me?” Isaac asked them. “You hated me and sent me away.” ²⁸“We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you ²⁹that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.” ³⁰So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. ³²On that same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We have found water!” they told him. ³³So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba. ³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27 ¹When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied. ²“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death. ³Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me. ⁴Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.” ⁵Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau, ⁷‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ ⁸Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you. ⁹Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves. ¹⁰Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned. ¹²What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.” ¹³His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.” ¹⁴So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved. ¹⁵And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made. ¹⁸So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?” ¹⁹Jacob said 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.” ²⁰But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied. ²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?” ²²So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. ²⁴Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.” ²⁵“Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. ²⁸May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine. ²⁹May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.” ³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ³¹He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.” ³²But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?” “I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered. ³³Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!” ³⁴When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!” ³⁵But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” ³⁶So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?” ³⁷But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?” ³⁸Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. ³⁹His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above. ⁴⁰You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.” ⁴¹Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴²When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. ⁴³So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. ⁴⁴Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides— ⁴⁵until your brother’s rage against you wanes 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 both of you in one day?” ⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

Chapter 28 ¹So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded. ²“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ³May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” ⁵So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau. ⁶Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,” ⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, ⁹Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had. ¹⁰Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. ¹²And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder. ¹³And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie. ¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶When Jacob woke up, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.” ¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!” ¹⁸Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it, ¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz. ²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear, ²¹so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God. ²²And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”

Chapter 29 ¹Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. ²He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. ⁴“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered. ⁵“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked. “We know him,” they replied. ⁶“Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.” ⁷“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” ⁸But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.” ⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹²He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father. ¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened. ¹⁴Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month, ¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” ¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. ¹⁷Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. ¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” ¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.” ²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her. ²¹Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.” ²²So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast. ²³But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant. ²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?” ²⁶Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. ²⁷Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.” ²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ²⁹Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. ³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years. ³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.” ³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon. ³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi. ³⁵And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

Chapter 30 ¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. ²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?” ³Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.” ⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her, ⁵and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan. ⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. ¹²When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, ¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher. ¹⁴Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶When 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 he slept with her that night. ¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. ¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ¹⁹Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun. ²¹After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. ²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb, ²³and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. ²⁴She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.” ²⁵Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland. ²⁶Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.” ²⁷But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.” ²⁹Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care. ³⁰Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?” ³¹“What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks. ³²Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages. ³³So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.” ³⁴“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” ³⁵That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons. ³⁶Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks. ³⁷Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches. ³⁸Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches. ⁴²But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. ⁴³Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Chapter 31 ¹Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” ²And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed. ³Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” ⁴So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, ⁵and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. ⁹Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. ¹¹In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’” ¹⁴And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. ¹⁶Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.” ¹⁷Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan. ¹⁹Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. ²⁰Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. ²¹So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. ²²On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. ²³So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” ²⁵Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! ²⁷Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. ²⁸But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing. ²⁹I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?” ³¹“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. ³²If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. ³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing. ³⁵Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols. ³⁶Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me? ³⁷You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us. ³⁸I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! ⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.” ⁴³But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, ⁴⁶and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed. ⁴⁹It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other. ⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” ⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me. ⁵²This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me. ⁵³May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.

Chapter 32 ¹Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim. ³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’” ⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.” ⁷In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.” ⁹Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. ¹²But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’” ¹³Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, ¹⁵30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. ¹⁶He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.” ¹⁷He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ ¹⁸then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’” ¹⁹He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. ²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp. ²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions. ²⁴So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. ²⁶Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied. ²⁸Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.” ²⁹And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there. ³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” ³¹The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

Chapter 33 ¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. ²He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. ³But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept. ⁵When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. ⁷Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down. ⁸“What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered. ⁹“I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.” ¹⁰But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably. ¹¹Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted. ¹²Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.” ¹⁵“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir, ¹⁷but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth. ¹⁸After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city. ¹⁹And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. ²⁰There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

Chapter 34 ¹Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. ³And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly. ⁴So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.” ⁵Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned. ⁶Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob. ⁷When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done. ⁸But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.” ¹¹Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹²Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!” ¹³But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully. ¹⁴“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males. ¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.” ¹⁸Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹The young man, who was the most respected of all his father’s household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. ²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city: ²¹“These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them. ²²But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are. ²³Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.” ²⁴All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised. ²⁵Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. ²⁷Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field. ²⁹They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses. ³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.” ³¹But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

Chapter 35 ¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ²So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. ³Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem. ⁵As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. ⁶So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he fled from his brother. ⁸Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth. ⁹After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel. ¹¹And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you. ¹²The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” ¹³Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. ¹⁵Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. ¹⁶Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. ¹⁷During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.” ¹⁸And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin. ¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day. ²¹Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. ²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons: ²³The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. ²⁷Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ²⁸And Isaac lived 180 years. ²⁹Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Chapter 36 ¹This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom). ²Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite, ³and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath gave birth to Reuel, ⁵and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. ⁶Later, Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the people of his household, along with his livestock, all his other animals, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob. ⁷For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir. ⁹This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir. ¹⁰These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹²Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah. ¹³These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁴These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah (daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon) whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ¹⁵These are the chiefs among the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. They are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Adah. ¹⁷These are the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁸These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. They are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ¹⁹All these are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and they were their chiefs. ²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom. ²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Timna was Lotan’s sister. ²³These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. ²⁴These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.) ²⁵These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah. ²⁶These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. ²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their divisions in the land of Seir. ³¹These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: ³²Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place. ³⁴When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. ³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place. ³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place. ³⁸When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place. ³⁹When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadad reigned in his place. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab. ⁴⁰These are the names of Esau’s chiefs, according to their families and regions, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was the father of the Edomites.

Chapter 37 ¹Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan. ²This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors. ⁴When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. ⁵Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.” ⁸“Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements. ⁹Then Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said. ¹²Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem. ¹³Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied. ¹⁴Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem, ¹⁵a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?” ¹⁷“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him. ¹⁹“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. ²⁰“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!” ²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said. ²²“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing— ²⁴and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it. ²⁵And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed. ²⁸So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. ²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes, ³⁰returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?” ³¹Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. ³²They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.” ³³His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Chapter 38 ¹About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her. ³So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er. ⁴Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan. ⁵Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him. ⁶Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death. ⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.” ⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. ¹⁰What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well. ¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house. ¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah. ¹³When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. ¹⁶Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired. ¹⁷“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.” ¹⁸“What pledge should I give you?” he asked. She answered, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again. ²⁰Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her. ²¹He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered. ²²So Hirah returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, ‘No shrine prostitute has been here.’” ²³“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.” ²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!” ²⁵As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?” ²⁶Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again. ²⁷When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. “This one came out first,” she announced. ²⁹But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez. ³⁰Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.

Chapter 39 ¹Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. ²And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master. ³When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did, ⁴Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned. ⁵From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field. ⁶So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” ⁸But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. ⁹No 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?” ¹⁰Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. ¹¹One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. ¹²She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. ¹³When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. ¹⁵When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁶So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, ¹⁸but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁹When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²²And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. ²³The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Chapter 40 ¹Some time later, the king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. ²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning. ⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. ⁷So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?” ⁸“We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” ⁹So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand.” ¹²Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. ¹³Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. ¹⁵For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.” ¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.” ²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ²¹Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²²But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation. ²³The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.

Chapter 41 ¹After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile, ²when seven cows, sleek and well-fed, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds. ³After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside the well-fed cows on the bank of the river. ⁴And the cows that were sickly and thin devoured the seven sleek, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up, ⁵but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk. ⁶After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind. ⁷And the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, ripe ones. Then Pharaoh awoke and realized it was a dream. ⁸In the morning his spirit was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. ⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I recall my failures. ¹⁰Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guard. ¹¹One night both the chief baker and I had dreams, and each dream had its own meaning. ¹²Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them for us individually. ¹³And it happened to us just as he had interpreted: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.” ¹⁴So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the dungeon. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he went in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶“I myself cannot do it,” Joseph replied, “but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.” ¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸when seven cows, well-fed and sleek, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds. ¹⁹After them, seven other cows—sickly, ugly, and thin—came up. I have never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt! ²⁰Then the thin, ugly cows devoured the seven well-fed cows that were there first. ²¹When they had devoured them, however, no one could tell that they had done so; their appearance was as ugly as it had been before. Then I awoke. ²²In my dream I also saw seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, growing on a single stalk. ²³After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind. ²⁴And the thin heads of grain swallowed the seven plump ones. I told this dream to the magicians, but no one could explain it to me.” ²⁵At this, Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning. ²⁷Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind—they are seven years of famine. ²⁸It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, ³⁰but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land. ³¹The abundance in the land will not be remembered, since the famine that follows it will be so severe. ³²Moreover, because the dream was given to Pharaoh in two versions, the matter has been decreed by God, and He will carry it out shortly. ³³Now, therefore, Pharaoh should look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities. ³⁶This food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine to come upon the land of Egypt. Then the country will not perish in the famine.” ³⁷This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his officials. ³⁸So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?” ³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people are to obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹Pharaoh also told Joseph, “I hereby place you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, with men calling out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴And Pharaoh declared to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission, no one in all the land of Egypt shall lift his hand or foot.” ⁴⁵Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁶Now Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully. ⁴⁸During those seven years, Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In every city he laid up the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure. ⁵⁰Before the years of famine arrived, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” ⁵²And the second son he named Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” ⁵³When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt. ⁵⁵When extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.” ⁵⁶When the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷And every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

Chapter 42 ¹When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?” ²“Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.” ³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.” ⁵So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan. ⁶Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.” ⁸Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.” ¹⁰“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.” ¹²“No,” he told them. “You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.” ¹³But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.” ¹⁴Then Joseph declared, “Just as I said, you are spies! ¹⁵And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be confined so that the truth of your words may be tested. If they are untrue, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” ¹⁷So Joseph imprisoned them for three days, ¹⁸and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live: ¹⁹If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households. ²⁰Then bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be verified, that you may not die.” And to this they consented. ²¹Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” ²²And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!” ²³They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes. ²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out, ²⁶and they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed. ²⁷At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack. ²⁸“My silver has been returned!” he said to his brothers. “It is here in my sack.” Their hearts sank, and trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” ²⁹When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them: ³⁰“The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country. ³¹But we told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go. ³⁴But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’” ³⁵As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed. ³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!” ³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I fail to bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him.” ³⁸But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

Chapter 43 ¹Now the famine was still severe in the land. ²So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” ³But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶“Why did you bring this trouble upon me?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man you had another brother?” ⁷They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?” ⁸And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our children. ⁹I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life. ¹⁰If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.” ¹¹Then 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 carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹²Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³Take your brother as well, and return to the man at once. ¹⁴May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷The man did as Joseph had commanded and took the brothers to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸But the brothers were frightened that they had been taken to Joseph’s house. “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time,” they said. “They intend to overpower us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food. ²¹But when we came to the place we lodged for the night, we opened our sacks and, behold, each of us found his silver in the mouth of his sack! It was the full amount of our silver, and we have brought it back with us. ²²We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.” ²³“It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, gave you the treasure that was in your sacks. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And the steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided food for their donkeys. ²⁵Since the brothers had been told that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. ²⁶When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him. ²⁷He asked if they were well, and then he asked, “How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?” ²⁸“Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him. ²⁹When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he declared, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep. ³¹Then he washed his face and came back out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.” ³²They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them. ³³They were seated before Joseph in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴When the portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of the others. So they feasted and drank freely with Joseph.

Chapter 44 ¹Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack. ²Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” So the steward did as Joseph had instructed. ³At daybreak, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’” ⁶When the steward overtook them, he relayed these words to them. ⁷“Why does my lord say these things?” they asked. “Your servants could not possibly do such a thing. ⁸We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and the rest will become slaves of my lord.” ¹⁰“As you say,” replied the steward. “But only the one who is found with the cup will be my slave, and the rest of you shall be free of blame.” ¹¹So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹²The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest—and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they all tore their clothes, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city. ¹⁴When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?” ¹⁶“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found with the cup.” ¹⁷But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.” ¹⁸Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger 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.’ ²¹Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’ ²²So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’ ²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him. ²⁵Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’ ²⁶But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’ ²⁷And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. ²⁹Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’ ³⁰So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life, ³¹sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³²Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’ ³³Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”

Chapter 45 ¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ²But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it. ³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence. ⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. ⁶For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. ¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. ¹¹And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’ ¹²Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. ¹³Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.” ¹⁴Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. ¹⁵Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him. ¹⁶When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. ¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do as follows: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back. ²⁰But pay no regard to your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’” ²¹So the sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²²He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey. ²⁴Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!” ²⁵So the brothers went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶“Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them. ²⁷However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived. ²⁸“Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”

Chapter 46 ¹So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob. ³“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.” ⁵Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives. ⁶They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt. ⁷Jacob took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring. ⁸Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three. ¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Jacob born to Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all. ¹⁹The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ²¹The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. ²²These are the sons of Rachel born to Jacob—fourteen in all. ²³The son of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. ²⁵These are the sons of Jacob born to Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel—seven in all. ²⁶All those belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons. ²⁷And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all. ²⁸Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When Jacob’s family arrived in the land of Goshen, ²⁹Joseph prepared his chariot and went there to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, embraced him, and wept profusely. ³⁰Then Israel said to Joseph, “Finally I can die, now that I have seen your face and know that you are still alive!” ³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh: ‘My brothers and my father’s household from the land of Canaan have come to me. ³²The men are shepherds; they raise livestock, and they have brought their flocks and herds and all that they own.’ ³³When Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

Chapter 47 ¹So Joseph went and told Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” ²And he chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. ³“What is your occupation?” Pharaoh asked Joseph’s brothers. “Your servants are shepherds,” they replied, “both we and our fathers.” ⁴Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live in the land for a time, because there is no pasture for the flocks of your servants, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please allow your servants to settle in the land of Goshen.” ⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you, ⁶the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They may dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any talented men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.” ⁷Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸“How many years have you lived?” Pharaoh asked. ⁹“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.” ¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from his presence. ¹¹So Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²Joseph also provided his father and brothers and all his father’s household with food for their families. ¹³There was no food, however, in all that region, because the famine was so severe; the lands of Egypt and Canaan had been exhausted by the famine. ¹⁴Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain they were buying, and he brought it into Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁵When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our funds have run out!” ¹⁶“Then bring me your livestock,” said Joseph. “Since the money is gone, I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks and herds, and their donkeys. Throughout that year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock. ¹⁸When that year was over, they came to him the second year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord that our money is gone and all our livestock belongs to you. There is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. ¹⁹Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Purchase us and our land in exchange for food. Then we, along with our land, will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.” ²⁰So Joseph acquired for Pharaoh all the land in Egypt; the Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields because the famine was so severe upon them. The land became Pharaoh’s, ²¹and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²However, he did not acquire the priests’ portion of the land, for it had been given to them by Pharaoh. They ate the rations that Pharaoh supplied; so they did not sell their land. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh this day, here is seed for you to sow in the land. ²⁴At harvest time, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and food for yourselves and your households and children.” ²⁵“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor in our lord’s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶So Joseph established a law that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh, and it is in effect in the land of Egypt to this day. Only the priests’ land does not belong to Pharaoh. ²⁷Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the length of his life was 147 years. ²⁹When the time drew near for Israel 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 to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me with them.” Joseph answered, “I will do as you have requested.” ³¹“Swear to me,” Jacob said. So Joseph swore to him, and Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.

Chapter 48 ¹Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed. ³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me ⁴and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ ⁵And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit. ⁷Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ⁸When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?” ⁹Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.” ¹⁰Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹“I never expected to see your face again,” Israel said to Joseph, “but now God has let me see your children as well.” ¹²Then Joseph removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown. ¹³And Joseph took both of them—with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand—and brought them close to him. ¹⁴But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶the 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 into a multitude upon the earth.” ¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. ¹⁸“Not so, my father!” Joseph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²²And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

Chapter 49 ¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come: ²Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel. ³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. ⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it. ⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. ⁶May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim. ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. ⁸Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. ¹¹He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. ¹²His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. ¹³Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon. ¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant. ¹⁶Dan shall provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. ¹⁸I await Your salvation, O LORD. ¹⁹Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels. ²⁰Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies. ²¹Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. ²²Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall. ²³The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility. ²⁴Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb. ²⁶The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers. ²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” ²⁸These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing. ²⁹Then Jacob instructed 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. ³⁰The 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. ³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.” ³³When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

Chapter 50 ¹Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him. ²And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him, ³taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. ⁴When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that ⁵my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.” ⁶Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.” ⁷Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Egypt— ⁸along with all of Joseph’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen. ⁹Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession. ¹⁰When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days. ¹¹When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim. ¹²So Jacob’s sons did as he had charged them. ¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. ¹⁴After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father. ¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, ¹⁷‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. ¹⁸His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!” ¹⁹But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people. ²¹Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them. ²²Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110. ²³He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ²⁵And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” ²⁶So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.

Hebrews 11

¹Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see. ²This is why the ancients were commended. ³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. ⁴By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. ⁵By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God. For anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. ⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. ⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised. ¹²And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. ¹³All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. ¹⁷By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death. ²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future. ²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. ²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones. ²³By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were unafraid of the king’s edict. ²⁴By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin. ²⁶He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn. ²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. ³¹By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient. ³²And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground. ³⁹These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ⁴⁰God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

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Other teachings on Genesis 12-50; Hebrews 11