³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹He also prepared savory food, and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” ³²His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your first-born, Esau.” ³³Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all^x before you came, and I have blessed him?—yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵But he said, “Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹Then Isaac his father answered him:

⁴¹Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴²But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah; so she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself by planning to kill you. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee to La'ban my brother in Haran, ⁴⁴and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away; ⁴⁵until your brother’s anger turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send, and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

 

28Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. ²Arise, go to Pad'dan-ar'am to the house of Bethu'el your mother’s father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of La'ban your mother’s brother. ³God Almighty^z bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings which God gave to Abraham!” ⁵Thus Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Pad'dan-ar'am to La'ban, the son of Bethu'el the Arame'an, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Pad'dan-ar'am to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,” ⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Pad'dan-ar'am. ⁸So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, ⁹Esau went to Ish'mael and took to wife, besides the wives he had, Maha'lath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Neba'ioth.

¹⁰*Jacob left Be'er-she'ba, and went toward Haran. ¹¹And he came to a certain place, and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ¹³And behold, the LORD stood above it^a and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; ¹⁴and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves.^{b 15}Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.” ¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it.” ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel;^c but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, ²²and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will give the tenth to you.”

⁴Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” ⁵He said to them, “Do you know La'ban the son of Na'hor?” They said, “We know him.” ⁶He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!” ⁷He said, “Behold, it is still high day, it is not time for the animals to be gathered together; water the sheep, and go, pasture them.” ⁸But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she kept them. ¹⁰Now when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of La'ban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and wept aloud. ¹²And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he was Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father.

¹³When La'ban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, ¹⁴and La'ban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month.

¹⁵Then La'ban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” ¹⁶Now La'ban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful and lovely. ¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel; and he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” ¹⁹La'ban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” ²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

²¹Then Jacob said to La'ban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” ²²So La'ban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. ²³But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. ²⁴(La'ban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) ²⁵And in the morning, behold, it was Leah; and Jacob said to La'ban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” ²⁶La'ban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born. ²⁷Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” ²⁸Jacob did so, and completed her week; then La'ban gave him his daughter Rachel to wife. ²⁹(La'ban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.) ³⁰So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served La'ban for another seven years.

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben;^d for she said, “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” ³³She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard^e that I am hated, he has given me this son also”; and she called his name Simeon. ³⁴Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be joined^f to me, because I have borne him three sons”; therefore his name was called Levi. ³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise^g the LORD”; therefore she called his name Judah; then she ceased bearing.

 

30When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” ²Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” ³Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and even I may have children through her.” ⁴So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son”; therefore she called his name Dan.^{h 7}Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestledⁱ with my sister, and have prevailed”; so she called his name Naph'tali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Then Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said, “Good fortune!” so she called his name Gad.^{j 12}Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³And Leah said, “Blessed am I! For the women will call me blessed”; so she called his name Asher.^k

¹⁴In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me, I pray, some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my hire^l because I gave my maid to my husband”; so she called his name Is'sachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor^m me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she called his name Zeb'ulun. ²¹Afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. ²²Then God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. ²³She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach”; ²⁴and she called his name Joseph,ⁿ saying, “May the LORD add to me another son!”

²⁵When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to La'ban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the service which I have given you.” ²⁷But La'ban said to him, “If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you; ²⁸name your wages, and I will give it.” ²⁹Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me. ³⁰For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly; and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” ³¹He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it: ³²let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. ³³So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” ³⁴La'ban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” ³⁵But that day La'ban removed the he-goats that were striped and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons; ³⁶and he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of La'ban’s flock.

³⁷Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. ³⁸He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the runnels, that is, the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, ³⁹the flocks bred in front of the rods and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of La'ban; and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding Jacob laid the rods in the runnels before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the rods, ⁴²but for the feebler of the flock he did not lay them there; so the feebler were La'ban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³Thus the man grew exceedingly rich, and had large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

¹⁷So Jacob arose, and set his sons and his wives on camels; ¹⁸and he drove away all his cattle, all his livestock which he had gained, the cattle in his possession which he had acquired in Pad'dan-ar'am, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹La'ban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ²⁰And Jacob outwitted La'ban the Arame'an, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. ²¹He fled with all that he had, and arose and crossed the Euphra'tes, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²²When it was told La'ban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But God came to La'ban the Arame'an in a dream by night, and said to him, “Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵And La'ban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen encamped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶And La'ban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have cheated me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷Why did you flee secretly, and cheat me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? ²⁸And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹It is in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Take heed that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ ³⁰And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” ³¹Jacob answered La'ban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ³²Any one with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³So La'ban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered Rachel’s. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat upon them. La'ban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched, but did not find the household gods.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry, and upbraided La'ban; Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷Although you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹That which was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself; of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰Thus I was; by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, 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 on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”

⁴³Then La'ban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones,” and they took stones, and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷La'ban called it Je'gar-sahadu'tha:^o but Jacob called it Gale'ed.^{p 48}La'ban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Gale'ed, ⁴⁹and the pillar^q Mizpah,^r for he said, “The LORD watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other. ⁵⁰If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, remember, God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Then La'ban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ⁵²This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Na'hor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴and Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his kinsmen to eat bread; and they ate bread and tarried all night on the mountain.

^55sEarly in the morning La'ban arose, and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he departed and returned home.

 

³And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Se'ir, the country of Edom, ⁴instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with La'ban, and stayed until now; ⁵and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.' "

⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” ⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, ⁸thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ ¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and all the faithfulness which you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. ¹¹Deliver me, I beg you, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and slay us all, the mothers with the children. ¹²But you said, ‘I will do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' "

¹³So he lodged there that night, and took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten he-donkeys. ¹⁶These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷He instructed the foremost, “When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these before you?’ ¹⁸then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.' " ¹⁹He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, ²⁰and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹So the present passed on before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.

²²The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” ²⁷And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel,^u for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Tell me, I pray, your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the name of the place Peni'el,^v saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penu'el, limping because of his thigh. ³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh on the sinew of the hip.*

⁴But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And when Esau raised his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down; ⁷Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰Jacob said, “No, I beg you, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, with such favor have you received me. ¹¹Accept, I beg you, my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go before you.” ¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the flocks and herds giving suck are a care to me; and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle which are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Se'ir.”

¹⁵So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the men who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Se'ir. ¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to Succoth,^w and built himself a house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸And Jacob came safely to the city of She'chem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Pad'dan-ar'am; and he camped before the city. ¹⁹And from the sons of Ha'mor, She'chem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money^x the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰There he erected an altar and called it El-El'ohe-Israel.^y

⁸But Ha'mor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son She'chem longs for your daughter; I beg you, give her to him in marriage. ⁹Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You shall dwell with us; and the land shall be open to you; dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” ¹¹She'chem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹²Ask of me ever so much as marriage present and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; only give me the maiden to be my wife.”

¹³The sons of Jacob answered She'chem and his father Ha'mor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male of you be circumcised. ¹⁶Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”

¹⁸Their words pleased Ha'mor and Hamor’s son She'chem. ¹⁹And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his family. ²⁰So Ha'mor and his son She'chem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹“These men are friendly with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters. ²²Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³Will not their cattle, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴And all who went out of the gate of his city hearkened to Ha'mor and his son She'chem; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came upon the city unawares, and killed all the males. ²⁶They slew Ha'mor and his son She'chem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. ²⁷And the sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled; ²⁸they took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field; ²⁹all their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey. ³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Per'izzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” ³¹But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?”

⁵And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were round about them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷and there he built an altar, and called the place El-beth'el,^z because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel; so the name of it was called Al'lon-bac'uth.^a

⁹God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Pad'dan-ar'am, and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So his name was called Israel. ¹¹And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:^b be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you. ¹²The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.” ¹³Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. ¹⁵So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Eph'rath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. ¹⁷And when she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Fear not; for now you will have another son.” ¹⁸And as her soul was departing (for she died), she called his name Ben-o'ni;^c but his father called his name Benjamin.^{d 19}So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Eph'rath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰and Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. ²¹Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of E'der.

²²While Israel dwelt in that land Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s first-born), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Is'sachar, and Zeb'ulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naph'tali. ²⁶The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Pad'dan-ar'am.

²⁷And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kir'iath-ar'ba (that is, He'bron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. ²⁸Now the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹And Isaac breathed his last; and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

36These are the descendants of Esau (that is, E'dom). ²Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: A'dah the daughter of E'lon the Hittite, Oholiba'mah the daughter of An'ah the son^e of Zib'eon the Hi'vite, ³and Bas'emath, Ish'mael’s daughter, the sister of Neba'ioth. ⁴And A'dah bore to Esau, Eli'phaz; Bas'emath bore Reu'el; ⁵and Oholiba'mah bore Je'ush, Ja'lam, and Ko'rah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle, all his beasts, and all his property which he had acquired in the land of Canaan; and he went into a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land of their sojournings could not support them because of their cattle. ⁸So Esau dwelt in the hill country of Se'ir; Esau is E'dom.

⁹These are the descendants of Esau the father of the E'domites in the hill country of Se'ir. ¹⁰These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eli'phaz the son of A'dah the wife of Esau, Reu'el the son of Bas'emath the wife of Esau. ¹¹The sons of Eli'phaz were Te'man, Omar, Ze'pho, Ga'tam, and Ke'naz. ¹²(Timna was a concubine of Eli'phaz, Esau’s son; she bore Am'alek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of A'dah, Esau’s wife. ¹³These are the sons of Reu'el: Na'hath, Ze'rah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Bas'emath, Esau’s wife. ¹⁴These are the sons of Oholiba'mah the daughter of An'ah the son^f of Zib'eon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Je'ush, Ja'lam, and Ko'rah.

¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eli'phaz the first-born of Esau: the chiefs Te'man, Omar, Ze'pho, Ke'naz, ¹⁶Ko'rah, Ga'tam, and Am'alek; these are the chiefs of Eli'phaz in the land of E'dom; they are the sons of A'dah. ¹⁷These are the sons of Reu'el, Esau’s son: the chiefs Na'hath, Ze'rah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reu'el in the land of E'dom; they are the sons of Bas'emath, Esau’s wife. ¹⁸These are the sons of Oholiba'mah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Je'ush, Ja'lam, and Ko'rah; these are the chiefs born of Oholiba'mah the daughter of An'ah, Esau’s wife. ¹⁹These are the sons of Esau (that is, E'dom), and these are their chiefs.

²⁰These are the sons of Se'ir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lo'tan, Sho'bal, Zib'eon, An'ah, ²¹Di'shon, E'zer, and Di'shan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Se'ir in the land of E'dom. ²²The sons of Lo'tan were Ho'ri and He'man; and Lo'tan’s sister was Timna. ²³These are the sons of Sho'bal: Alvan, Man'ahath, E'bal, She'pho, and Onam. ²⁴These are the sons of Zib'eon: A'iah and An'ah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. ²⁵These are the children of An'ah: Di'shon and Oholiba'mah the daughter of Anah. ²⁶These are the sons of Di'shon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Che'ran. ²⁷These are the sons of E'zer: Bilhan, Za'avan, and A'kan. ²⁸These are the sons of Di'shan: Uz and Ar'an. ²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lo'tan, Sho'bal, Zib'eon, An'ah, ³⁰Di'shon, E'zer, and Di'shan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their clans in the land of Se'ir.

³¹These are the kings who reigned in the land of E'dom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. ³²Be'la the son of Beor reigned in E'dom, the name of his city being Din'habah. ³³Be'la died, and Jo'bab the son of Ze'rah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. ³⁴Jo'bab died, and Hu'sham of the land of the Te'manites reigned in his stead. ³⁵Hu'sham died, and Ha'dad the son of Be'dad, who defeated Mid'ian in the country of Moab, reigned in his stead, the name of his city being A'vith. ³⁶Ha'dad died, and Samlah of Masre'kah reigned in his stead. ³⁷Samlah died, and Sha'ul of Reho'both on the Euphra'tes reigned in his stead. ³⁸Sha'ul died, and Ba'al-ha'nan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. ³⁹Ba'al-ha'nan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead, the name of his city being Pa'u; his wife’s name was Mehet'abel, the daughter of Ma'tred, daughter of Me'zahab.

⁴⁰These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Je'theth, ⁴¹Oholiba'mah, E'lah, Pi'non, ⁴²Ke'naz, Te'man, Mibzar, ⁴³Mag'diel, and I'ram; these are the chiefs of E'dom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.

⁵Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more. ⁶He said to them, “Hear this dream which I have dreamed: ⁷behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered round it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words. ⁹Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” ¹¹And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

¹²Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near She'chem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at She'chem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ¹⁴So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers, and with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him from the valley of He'bron, and he came to She'chem. ¹⁵And a man found him wandering in the fields; and the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” ¹⁶“I am seeking my brothers,” he said, “tell me, I beg you, where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Do'than.' " So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²²And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; cast him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; ²⁴and they took him and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty, there was no water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ish'maelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ish'maelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers heeded him. ²⁸Then Mid'ianite traders passed by; and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ish'maelites for twenty shekels of silver; and they took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes ³⁰and returned to his brothers, and said, “The lad is gone; and I, where shall I go?” ³¹Then they took Joseph’s robe, and killed a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood; ³²and they sent the long robe with sleeves and brought it to their father, and said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.” ³³And he recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s robe; a wild beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. ³⁶Meanwhile the Mid'ianites had sold him in Egypt to Pot'iphar, an officer of Pharoah, the captain of the guard.

38It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adul'lamite, whose name was Hi'rah. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; he married her and went in to her, ³and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. ⁴Again she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name O'nan. ⁵Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name She'lah. She^g was in Che'zib when she bore him. ⁶And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Ta'mar. ⁷But Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. ⁸Then Judah said to O'nan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” ⁹But O'nan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. ¹⁰And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD, and he slew him also. ¹¹Then Judah said to Ta'mar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till She'lah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Ta'mar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

¹²In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died; and when Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hi'rah the Adul'lamite. ¹³And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴she put off her widow’s garments, and put on a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that She'lah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶He went over to her at the road side, and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷He answered, “I will send you a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge, till you send it?” ¹⁸He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adul'lamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he could not find her. ²¹And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the harlot^h who was at Ena'im by the wayside?” And they said, “No harlot^h has been here.” ²²So he returned to Judah, and said, “I have not found her; and also the men of the place said, ‘No harlot^h has been here.’” ²³And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, lest we be laughed at; you see, I sent this kid, and you could not find her.”

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, “Ta'mar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; and moreover she is with child by harlotry.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” ²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Mark, I beg you, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” ²⁶Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son She'lah.” And he did not lie with her again.

²⁷When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸And when she was in labor, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on his hand a scarlet thread, saying, “This came out first.” ²⁹But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out; and she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Per'ez.^{i 30}Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was called Ze'rah.

Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. ⁷And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, having me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand; ⁹he is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife; how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” ¹⁰And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her. ¹¹But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ¹²she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and got out of the house. ¹³And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; ¹⁵and when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me, and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; ¹⁸but as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me, and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹When his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²²And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever was done there, he was the doer of it; ²³the keeper of the prison paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.

⁹So the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine there were three branches; as soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharoah’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharoah’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharoah’s hand.” ¹²Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; ¹³within three days Pharoah will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharoah’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his butler. ¹⁴But remember me, when it is well with you, and do me the kindness, I beg you, to make mention of me to Pharoah, and so get me out of this house. ¹⁵For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharoah, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸And Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; ¹⁹within three days Pharoah will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharoah’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹He restored the chief butler to his butlership, and he placed the cup in Pharoah’s hand; ²²but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

41After two whole years, Pharoah dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows sleek and fat, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And behold, seven other cows, gaunt and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴And the gaunt and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharoah awoke. ⁵And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. And Pharoah awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸So in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men; and Pharoah told them his dream, but there was none who could interpret it^j to Pharoah.

⁹Then the chief butler said to Pharoah, “I remember my faults today. ¹⁰When Pharoah was angry with his servants, and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ¹¹we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard; and when we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. ¹³And as he interpreted to us, so it came to pass; I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

¹⁴Then Pharoah sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharoah. ¹⁵And Pharoah said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph answered Pharoah, “It is not in me; God will give Pharoah a favorable answer.” ¹⁷Then Pharoah said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile; ¹⁸and seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass; ¹⁹and seven other cows came up after them, poor and very gaunt and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the thin and gaunt cows ate up the first seven fat cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as gaunt as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good; ²³and seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharoah, “The dream of Pharoah is one; God has revealed to Pharoah what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dream is one. ²⁷The seven lean and gaunt cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. ²⁸It is as I told Pharoah, God has shown to Pharoah what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of that famine which will follow, for it will be very grievous. ³²And the doubling of Pharoah’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. ³³Now therefore let Pharoah select a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharoah proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plenteous years. ³⁵And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharoah for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine which are to befall the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

³⁷This proposal seemed good to Pharoah and to all his servants. ³⁸And Pharoah said to his servants, “Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” ³⁹So Pharoah said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are; ⁴⁰you shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹And Pharoah said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharoah took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; ⁴³and he made him to ride in his second chariot; and they cried before him, “Bow the knee!”^k Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Moreover Pharoah said to Joseph, “I am Pharoah, and without your consent no man shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵And Pharoah called Joseph’s name Zaph'enath-pane'ah; and he gave him in marriage As'enath, the daughter of Poti'phera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharoah king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharoah, and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly, ⁴⁸and he gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty^l in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

⁵⁰Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom As'enath, the daughter of Poti'phera priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas'seh,^m “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” ⁵²The name of the second he called E'phraim,ⁿ “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; ⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharoah for bread; and Pharoah said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.” ⁵⁶So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses,^o and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

⁶Now Joseph was governor over the land; he it was who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷Joseph saw his brothers, and knew them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” ⁸Thus Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him. ⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them; and he said to them, “You are spies, you have come to see the weakness of the land.” ¹⁰They said to him, “No, my lord, but to buy food have your servants come. ¹¹We are all sons of one man, we are honest men, your servants are not spies.” ¹²He said to them, “No, it is the weakness of the land that you have come to see.” ¹³And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.” ¹⁴But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, you are spies. ¹⁵By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharoah, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain in prison, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharoah, surely you are spies.” ¹⁷And he put them all together in prison for three days.

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: ¹⁹if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰and bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. ²¹Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we would not listen; therefore is this distress come upon us.” ²²And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the lad? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” ²³They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴Then he turned away from them and wept; and he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ²⁵And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

²⁶Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed. ²⁷And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack; ²⁸and he said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying, ³⁰“The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies of the land. ³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest men, we are not spies; ³²we are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. ³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me; then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver to you your brother, and you shall trade in the land.’”

³⁵As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. ³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin; all this has come upon me.” ³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “Slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” ³⁸But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm should befall him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down to the man a present, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹²Take double the money with you; carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man; ¹⁴may God Almighty^p grant you mercy before the man, that he may send back your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵So the men took the present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷The man did as Joseph bade him, and brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us, to make slaves of us and seize our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house, and spoke with him at the door of the house, ²⁰and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food; ²¹and when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was every man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it again with us, ²²and we have brought other money down in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³He replied, “Rest assured, do not be afraid; your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your sacks for you; I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house, and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys food, ²⁵they made ready the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present which they had with them, and bowed down to him to the ground. ²⁷And he inquired about their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸They said, “Your servant our father is well, he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and made obeisance. ²⁹And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” ³⁰Then Joseph made haste, for his heart yearned for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and came out; and controlling himself he said, “Let food be served.” ³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they sat before him, the first-born according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked at one another in amazement. ³⁴Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

44Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, ²and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him. ³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. ⁴When they had gone but a short distance from the city, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you returned evil for good? Why have you stolen my silver cup?^{q 5}Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he divines? You have done wrong in so doing.' "

⁶When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. ⁷They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! ⁸Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; how then should we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹With whomever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” ¹⁰He said, “Let it be as you say: he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be blameless.” ¹¹Then every man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack. ¹²And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

¹⁴When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell before him to the ground. ¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed divine?” ¹⁶And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” ¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸Then Judah went up to him and said, “O my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are like Pharoah himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ ²⁰And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children; and his father loves him.’ ²¹Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes upon him.’ ²²We said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’ ²⁴When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ ²⁶we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since. ²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.’ ³⁰Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the lad’s life, ³¹when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. ³²For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame in the sight of my father all my life.’ ³³Now therefore, let your servant, I beg you, remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord; and let the lad go back with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father if the lad is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would come upon my father.”

45 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him; and he cried, “Make every one go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharoah heard it. ³And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

⁴So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, I beg you.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharoah, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Make haste and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry; ¹⁰ you shall dwell in the land of Go'shen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have; ¹¹and there I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come; lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.’ ¹²And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³You must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Make haste and bring my father down here.” ¹⁴Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. ¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶When the report was heard in Pharoah’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharoah and his servants well. ¹⁷And Pharoah said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan; ¹⁸and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹Command them^r also, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰Give no thought to your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.' "

²¹The sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharoah, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²²To each and all of them he gave festal garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five festal garments. ²³To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. ²⁴Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.” ²⁵So they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart fainted, for he did not believe them. ²⁷But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived; ²⁸and Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive; I will go and see him before I die.”

⁸Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob’s first-born, ⁹and the sons of Reuben: Ha'noch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemu'el, Ja'min, O'had, Ja'chin, Zo'har, and Sha'ul, the son of a Canaanitish woman. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Ko'hath, and Merar'i. ¹²The sons of Judah: Er, O'nan, She'lah, Per'ez, and Ze'rah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Ha'mul. ¹³The sons of Is'sachar: To'la, Pu'vah, I'ob, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zeb'ulun: Se'red, E'lon, and Jah'leel ¹⁵(these are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Pad'dan-ar'am, together with his daughter Dinah; altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three). ¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziph'ion, Haggi, Shu'ni, Ezbon, E'ri, Aro'di, and Are'li. ¹⁷The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beri'ah, with Se'rah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: He'ber and Mal'chi-el ¹⁸(these are the sons of Zilpah, whom La'ban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons). ¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manas'seh and E'phraim, whom As'enath, the daughter of Poti'phera the priest of On, bore to him. ²¹And the sons of Benjamin: Be'la, Be'cher, Ashbel, Ge'ra, Na'aman, E'hi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard ²²(these are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all). ²³The sons of Dan: Hu'shim. ²⁴The sons of Naph'tali: Jah'zeel, Gu'ni, Je'zer, and Shillem ²⁵(these are the sons of Bilhah, whom La'ban gave to Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all). ²⁶All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own offspring, not including Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all; ²⁷and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy.

²⁸He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to appear^s before him in Go'shen; and they came into the land of Goshen. ²⁹Then Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Go'shen; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. ³⁰Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since 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 tell Pharoah, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; ³²and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³When Pharoah calls you, and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Go'shen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

⁷Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharoah, and Jacob blessed Pharoah. ⁸And Pharoah said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” ⁹And Jacob said to Pharoah, “The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” ¹⁰And Jacob blessed Pharoah, and went out from the presence of Pharoah. ¹¹Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ram'eses, as Pharoah had commanded. ¹²And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

¹³Now there was no food in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. ¹⁴And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharoah’s house. ¹⁵And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us food; why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” ¹⁶And Joseph answered, “Give your cattle, and I will give you food in exchange for your cattle, if your money is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their cattle to Joseph; and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys: and he supplied them with food in exchange for all their cattle that year. ¹⁸And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be slaves to Pharoah; and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharoah; for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe upon them. The land became Pharoah’s; ²¹and as for the people, he made slaves of them^t from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharoah, and lived on the allowance which Pharoah gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharoah. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharoah, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” ²⁵And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharoah.” ²⁶So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharoah should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharoah’s.

²⁷Thus Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Go'shen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years.

²⁹And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh, and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰but let me lie with my fathers; carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” ³¹And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.

48After this Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill”; so he took with him his two sons, Manas'seh and E'phraim. ²And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you”; then Israel summoned his strength, and sat up in bed. ³And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty^u appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’ ⁵And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; E'phraim and Manas'seh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶And the offspring born to you after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷For when I came from Paddan, Rachel to my sorrow died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Eph'rath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them.” ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him; and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your children also.” ¹²Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³And Joseph took them both, E'phraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manas'seh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. ¹⁴And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon the head of E'phraim, who was the younger, and his left hand upon the head of Manas'seh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the first-born. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said,

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of E'phraim, it displeased him; and he took his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manas'seh’s head. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father; for this one is the first-born; put your right hand upon his head.” ¹⁹But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying,

and thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. ²²Moreover I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope^v which I took from the hand of the Am'orites with my sword and with my bow.”