Genesis

How God Created Everything

1:1-2:3

11In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness {was} over the surface of the deep {waters}, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. 4And God saw the light, that {it was} good. Then God separated between the light and the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. Then there was evening, and there was morning, one day.

6Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7So God made the expanse and separated between the waters that {were} under the expanse and the waters that {were} above the expanse. And it was so. 8And God called the expanse Heavens. Then there was evening, and there was morning, the second day.

9Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10And God called the dry ground Land, and the gathered waters he called Seas. And God saw that {it was} good.

11Then God said, “Let the land sprout vegetation: {every} plant yielding seed, {every} fruit tree bearing fruit according to its kind, that {has} its seed inside it, on the earth.” And it was so. 12So the land brought out vegetation, {every} plant yielding seed according to its kind, and {every} tree bearing fruit that {has} its seed inside it, according to its kind. And God saw that {it was} good. 13Then there was evening, and there was morning, the third day.

14Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate between the day and the night. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. 15And let them be as lights in the expanse of the heavens to shine on the earth.” And it was so. 16So God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to shine on the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate between the light and the darkness. And God saw that {it was} good. 19Then there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day.

20Then God said, “Let the waters swarm {with} swarm{s} of living creature{s}, and let bird{s} fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the sky.” 21So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves which the waters swarm with according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that {it was} good. 22Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the bird{s} multiply on the earth.” 23Then there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day.

24Then God said, “Let the land bring forth {every} living creature according to its kind: livestock and {every} crawling creature and {every} living thing of the earth, {each} according to its kind.” And it was so. 25So God made {every} creature of the earth according to its kind, and the livestock according to its kind, and every crawling creature of the ground according to its kind. And God saw that {it was} good.

26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the bird{s} of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every moving creature moving on the earth.” 27Then God created man in his image. In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. And rule over the fish of the sea and over the bird{s} of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given to you every plant {that} yields seed that {is} on the surface of the whole earth and every tree that {has} tree fruit {that} yields seed inside it. They will be yours for food. 30And to every living thing of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to every{thing} moving on the earth that {has} living breath in it, {I have given} every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31Then God saw all that he had made, and behold, {it was} very good. Then there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

21So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2And by the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it he rested from all his work of creating that God had done.

Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden

2:4-25

4These {are} the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day {when} Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens, 5and every shrub of the field had not yet appeared on the earth, and every plant of the field had not yet sprung up, because Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground. 6But mist came up from the earth and watered all of the surface of the ground. 7Then Yahweh God formed the man {out of} dust from the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8Now Yahweh God had planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And Yahweh God had made to grow from the ground every tree {that} is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10And a river was going out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four head{water}s. 11The name of the first {is} Pishon. It winds through all of the land of Havilah, where gold {is}. 12And the gold of that land {is} good. Bdellium and onyx stone {are} there. 13And the name of the second river {is} Gihon. It winds through all of the land of Cush. 14And the name of the third river {is} Tigris. It goes east of Asshur. And the fourth river {is} Euphrates.

15And Yahweh God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and tend it. 16Then Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it you will surely die.”

18Then Yahweh God said, “{It is} not good {for} the man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him.” 19Now Yahweh God had formed from the ground every living thing of the field and every bird of the sky. So he brought {them} to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called a living creature, that {was} its name. 20And the man gave names to all the livestock and to the bird{s} of the sky and to every living thing of the field, but for the man a suitable helper was not found.

21So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man. And {while} he was sleeping, then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place {with} flesh. 22Then Yahweh God built the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman, and he brought her to the man. 23And the man said,

“This {one} now {is} bone from my bones

and flesh from my flesh!

She will be called ‘woman,’

because {it was} from a man {that} she was taken.”

24For that {reason} a man will leave his father and his mother, and he will cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

The First Sin and God’s Judgment

3:1-24

31Now the serpent was more crafty than every living thing of the field that Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2Then the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat from the fruit of the tree{s} of the garden, 3except from the fruit of the tree that {is} in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die!’ ” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that on the day you eat from it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God in knowing good and evil.” 6And the woman saw that the tree {was} good for food, and that it {was} pleasant to the eyes, and {that} the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate {it}. Then she also gave {some} to her husband with her, and he ate {it}. 7Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they {were} naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made aprons for themselves.

8Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, but the man and his wife hid from the presence of Yahweh God among the tree{s} of the garden. 9So Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where {are} you?” 10And he said, “I heard your sound in the garden, but I was afraid because I {was} naked, so I hid.” 11Then he said, “Who told you that you {were} naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12Then the man said, “The woman whom you gave {to be} with me, she gave me {fruit} from the tree, and I ate {it}.” 13Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “What {is} this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, so I ate {it}.”

14Then Yahweh God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

you are cursed above all the livestock

and above every living thing of the field.

You will move on your belly,

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

15I will also put hostility

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike you {on} the head, and you will strike him {on} the heel.”

16To the woman he said,

“I will greatly multiply your pain and your childbearing;

in pain you will bear children.

Yet your desire {will be} for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

17Then to the man he said, “Since you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree that I commanded you, saying, ‘You must not eat from it,’

the ground is cursed because of you.

By painful toil you will eat {from} it

all the days of your life.

18And it will produce thorn{s} and thistle{s} for you,

and you will eat the plant{s} of the field{s}.

19By the sweat of your nose

you will eat bread,

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken.

For you {are} dust,

and to dust you will return.”

20Then the man called the name of his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21Then Yahweh God made garments of {animal} skins for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them.

22Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. And now he must not reach out his hand and also take {fruit} from the tree of life and eat it and live forever!” 23So Yahweh God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground which he had been taken from. 24And after he drove the man out, then he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim {angels} and a flaming sword that was turning in every direction to guard the way of the tree of life.

Cain and Abel — the First Murder

4:1-16

41Then the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, “I have obtained a man with Yahweh!” 2Then she continued on to bear his brother Abel. Now Abel became a keeper of flock{s}, and Cain became a worker of the ground. 3And it happened in the course of days that Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground {as} an offering to Yahweh. 4And Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock{s} and some of their fat. And Yahweh looked {favorably} on Abel and his offering. 5But he did not look {favorably} on Cain and his offering. So Cain burned with intense anger, and his face fell. 6Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you burning with anger? And why is your face fallen? 7If you do right, will {you} not {be} accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire {is} for you, but you must rule over it.”

8Then Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And it happened while they were in the field, then Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

9Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Where {is} Abel your brother?” And he replied, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10Then he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11So now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12When you work the ground, it will not continue to yield its strength for you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

13Then Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment {is} greater than I can bear. 14Behold, today you are driving me from the surface of the ground, and I will be hidden from your presence. And I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and it will be {that} everyone who finds me will kill me!” 15Then Yahweh said to him, “For that {reason}, anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over!” Then Yahweh put a mark on Cain so that everyone who found him would not strike him. 16Then Cain went away from the presence of Yahweh and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Cain’s Descendants

4:17-24

17Then Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he was building a city, so he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. 18Then to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

19Then Lamech took for himself two wives. The name of the one {was} Adah, and the name of the second {was} Zillah. 20And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of {those} who live {in} tents and own livestock. 21And the name of his brother {was} Jubal. He was the father of all who play harps and flutes.

22And Zillah also bore Tubal Cain, who forged all {kinds} of tools out of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal Cain {was} Naamah.

23And Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice.

Wives of Lamech, give ear to my word{s}:

For I killed a man for my wound,

even a young man for my bruise.

24If Cain is avenged seven times,

then Lamech {is avenged} seventy-seven times!”

Seth and His Son Enosh

4:25-26

25Then Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and she called his name Seth, because {she had said}, “God has appointed for me another offspring in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26And to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh.

Then {people} began to call on the name of Yahweh.

The Descendants of Adam to Noah

5:1-32

1 Chronicles 1:1-4

51This {is} the written account of the generations of Adam: On the day God created man{kind}, he made him in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called their name “man{kind}” on the day they were created.

3And Adam lived 130 years, then he fathered {a son} in his own likeness, according to his image, and he called his name Seth. 4And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 5So all the days of Adam that he lived were 930 years, and he died.

6And Seth lived 105 years, then he fathered Enosh. 7Then after he fathered Enosh, Seth lived 807 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 8So all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

9And Enosh lived ninety years, then he fathered Kenan. 10Then after he fathered Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 11So all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

12And Kenan lived seventy years, then he fathered Mahalalel. 13Then after he fathered Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 14So all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

15And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, then he fathered Jared. 16Then after he fathered Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 17So all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

18And Jared lived 162 years, then he fathered Enoch. 19Then after he fathered Enoch, Jared lived 800 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 20So all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

21And Enoch lived sixty-five years, then he fathered Methuselah. 22Then after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 23So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24And Enoch walked with God, and {then} he was not {there}, because God took him away.

25And Methuselah lived 187 years, then he fathered Lamech. 26Then after he fathered Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 27So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

28And Lamech lived 182 years, then he fathered a son, 29and he called his name Noah, saying, “This {one} will comfort us from our labors and from the toil of our hands because of the ground which Yahweh has cursed.” 30Then after he fathered Noah, Lamech lived 595 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters. 31So all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

32And Noah was a son of 500 years, then Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The Worldwide Flood

chapters 6:1-9:29

Evil Increases on the Earth

6:1-8

61And it happened when mankind began to multiply on the surface of the earth and daughters were born to them, 2then the sons of God saw the daughters of mankind, that they {were} beautiful, so they took wives for themselves from any {of them} that they chose. 3Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with mankind forever, because they {are} indeed flesh. Therefore their days will be 120 years.”

4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of God went to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children for them. They {were} the mighty {ones} who {were} from long ago, the men of renown.

5And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of mankind {was} great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts {was} only evil all day long. 6So Yahweh was sorry that he had made mankind on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. 7Then Yahweh said, “I will wipe away mankind whom I created off the surface of the ground, both mankind and animals, and crawling creatures and the birds of the sky, because I am sorry that I made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.

Noah Prepares for the Flood

6:9-22

9These {are} the generations of Noah: He {was} a righteous man. He was without blemish in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled {with} violence. 12And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupted, because all flesh on the earth had corrupted its way. 13So God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, because the earth is filled {with} violence because of them. So behold, I am destroying them with the earth. 14Make an ark for yourself out of gopher wood. Make the ark {with} rooms, and cover it inside and outside with a covering. 15And this {is} how you must make it: the length of the ark {must be} 300 cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16Make a window for the ark and finish it to within one cubit from the top. And put the door of the ark in its side. Make a lower, a second, and a third {deck}. 17And I, behold, I am bringing floodwaters on the earth to destroy all flesh that {has} the breath of life in it from under the heavens. Everything that {is} on the earth will expire! 18But I will establish my covenant with you, so you must go into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and the wives of your sons with you. 19And from every living {creature}, from all flesh, you must bring two from each {kind} into the ark to keep alive with you. They must be male and female. 20From the birds according to their kinds, and from the animals according to their kinds, from every moving creature of the ground according to its kind, two from every {kind} will come to you to keep alive. 21And you must take with you some of every food that is eaten and store it with you, and it will be food for you and for them.” 22And Noah did {that}; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

Yahweh Sends the Flood

7:1-23

71Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen {that} you {are} righteous before me in this generation. 2From every clean animal take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, and from {every} animal that {is} not clean {take} two, a male and its female, 3also from {every} bird of the sky {take} seven pairs, male and female, to keep {their} offspring alive on the surface of the whole earth, 4because in seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth {for} forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe every living thing that I have made off the surface of the ground.” 5Then Noah did all that Yahweh had commanded him.

6Now Noah {was} a son of 600 years when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7And Noah and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons went with him into the ark from the presence of the waters of the flood. 8{Pairs} from the clean animal{s} and from the animal{s} that are not clean and from the bird{s} and everything that moves on the ground 9went two {by} two to Noah into the ark, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah.

10And it happened, after the seven days, then the waters of the flood came on the earth. 11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of the heavens were opened, 12so that the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13On that same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark, 14they and every living thing according to its kind, and every livestock according to its kind, and every moving creature moving on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every wing. 15So they went to Noah into the ark, two {by} two from all flesh which {has} in it the breath of life. 16And those that went in {were} male and female from all flesh; they went in just as God had commanded him. Then Yahweh shut him in.

17Then the flood came on the earth {for} forty days, and the waters increased and lifted the ark so that it rose up off the earth. 18And the waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark went on the surface of the waters. 19And the waters rose very greatly on the earth, so that all the high mountains that {were} under the entire heavens were covered. 20The waters rose fifteen cubits above {them}, so that the mountains were covered. 21Then all flesh that moved on the earth expired, including the birds and the livestock and the living things and all the swarming things swarming on the earth, and all mankind. 22Everything that {had} the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils, everything that {lived} on dry land, died. 23So he wiped away every living thing that {was} on the surface of the ground, including mankind and livestock and crawling creatures and also the birds of the sky. So they were wiped off the earth, and only Noah was left and {those} who {were} with him in the ark.

God Ends the Flood

7:24-8:19

24And the waters prevailed over the earth {for} 150 days.

81But God remembered Noah and all the living thing{s} and all the livestock that {were} with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2And the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the heavens was stopped. 3Then the waters receded steadily from the earth, and {at} the end of the 150 days the waters had decreased, 4so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters continued to decrease until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

6Then it happened {at} the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, 7and he sent out the raven, and it kept flying out and returning until the waters dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the surface of the ground. 9But the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of its feet, so it returned to him in the ark, because the waters {were} over the surface of the entire earth. And he reached out his hand and took it and brought it to him into the ark. 10Then he waited another seven days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11Then the dove returned to him at evening time, and behold, {there was} a freshly picked olive leaf in its mouth. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12Then he waited another seven days, and he sent out the dove, but it did not return to him again.

13So it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first {month}, on the first {day} of the month, the waters were drying up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was drying. 14Then in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15Then God said to Noah, saying, 16“Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons with you. 17Bring out with you every living thing that {is} with you, all flesh, including the birds and the livestock and every moving creature moving on the earth, so that they will abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply over the earth.” 18Then Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him. 19Every living thing, every crawling thing and every bird, everything moving on the earth, went out of the ark by their families.

Yahweh Establishes His Covenant with Noah and His Descendants

8:20-9:17

20Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took from every clean animal and from every clean bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma, and Yahweh said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of mankind, though the inclination of mankind’s hearts {is} evil from their youth. And never again will I strike every living {thing} as I have done.

22While all of the days of the earth continue,

seed time and harvest,

and cold and heat,

and summer and winter,

and day and night

will not cease.”

91Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you will be on every living thing of the earth, including on every bird of the sky, on everything that moves on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are given. 3Every moving creature that lives will be for you for food. Just as the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you must not eat flesh with its life, {that is,} its blood. 5And surely I will demand your blood for your lives. From the hand of every living thing I will demand it, and from the hand of mankind; from the hand of a man {who kills} his brother, I will demand the life of the man.

6The one shedding the blood of a man,

by mankind his blood must be shed,

because in the image of God

he made mankind.

7“And you, be fruitful and multiply. Abound on the earth and multiply on it.”

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9“And I, behold, I am establishing my covenant with you and with your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that {is} with you: with the birds, with the livestock, and with every living thing of the earth with you, from all that came out of the ark to every living thing of the earth. 11And I am establishing my covenant with you that never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12Then God said, “This {is} the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and every living creature that {is} with you, for generations forever: 13I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14And it will be when I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow is seen in the clouds, 15then I will remember my covenant that {is} between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again will waters become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16So the rainbow will be in the clouds, and I will see it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature, with all flesh that {is} on the earth.”

17Then God said to Noah, “That {is} the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that {is} on the earth.”

Noah and His Three Sons After the Flood

9:18-29

18And the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham, he {was} the father of Canaan. 19Those three {were} the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was overspread.

20Now Noah, a man of the soil, began and planted a vineyard. 21Then he drank some of the wine, and he became drunk, and he uncovered himself inside his tent. 22Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and he told his two brothers outside. 23But Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it across the shoulders of the two of them and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, so that they did not see the nakedness of their father.

24Then Noah woke up from his wine, and he learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25and he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!

He will be a slave of slaves for his brothers.”

26Then he said,

“Praised be Yahweh, the God of Shem!

And may Canaan be a slave for him.

27May God enlarge Japheth,

and may he live in the tents of Shem.

And may Canaan be a slave for him.”

28And after the flood, Noah lived 350 years. 29So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

A List of the Seventy People Groups in the World

10:1-32

1 Chronicles 1:4-23

101Now these {are} the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and sons were born to them after the flood.

Japheth’s Descendants

2The sons of Japheth {were} Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras.

3And the sons of Gomer {were} Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah.

4And the sons of Javan {were} Elishah and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim.

5From those the coastland peoples spread out into their lands, each with its own language, according to their clans, in their nations.

Ham’s Descendants

6And the sons of Ham {were} Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

7And the sons of Cush {were} Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah {were} Sheba and Dedan. 8Cush also fathered Nimrod, who began to be mighty on the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. For that reason it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh.” 10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Akkad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11From that land he went to Asshur, and he built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah 12and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah, which {is} the great city.

13And Mizraim fathered the Ludim and the Anamim and the Lehabim and the Naphtuhim 14and the Pathrusim and the Casluhim (whom the Philistim came from) and the Caphtorim.

15And Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, then Heth 16and the Jebusites and the Amorites and the Girgashites 17and the Hivites and the Arkites and the Sinites 18and the Arvadites and the Zemarites and the Hamathites. And afterward the clans of the Canaanites scattered, 19so the border{s} of the Canaanites were from Sidon, {then} you go toward Gerar as far as Gaza, {then} you go to Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

20Those {are} the sons of Ham according to their clans, according to their languages, in their lands, in their nations.

Shem’s Descendants

21And sons were also born to Shem; he {was} the father of all the sons of Eber and the brother of Japheth the elder. 22The sons of Shem {were} Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram.

23And the sons of Aram {were} Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash.

24And Arpachshad fathered Shelah, then Shelah fathered Eber. 25Then two sons were born to Eber. The name of the one {was} Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided. And the name of his brother {was} Joktan. 26And Joktan fathered Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah 27and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah 28and Obal and Abimael and Sheba 29and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab. All those {were} the sons of Joktan. 30And their dwelling was from Mesha, {then} you go to Sephar, the mountain{s} of the east.

31Those {are} the sons of Shem according to their clans, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

32Those {are} the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations. And from those the nations spread out on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11:1-9

111Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And it happened as they migrated from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3Then they said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire.” And they had bricks for stones, and they had tar for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of mankind had built. 6And Yahweh said, “Behold, {they are} one people, and they all have one language. So this {is} what they have begun to do, and now everything that they plan to do will not be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand each other’s language.” 8Then Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. 9For that {reason} they called its name Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth, and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The History of Abraham

chapters 11:10-25:18

Shem’s Descendants down to Abram

11:10-26

1 Chronicles 1:24-27

10These {are} the generations of Shem:

Shem {was} the son of 100 years, then he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11Then after he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

12And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, then he fathered Shelah. 13Then after he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

14And Shelah lived thirty years, then he fathered Eber. 15Then after he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

16And Eber lived thirty-four years, then he fathered Peleg. 17Then after he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

18And Peleg lived thirty years, then he fathered Reu. 19Then after he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

20And Reu lived thirty-two years, then he fathered Serug. 21Then after he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

22And Serug lived thirty years, then he fathered Nahor. 23Then after he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

24And Nahor lived twenty-nine years, then he fathered Terah. 25Then after he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years, and he fathered {other} sons and daughters.

26And Terah lived seventy years, then he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah’s Children, including Abram

11:27-32

27Now these {are} the generations of Terah: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Kasdim. 29And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife {was} Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife {was} Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30But Sarai was barren; she did not have a child.

31Then Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, Haran’s son, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and they went out together from Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Canaan. But they came to Haran, and they settled there. 32And the days of Terah were 205 years, then Terah died in Haran.

God Calls Abram

12:1-9

121Then Yahweh said to Abram, “You yourself must go from your land and from your relatives and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you.

2And I will make you into a great nation,

and I will bless you,

and I will make your name great,

and you must be a blessing.

3And I will bless those who bless you,

but whoever curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4Then Abram went, just as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was the son of seventy-five years when he departed from Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot the son of his brother and all their possessions that they had accumulated and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. Then they came to the land of Canaan. 6Then Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, to the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites {were} in the land at that time. 7Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.

8Then from there he went on to the mountains to the east of Bethel and pitched his tents, {with} Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to Yahweh, and he called on the name of Yahweh. 9Then Abram set out and continued to travel toward the Negev.

Abram and Sarai Go to Egypt

12:10-20

10Then there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there because the famine {was} heavy in the land. 11And it happened that as he was about to enter Egypt, then he said to Sarai his wife, “Behold please, I know that you {are} a woman beautiful in appearance. 12So it will happen when the Egyptians see you, then they will say, ‘This {is} his wife,’ and they will kill me but let you live. 13Please say {that} you {are} my sister so that it will go well for me for your sake and my life will live because of you.”

14Then it happened, when Abram came into Egypt, then the Egyptians saw the woman, that she {was} very beautiful. 15And the officials of Pharaoh saw her, so they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16Then he treated Abram well for her sake, so that he had flock{s} and herd{s} and male donkeys and male slaves and female slaves and female donkeys and camels.

17But Yahweh struck Pharaoh and his house {with} great plagues on account of Sarai the wife of Abram. 18So Pharaoh called for Abram and said, “What {is} this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she {was} your wife? 19Why did you say, ‘She {is} my sister,’ so that I took her to me as a wife? Now then, behold your wife. Take {her} and go!” 20Then Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away and his wife and everything that {belonged} to him.

Abram and Lot Go Separate Ways

13:1-13

131Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and everything that {belonged} to him, and Lot with him, to the Negev. 2And Abram {was} very wealthy in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3Then he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tents had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4to the place of the altar that he had made there at first, and there Abram called on the name of Yahweh.

5Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flock{s} and herd{s} and tents. 6But the land could not support them while they stayed together, because their possessions were great so that they were not able to stay together. 7Then there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. And the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land then.

8So Abram said to Lot, “Please do not let there be strife between me and you, or between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, because we {are} men, brothers. 9Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If {you go to} the left, then I will go right, or if {you go to} the right, then I will go left.”

10Then Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of the Jordan as you go {toward} Zoar, that all of it {was} well-watered, like Yahweh’s garden, like the land of Egypt, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. 11So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot traveled to the east, and they separated from each other. 12Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the plain and moved his tents as far as Sodom. 13Now the men of Sodom {were} exceedingly wicked and sinful against Yahweh.

God Blesses Abram Again

13:14-18

14Then Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes please from the place where you {are}, and look northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15because all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16And I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, which if anyone were able to count the dust of the earth, your offspring could also be counted. 17Get up and walk through the land, through its length and through its width, because to you I am giving it.” 18So Abram moved his tents and went and settled by the terebinth trees of Mamre that {were} near Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.

Abram Rescues Lot from Four Kings

14:1-16

141Now it happened in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of the Goiim, 2they made war against Bera king of Sodom, and against Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which {is} Zoar. 3All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim, which {is now} the Sea of Salt.

4{For} twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5Then in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who {were} with him went and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim, 6and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El Paran, which {is} by the wilderness. 7Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat, which {is} Kadesh, and they struck the entire territory of the Amalekites and also the Amorites, who were living in Hazezon Tamar. 8Then the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which {is} Zoar, went out into the Valley of Siddim and arranged themselves for battle 9against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against the five.

10Now the Valley of Siddim {had} many tar pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there. And those who remained fled to the hill country. 11Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and left. 12And they took Lot and his possessions, the son of Abram’s brother, when they left, since he was living in Sodom.

13Then someone who escaped came and reported to Abram the Hebrew. And he was living by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of Aner, and they {were} owners of a covenant with Abram. 14And when Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, then he led out his 318 trained men who had been born in his house, and he pursued {his enemies} as far as Dan. 15Then he divided against them during the night, he and his servants, and struck them and pursued them to Hobah, which {is} north of Damascus. 16And he brought back all the possessions, and he also brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, and also the women and the {other} people.

Melchizedek Blesses Abram

14:17-24

17Then the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh, which {is} the King’s Valley, after he returned from striking Kedorlaomer and the kings who {were} with him. 18Then Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine. And he {was} a priest to God Most High. 19And he blessed him and said,

“May Abram be blessed by God Most High,

the Possessor of heaven and earth.

20And praised be God Most High,

who delivered your enemies into your hand!”

Then he gave to him a tenth of everything. 21Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give to me the people, but the possessions take for yourself.” 22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23if from a thread even to the strap of a sandal, or if I take from anything that {belongs} to you, so that you will not say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24I {will take} nothing, except what the young men have eaten and the share of the other men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”

God Promises Abram a Son, Many Descendants and Land

15:1-21

151After those things, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“Do not be afraid, Abram!

I {am} a shield for you;

your reward will be very great.” 2But Abram said, “My Lord Yahweh, what will you give to me, since I go childless, and the son of the inheritance of my house {is} the Damascan, Eliezer?” 3Then Abram said, “Behold, you have not given a child to me, so that behold, a servant of my house is my heir!” 4Then behold, the word of Yahweh {came} to him, saying, “That {man} will not be your heir, but rather a son who comes from your bowels, he will be your heir.” 5Then he brought him outside and said, “Please look at the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So will your offspring be.”

6And he trusted in Yahweh, and he counted it to him {as} righteousness. 7Then he said to him, “I {am} Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Kasdim to give to you this land to possess it.” 8Then he said, “My Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will possess it?” 9Then he said to him, “Bring to me a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old she-goat and a three-year-old ram and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” 10So he brought all those to him. Then he cut them in two down the middle and laid the halves opposite to each other, but the birds he did not cut in two. 11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12Then it happened, the sun was setting and a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, terror {and} great darkness fell on him. 13Then he said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be strangers in a land {that} {does} not {belong} to them, and they will serve them, and they will afflict them 400 years. 14But also, the nation that they serve I will judge, and after that they will come out with great possessions. 15And you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16Then in the fourth generation they will come back here, because the sin of the Amorites {will} not {be} complete until then.”

17Then it happened, the sun went down and darkness came, and behold, {there was} a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch that passed between those pieces. 18On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River, 19{the land of} the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites 20and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim 21and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Abram and Hagar Have Ishmael

16:1-16

161Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had not born {children} for him, but she had an Egyptian maidservant, and her name {was} Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “Behold please, Yahweh has prevented me from bearing {children}. Please go to my maidservant. Perhaps I can be built up from her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, her Egyptian maidservant, at the end of ten years that Abram had lived in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife for him. 4Then he went to Hagar, and she conceived. And she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong {is} on you! I myself put my maidservant into your arms, but she sees that she has conceived, and I am despised in her eyes! May Yahweh judge between me and you!” 6Then Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maidservant {is} in your hand. Do to her what {is} good in your eyes.” Then Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her face.

7Then the angel of Yahweh found her at a spring of water in the wilderness, at the spring beside the road of Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, maidservant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the face of Sarai, my mistress.” 9Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit under her hands.”

10Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring, so that they cannot be counted because of their abundance.”

11Then the angel of Yahweh said to her,

“Behold, {you are} pregnant,

and you will bear a son,

and you will call his name Ishmael,

because Yahweh has listened to your misery.

12And he will be a wild donkey of a man,

his hand against everyone

and the hand of everyone against him,

and he will live in the faces

of all of his brothers.”

13Then she called the name of Yahweh who had spoken to her, “You {are} El Roi,” because she said, “Have I really seen here the back of {the one who} sees me?” 14For that {reason} they call the well Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, {it is} between Kadesh and Bered.

15Then Hagar bore a son for Abram, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16And Abram {was} a son of 86 years when Hagar bore Ishmael for Abram.

More Details about God’s Covenant with Abram, including Circumcision

17:1-27

171Then Abram was a son of ninety-nine years, and Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I {am} God Almighty. Walk before me and be without blemish. 2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you very greatly.”

3Then Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, 4“{As for} me, behold, my covenant with you {is} that you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5And your name will not be called Abram anymore, but your name will be Abraham, because I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6And I will make you very, very fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations as an eternal covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, as an eternal possession, and I will be God to them.”

9Then God said to Abraham, “And you, you must keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10This {is} my covenant which you must keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11Indeed, you must be circumcised {in} the flesh of your foreskins, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12So a son of eight days must be circumcised, every male among you throughout your generations, the one born in {your} house and the one bought with money from any son of a foreigner, who {is} not your offspring. 13He must surely be circumcised, the one born in your house and the one bought with your money. So my covenant will be in your flesh as an eternal covenant. 14And {as for} an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, indeed that person must 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 name Sarai, because her name {will be} Sarah. 16And I will bless her, and I will also give to you a son from her. Indeed I will bless her and she will become nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

17Then Abraham fell on his face, and he laughed and said in his heart, “Will {a child} be born to a son of 100 years? And will Sarah who is a daughter of ninety years bear {a child}?” 18Then Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live before you!” 19Then God said, “No, Sarah your wife is bearing a son for you, and you will call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his offspring after him.

20“And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him, and I will make him fruitful and multiply him very greatly. He will father twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21However, my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear for you by this time in the next year.” 22Then he finished speaking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

23Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house and everyone bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, just as God had told him. 24And Abraham {was} a son of 99 years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, 25and Ishmael his son {was} a son of thirteen years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26On that very day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27And all the males of his house, the one born in his house and the one bought with money from the son of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Yahweh Announces to Abraham and Sarah That They Will Have a Son

18:1-15

181Then Yahweh appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, and he was sitting {at} the opening of the tent in the heat of the day. 2And he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing nearby him. And {when} he saw {them}, then he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them. Then he bowed to the ground, 3and he said, “My lords, if I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant. 4Please let a little water be brought. Then you can wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5And I will bring a morsel of bread so that you can refresh your hearts before you go away, since you have come to your servant.” And they said, “Alright, do as you have said.”

6Then Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Hurry! {Prepare} three seahs of fine flour. Knead {it} and make loaves.” 7Then Abraham ran to the herd and selected a tender and choice calf. Then he gave it to a servant and he hurried to prepare it. 8Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and he set it before them. Then he stood by them under the tree and they ate.

9Then they said to him, “Where {is} Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Behold, in the tent.” 10Then he said, “I will surely return to you at the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening {at} the opening of the tent, and it {was} behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah {were} old, advanced in days; the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12So Sarah laughed within herself and said, “After I am worn out, will I have pleasure? And my lord {is} old!” 13Then Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why {is it} that Sarah laughed, saying, ‘Will I really bear {a child} when I am old?’ 14Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the appointed time I will return to you, at the time of life, and Sarah will have a son.” 15But Sarah denied it by saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But he said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Abraham Intercedes with Yahweh for the City of Sodom

18:16-33

16Then the men got up from there and looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to send them off. 17And Yahweh said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am doing? 18And Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 19For I have known him so that he will command his children and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Yahweh by doing righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh will bring about for Abraham what he has said to him.”

20Then Yahweh said, “Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, 21I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to its outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

22Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, and Abraham was still standing before Yahweh. 23Then Abraham approached {him} and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there are fifty righteous in the city? Will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who {are} in it? 25Far be it from you to do something like that, killing the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous are like the wicked! Far be it from you! Will the one who judges all the earth not do justice?” 26Then Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27Then Abraham spoke up and said, “Behold, please, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord, although I {am} dust and ashes. 28Suppose the fifty righteous lack five? Will you destroy the whole city because of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

29Then he continued again to speak to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And he said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

30Then he said, “Please do not let my Lord be angry, and let me speak: Suppose thirty are found there?” And he said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

31Then he said, “Behold, please, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord. Suppose twenty are found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

32Then he said, “Please do not let my Lord be angry, and let me speak just once more: Suppose ten are found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.” 33Then Yahweh left as soon as he finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Yahweh Destroys the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1-29

191Then the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them, and he got up to meet them and bowed down {with} nose to the ground. 2Then he said, “Behold, please, my lords: Please turn aside to the house of your servant and spend the night, and wash your feet. Then you can get up early and go on your way.” But they said, “No, rather we will spend the night in the street.” 3But he urged them strongly, so that they turned aside with him and entered into his house. Then he prepared a feast for them, and he baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4Before they lay down, then the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the young and to the old, all the people from the edge{s}. 5Then they called to Lot and said to him, “Where {are} the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can know them!” 6Then Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him, 7and he said, “Please, my brothers, do not do evil! 8Behold, please: I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you do to them as {is} good in your eyes. But do not do anything to these men, because for that {reason} they have come under the shadow of my rafters.” 9But they said, “Get back!” Then they said, “This one came to sojourn, and now he is judging {us}! We will treat you worse than them!” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot and came near to break down the door. 10But the men reached out their hand{s} and brought Lot into the house to them and shut the door. 11Then they struck the men who {were at} the entrance of the house with blindness, from the small and to the great, so that they became weary {trying} to find the door.

12Then the men said to Lot, “Who else {belongs} to you here, a son-in-law or your sons or your daughters or anyone {else} who {belongs} to you in the city? Take {them} out from this place, 13because we are destroying this place. For their outcry before Yahweh {is} great, so Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.” 14Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were to take his daughters, and he said, “Get up, get out of this place, because Yahweh is destroying the city!” But it seemed like he was joking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.

15Then when the dawn came, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that you are not swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16But he lingered, so the men grabbed his hand and the hand of his wife and the hand{s} of his two daughters, because of Yahweh’s mercy for him, and brought him out and set him outside the city. 17And it happened when they had brought them out to the outside, then he said, “Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stop anywhere in the plain! Escape to the mountain{s} so that you are not swept away!” 18Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! 19Behold, please: Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have magnified your mercy that you have shown to me by saving my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountain{s}, because the disaster will overtake me and I will die. 20Behold, please: That town there {is} near to flee to, and it {is} a little one. Please let me escape there. Is it not a little one? Then my life will live.” 21Then he said to him, “Behold, I have also lifted up your face concerning this thing, so I will not overthrow the town that you are talking about. 22Hurry up, escape there, because I am not able to do a thing until you go there.” For that {reason} they called the name of the town Zoar.

23The sun rose over the land and Lot came to Zoar. 24Then Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of the heavens, 25and he overthrew those cities and all of the plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. 26But his wife from behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, 28and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the surface of the land of the plain. And he saw that, behold, smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. 29So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities which Lot had lived in.

Lot’s Descendants from His Daughters

19:30-38

30Then Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the mountain{s}, and his two daughters {were} with him, because he was afraid to settle in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come to us as {is} the way of all the earth. 32Come on, let us get our father to drink wine, and let us lie with him so that we will give life to offspring through our father.” 33So they got their father to drink wine on that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

34Then it happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, last night I lay with my father. Let us get him to drink wine again tonight. Then you go lie with him so that we will give life to offspring through our father.” 35So on that night also they got their father to drink wine. Then the younger went and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

36So both of the daughters of Lot conceived from their father. 37Then the firstborn bore a son, and she called his name Moab. He {is} the father of the Moabites to this day. 38Then the younger, she also bore a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He {is} the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

King Abimelech Takes Sarah to Be His Wife

20:1-18

201Then Abraham traveled from there to the land of the Negev, and he settled between Kadesh and Shur and sojourned in Gerar. 2And Abraham said about Sarah his wife, “She {is} my sister.” So Abimelech the king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream {in} the night and said to him, “Behold, you are dead because of the woman whom you have taken, because she is married to a husband!” 4Now Abimelech had not gone near to her, so he said, “My Lord, will you kill a nation even though {it is} righteous? 5Did not he himself say to me, ‘She {is} my sister’? And she herself also said, ‘He {is} my brother.’ I did this in the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands!” 6Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you did this, and indeed I kept you from sinning against me. For that {reason} I did not allow you to touch her. 7So now, return the wife of the man because he {is} a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will surely die, you and all who {belong} to you!”

8So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called for all of his servants, and he told all those things in their ears, and the men were very afraid. 9Then Abimelech called for Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you so that you brought a great sin on me and on my kingdom? You have done deeds to me that should not be done!” 10Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you looking for when you did this thing?” 11And Abraham answered, “Because I said, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place, so they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12And also she truly {is} my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13And it happened when God caused me to wander from the house of my father, then I said to her, ‘This {is} your kindness that you can do for me: At every place where we go, say about me, “He {is} my brother.” ’ ”

14Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and men slaves and women slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15Then Abimelech said, “Behold, my land {is} before you. Settle wherever {is} good in your eyes.”

16And to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given 1, 000 {shekels of} silver to your brother. Behold, that {is} for you a covering of the eyes before all who {are} with you, so that you are vindicated for everything.” 17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his slave women, so that they bore children, 18because Yahweh had completely closed up every womb in the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

Isaac’s Birth and Circumcision

21:1-7

211Then Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah as he had said, 2so that Sarah conceived and bore a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time which God had told him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore for him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, a son of eight days, just as God had commanded him.

5And Abraham {was} a son of 100 years when Isaac his son was born to him. 6And Sarah said, “God has brought laughter to me! Everyone who hears will laugh with me!” 7And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham {that} Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born a son in his old age!”

Sarah Has Abraham Send Hagar and Ishmael Away

21:8-21

8Then the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9And Sarah saw {that} the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born for Abraham, was mocking. 10So she said to Abraham, “Drive away that slave woman and her son, because the son of that slave woman will not inherit with my son, with Isaac!” 11And the matter was very distressing in the eyes of Abraham on account of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed in your eyes because of the boy and because of your slave woman. All that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, because in Isaac, offspring will be called yours. 13And the son of the slave woman I will also make into a nation, because he {is} your offspring.”

14Then Abraham got up early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. Then {he gave her} the child and sent her away, and she left and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15And when the water from the skin was gone, then she threw the child under one of the bushes, 16and she went and sat down by herself at a distance, as far away as they shoot a bow, because she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child!” And {as} she sat at a distance, then she lifted her voice and sobbed.

17And God heard the voice of the boy, so the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What {troubles} you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, because God has listened to the voice of the boy where he {is} there. 18Get up, lift the boy, and hold on to him with your hand, because 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 he lived in the wilderness and became a great bowman. 21And {while} he was living in the wilderness of Paran, then his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

King Abimelech Makes a Covenant with Abraham

21:22-34

22And it happened at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God {is} with you in all that you do. 23So now, swear to me here by God if you will deal falsely with me or with my children or with my descendants. According to the kindness that I have done to you, do to me and to the land which you are sojourning in.” 24And Abraham said, “I swear.”

25Then Abraham complained to Abimelech on account of the well of water that the servants of Abimelech had seized. 26Then Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing. And also you did not tell me, and also I have not heard about it until today.”

27Then Abraham took sheep and cattle, and he gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them cut a covenant. 28Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29So Abimelech said to Abraham, “What {are} they, these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart by themselves?” 30And he said, “Because you must take the seven ewe lambs from my hand, so that it can be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31For that {reason} he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath.

32So they cut the covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33Then he planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the God of eternity. 34Then Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

God Tests Abraham’s Faith

22:1-19

221Then it happened after those things that God tested Abraham. And he said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Behold me.” 2Then he said, “Please take your son, your only {son} whom you love, Isaac, and go yourself to the land of Moriah, and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell to you.”

3So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. Then he took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he cut wood for the burnt offering. Then he got up and left for the place that God had told to him. 4On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and he saw the place from a distance. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here by yourselves with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there and bow down. Then we will come back to you.”

6Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put {it} on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand{s} the fire {pot} and the knife. Then the two of them went on together, 7and Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father?” And he said, “Behold me, my son.” Then he said, “Behold the fire and the wood, but where {is} the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8And Abraham said, “God will see for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them went on together.

9Then they came to the place that God had told to him, and there Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood. Then he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11But an angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” And he said, “Behold me.” 12Then he said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy! And {do} not do anything to him, because now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only {son}, from me.”

13Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a ram {was} behind {him}, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh-Yireh, as it is said {to} this day, “On the mountain of Yahweh it will be seen.”

15Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second {time} from heaven 16and said, “I swear by myself, a declaration of Yahweh, that it is because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only {son}, 17that I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your offspring as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that {is} on the shore of the sea, and your offspring will possess the gate{s} of their enemies. 18And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you listened to my voice.”

19Then Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham stayed at Beersheba.

Abraham’s Brother Nahor’s Twelve Sons

22:20-24

20Then it happened after those things that it was told to Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah, she too, has born sons for Nahor your brother: 21Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel, the father of Aram, 22and Kesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Those {are} the eight {sons} Milcah bore for Nahor, the brother of Abraham. 24And his concubine, and her name {was} Reumah, and she also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Sarah Dies and Abraham Buys a Cave to Bury Her

23:1-20

231Now the life of Sarah was 127 years; the years of the life of Sarah. 2Then Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, which {is} Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3Then Abraham got up from beside his dead one, and he spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4“I {am} a foreigner and a sojourner among you. Give to me property for a burial place among you, so that I can bury my dead from before me.” 5Then the sons of Heth replied to Abraham, saying to him, 6“Listen to us, my lord. You {are} a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. Each of us will not withhold from you his burial place to bury your dead.”

7Then Abraham got up and bowed to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth, 8and he said to them, saying, “If it is your will to bury my dead from before me, listen to me and intercede for me with Ephron, the son of Zohar, 9so that he will give to me the cave of Machpelah, which {belongs} to him, which {is} at the end of his field. For full price let him give it to me among you as property for a burial place.” 10Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth, so Ephron the Hittite responded to Abraham in the ears of the sons of Heth, for everyone who had come {to} the gate of his city, saying, 11“No, my lord. Listen to me: I give to you the field, and I give to you the cave that {is} in it. I give it to you before the eyes of the sons of my people. Bury your dead.”

12Then Abraham bowed before the people of the land, 13and he spoke to Ephron in the ears of the people of the land, saying, “But if you would, please listen to me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.” 14Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15“My lord, listen to me. Land {worth} 400 shekels of silver, between me and you, what {is} that? So bury your dead.” 16So Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the price that he had mentioned in the ears of the sons of Heth, 400 shekels of silver, the currency among the merchants.

17So the field of Ephron that {was} in Machpelah which {was} before Mamre, the field and the cave that {was} in it, and every tree that {was} in the field, that {was} within all of its surrounding borders, was deeded 18to Abraham as his possession before the eyes of the sons of Heth, before everyone who had come to the gate of his city. 19Then after that, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which {is} Hebron, in the land of Canaan. 20So the field and the cave that {was} in it were deeded to Abraham as property for a burial place from the sons of Heth.

Abraham Gets a Wife for Isaac

24:1-67

241Now Abraham was old, advanced in days, and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all {things}. 2Then Abraham said to his oldest servant of his house, who was in charge of everything that {belonged} to him, “Please put your hand under my thigh, 3and I will have you swear by Yahweh, the God of the heavens and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites whom I am living among, 4but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son, for Isaac.”

5Then the servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to come with me to this land? Should I take your son back to the country that you came from?” 6Then Abraham said to him, “Be sure that you do not take my son back there. 7Yahweh, the God of the heavens, who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my relatives and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to come with you, then you are clear from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there!”

9Then the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. 10Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master and left, and all {kinds of} good {things} from his master {were} in his hand, and he got up and went to Aram Naharaim, to the city of Nahor. 11Then he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, at the time the women who draw water come out.

12Then he said, “Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please cause it to happen before me today that you show kindness toward my master Abraham. 13Behold, I am standing by this spring of water, and the daughters of the people of the city are coming out to draw water. 14And let it be {that} the young woman whom I say to her, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink and I will also water your camels,’ {let} her {be the one} you have appointed for your servant, for Isaac. And by her I will know that you have shown kindness toward my master.”

15Then it happened before he had finished speaking, then behold, Rebekah was coming out, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham. And her water jar {was} on her shoulder. 16And the young woman {was} a very beautiful-looking virgin, and a man had not known her. And she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.

17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” 18And she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she hurried and lowered her jar to her hand{s} and gave him a drink. 19And {after} she finished giving him a drink, then she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” 20Then she hurried and emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, and she drew water for all his camels. 21And the man watched her silently to know whether Yahweh had made his journey succeed or not.

22Then it happened, when the camels had finished drinking, then the man took out a gold nose ring, its weight a beka, and two gold bracelets for her arms, their weight ten shekels. 23And he said, “Whose daughter {are} you? Please tell me. Is there a place at the house of your father for us to lodge?” 24Then she said to him, “I {am} the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore for Nahor.” 25Then she said to him, “Plenty of both straw and fodder {are} with us. {There is} also a place to lodge.” 26Then the man bowed down and prostrated himself before Yahweh, 27and said, “Praised be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and his faithfulness toward my master. {As for} me, Yahweh has led me on the road {to} the home of the relatives of my master!”

28Then the young woman ran and announced to the household of her mother about those things. 29Now Rebekah had a brother, and his name {was} Laban, and Laban ran to the man outside at the spring. 30And it was when he had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on the arms of his sister, and when he had heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This {is} what the man said to me,” then he went to the man, and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31Then he said, “Come, blessed of Yahweh. Why are you standing out here? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

32So the man went to the house. Then he unloaded the camels and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who {were} with him. 33Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have spoken my words.” So he said, “Speak.”

34Then he said, “I {am} a servant of Abraham. 35And Yahweh has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become great. And he has given him flock{s} and herd{s}, and silver and gold, and men slaves and women slaves, and camels and donkeys. 36And Sarah, the wife of my master, bore a son for my master after her old age, and he has given to him everything that {belongs} to him. 37And my master made me swear, saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites whose land I am living in, 38but rather you must go to the house of my father, and to my clan, and take a wife for my son.’ 39Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman will not come with me?’ 40And he said to me, ‘Yahweh, whom I walk before, will send his angel with you and make your journey succeed, so that you will take a wife for my son from my clan, and from the house of my father. 41Then you will be clear from my oath: When you go to my clan, and if they will not give her to you, then you will be clear from my oath.’

42“Then today I came to the spring, and I said, ‘Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, if it is your will, please make my journey succeed that I have come on. 43Behold, I am standing by {this} spring of water. And let it be {that} the young woman who comes out to draw {water} and I say to her, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar,” 44and she says to me, “Both you drink and I will also draw water for your camels,” {let} her {be} the wife whom Yahweh has chosen for the son of my master.’

45“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, then behold, Rebekah was coming out and her jar {was} on her shoulder. And she went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46And she hurried and lowered her jar from her and said, ‘Drink and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47Then I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter {are} you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, a son of Nahor whom Milcah bore for him.’ Then I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms. 48And I bowed down and prostrated myself before Yahweh, and I praised Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49And now if it is your will to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me, so that I will turn to the right or to the left.”

50Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from Yahweh; we are not able to tell you bad or good. 51Behold, Rebekah {is} before you. Take her and go, and let her be the wife of the son of your master, as Yahweh has spoken.” 52Then it happened, when the servant of Abraham heard their words, then he bowed down to the ground before Yahweh. 53Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver and jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. And he gave valuable things to her brother and to her mother.

54Then he and the men who {were} with him ate and drank and lodged. Then in the morning they got up, and he said, “Send me to my master.” 55But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go.” 56But he said to them, “Do not detain me, since Yahweh has made my journey succeed. Send me off so that I will go to my master.” 57Then they said, “Let’s call for the young woman and ask her mouth.”

58So they called for Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” 59Then they sent off Rebekah their sister and her nurse and the servant of Abraham and his men. 60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

“Our sister, may you become

thousands of myriads,

and may your offspring possess

the gates of {those} hating them!” 61Then Rebekah got up and her maids, and they mounted the camels and went with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

62Meanwhile Isaac came from going to Beer Lahai Roi, and he was living in the land of the Negev. 63And Isaac went to meditate in the field as it was turning toward evening, and he lifted his eyes and saw that, behold, camels were coming. 64And Rebekah lifted her eyes and saw Isaac. Then she dismounted from the camel, 65and she said to the servant, “Who {is} that man in the field who is coming to meet us?” And the servant said, “He {is} my master.” So she took the veil and covered herself.

66Then the servant reported to Isaac all the things that he had done. 67Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebekah, and she became a wife to him. And Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother.

Abraham and Keturah’s Descendants

25:1-6

1 Chronicles 1:32-33

251Then Abraham added and took a wife, and her name {was} Keturah. 2And she bore for him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. 3And Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. And the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim and the Letushim and the Leummim. 4And the sons of Midian {were} Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All of those {were} the descendants of Keturah.

5And Abraham gave everything that {belonged} to him to Isaac. 6And to the sons of the concubines who {belonged} to Abraham, Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still alive he sent them eastward to the land of Kedem, away from Isaac his son.

Abraham’s Death and Burial

25:7-11

7And these {are} the days of the years of the life of Abraham that he lived: 175 years. 8Then Abraham exhaled and died at a good old age, elderly and full, and he was gathered to his people. 9Then Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which {was} before Mamre, 10the field that Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. 11And it happened after the death of Abraham, then God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

Ishmael’s Descendants

25:12-18

12Now these {are} the generations of Ishmael the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, the maidservant of Sarah, had born for Abraham. 13And these {are} the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names according to their births: the firstborn of Ishmael {was} Nebaioth, then Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam 14and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, 15Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedermah. 16Those {were} the sons of Ishmael, and those {are} their names by their settlements and by their camps, twelve rulers according to their tribes. 17And these {are} the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. Then he exhaled and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18And they settled from Havilah to Shur that {is} near Egypt as you go toward Asshur. He fell in the face of all his brothers.

The Birth of Isaac’s Sons Jacob and Esau

25:19-26

19And these {are} the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20then Isaac was a son of forty years when he took Rebekah for himself as a wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. 21And Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she {was} barren. So Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22And the children struggled against each other inside her, so she said, “Why {is this} so? Why {am} I {like} this?” And she went to inquire of Yahweh. 23And Yahweh said to her,

“Two nations {are} inside your womb,

and two peoples will be divided from inside your womb.

And one people will be stronger than the other people,

and the older will serve the younger.”

24Then her days were fulfilled to deliver, and behold, twins {were} inside her womb. 25And the first came out red; all of him {was} like a garment of hair, so they called his name Esau. 26Then after that, his brother came out, and his hand was grabbing on to the heel of Esau, so he called his name Jacob. And Isaac {was} a son of sixty years when she bore them.

Esau Sells His Birthright to Jacob

25:27-34

27Then the boys grew up, and Esau became a man who knew hunting, a man of the field, and Jacob {was} a quiet man who stayed among the tents. 28And Isaac loved Esau, because {he liked} game meat in his mouth, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29Now Jacob was cooking stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he {was} exhausted. 30Then Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me devour some of that very red stuff because I {am} exhausted!” For that {reason} they called his name Edom. 31But Jacob said, “On this day sell your birthright to me.” 32And Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die! So for what use {is} that to me, a birthright?” 33But Jacob said, “Swear to me on this day!” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34Then Jacob gave to Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

God Establishes His Covenant with Isaac

26:1-5

261Then there was a famine in the land, besides the earlier famine that was in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2Then Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land that I tell you. 3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4And I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heavens, and I will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, 5because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees, and my laws.”

Isaac Lies about His Wife Rebekah to the Philistines

26:6-11

6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7Then the men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, “She {is} my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “{She is} my wife.” {He thought,} “Lest the men of the place kill me on account of Rebekah, because she {is} beautiful of appearance.” 8Then it happened, when the days had been long for him there, then Abimelech the king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw that, behold, Isaac was laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9So Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “Behold, she {is} really your wife! So how could you say, ‘She {is} my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die because of her.’ ” 10Then Abimelech said, “What {is} this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 11Then Abimelech ordered all the people by saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely be killed!”

Isaac Has Conflict with the Philistines over His Wells

26:12-33

12Then Isaac sowed seeds in that land, and in that year he obtained a hundredfold, and Yahweh blessed him. 13And the man became great, and he continued to become even greater until he was exceedingly great. 14And he had possession of flocks and possession of herds and many servants. So the Philistines envied him, 15and the Philistines stopped up all the wells that the servants of his father had dug in the days of Abraham his father and filled them with dirt.

16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, because you are more powerful than we {are}.” 17So Isaac went from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18Then Isaac returned and dug out the water wells that they had dug in the days of Abraham his father and {that} the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham, and he called them names like the names that his father had called them.

19Then the servants of Isaac dug in the valley and found a well of living water there. 20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water {belongs} to us!” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so he called its name Sitnah. 22Then he moved from there and he dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it, so he called its name Rehoboth, and he said, “Because now Yahweh has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23Then from there he went up to Beersheba. 24And Yahweh appeared to him during that night and said, “I {am} the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, because I {am} with you. And I will bless you and multiply your offspring for the sake of Abraham my servant.” 25Then he built an altar there and called on the name of Yahweh. And he pitched his tents there, and the servants of Isaac dug a well there.

26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and you sent me away from you?” 28And they said, “We have clearly seen that Yahweh has been with you, so we said, ‘There should be an oath between us’—between us and you. So let us cut a covenant with you, 29that you will not do evil against us, just as we did not touch you, and just as we did only good to you and sent you away in peace. Now you are blessed by Yahweh.” 30Then he made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Then they got up early in the morning and swore to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left from him in peace.

32Then it happened on that day, the servants of Isaac came and told him about the matter of the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water!” 33So he called it Shibah. For that {reason} the name of the city {is} Beersheba to this day.

Esau’s Hittite Wives

26:34-35

34And Esau was a son of forty years, and he took {as} a wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

Jacob Steals Esau’s Blessing from Their Father Isaac

27:1-29

271Then it happened, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, then he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Behold me.” 2Then he said, “Behold, please, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3So now, please take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow, and go out {in} the field and hunt game for me. 4Then prepare tasty food for me such as I love, and bring it to me so I can eat it, so that my soul can bless you before I die.”

5And Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Then Esau went {to} the field to hunt game to bring it back. 6Then Rebekah said to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying, 7‘Bring game for me and prepare tasty food for me so that I can eat it and I can bless you in the presence of Yahweh, before my death.’ 8So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you. 9Please go to the flock and bring to me from there two good kids of the goats so that I will prepare from them tasty food for your father such as he loves. 10Then you take it to your father, and he will eat {it}, so that he will bless you before his death.”

11Then Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother {is} a hairy man, but I {am} a smooth man. 12Suppose my father touches me? Then I will be in his eyes as a deceiver, and I will bring a curse on me and not a blessing.” 13But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Just listen to my voice, and go get {them} for me.” 14So he went and got {them} and brought {them} to his mother. Then his mother prepared tasty food such as his father loved. 15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son that {were} with her in the house and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16And she put the skins of the kid goats over his hands and over the smooth part of his neck.

17Then she gave the tasty food and the bread that she had made into the hand{s} of Jacob her son, 18and he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Behold me. Who {are} you, my son?” 19Then Jacob said to his father, “I {am} Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please get up, sit and eat some of my game, so that your soul will bless me.” 20Then Isaac said to his son, “How {is} this you were quick to find {it}, my son?” And he said, “Because Yahweh your God caused {it} to happen before me.”

21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, so that I can touch you, my son, {and know} whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22So Jacob went close to Isaac his father, and he touched him and said, “The voice {is} the voice of Jacob, but the hands {are} the hands of Esau.” 23So he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother, and he was about to bless him. 24But he said, “{Are} you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I {am}.” 25Then he said, “Bring {the food} to me, and I will eat some of my son’s game, so that my soul will bless you.” Then he brought {it} to him, and he ate; and he brought wine to him, and he drank.

26Then Isaac his father said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” 27So he went close and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his clothes, so he blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son

{is} like the smell of a field

that Yahweh has blessed!

28And may God give to you from the dew of the heavens

and from the fatness of the earth,

and an abundance of grain and wine.

29May peoples serve you,

and may nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brothers,

and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.

{May} those {who} curse you be cursed,

and {may} those {who} bless you be blessed.”

Esau Gets “Blessed” Too by Isaac

27:30-40

30Then it happened, just as Isaac finished blessing Jacob, and it happened, scarcely had Jacob just left from the presence of Isaac his father, then Esau his brother came in from his hunt. 31Then he too prepared tasty food, and he brought {it} to his father and said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat from his son’s game so that your soul can bless me.” 32But Isaac his father said to him, “Who {are} you?” And he said, “I {am} your son, your firstborn Esau.” 33Then Isaac trembled a very great tremble, and he said, “Then who {was} it that hunted game and brought {it} to me? And I ate from {it} all just before you came, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed.” 34When Esau heard the words of his father, then he cried out a great and exceedingly bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, me too, my father!” 35And he said, “Your brother came in deceit and took your blessing.” 36Then he said, “Is it because his name is called Jacob that he has defrauded me these two times? He took my birthright, and behold, now he has taken my blessing!”

Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37But Isaac responded and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him master over you, and I have given all his brothers to him as servants. And I have sustained him with grain and wine. So then, what can I do for you, my son?” 38But Esau said to his father, “Is there one blessing that you have, my father? Bless me, me too, my father!” Then Esau lifted his voice and sobbed. 39Then Isaac his father responded and said to him,

“Behold, your dwelling will be

away from the fatness of the earth

and away from the dew of the heavens from above.

40And you will live by your sword,

and you will serve your brother.

But it will happen when you become restless,

then you will break his yoke

off of your neck.”

Jacob Flees from Esau

27:41-28:5

41Then Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing that his father had blessed him with, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of the mourning of my father are near; then I will kill Jacob my brother.” 42But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah, so she sent and called for Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, Esau your brother is consoling himself about you, planning to kill you. 43So now, my son, listen to my voice and get up, flee for yourself to Laban my brother in Haran! 44And stay with him for a few days until the fury of your brother turns away, 45until the anger of your brother turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I also lose both of you {in} one day?”

46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am disgusted with my life because of the daughters of Heth! If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from daughters of the land, what {would} life {be} to me?”

281Then Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him, and commanded him and said to him, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2Get up, go to Paddan Aram, to the home of Bethuel the father of your mother, and take a wife for yourself from there, from the daughters of Laban the brother of your mother. 3And may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become a community of peoples. 4And may he give the blessing of Abraham to you, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” 5Then Isaac sent Jacob, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Takes Another Wife

28:6-9

6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife for himself from there, {and that} when he blessed him, then he commanded him, saying, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7and {that} Jacob listened to his father and to his mother and went to Paddan Aram. 8Then Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing in the eyes of Isaac his father. 9So Esau went to Ishmael and he took as a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, in addition to his wives {who belonged} to him.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

28:10-22

10And Jacob left from Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11Then he reached a {certain} place, and he stopped there because the sun had gone. And he took {one} of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and he lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed, and behold, a stairway was set up on the earth and its top reached to the heavens, and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13And behold, Yahweh was standing above it, and he said, “I {am} Yahweh, the God of Abraham your grandfather and the God of Isaac. The land that you are lying on I will give to you and to your offspring. 14And your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15And behold, I {am} with you, and I will watch over you in every {place} that you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” 16Then Jacob woke up from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, but I did not know {it}!” 17So he was afraid and said, “How awesome this place is! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this {is} the gateway of heaven!”

18Then in the morning Jacob got up early, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and stood it up {as} a pillar, and he poured oil on its top. 19And he called the name of that place Bethel, even though Luz {had been} the name of the town at first.

20Then Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this road that I am walking on and give to me bread to eat and clothes to wear, 21and {if} I return in peace to the home of my father, then Yahweh will be God to me, 22and this stone that I have stood up {as} a pillar will be the house of God, and all that you give to me I will tithe a tenth to you.”

Jacob Meets Rachel and Laban in Haran

29:1-14

291Then Jacob lifted his feet and went to the land of the sons of the east. 2And he looked, and behold, a well {was} in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there near it, because from that well the flocks were watered, and the stone over the mouth of the well {was} large. 3And all the flocks would be gathered there, then they would roll the stone from over the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

4Then Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where {are} you from?” And they said, “We {are} from Haran.” 5Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.” 6Then he said to them, “Are {things} well for him?” And they said, “{Things are} well. And behold, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep.” 7Then he said, “Behold, the day {is} still large. {It is} not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go pasture {them}.” 8But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered and they roll the stone from over the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

9He was still talking with them when Rachel came with the sheep that {belonged} to her father, because she was tending them. 10Then it happened, when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, then Jacob went over and rolled the stone from over the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted his voice and cried. 12Then Jacob told Rachel that he {was} a relative of her father and that he {was} a son of Rebekah. Then she ran and told her father.

13And it happened, when Laban heard the news about Jacob the son of his sister, then he ran to meet him. Then he embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things, 14and Laban said to him, “You {are} indeed my bone and my flesh!”

Jacob Works for Laban to Marry Rachel and Leah

29:14b-30

Then he stayed with him a month of days. 15Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you {are} my relative, should you then serve me for nothing? Tell me, what {are} your wages?” 16Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older {was} Leah, and the name of the younger {was} Rachel. 17And the eyes of Leah {were} delicate, but Rachel was lovely of form and beautiful of appearance. 18And Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” 19And Laban said, “{It is} better for me to give her to you than for me to give her to another man. Stay with me.” 20So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but in his eyes they were like a few days because of his love for her.

21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give {me} my wife, because my days are completed, so that I may go to her.” 22Then Laban gathered all the people of the place and made a feast. 23But it happened in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him, and he went to her. 24And Laban gave to her Zilpah his maidservant, to Leah his daughter, {to be} a maidservant.

25Then it happened in the morning, that behold, she {was} Leah! So he said to Laban, “What {is} this you have done to me? Was {it} not for Rachel that I served with you? So why have you deceived me?” 26But Laban said, “It is not done so in our place to give the younger before the firstborn. 27Fulfill the week of this {one}, then we will also give you this {one} for service that you will serve with me for another seven years.”

28So Jacob did so, and he fulfilled the week {for} that {one}. Then he gave to him Rachel his daughter as a wife for him. 29And Laban gave Bilhah his maidservant to Rachel his daughter as a maidservant for her. 30Then he also went to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served him for another seven years.

Jacob’s Children

29:31-30:24

31Now Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, so he opened her womb, but Rachel {was} barren. 32Then Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, because she said, “Because Yahweh has looked on my misery, surely now my husband will love me.”

33Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, “Because Yahweh heard that I am hated, then he gave to me this {son} also.” So she called his name Simeon.

34Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, “This time now my husband will be joined to me, because I have born three sons for him.” For that {reason} he called his name Levi.

35Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, “This time I will praise Yahweh.” For that {reason} she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

301Now Rachel saw that she was not bearing {children} for Jacob, so Rachel envied her sister, and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, and if not, I will die!” 2And Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept the fruit of the womb from you?” 3Then she said, “Behold my slave woman Bilhah. Go to her so that she will bear {children} on my knees, and I also will be built up from her.” 4And she gave to him Bilhah her maidservant as a wife, and Jacob went to her.

5Then Bilhah conceived and bore a son for Jacob, 6and Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and indeed, he has listened to my voice and given to me a son!” For that {reason} she called his name Dan.

7Then Bilhah the maidservant of Rachel conceived again and bore a second son for Jacob. 8So Rachel said, “{With} mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister. Indeed I have prevailed!” And she called his name Naphtali.

9Now Leah saw that she had ceased from bearing {children}, so she took Zilpah her maidservant and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Then Zilpah the maidservant of Leah bore a son for Jacob, 11and Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she called his name Gad.

12Then Zilpah the maidservant of Leah bore a second son for Jacob, 13and Leah said, “How blessed I am! For women will call me blessed.” So she called his name Asher.

14Then in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found mandrakes in the field, and he brought them to Leah his mother. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give to me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15But she said to her, “Is it a small matter you have taken my husband? And would you also take my son’s mandrakes?” Then Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

16Then Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come to me, because I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her during that night, 17and God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son for Jacob. 18Then Leah said, “God has given {me} my reward because I gave my maidservant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

19Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son for Jacob. 20And Leah said, “God has presented me a good present. This time my husband will honor me because I have born six sons for him.” So she called his name Zebulun.

21Then later she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.

22Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23Then she conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace!” 24And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son to me.”

Jacob Becomes Very Rich Working for Laban

30:25-43

25Then it happened, after Rachel bore Joseph, then Jacob said to Laban, “Send me off, so that I may go to my place and to my land. 26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, so that I may go. For you yourself know my service that I have served you.”

27Then Laban said to him, “Please {stay}, if I have found favor in your eyes. I have learned by divination that Yahweh has blessed me because of you.” 28Then he said, “Name your wages to me, and I will give {them}.” 29And he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have been with me. 30For {there was} little that was yours before me, and it has prospered to abundance, and Yahweh has blessed you at my feet. But now, when will I also do something for my household?”

31Then he said, “What should I give to you?” And Jacob said, “Do not give anything to me. If you will do this thing for me, I will continue tending your flock{s} watching over {them}: 32I will pass through all your flock{s} today to remove from there every speckled and spotted lamb and every dark-colored lamb among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled {young} among the goats. And that will be my wages. 33So my righteousness will testify for me in future days when you go over my wages in front of you: any that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark-colored among the sheep, it was stolen {if it is} with me.”

34And Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.” 35Then on that day he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, any that {had} white on it, and all the dark-colored {ones} among the lambs. Then he gave {them} into the hand of his sons, 36and he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob was tending the rest of Laban’s flock{s}.

37Then Jacob took for himself fresh-cut branches of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white that {was} inside the branches. 38Then he put the branches that he had peeled in the troughs, in the water troughs where the flock{s} came to drink, in front of the flock{s}. And they were in heat when they came to drink, 39and the flock{s} would mate by the branches, and the flock{s} would bear streaked, speckled, and spotted {young}. 40Then Jacob set apart the lambs, and he made the faces of the flock{s} look at the streaked and all the dark-colored {animals} in the flock{s} of Laban. And he put flocks for himself by themselves, and he did not put them with the flock{s} of Laban.

41So it happened whenever the strong animals were in heat, then Jacob put the branches in the troughs before the eyes of the flocks so that they would mate by the branches. 42But when the animals were weak, he did not put {them} {in}. So it was the weak {ones} {went} to Laban, and the strong {ones} to Jacob, 43so that the man prospered very greatly, and he owned large flock{s}, and maidservants and menservants and camels and donkeys.

Jacob and His Family Flee from Laban

31:1-21

311Then he heard the words of the sons of Laban, {who} were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that {belonged} to our father, and from what {belonged} to our father he has gained all this wealth!” 2And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, he was not with him as yesterday {and} three days ago. 3Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

4Then Jacob sent and called for Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock{s}. 5Then he said to them, “I have seen the face of your father, that he is not toward me as yesterday {and} three days ago, but the God of my father has been with me. 6And you know that with all my might I have served your father, 7but your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If he said like this: ‘The speckled {animals} will be your wages,’ then all the flock{s} bore speckled {young}. But if he said like this: ‘The streaked {ones} will be your wages,’ then all the flock{s} bore streaked {young}. 9So God took away the livestock of your father and gave {them} to me.

10“And it happened in the season the flock{s} were in heat, and I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream that, behold, the he-goats that were mounting the flock{s} {were} streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11Then an angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘Behold me.’ 12Then he said, ‘Please lift up your eyes and see all the he-goats that are mounting the flock{s} {are} streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13I {am} the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now get up, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ”

14Then Rachel replied, and Leah, and they said to him, “Is there still for us a portion or inheritance in the house of our father? 15Are we not regarded by him {as} foreigners? For he sold us, and he has indeed completely eaten up our silver. 16For all the wealth that God took from our father {belongs} to us and to our children. So now, do all that God has said to you.”

17So Jacob got up and put his sons and his wives on the camels. 18Then he drove all his livestock and all his property that he had acquired, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the idols that {belonged} to her father, 20and Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean by not informing him that he was fleeing. 21And he fled and all that {belonged} to him. And he got up and crossed the River and set his face {toward} the mountain{s} of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob and His Family

31:22-42

22And on the third day it was told to Laban that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his relatives with him and pursued after him a seven-day journey and overtook him in the mountain{s} of Gilead. 24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream that night and said to him, “Watch yourself that you do not speak with Jacob either good or bad.”

25And Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob had pitched his tent{s} in the mountain{s}, so Laban with his relatives pitched {theirs} in the mountain{s} of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? And you have stolen my heart and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword! 27Why did you secretly flee and deceive me and not tell me? For I would have sent you with joy and with songs, with tambourine{s} and with lyre{s}! 28And you did not let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters! Now you have acted foolishly by doing {that}! 29It is in the power of my hand to do harm to you, but last night the God of your father said to me, saying, ‘Keep yourself from speaking with Jacob either good or bad.’ 30So now, you have surely gone because you greatly long for the house of your father. Why did you steal my gods?”

31Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, because I said that perhaps you would seize your daughters from me. 32Whomever you find your gods with will not live! In front of our relatives, observe for yourself what {is} with me, and take {what belongs} to you.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33Then Laban went into the tent of Jacob and into the tent of Leah and into the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find {anything}. Then he came out of Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside the camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. And Laban felt throughout the entire tent, but he did not find {them}. 35And she said to her father, “Do not let it burn in the eyes of my lord that I am not able to stand up in your presence, because the way of women {is} on me.” So he searched, but he did not find the idols.

36Then it burned within Jacob, and he disputed with Laban, and Jacob responded and said to Laban, “What {is} my crime? What {is} my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? 37Since you have felt through all my things, what have you found from any of the things of your house? Put {it} here in front of my relatives and your relatives, and let them judge between the two of us!

38“These twenty years I {have been} with you! Your ewes and your she-goats did not miscarry, and I have not eaten rams from your flocks. 39I did not bring torn {animals} to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it from my hand, {those} stolen by day and {those} stolen by night. 40There I was: In the day, heat devoured me, and in the night the frost, so that my sleep fled from my eyes. 41That {is how it was} for me twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock{s}, and you 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 now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my palms, and he judged {you} last night.”

Jacob and Laban Cut a Covenant

31:43-55

43And Laban responded and said to Jacob, “The daughters {are} my daughters, and the children {are} my grandchildren, and the flock{s} {are} my flock{s}. And everything that you see {belongs} to me! But what can I do today about these daughters of mine or about their children whom they have born? 44So now, come, let us cut a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you.” 45So Jacob took a stone and set it up {as} a pillar. 46Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap. Then they ate there by the heap. 47And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48And Laban said, “This heap {is} a witness between me and you today.” For that {reason} he called its name Galeed. 49{It is} also Mizpah, because he said, “May Yahweh watch between me and you when we are hidden one from the other. 50If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, {even though} there is not someone with us, behold, God {is} a witness between me and you.”

51Then Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I set up between me and you. 52This heap {is} a witness and the pillar {is} a witness that I will not pass by this heap to you, and that you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. 53May the God of Abraham and the gods of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us!” Then Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, 54and Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the mountain. Then he called his relatives to eat bread. Then they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

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

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

32:1-21

321Then Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him. 2And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This {is} God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4And he commanded them, saying, “This {is what} you will say to my lord, to Esau: ‘This {is what} your servant Jacob says, “I have been sojourning with Laban and have remained there until now. 5And I have cattle and donkey{s}, flock{s}, and menservant{s} and maidservant{s}. And I have sent {messengers} to speak with my lord, so that I will find favor in your eyes.” ’ ”

6Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother, to Esau. And also, he is coming to meet you, and 400 men with him!” 7And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and it was distressing for him, so he divided the people who {were} with him and the flock{s} and the herd{s} and the camels into two camps. 8And he said, “If Esau comes to one camp and strikes them, then the camp that is left will escape.”

9Then Jacob said, “God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives, and I will cause things to prosper with you,’ 10I am unworthy of all the kindnesses and of all the faithfulness that you have shown your servant. For I crossed this Jordan with my staff, but now I have become two camps. 11Please save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, because I am afraid of him, that he will come and strike me {and} the mothers with the children! 12But you said, ‘I will surely cause things to prosper with you, and I will make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted from {their} abundance.’ ”

13Then he stayed there for that night, and he took gifts from what was in his hand for Esau his brother: 14two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16And he gave them into the hand{s} of his servants, each herd by itself. And he said to his servants, “Go before me, and put space between each herd.” 17And he commanded the first {one}, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘Whom do you {belong} to, and where are you going? And whom do these {animals} {belong} to {that are} before you?’ 18then you say, ‘{They belong} to your servant, to Jacob. They {are} a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he {is} also behind us.’ ”

19Then he also commanded the second {servant}, also the third, also all who followed behind the herds, saying, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. 20And also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob {is} behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will cover his face with the gift that is going before me, and after that, when I see his face, perhaps he will receive my face.” 21Then the gift went before him, and he himself stayed for that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God, Who Names Him Israel

32:22-32

22Then during that night he got up and took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. 23So he took them and had them cross over the stream, and he sent what {belonged} to him across. 24Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn came up. 25And he saw that he was not prevailing over him, so he touched {him} on the socket of his hip, so that the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Release me, because the dawn has come up!” But he said, “I will not release you unless you bless me!” 27So he said to him, “What {is} your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then he said, “Your name will not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

29Then Jacob asked and said, “Please tell {me} your name.” But he said, “Why {is} this you are asking for my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, because {he said}, “I saw God face to face, but my life was preserved!”

31And the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32For that {reason}, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the muscle of the tendon that {is} on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the muscle of the tendon.

Jacob Reconciles with Esau and Settles in Shechem

33:1-20

331Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him 400 men. Then he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. 2And he put the maidservants and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after them. 3Then he himself went before them, and he bowed to the ground seven times as he came near to his brother.

4But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and he fell on his neck and kissed him, and they cried. 5Then he lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and he said, “Who {are} these with you?” And he said, “The children whom God has graciously given to your servant.” 6Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and they bowed down. 7Then Leah also came near and her children, and they bowed down. Then after {that}, Joseph came near and Rachel, and they bowed down.

8Then he said, “What to you {are} all these groups that I met?” And he said, “To find favor in the eyes of my lord.” 9Then Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Let what {belongs} to you be yours.” 10But Jacob said, “No, please. If, please, I have found favor in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand. For indeed I have seen your face, {which is} like seeing the face of God, and you have received me. 11Please take my blessing that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me, and because I have everything.” And he urged him, so he took {it}.

12Then he said, “Let’s travel and go, and I will go in front of you.” 13But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children {are} tender and the flock{s} and the herd{s} {that} are nursing {are} with me. And if they drive them one day, then all the flock{s} will die. 14Please let my lord go on before his servant, and I will lead them on at my gentle pace, at the pace of the livestock that {are} ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

15And Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who {are} with me.” But he said, “Why {do} that? Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.” 16So on that day Esau went on his way back to Seir. 17And Jacob traveled to Succoth, and he built a house for himself, and for his livestock he made shelters. For that {reason} he called the name of the place Succoth. 18Then Jacob came {in} peace {to} the city of Shechem, which {was} in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram, and he camped before the city. 19And he bought the portion of the field where he pitched his tent{s} from the hand{s} of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. 20And there he set up an altar, and he called it El Elohe Israel.

Shechem Rapes Dinah, and Jacob’s Sons Take Revenge

34:1-31

341Then Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born for Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land, saw her, and he took her and lay with her and violated her. 3And his soul was attached to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke to the heart of the young woman. 4Then Shechem said to Hamor his father, saying, “Get this girl for me as a wife.”

5Then Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his livestock in the fields, so Jacob kept quiet until they came. 6And Hamor the father of Shechem came out to Jacob to talk with him. 7Then the sons of Jacob came from the fields. When they heard, then the men were grieved and it burned within them greatly, because he had done something disgraceful to Israel by lying with the daughter of Jacob, and such a thing should not have been done! 8But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “Shechem my son, his soul is attached to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 9And intermarry with us: Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves, 10and settle with us. And the land is before you. Settle and trade in it, and acquire {property} in it.”

11Then Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and what you say to me I will give. 12Increase greatly the dowry and gift for me, and I will give according to what you say to me. Then give the young woman to me as a wife.”

13Then the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14And they said to them, “We are not able to do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin, because that {is} a disgrace to us! 15Only on this {condition} will we consent with you: if you become like us by every male among you being circumcised. 16Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for us. And we will settle with you, and we will become one people. 17But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

18And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with the daughter of Jacob, and he was honored more than all of the house of his father. 20So Hamor and Shechem his son went to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21“These men {are} peaceful with us, so let them settle in the land, and let them trade in it. And behold, the land {is} broad of hands before them. We can take their daughters for ourselves as wives, and we can give our daughters to them. 22Only on this {condition} will the men consent with us to settle with us, to become one people: when every male among us is circumcised just as they are circumcised. 23Their livestock and their property and all their animals, will they not {belong} to us? Only let us consent with them, and they will settle with us!”

24And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

25Then it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, then two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah, each took his sword and went upon the city boldly and killed every male. 26And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the mouth of the sword, and they took Dinah from the house of Shechem and left. 27The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28They took their flock{s} and their herd{s} and their donkeys, and what {was} in the city and what {was} in the field{s}. 29And all their wealth and all their little ones and their women they took captive, and they also plundered everything that {was} in the houses.

30Then Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink among {those} who live in the land, among the Canaanites and among the Perizzites! And I am few of number, and if they gather together against me and attack me, then I will be destroyed, I and my house!” 31But they said, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

God Blesses Jacob at Bethel

35:1-15

351Then God said to Jacob, “Get up, go up to Bethel and settle there, and make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from the presence of Esau your brother.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who {were} with him, “Remove the foreign gods that {are} among you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3Then let us get up and go up to Bethel, and there I will make an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress. And he has been with me in the way that I have gone.” 4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that {were} in their hand{s} and the rings that {were} in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that {was} by Shechem.

5Then they set out, and the dread of God was on the cities that {were} around them, so that they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 6Then Jacob came to Luz, which {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 he called the place El Bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from the presence of his brother.

8Then Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, died and was buried below Bethel, under the oak tree. So he called its name Allon Bacuth.

9Then God appeared to Jacob again when he had come from Paddan Aram, and he blessed him, 10and God said to him, “Your name {is} Jacob. Your name will not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel will be your name!” So he called his name Israel.

11Then God said to him, “I {am} God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a community of nations will be from you, and kings will come from your loins. 12And the land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.” 13Then God went up from him at the place where he spoke with him.

14Then Jacob set up a pillar at the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. 15And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him Bethel.

Rachel Dies Giving Birth to Benjamin

35:16-20

16Then they set out from Bethel, and there was still a distance of land to come to Ephrath. Then Rachel started giving birth but was having great difficulty while she was giving birth. 17And it happened when she was in hard labor, then the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, because this {is} also a son for you!” 18Then it happened as her soul was leaving {her}—for she was dying, then she called his name Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.

19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which {is} Bethlehem. 20And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that {is} the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

Jacob’s Twelve Sons

35:21-26

21Then Israel set out and pitched his tents beyond Migdal Eder. 22And it happened while Israel was living in that land, then Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, the concubine of his father, and Israel heard.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23The sons of Leah {were} Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun. 24The sons of Rachel {were} Joseph and Benjamin. 25And the sons of Bilhah, the maidservant of Rachel, {were} Dan and Naphtali. 26And the sons of Zilpah, the maidservant of Leah, {were} Gad and Asher. Those {are} the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

Isaac’s Death

35:27-29

27Then Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, Kiriath Arba, which {is} Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

28And the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29Then Isaac exhaled and died, and he was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

Esau’s Descendants

36:1-19

1 Chronicles 1:34-54

361And these {are} the generations of Esau, who {is} Edom. 2Esau had taken his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah {and} the {grand}daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael {and} the sister of Nebaioth.

4And Adah bore Eliphaz for Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, 5and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah. Those {were} the sons of Esau who were born for him in the land of Canaan.

6Then Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all the people of his house, and his livestock and all his animal{s} and all his possession{s} that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and he went to a land from the presence of Jacob his brother, 7because their possession{s} were {too} great for them to remain together, and the land of their sojournings was not able to support them because of their livestock. 8So Esau settled in the mountains of Seir; Esau, who {is} Edom.

9Now these {are} the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the mountains of Seir. 10These {are} the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. 11And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho and Gatam and Kenaz. 12And Timna was a concubine for Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek for Eliphaz. Those {were} the grandsons of Adah, the wife of Esau.

13And these {were} the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. Those were the grandsons of Basemath, the wife of Esau.

14And these were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah {and} the {grand}daughter of Zibeon: and she bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah for Esau.

15These {were} the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, {were} Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, 16Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, Chief Amalek. Those {were} the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. Those {were} the grandsons of Adah.

17And these {were} the sons of Reuel, the son of Esau: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, Chief Mizzah. Those {were} the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. Those {were} the grandsons of Basemath, the wife of Esau.

18And these {were} the sons of Oholibamah, the wife of Esau: Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, Chief Korah. Those {were} the chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. 19Those {were} the sons of Esau, and those {were} their chiefs. He {is} Edom.

Seir’s Descendants

36:20-30

20These {were} the sons of Seir the Horite who were inhabiting the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah 21and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. Those {were} the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

22And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam, and the sister of Lotan {was} Timna.

23And these {were} the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

24And these {were} the sons of Zibeon: both Aiah and Anah. He {is} Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys for Zibeon his father. 25And these {were} the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. 26And these {were} the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Keran.

27These {were} the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan.

28These {were} the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

29These {were} the chiefs of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, 30Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan. Those {were} the chiefs of the Horites, according to their clans in the land of Seir.

The Kings and Chiefs of Edom

36:31-43

1 Chronicles 1:43-54

31And these {were} the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned for the sons of Israel. 32And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city {was} Dinhabah. 33Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place. 34Then Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad reigned in his place, who struck the Midianites in the field of Moab. And the name of his city {was} Avith. 36Then Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place. 37Then Samlah died, and Shaul from Rehoboth {on} the river reigned in his place. 38Then Shaul died, and Baal-Hanan the son of Acbor reigned in his place. 39Then Baal-Hanan the son of Acbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, and the name of his city {was} Pau. And the name of his wife {was} Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred {and} the granddaughter of Me-Zahab.

40And these {are} the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans, according to their places, by their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvan, Chief Jetheth, 41Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, 42Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, 43Chief Magdiel, Chief Iram. Those {were} the chiefs of Edom, according to their dwellings in the land of their possession. That {was} Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Joseph’s Dreams Anger His Brothers

37:1–11

371And Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2These {are} the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a son of seventeen years, was shepherding the flock{s} with his brothers, and he {was} a young man with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father.

3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all of his sons because he {was} a son of his old age. So he made a multicolored tunic for him. 4And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, so they hated him and were not able to speak to him peaceably.

5Then Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they continued to hate him even more. 6And he said to them, “Please hear this dream that I dreamed: 7And behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of a field, and behold, my sheaf got up and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8Then his brothers said to him, “Will you really reign over us? Will you really rule over us?” And they continued to hate him even more because of his dreams and because of his words.

9Then he dreamed yet another dream, and he related it to his brothers. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10And he related it to his father and to his brothers, but his father rebuked him and said to him, “What {is} this dream that you dreamed? Will your mother and I and your brothers really come to bow down to the ground to you?” 11And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter {in mind}.

Joseph’s Brothers Sell Him as a Slave

37:12-36

12Then his brothers went to shepherd the flock{s} of their father near Shechem. 13And Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers shepherding near Shechem? Come and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Behold me.” 14Then he said to him, “Please go and see the well-being of your brothers and the well-being of the flock{s}, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. 15And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering around in the fields. So the man asked him, saying, “What are you looking for?” 16And he said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are shepherding.” 17Then the man said, “They set out from here. For I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ”

Then Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18But they saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, then they conspired against him to kill him. 19And they said each to his brother, “Behold, that master of dreams is coming! 20So now, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns. Then we will say an evil animal devoured him, and we will see what his dreams become!”

21But Reuben heard, and he rescued him from their hand{s} and said, “Let us not strike his life.” 22And Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood. Throw him into this cistern which {is} in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him,” in order to rescue him from their hand{s}, to return him to his father.

23Then it happened when Joseph came to his brothers, then they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the multicolored tunic that {was} on him. 24Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. And the cistern {was} empty; there was not water in it.

25Then they sat down to eat bread, and they lifted their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead. And their camels were carrying spices and balm and myrrh {that} they were going to take down to Egypt. 26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What gain {is there} if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites so that our hand{s} will not be on him. For he {is} our brother, our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28Then the Midianite men, traders, passed by, and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty {shekels of} silver. Then they brought Joseph to Egypt.

29Then Reuben returned to the cistern, but behold, Joseph was not in the cistern, so he tore his clothes. 30Then he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not {there}! And I, where am I going?” 31Then they took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a kid of the goats and dipped the tunic in the blood.

32Then they sent the multicolored tunic and had it brought to their father and said, “We found this. Please examine whether it {is} your son’s tunic or not.” 33And he examined it and said, “{It is} my son’s tunic! An evil animal has devoured him! Surely Joseph was torn to pieces!” 34Then Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins, and he mourned for his son many days. 35And all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “For I will go down to my son in Sheol mourning.” So his father wept for him.

36And the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the chief of the guards.

Judah and Tamar

38:1-30

381And it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and settled near an Adullamite man, and his name {was} Hirah. 2And there Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man, and his name {was} Shua, and he took her. Then he went to her, 3and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5Then she continued further and bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. And he was in Kezib when she bore him.

6Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name {was} Tamar. 7But Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so Yahweh killed him.

8Then Judah said to Onan, “Go to the wife of your brother and perform your duty to her and produce offspring for your brother.” 9However, Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so it happened when he went to the wife of his brother, then he spilled {it} on the ground so that he would not give offspring to his brother. 10And what he did was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so he killed him also.

11Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in the house of your father until Shelah my son grows up.” For he said, “So that he does not also die like his brothers!” So Tamar went and lived in the house of her father.

12Then the days were many, and Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Then Judah was comforted, and he went up to Timnah, to {the men} who were shearing his sheep, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13And it was told to Tamar, saying, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14So she took off her widow’s clothes from her and covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself. Then she sat at the entrance of Enaim, which {is} on the road to Timnah, because she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she had not been given to him as a wife.

15Then Judah saw her, and he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. 16So he turned to her beside the road and said, “Please come, let me come to you,” because he did not know that she {was} his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give to me if you will come to me?” 17And he said, “I will send a kid goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you will give a pledge until you send {it}.” 18Then he said, “What {is} the pledge that I should give to you?” And she said, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that {is} in your hand.” So he gave {them} to her and went to her, and she conceived by him. 19Then she got up and left, and she took off her veil from her and put on her widow’s clothes.

20Then Judah sent the kid goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite to get back the pledge from the hand of the woman, but he did not find her. 21So he asked the men of her place, saying, “Where {is} the temple prostitute who {was} at Enaim beside the road?” But they said, “There has not been a temple prostitute in this place.” 22So he returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her. And also, the men of the place said, ‘There has not been a temple prostitute in this {place}.’ ” 23And Judah said, “Let her take {the things} for herself so that we do not become a laughingstock. Behold, I sent this kid, but you did not find her.”

24Then it happened about three months later that it was told to Judah, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has prostituted herself, and also, behold, {she is} pregnant by her prostitutions!” So Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned!” 25She was being brought out, and she sent {a message} to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man whom these things belong to, I {am} pregnant.” Then she said, “Please identify whose signet and cords and staff these {are}.” 26And Judah identified {the things} and said, “She is more righteous than I {am}, because I did not give her to Shelah my son!” And he did not continue to know her more.

27Then it happened when {it was} time for her to give birth, then behold, twins {were} inside her womb! 28And it happened, as she was giving birth, then {one} put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied {it} on his hand, saying, “This {one} came out first.” 29But it happened, when he drew his hand back in, then behold, his brother came out. Then she said, “How have you breached for yourself a breach?” So he called his name Perez. 30And afterwards, his brother came out, who {had} the scarlet thread on his hand, and he called his name Zerah.

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39:1-23

391Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian man, an official of Pharaoh, the chief of the guards, had bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2And Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3And his master saw that Yahweh {was} with him and {that} Yahweh made all that he was doing successful in his hand. 4So Joseph found favor in his eyes, and he served him. And he put him in charge over his house and gave into his hand all {that} was his. 5And it happened from the time he put him in charge in his house and over all that was his, then Yahweh blessed the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph. So the blessing of Yahweh was on all that was his, in the house and in the fields. 6And he left all that {belonged} to him in the hand of Joseph, and he did not think to himself {about} anything except for the bread that he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and handsome in appearance. 7And it happened after those things, then the wife of his master lifted her eyes toward Joseph and said, “Lie with me!” 8But he refused and said to the wife of his master, “Behold, with me {here}, my master does not think {about} what {is} in the house, and all that is his he has given into my hand. 9He is not greater than me in this house, and he has not withheld anything from me except for you, because you {are} his wife. So how can I do this great evil, and sin against God?” 10Then it happened even though she kept speaking to Joseph day {after} day, yet he did not listen to her to lie beside her, to be with her.

11Then it happened on such a day that he went into the house to do his work, and there were no other men of the house there in the house. 12So she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. 13Then it happened when she saw that he had left his garment in her hands and had fled outside, 14then she called for the men of her house and said to them, saying, “Look! He brought to us a Hebrew man to laugh at us! He came to me to lie with me, but I called out with a loud voice! 15Then it happened when he heard that I raised my voice and called out, then he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside!”

16Then she kept his garment beside her until his master came to his house. 17Then she spoke to him according to those words, saying, “The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came to me to laugh at me! 18Then it happened when I raised my voice and called out, then he left his garment beside me and fled outside!” 19And it happened when his master heard the words of his wife that she spoke to him, saying, “Such {are} the things your slave did to me!” then his anger burned. 20Then Joseph’s master took him and put him in the round-house, the place where the prisoners of the king were bound.

So he was there in the round-house, 21but Yahweh was with Joseph and showed kindness to him and gave him favor in the eyes of the chief of the round-house. 22And the chief of the round-house gave into the hand of Joseph all the prisoners who {were} in the round-house, and all that they were doing there, he was {the one} doing {it}. 23The chief of the round-house did not look {at} anything in his hand, because Yahweh was with him, and Yahweh made what he was doing successful.

The Chief Cupbearer’s and Chief Baker’s Dreams

40:1-23

401Then it happened after those things {that} the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker sinned against their lord, against the king of Egypt. 2And Pharaoh broke out in anger against his two officials, against the chief of the cupbearers and against the chief of the bakers, 3and he put them in custody in the house of the chief of the guards, in the round-house, the place where Joseph was bound. 4And the chief of the guards assigned Joseph to them, so he attended them, and they were in custody {for} days.

5Then the two of them dreamed a dream. Each {had} his {own} dream in the same night, {and} each {man’s} dream had its own interpretation. {They were} the cupbearer and the baker who {belonged} to the king of Egypt, who were bound in the round-house. 6And Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, and behold, they were upset. 7So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who {were} with him in custody {in} the house of his master, saying, “Why {are} your faces sad today?” 8And they said to him, “We dreamed a dream, but {there is} no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations {belong} to God? Please tell {them} to me.”

9Then the chief of the cupbearers told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “And behold, in my dream a grapevine {was} before me, 10and on the grapevine {were} three branches. Then while it was budding, its blossoms came out, {and} its clusters ripened {into} grapes. 11Then the cup of Pharaoh {was} in my hand and I took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup of Pharaoh. Then I put the cup into the hand of Pharaoh.”

12Then Joseph said to him, “This {is} its interpretation: The three branches {are} three days. 13Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, according to the former custom when you were his cupbearer. 14But if you remember me with you, when it goes well for you, then please show kindness to me, and mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out from this house. 15For indeed, I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews. And also here I did not do anything that they should put me in the pit.”

16And the chief of the bakers saw that he interpreted favorably, so he said to Joseph, “I also {was} in my dream, and behold, {there were} three baskets of white bread on my head. 17And in the top basket {were} all {kinds} of food for Pharaoh, baker’s goods, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

18Then Joseph responded and said, “This {is} its interpretation: The three baskets {are} three days. 19Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

20Then it happened on the third day, the day Pharaoh was born, that he made a feast for all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers in the presence of his servants. 21Then he restored the chief of the cupbearers to his position, and he put the cup into the hand of Pharaoh, 22but the chief of the bakers he hanged, just as Joseph had interpreted for them.

23However, the chief of the cupbearers did not remember Joseph but forgot him.

Pharaoh’s Two Dreams

41:1-36

411Then it happened {at} the end of two years of days that Pharaoh was dreaming and behold, he was standing beside the river. 2Then behold, from the river came up seven cows, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they grazed among the reeds. 3Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the river, ugly-looking and thin-fleshed, and they stood beside the {other} cows on the bank of the river. 4Then the ugly-looking and thin-fleshed cows ate the seven fine-looking and fat cows, and Pharaoh woke up.

5Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second {time}. And behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, fat and good. 6Then behold, seven heads of grain, thin and scorched {by} the east wind, sprouted after them. 7Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven fat and full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up, and behold, {it was} a dream.

8Then it happened in the morning that his spirit was agitated, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Then Pharaoh told his dreams to them, but no one could interpret them for Pharaoh. 9Then the chief of the cupbearers spoke with Pharaoh, saying, “Today I remember my offenses. 10Pharaoh broke out in anger against his servants, and he put me in custody {in} the house of the chief of the guards, me and the chief of the bakers. 11And we dreamed a dream in the same night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream. 12Now there with us {was} a young Hebrew man, a servant for the chief of the guards. And we told {our dreams} to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us. He interpreted {for} each according to his dream. 13And it happened, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened: me he restored to my position, and him he hanged.”

14Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph. So they quickly brought him from the pit. Then he shaved and changed his clothes and came to Pharaoh. 15Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I dreamed a dream, but no one could interpret it. But I heard about you, saying {that} you hear a dream {and are able} to interpret it.” 16And Joseph responded to Pharaoh, saying, “{It is} not in me; God will answer with Pharaoh’s peace.”

17Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the river. 18Then behold, from the river came up seven cows, fat-fleshed and of fine form, and they grazed among the reeds. 19Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly of form and thin-fleshed. I have not seen {cows} as ugly as those in all the land of Egypt! 20Then the thin and ugly cows ate the first seven fat cows. 21So they went into their bellies, but it could not be known that they had gone into their bellies, and their appearance {was} just as ugly as at the beginning. Then I woke up.

22“Then I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good. 23Then behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin {and} scorched {by} the east wind sprouted after them. 24Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. And I told {this} to the magicians, but no one {could} explain {it} to me.”

25Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams {are} one. What God is doing he has shown to Pharaoh. 26The seven good cows {are} seven years, and the seven good heads of grain {are} seven years. The dreams {are} one. 27And the seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them {are} seven years, and {so are} the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the east wind. There will be seven years of famine. 28That {is} the word that I have spoken to Pharaoh: What God is doing he has shown to Pharaoh. 29Behold, seven years are coming {of} great abundance in all the land of Egypt. 30But seven years of famine will rise up after them, so that all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will consume the land. 31And the abundance in the land will not be remembered because of that famine after it, because it {will be} very heavy. 32And as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, {it is} because the matter has been established by God, and God will soon do it.

33“And now let Pharaoh seek a man {who is} discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34Let Pharaoh do {this}: Let him set supervisors over the land, and let him take a fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. 35And they should gather all the food of the good years that are coming. And they should store {that} grain under Pharaoh’s hand {for} food in the cities and guard {it}. 36And the food should be in reserve for the land for the seven years of famine that will come on the land of Egypt, so that the land will not be cut off by the famine.”

Joseph Is Appointed as the Governor of Egypt and Stores Up Grain

41:37-57

37And the word was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. 38Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this who {has} the Spirit of God in him?” 39Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown all this to you, {there is} no one {as} discerning and wise as you. 40You will be over my house, and all my people will kiss on your mouth. Only I {on} the throne will be greater than you.” 41Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.” 42Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. And he dressed him {in} garments of fine linen and put a gold chain on his neck. 43Then he had him ride in the second chariot that {belonged} to him, and they shouted before him, “Bow down!” So he put him over all the land of Egypt.

44Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I {am} Pharaoh, and without you a person will not lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt!” 45Then Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah, and he gave to him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, as a wife. Then Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46Now Joseph {was} a son of thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and passed through all the land of Egypt. 47And in the seven years of abundance, the land produced {grain} by the handfuls. 48So he gathered all the food of the seven years that were in the land of Egypt, and he put the food in the cities. The food of the fields that surrounded {each} city he put inside it. 49So Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped measuring {it} because it was without number.

50And before the years of the famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore for him. 51And Joseph called the name of the firstborn {son} Manasseh, because {he said}, “God has made me forget all my toil and all of my father’s house.” 52And the name of the second {son} he called Ephraim, because {he said}, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

53Then the seven years of abundance that was in the land of Egypt ended, 54and the seven years of famine started to come, just as Joseph had said. And there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55Then all the land of Egypt became famished, and the people cried to Pharaoh for the bread. So Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Whatever he says to you, do {it}.” 56And the famine was over all the face of the land, so Joseph opened all {the buildings} that {had grain} in them and sold {grain} to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57Then all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy {grain}, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Joseph’s Brothers Come to Egypt to Buy Grain

42:1-38

421Then Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, so Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” 2And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy {some} for us from there so that we will live and not die.” 3Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, with his brothers, because he said, “So that harm does not meet him!”

5And the sons of Israel came among {those} who came to buy {grain}, because the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6Now Joseph {was} the governor over the land. {It was} he who was selling {grain} to all the people of the land. So the brothers of Joseph came and bowed down to him {with} {their} noses to the ground. 7And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like a stranger to them, and he spoke with them harshly and said to them, “Where did you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” 8And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

9Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You {are} spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” 10But they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11All of us {are} sons of one man. We {are} honest. Your servants are not spies.”

12But he said to them, “No, indeed you have come to see the nakedness of the land!” 13But they said, “Your servants {are} twelve brothers. We {are} sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest {is} with our father today, and the one is not {alive}.”

14Then Joseph said to them, “It {is} just as I told you, saying, ‘You {are} spies!’ 15By this you will be tested: {By} the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave from this {place} unless your youngest brother comes here. 16Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and you will be bound. Then your words will be tested {as to whether} the truth {is} in you. And if not, {by} the life of Pharaoh, surely you {are} spies!” 17Then he put them together in custody {for} three days.

18Then Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, {because} I fear God: 19If you {are} honest, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house, and you go take grain back {for} the famine of your households. 20Then you will bring your youngest brother to me so that your words will be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so.

21Then each {man} said to his brother, “We {are} truly guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we did not listen. For that {reason} this distress has come upon us.” 22Then Reuben responded to them, saying, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the lad’? But you did not listen, so now behold, his blood is being accounted for!” 23And they did not know that Joseph understood {them}, because the interpreter {was} between them. 24And he turned away from them and cried. Then he turned back toward them and spoke to them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

25Then Joseph ordered {his servants} and they filled their bags {with} grain. And {he ordered them} to return {each} man’s silver to his sack and to give provisions to them for the road. And he did that for them. 26Then they loaded their grain onto their donkeys and went from there.

27Then one {of them} opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his silver, and behold, it {was} in the mouth of his sack! 28So he said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned! And indeed behold, {it is} in my sack!” Then their hearts went out, and each {man} trembled to his brother, saying, “What {is} this God has done to us?”

29Then they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and they reported to him all that had happened to them, saying, 30“The man, the lord of the land, spoke to us harshly and treated us as {if we were} spying out the land! 31But we said to him, ‘We {are} honest. We are not spies. 32We {are} twelve brothers, the sons of our father. The one is not {alive}, and the youngest {is} with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

33“Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you {are} honest: Leave one of your brothers with me, and take {grain} {for} the famine of your households and go. 34Then bring your youngest brother to me so that I will know that you {are} not spies, that you {are} honest. {Then} I will give your brother to you, and you {can} trade {in} the land.’ ”

35Then it happened they were emptying their sacks, and behold, each {man’s} pouch of his silver {was} inside his sack! And they and their father saw the pouches of their silver, and they were afraid. 36Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me! Joseph is not {here}! And Simeon is not {here}! And you will take Benjamin! All {these} things are against me!”

37Then Reuben said to his father, saying, “You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him to you. Put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.” 38But he said, “My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead, and he alone is left. And {if} harm were to meet him on the road that you are going on, then you would bring my gray head down in sorrow to Sheol!”

Joseph’s Brothers, including Benjamin, Return to the Country of Egypt

43:1-34

431Now the famine {was} heavy in the land. 2So it happened when they finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, then their father said to them, “Return, buy a little food for us.” 3But Judah said to him, saying, “The man strongly warned us, saying, ‘You will not see my face 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 down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother {is} with you!’ ”

6Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me badly by telling the man you have yet {another} brother?” 7And they said, “The man asked persistently about us and our relatives, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have {another} brother?’ And we answered him according to those words. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

8Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the young man with me, and we will get up and go so that both we and you and our little ones will live and not die. 9I myself will guarantee him. From my hand you can require him. If I do not bring him {back} to you and set him before you, then I will have sinned against you all the days. 10Surely if we had not delayed, surely we could have returned here twice by now.” 11Then Israel their father said to them, “If {it must be} so, then do this: Take {some} of the choice produce of the land in your bags, and take {it} down to the man {as} a gift: a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12And take double the silver in your hand{s}, because you must return in your hand{s} the silver that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it {was} a mistake. 13So take your brother and get up, return to the man. 14And may God Almighty give you mercies before the man, and may he send your other brother and Benjamin with you. And I, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

15Then the men took that gift, and they took double the silver in their hand{s}, and Benjamin. Then they got up and went down {to} Egypt and stood before Joseph. 16And Joseph saw Benjamin with them. Then he said to {the one} who {was} over his house, “Take the men to the house, and slaughter an animal and prepare {a meal}, because the men will eat with me at noon.”

17So the man did just as Joseph {had} said, and the man brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18And the men were afraid when they were brought {to} Joseph’s house, and they said, “Because of the matter of the silver that was returned in our sacks the first time, we have been brought. {He wants} to roll himself over us and throw himself on us and take us as slaves, and our donkeys!”

19Then they went near to the man who {was} over Joseph’s house and spoke to him {at} the entrance of the house. 20And they said, “Please, my lord, we surely came down {here} the first time to buy food. 21But it happened when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and behold, {each} man’s silver {was} in the mouth of his sack; our silver {was there} in its {full} weight! So we have brought it back in our hand{s}. 22And we have brought down other silver in our hand{s} to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.” 23But he said, “Peace {be} to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you hidden treasure in your sacks; your silver came to me.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

24Then the man took the men into Joseph’s house and gave {them} water, and they washed their feet, and he gave fodder to their donkeys. 25And they prepared the gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they would eat bread there.

26Then Joseph came to the house, and they brought to him the gift that {was} in their hand{s} into the house, and they bowed down to him to the ground. 27Then he asked them about {their} wellbeing, and he said, “{Are things} well {for} your aged father whom you spoke about? Is he still alive?” 28And they said, “{Things are} well for your servant our father. He {is} still alive.” Then they bowed and bowed down.

29Then he lifted his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, the son of his mother, and he said, “Is this your youngest brother whom you spoke to me {about}?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” 30Then Joseph hurried out, because his emotions boiled over for his brother, and he sought to cry, and he went to the inner room and cried there.

31Then he washed his face and came out. Then he controlled himself and said, “Serve the bread.” 32So they served to him by himself, and to them by themselves, and to the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians cannot eat bread with Hebrews, because that {is} an abomination to Egyptians. 33And they were sitting before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men were astonished each to his neighbor. 34Then he served to them servings {of food} from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times larger than any of their servings. And they drank and became drunk with him.

Joseph’s Cup

44:1-17

441Then he commanded {the one} who {was} over his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks {with} food, as much as they are able to carry, and put the silver of each {one} in the mouth of his sack. 2And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest {one}, and his grain’s silver.” So he did according to Joseph’s word that he spoke.

3The morning became light, and the men were sent off, they and their donkeys. 4They had left the city, they had not gone far, and Joseph said to {the one} who {was} over his house, “Get up, follow after the men, and {when} you overtake them, then say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5Is this not what my lord drinks from and what he indeed divines with? You have done evil {in} what you have done!’ ”

6Then he overtook them and spoke those words to them. 7But they said to him, “Why does my lord speak words like those? Far be it from your servants to do something like that! 8Behold, the silver that we found in the mouth of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. So how would we steal silver or gold from the house of your lord? 9Whoever of your servants is found with it, then he will die, and we also will be slaves for my lord.”

10And he said, “Indeed now, according to your words, so it {will be}: Whoever is found with it will be a slave for me, but you {others} will be blameless.” 11Then they each hurried and lowered his sack to the ground, and they each opened his sack. 12Then he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack! 13Then they tore their clothes, and each {one} loaded up his donkey, and they returned to the city.

14Then Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there, so they fell to the ground before him. 15Then Joseph said to them, “What {is} this deed that you have done? Did you not know that a man who {is} like me indeed divines?” 16And Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the sin of your servants. Behold, we {are} slaves for my lord, both we and {the one} in whose hand the cup was found.” 17But he said, “Far be it from me to do that! The man in whose hand the cup was found, he will be a slave for me. But you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Pleads for Benjamin’s Freedom

44:18-34

18Then Judah went near to him and said, “Please, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, since you {are} like Pharaoh. 19My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Do you have a father or {another} brother?’ 20And we said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father and the youngest son of {his} old age. But his brother is dead, so he is left by himself from his mother, and his father loves him.’

21“Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, and I will set my eyes on him.’ 22And we said to my lord, ‘The young man is not able to leave his father, because {if} he leaves his father, then he will die.’ 23But you said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’

24“Then it happened when we went up to your servant my father, then we related to him the words of my lord. 25Then our father said, ‘Return, buy a little food for us.’ 26But we said, ‘We cannot go down. {But} if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go. For we are not able to see the man’s face and our youngest brother not {be} with us.’ 27Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore two {sons} for me. 28And the one went away from me, and I have said, “He was surely torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him until now. 29So {if} you also take this {one} from my presence, and harm were to meet him, then you would bring my gray head down in misery to Sheol.’

30“And now, when I go to your servant my father and the young man is not with us, since his soul is bound to his soul, 31then it will happen when he sees that the young man is not {there}, then he will die! And your servants will bring the gray head of your servant our father down in sorrow to Sheol! 32For your servant guaranteed the young man to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him {back} to you, then I will have sinned against my father all the days.’

33“And now, please let your servant stay {as} a slave for my lord instead of the young man, and let the young man go up with his brothers. 34For how will I go up to my father if the young man is not with me? I fear to see the misery that would find my father!”

Joseph Reveals His Identity to His Brothers

45:1-28

451Then Joseph was not able to control himself before all who were standing by him, and he called out, “Have every man leave from beside me!” So no man stood with him when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. 2And he gave his voice in crying, and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I {am} Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.

4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come close to me.” So they came close, and he said, “I {am} Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5And now, do not be grieved and do not let it burn in your eyes that you sold me here, because God sent me ahead of you for the preservation of life. 6For this {is} two years the famine {has been} in the midst of the land, and {there are} still five years {in} which {there will} not be plowing and harvesting. 7But God sent me ahead of you to preserve a remnant for you on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8So now, {it was} not you {who} sent me here, but God. And he has made me father to Pharaoh, and lord over all his house and the ruler in all the land of Egypt.

9“Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This {is what} your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord over all Egypt. Come down to me, do not delay. 10And you will live in the land of Goshen so that you will be near to me—you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that {belongs} to you. 11And I will provide for you there, because {there are} still five years of famine, so that you will not become impoverished, you and your household and all that {belongs} to you.” ’

12“And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that {it is} my mouth that is speaking to you. 13So report to my father all my glory in Egypt and all that you have seen. Then hurry and bring my father down here.”

14Then he fell on the neck of Benjamin his brother and cried, and Benjamin cried on his neck. 15Then he kissed all his brothers and cried over them. And after that his brothers talked with him.

16And the report was heard {in} the house of Pharaoh, saying, “The brothers of Joseph have come.” And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants. 17Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and leave; go to the land of Canaan. 18Then get your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give to you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’

19“And you are commanded, ‘Do this: Take carts with you from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come. 20And do not let your eyes grieve over your belongings, because the best of all the land of Egypt {belongs} to you.’ ”

21Then the sons of Israel did so. And Joseph gave to them carts according to the mouth of Pharaoh, and he gave provisions to them for the road. 22To all of them, to each {one}, he gave changes of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave 300 {shekels} of silver and five changes of clothes. 23And to his father he sent this: ten he-donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys loaded {with} grain and bread and provisions for his father for the road. 24Then he sent his brothers, and {as} they left, then he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the road.”

25Then they went up from Egypt and came {to} the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. 26And they reported to him, saying, “Joseph {is} still alive! And in fact, he {is} the ruler over all the land of Egypt!” But his heart went numb because he did not believe them. 27Then they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and he saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him, then the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28And Israel said, “Enough! Joseph my son {is} still alive! I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob and His Family Move to Egypt

46:1-27

461Then Israel set out and all that {belonged} to him. Then he came to Beersheba, and he sacrificed sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” And he said, “Behold me.” 3And he said, “I {am} God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, because I will make you into a great nation there. 4I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I myself will also surely bring you up. And Joseph will put his hand over your eyes.”

5Then Jacob got up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6And they took their livestock and their possessions that they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Then they came to Egypt, Jacob and all of his offspring with him, 7his sons and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters and his sons’ daughters. So all his offspring he brought with him to Egypt.

8Now these {are} the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt, Jacob and his sons: the firstborn of Jacob {was} Reuben. 9And the sons of Reuben {were} Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. 10And the sons of Simeon {were} Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jakin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11And the sons of Levi {were} Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12And the sons of Judah {were} Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah, but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13And the sons of Issachar {were} Tola and Puvah and Job and Shimron. 14And the sons of Zebulun {were} Sered and Elon and Jahleel. 15Those {were} the sons of Leah, whom she bore for Jacob in Paddan Aram, and Dinah his daughter. All the souls of his sons and his daughters {were} thirty-three.

16And the sons of Gad {were} Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli. 17And the sons of Asher {were} Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah {were} Heber and Malkiel. 18Those {were} the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to Leah his daughter. And she bore those sixteen souls for Jacob.

19The sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, {were} Joseph and Benjamin. 20And Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, bore for him. 21And the sons of Benjamin {were} Bela and Beker and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. 22Those {were} the sons of Rachel, whom she bore for Jacob; all the souls {were} fourteen.

23And the sons of Dan {were} Hushim. 24And the sons of Naphtali {were} Jahziel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. 25Those {were} the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to Rachel his daughter. And she bore those for Jacob; all the souls {were} seven.

26All the souls who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came out of his thigh, apart from the wives of Jacob’s sons; all the souls {were} sixty-six. 27And the sons of Joseph who were born for him in Egypt {were} two souls. All the souls {belonging} to the house of Jacob who went to Egypt {were} seventy.

Jacob Reunites with His Son Joseph and Meets Pharaoh

46:28-47:12

28And he sent Judah before him to Joseph to show {the way} before him to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen. 29Then Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. And he appeared to him, and he fell on his neck and cried on his neck a long time. 30Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, since I have seen your face, that you {are} still alive!”

31Then Joseph said to his brothers and to the household of his father, “I will go up and report to Pharaoh, and I will say to him, ‘My brothers and the household of my father who {were living} in the land of Canaan have come to me. 32And the men {are} herders of sheep, for they are livestock men, and they have brought their flock{s} and their herd{s} and everything that {belongs} to them.’ 33Then it will be, when Pharaoh calls for you and says, ‘What {is} your work?’ 34then you should say, ‘Your servants have been livestock men from our youth and until now, both we {and} also our fathers,’ so that you can settle in the land of Goshen, because every herder of sheep {is} an abomination {to} Egyptians.”

471Then Joseph went and reported to Pharaoh and said, “My father and my brothers and their flock{s} and their herd{s} and all that {belongs} to them have come from the land of Canaan, and behold, they {are} in the land of Goshen.” 2Then he took five men from among his brothers, and he presented them before Pharaoh. 3Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What {is} your work?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants {are} herders of sheep, both we and our fathers.” 4Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, because there is not pasture for the flock{s} that {belong} to your servants, because the famine {is} heavy in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”

5Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6The land of Egypt {is} before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best land; let them settle in the land of Goshen. And if you know that there are men of ability among them, then appoint them overseers of livestock over {those} that {belong} to me.”

7Then Joseph brought Jacob his father and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8Then Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many {are} the days of the years of your life?” 9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojournings {are} 130 years. The days of the years of my life have been few and difficult, and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers’ lives in the days of their sojournings.” 10Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left from the presence of Pharaoh.

11Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and he gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all the household of his father {with} bread, according to the mouth{s} of the little ones.

How Joseph Ruled Egypt During the Rest of the Famine

47:13-26

13Now there was no bread in all the earth, because the famine {was} very heavy, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were languishing because of the famine. 14And Joseph collected all the silver that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they were buying, and Joseph brought the silver to the house of Pharaoh. 15So the silver was consumed from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan, and all Egypt came to Joseph, saying, “Give us bread! And why should we die before you? For the silver is gone!” 16And Joseph said, “Bring your livestock and I will give {grain} to you {in exchange} for your livestock, since the silver is gone.” 17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave bread to them {in exchange} for the horses and for the herd{s} of sheep and for the herd{s} of cattle and for the donkeys. So he provided them with bread in that year {in exchange} for all their livestock.

18And {when} that year had ended, then they came to him in the second year and said to him, “We cannot hide {it} from my lord that since the silver is consumed and the herd{s} of livestock {belong} to my lord, there is nothing left before my lord except our bodies and our lands. 19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land {in exchange} for the bread, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give {us} seed so that we will live and not die, and the land will not be desolate!”

20Then Joseph bought all the {farm}land of Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was heavy for them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21And {as for} the people, he moved them to the cities from {one} end of the border of Egypt to its {other} end. 22Only the land of the priests he did not buy, because {there was} an allotment for the priests from Pharaoh, and they ate {from} their allotment that Pharaoh gave to them. For that {reason} they did not sell their land.

23Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here {is} seed for you so that you can sow the ground. 24And it will happen in the harvests that you must give a fifth to Pharaoh, and the four parts will be for you as seed of the field and as your food and for those in your houses and for your little ones to eat.” 25And they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord, and we will be slaves for Pharaoh.” 26And Joseph established it as a law to this day concerning the {farm}land of Egypt, {that} the fifth {belongs} to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests by itself did not become Pharaoh’s.

Jacob’s Last Wishes

47:27-31

27And Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they acquired {possessions} in it. And they were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years, 29and the days of Israel drew near {for him} to die. So he called for his son, for Joseph, and said to him, “If, please, I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal with me {in} kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt. 30And {when} I lie down with my fathers, then carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.” And he said, “I will do according to your word.” 31Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons Ephraim and Manasseh

48:1-22

481Then it happened after those things that {someone} said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2And {someone} announced to Jacob and said, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed. 3Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me 4and said to me, ‘Behold, I am making you fruitful, and I will multiply you and make you into a community of peoples. And I will give this land to your offspring after you {as} an everlasting possession.’

5“And now, your two sons, who were born for you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they {are} mine, Ephraim and Manasseh, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6But your children whom you father after them will be yours. They will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7And I, as I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, while {there was} still a distance of land to go to Ephrath. And I buried her there beside the road of Ephrath, which {is} Bethlehem.”

8Then Israel saw the sons of Joseph and said, “Who {are} these?” 9And Joseph said to his father, “They {are} my sons whom God has given to me in this {place}.” Then he said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” 10Now the eyes of Israel were heavy from age, {so that} he was not able to see. So he brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11Then Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face, but behold, God has let me see also your offspring!” 12Then Joseph removed them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his nose to the ground.

13Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right, and brought {them} near to him. 14But Israel extended his right hand and placed {it} on the head of Ephraim, and he {was} the younger, and {he placed} his left hand on the head of Manasseh. He guided his hands, because Manasseh {was} the firstborn. 15Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked before,

the God who has been shepherding me from since I {was born} until this day,

16the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil,

may he bless {these} boys,

and may my name be called in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,

and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

17And Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it was displeasing in his eyes, so he took hold of the hand of his father to move it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh. 18And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, because that {one} {is} the firstborn son. Put your right hand on his head.” 19But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He will also become a people, and he will also be great. Nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.” 20And he blessed them on that day, saying,

“By you Israel will bless {people}, saying,

‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’ ”

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

21Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, and God will be with you, and he will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22And I give you Shechem, one {portion} above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite{s} with my sword and with my bow.”

Jacob Blesses His Twelve Sons

49:1-28

491Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together, and I will reveal to you what will meet you in the end of days.

2Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,

and listen to Israel your father.

3“Reuben, you {are} my firstborn,

my might and the first of my strength,

excelling {in} rank and excelling {in} power.

4Turbulent like waters, you will not excel,

because you went up {onto} your father’s bed,

and you defiled {it}. He went up {onto} my couch!

5“Simeon and Levi {are} brothers.

Their swords {are} weapons of violence.

6Do not let my soul enter into their council!

Do not let my glory join in their assembly,

because in their anger they killed a man,

and for their pleasure they hamstrung an ox.

7Cursed {be} their anger because {it is} strong,

and their fury because {it is} cruel!

I will divide them in Jacob,

and I will scatter them in Israel.

8“Judah, {it is} you your brothers will praise.

Your hand {will be} on the neck of those opposing you.

The sons of your father will bow down to you.

9Judah {is} the cub of a lion.

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He crouches {and} lies down like a lion.

And like a lioness, who will rouse him?

10The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the staff from between his feet,

until Shiloh comes

and to him {belongs} the obedience of the peoples.

11He will tether his donkey to the {grape}vine,

and the son of his donkey to the choice branch.

He will wash his garment{s} in wine

and his robe{s} in the blood of grapes.

12{His} eyes {will be} brilliant from wine,

and {his} teeth {will be} white from milk.

13“Zebulun will settle at the shore of the sea,

and he {will live} at the shore of ships,

and his border {will reach} to Sidon.

14“Issachar {is} a strong donkey

lying down between two saddlebags.

15And he sees {his} resting place that {it is} good

and the land that it is pleasant.

Then he will bend his shoulder to bear {the loads},

and he will be a forced labor servant.

16“Dan will judge his people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

17Dan will be a snake beside the road,

a viper beside the path,

that bites the heels of a horse,

and its rider falls off backward.

18“I am waiting for your salvation, Yahweh!

19“{As for} Gad, raider{s} will attack him,

but he will attack {their} heel{s}.

20“From Asher, his bread {will be} fat,

and he will provide king’s delicacies.

21“Naphtali {is} a doe that is let loose.

He gives words of beauty.

22“Joseph {is} the son of a fruit-bearing {vine},

the son of a fruit-bearing {vine} beside a spring,

{whose} daughters go up over a wall.

23And masters of arrows will attack him

and shoot and harass him.

24But his bow will remain in strength

and the arms of his hands will be made limber

by the hands of the Mighty {One} of Jacob,

by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

25by the God of your father, and he will help you,

and with the Almighty, and he will bless you

{with} blessings of the heavens above,

blessings of the deep that lies below,

blessings of breasts and womb.

26The blessings of your father have surpassed

the blessings of my ancestors,

even to the bounties of the eternal hills.

May they rest on the head of Joseph,

even on the top of the head of the one consecrated from {among} his brothers.

27“Benjamin {is} a ravenous wolf.

In the morning it devours {its} prey,

and in the evening it divides the plunder.”

28All those {are} the twelve tribes of Israel, and that {is} what their father said to them. And he blessed them, each one, according to his blessing he blessed them.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

49:29-50:14

29Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am being gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that {is} in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the cave that {is} in the field of Machpelah that {is} in front of Mamre in the land of Canaan, that Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property {for} a burial place. 31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. 32The purchase of the field and the cave that {is} in it {was} from the sons of Heth.” 33Then Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he drew his feet into the bed and exhaled and was gathered to his people.

501Then Joseph fell on the face of his father, and he wept over him and kissed him. 2Then Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel, 3and they completed forty days for him, for so they complete the days of embalmings. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

4And the days of his mourning passed, then Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, “Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. In my grave that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you must bury me.” So now, please let me go up {there} and bury my father, then I will return.’ ” 6And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father just as he made you swear.”

7So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house and all elders of the land of Egypt 8and all of the house of Joseph and his brothers and the house of his father. Only their little ones and their flock{s} and their herd{s} they left in the land of Goshen. 9And with him went up both chariot{s} and horsemen, and the company was very great.

10Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which {is} beyond the Jordan, and they lamented there {with} a very great and heavy lamentation. And he did seven days {of} mourning for his father. 11And the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, and they said, “This {is} a heavy mourning for the Egyptians!” For that {reason} they called its name Abel Mizraim, which {is} beyond the Jordan.

12And his sons did for him just as he had commanded them: 13And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought with the field as property for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, in front of Mamre. 14Then after he buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Joseph Calms His Brothers’ Fears

50:15-21

15And the brothers of Joseph saw that their father was dead, and they said, “What if Joseph hates us? Then he will surely repay us {for} all the evil that we did to him!” 16Then they ordered {a messenger to go} to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before his death, saying, 17‘This you must say to Joseph: “I beg {you}, please forgive the crime of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ So now, please forgive the crime of the servants of your father’s God.” And Joseph cried when they spoke to him.

18Then his brothers also came and fell before him and said, “Behold us, {we belong} to you as slaves!” 19But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid. For {am} I in place of God? 20And {as for} you, you intended evil against me, {but} God intended it for good in order to do as {he is doing} this day, to save many people. 21So now, do not be afraid. I will support you and your little ones.” So he comforted them, and he spoke to their heart{s}.

Joseph’s Death in Egypt

50:22-26

22Then Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and the house of his father. And Joseph lived 110 years. 23And Joseph saw Ephraim’s sons {to} the third {generation}. Also, the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on the knees of Joseph.

24Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, and God will surely visit you and take you up from this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear {an oath}, saying, “Surely God will visit you, and you must take my bones up from this {place}.”

26Then Joseph died, a son of 110 years. Then they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.