~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. So God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and also the stars. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.” And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that creeps on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being. And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that went east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” And out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And Yahweh God fashioned the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This one finally is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called Woman, Because this one was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden. Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.” Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” And Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain and conception, In pain you will bear children; Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them. Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”— therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

~~~~~~4~~~~~ ~~~~~~4~~~~~ ~~~~~~4~~~~~ ~~~~~~4~~~~~ ~~~~~~4~~~~~ Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a man with the help of Yahweh.” And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. So it happened in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Then Cain spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground. “And now, cursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. “When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is too great to bear! “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me.” So Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one who found him would strike him. Then Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Then Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. And Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock. And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give ear to my word, For I have killed a man for striking me; And a boy for wounding me; If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” Then Adam knew his wife again; and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has set for me another seed in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” And to Seth, to him also, a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of Yahweh.

~~~~~~5~~~~~ ~~~~~~5~~~~~ ~~~~~~5~~~~~ ~~~~~~5~~~~~ ~~~~~~5~~~~~ This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. And Seth lived 105 years and became the father of Enosh. Then Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. And Enosh lived 90 years and became the father of Kenan. Then Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. And Kenan lived 70 years and became the father of Mahalalel. Then Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. And Mahalalel lived 65 years and became the father of Jared. Then Mahalalel lived 830 years after he became the father of Jared, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. And Jared lived 162 years and became the father of Enoch. Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. And Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. And Methuselah lived 187 years and became the father of Lamech. Then Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. And Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the pain of our hands arising from the ground which Yahweh has cursed.” Then Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

~~~~~~6~~~~~ ~~~~~~6~~~~~ ~~~~~~6~~~~~ ~~~~~~6~~~~~ ~~~~~~6~~~~~ Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were good in appearance; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he indeed is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Yahweh regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And Yahweh said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among those in his generations; Noah walked with God. And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch. “Now this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. “You shall make a window for the ark, and complete it to one cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. “As for Me, behold I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last. “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

~~~~~~7~~~~~ ~~~~~~7~~~~~ ~~~~~~7~~~~~ ~~~~~~7~~~~~ ~~~~~~7~~~~~ Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation. “You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth. “For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him. Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, by twos they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. Now it happened after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep split open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. Then the rain came upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On this very day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind—every fowl, every winged creature. So they came to Noah into the ark, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and Yahweh closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water multiplied and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. And the water prevailed and multiplied greatly upon the earth, and the ark went on the surface of the water. And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh that moved on the earth breathed its last, that is birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, as well as all mankind. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life—of all that was on the dry land—died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah remained, and those that were with him in the ark. And the water prevailed upon the earth 150 days.

~~~~~~8~~~~~ ~~~~~~8~~~~~ ~~~~~~8~~~~~ ~~~~~~8~~~~~ ~~~~~~8~~~~~ Then God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; and the water receded from the earth, going forth and returning, and at the end of 150 days the water decreased. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Now the water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. Then it happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; and he sent out a raven, and it went out flying back and forth until the water was dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he stretched out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark to himself. Then he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. And the dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove; but it did not return to him again. Now it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and that they may be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma; and Yahweh said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done. “While all the days of the earth remain, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”

~~~~~~9~~~~~ ~~~~~~9~~~~~ ~~~~~~9~~~~~ ~~~~~~9~~~~~ ~~~~~~9~~~~~ And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. “And the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; as with the green plant, I give all to you. “However, flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat. “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every living thing I will require it. And from every man, from each man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Swarm on the earth and multiply in it.” Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. “Indeed I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” Then God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am giving to be between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I put My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. “And it will be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. “So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was scattered abroad. Then Noah began to be a man of the land and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took the garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned backward, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. Then Noah awoke from his wine, and he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.” And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.” And Noah lived 350 years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

~~~~~~10~~~~~ ~~~~~~10~~~~~ ~~~~~~10~~~~~ ~~~~~~10~~~~~ ~~~~~~10~~~~~ Now these are the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, into their nations. The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. Now Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went out to Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. Mizraim was the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim and Pathrusim and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines) and Caphtorim. Canaan was the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were scattered. The border of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, by their nations. Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born. The sons of Shem were Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. Arpachshad was the father of Shelah; and Shelah was the father of Eber. Now two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. And Joktan was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah and Obal and Abimael and Sheba and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. Now their settlement extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east. These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, according to their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

~~~~~~11~~~~~ ~~~~~~11~~~~~ ~~~~~~11~~~~~ ~~~~~~11~~~~~ ~~~~~~11~~~~~ Now the whole earth had the same language and the same words. And it happened as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have begun to do. So now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s language.” So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth; and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; and Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Arpachshad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah; and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber; and Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg; and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Reu; and Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Reu, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Reu lived 32 years and became the father of Serug; and Reu lived 207 years after he became the father of Serug, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Serug lived 30 years and became the father of Nahor; and Serug lived 200 years after he became the father of Nahor, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. Nahor lived 29 years and became the father of Terah; and Nahor lived 119 years after he became the father of Terah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Terah lived 70 years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 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. And Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to go to the land of Canaan; and they came as far as Haran and settled there. And the days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

~~~~~~12~~~~~ ~~~~~~12~~~~~ ~~~~~~12~~~~~ ~~~~~~12~~~~~ ~~~~~~12~~~~~ And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go forth from your land, And from your kin And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” So Abram went forth as Yahweh had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. So Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go forth to the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your seed I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to Yahweh who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh. And Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it happened as he drew near to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Now behold, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; and it will be when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” Now it happened when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well because of her; and sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels came into his possession. But Yahweh struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? So now, here is your wife, take her and go.” So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.

~~~~~~13~~~~~ ~~~~~~13~~~~~ ~~~~~~13~~~~~ ~~~~~~13~~~~~ ~~~~~~13~~~~~ So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called upon the name of Yahweh. Now Lot, who was going with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. And the land could not sustain them while living together, for their possessions were so abundant that they were not able to live together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living then in the land. So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” Then Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were evil and sinners, exceedingly so, against Yahweh. And Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your seed forever. “And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered. “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.

~~~~~~14~~~~~ ~~~~~~14~~~~~ ~~~~~~14~~~~~ ~~~~~~14~~~~~ ~~~~~~14~~~~~ And it happened in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). All these came as allies to the valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Now for twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled. So in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh). And they struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who were living in Hazazon-tamar. And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they arranged themselves for battle against them in the valley of Siddim, against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five— now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits—and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them; but those who remained behind fled to the hill country. Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply and departed. They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed; now he was living in Sodom. Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was dwelling by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were in a covenant with Abram. So Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, and he led out his trained men, born in his house, 318 in number, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his men against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. And he brought back all the possessions, and he also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions and also the women and the people. Then after he came back from striking down Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. Then he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then he gave him a tenth of all. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me, but take the possessions for yourself.” Then Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to Yahweh God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you would not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ “I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

~~~~~~15~~~~~ ~~~~~~15~~~~~ ~~~~~~15~~~~~ ~~~~~~15~~~~~ ~~~~~~15~~~~~ After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Since You have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.” Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness. And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and split them into parts down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he did not split apart the birds. Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. Now it happened that when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

~~~~~~16~~~~~ ~~~~~~16~~~~~ ~~~~~~16~~~~~ ~~~~~~16~~~~~ ~~~~~~16~~~~~ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian servant-woman whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. Please go in to my servant-woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant-woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became contemptible in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant-woman into your embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became contemptible in her sight. May Yahweh judge between you and me.” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant-woman is in your hand; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her presence. Now the angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant-woman, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hands.” Moreover, the angel of Yahweh said to her, “I will greatly multiply your seed so that they will be too many to be counted.” And the angel of Yahweh said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because Yahweh has heard your affliction. “And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will dwell in the face of all his brothers.” Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Now Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

~~~~~~17~~~~~ ~~~~~~17~~~~~ ~~~~~~17~~~~~ ~~~~~~17~~~~~ ~~~~~~17~~~~~ Now it happened that when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me and be blameless, so that I may confirm My covenant between Me and you, And that I may multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. “And no longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. “And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will go forth from you. “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you. “And I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, one who is born in the house or one who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your seed. “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Will a son be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” So He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had spoken with him. Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. Now all the men of his household, who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

~~~~~~18~~~~~ ~~~~~~18~~~~~ ~~~~~~18~~~~~ ~~~~~~18~~~~~ ~~~~~~18~~~~~ Then Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing nearby; he saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth, and he said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and let me bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh your hearts; after that you may pass on, since in such a manner you have passed by your servant.” And they said, “So you shall do, as you have said.” So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Hurry, prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” Abraham also ran to the herd and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to his young man, and he hurried to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree, and they ate. Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” And He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a son, when I am so old?’ “Is anything too difficult for Yahweh? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Then Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.” Then the men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. Now Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? “For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” So Yahweh said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. “I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before Yahweh. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” So Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” And Abraham answered and said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. “Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Then he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, Yahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
		
~~~~~~19~~~~~ ~~~~~~19~~~~~ ~~~~~~19~~~~~ ~~~~~~19~~~~~ ~~~~~~19~~~~~ Then the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them and rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them.” But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Step aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came to sojourn, and already he is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and stepped up to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway. Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place because their outcry has become great before Yahweh, so Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.” And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. Now at the breaking of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. Now it happened, as they brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, lest you be swept away.” But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by preserving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die; now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be preserved.” And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. And Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. Then his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. And Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our seed through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Now it happened on the following day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our seed through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. And the firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

~~~~~~20~~~~~ ~~~~~~20~~~~~ ~~~~~~20~~~~~ ~~~~~~20~~~~~ ~~~~~~20~~~~~ And Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.” (Now Abimelech had not come near her.) Then he said, “Lord, will You kill a nation, even though righteous? “Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself also said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Indeed, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also held you back from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. “So now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you seen, that you have done this thing?” And Abraham said, “Because I said, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. “Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; and it happened when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the lovingkindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ” Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and returned his wife Sarah to him. And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever it is good in your sight.” To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother one thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all you are cleared.” And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they bore children. For Yahweh had utterly shut all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

~~~~~~21~~~~~ ~~~~~~21~~~~~ ~~~~~~21~~~~~ ~~~~~~21~~~~~ ~~~~~~21~~~~~ Now Yahweh visited Sarah as He had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing in jest. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maidservant and her son! The son of this maidservant shall not be an heir with my son, with Isaac.” And the matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. So God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac your seed shall be named. “And of the son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. So she went and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was finished, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see when the child dies.” And she sat opposite him and lifted up her voice and wept. Then God heard the voice of the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. “Arise, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and was an archer. And he lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. Now 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; so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the lovingkindness that I have shown you, you shall show me and the land in which you have sojourned.” And Abraham said, “I swear it.” But Abraham reproved Abimelech about the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.” So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them cut a covenant. Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.” Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. So they cut a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.

~~~~~~22~~~~~ ~~~~~~22~~~~~ ~~~~~~22~~~~~ ~~~~~~22~~~~~ ~~~~~~22~~~~~ Now it happened after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there; and we will worship, and we will return to you.” Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.” Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and walked together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba. Now it happened after these things, that it was told to Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” And Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.
		
~~~~~~23~~~~~ ~~~~~~23~~~~~ ~~~~~~23~~~~~ ~~~~~~23~~~~~ ~~~~~~23~~~~~ And Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham rose from before his dead and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, “I am a sojourner and a foreign resident among you; give me a possession for a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, “Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites; none of us will refuse you his burial sites for burying your dead.” So Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your desire for me to bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which belongs to him, which is at the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burial site.” Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, “No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.” And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will only please hear me; I will give the silver for the field, accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.” Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, “My lord, hear me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.” So Abraham heard Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, commercial standard. So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over to Abraham as purchased in the sight of the sons of Heth, before all who came in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded over to Abraham for a possession for a burial site by the sons of Heth.
			
~~~~~~24~~~~~ ~~~~~~24~~~~~ ~~~~~~24~~~~~ ~~~~~~24~~~~~ ~~~~~~24~~~~~ Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in every way. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who ruled over all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my land and to my kin, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” And the servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I indeed take your son back to the land from where you came?” Then Abraham said to him, “Beware lest you take my son back there! “Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kin, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your seed I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. “But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.” So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and he went with all kinds of good things of his master’s in his hand. So he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when the women go out to draw water. And he said, “O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please cause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. “Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will give water to your camels to drink also’—may she be the one whom You have decided for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.” And before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, was coming out with her jar on her shoulder. Now the young woman was very beautiful in appearance, a virgin, and no man had known her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” And she said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink. Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” So she hurried and emptied her jar into the watering channel and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not. Now it happened that when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there a place for us to lodge in your father’s house?” And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” And she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and a place to lodge in.” Then the man bowed low and worshiped Yahweh. And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, Yahweh has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.” Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. Now it happened, when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came out to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. And he said, “Come in, blessed of Yahweh! Why do you stand outside since I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?” So the man came into the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have spoken my words.” And he said, “Speak!” So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. “And Yahweh has greatly blessed my master, so he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. “Now Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has. “And my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ “Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ “And he said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and will make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives. Now if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’ “So I came today to the spring and said, ‘O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful; behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and may it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; she is the woman whom Yahweh has decided upon for my master’s son.’ “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah was coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ “Then she hurried and lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give water to your camels to drink’; so I drank, and she also gave water to the camels to drink. “Then I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. “And I bowed low and worshiped Yahweh; and I blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the true way to take the daughter of my master’s relative for his son. “So now if you are going to show lovingkindness and truth with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left.” Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The matter comes from Yahweh; so we cannot speak to you bad or good. “Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as Yahweh has spoken.” Now it happened that when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before Yahweh. The servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. And then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.” But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, or even ten; afterward she will go.” And he said to them, “Do not delay me, since Yahweh has made my way successful. Send me away that I may go to my master.” And they said, “We will call the young woman and ask about her wishes.” Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, Become thousands of ten thousands, And may your seed possess The gate of those who hate him.” Then Rebekah arose with her young women, and they mounted the camels and went after the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went. Now Isaac had come from going to Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the land of the Negev. And Isaac went out to muse in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac and dismounted from the camel. Then she said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant recounted to Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. Thus, Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
	
~~~~~~25~~~~~ ~~~~~~25~~~~~ ~~~~~~25~~~~~ ~~~~~~25~~~~~ ~~~~~~25~~~~~ Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. And she bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. Now Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. And the sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east. These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, 175 years. And Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of days; and he was gathered to his people. Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. Now it happened after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi. Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant-woman, bore to Abraham; and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes. These are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years; and he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people. And they dwelt from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in the face of all his brothers. Now these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac; and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and Yahweh was moved by his entreaty. So Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of Yahweh. And Yahweh said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.” And her days to give birth were fulfilled, and behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. And the boys grew up; Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he had an appetite for hunted game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob had cooked stew. And Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Then Esau said to Jacob, “Please give me a swallow from the red stuff—this red stuff, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” And Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. So Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank and rose and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

~~~~~~26~~~~~ ~~~~~~26~~~~~ ~~~~~~26~~~~~ ~~~~~~26~~~~~ ~~~~~~26~~~~~ Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. “And I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I will give your seed all these lands; and by your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” So Isaac lived in Gerar. Then the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful in appearance.” Now it happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” And 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 upon us.” So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year one hundredfold. And Yahweh blessed him, and the man became great and continued to grow greater until he became very great; and he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and many servants, so that the Philistines were jealous of him. Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too mighty for us.” And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, but the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he called them by the same names by which his father had called them. Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water. And the herdsmen of Gerar contended with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, and they contended over it also, so he called it Sitnah. Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not contend over it; so he named it Rehoboth, and he said, “At last Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” And he went up from there to Beersheba. And Yahweh appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your seed, For the sake of My servant Abraham.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of Yahweh and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug out a well. Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” Then they said, “We see plainly that Yahweh has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us—between you and us—and let us cut a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Yahweh.’” Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they arose early, and each swore to the other; then Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. Now it happened on that day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. And Esau was forty years old, and he took as a wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they brought bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

~~~~~~27~~~~~ ~~~~~~27~~~~~ ~~~~~~27~~~~~ ~~~~~~27~~~~~ ~~~~~~27~~~~~ Now it happened that when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” And Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death. “So now, please take up your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. Then Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring to Isaac. But Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat and bless you in the presence of Yahweh before my death.’ “So now, my son, listen to my voice as I command you. “Go now to the flock and get for me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. “Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” Then Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. “Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a mocker in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, get them for me.” So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a savory dish such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the savory dish and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Rise up, please, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” Then Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Yahweh your God caused it to happen to me.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob came near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” So he said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that my soul may bless you.” And he brought it near to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and then he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed; Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.” Now it happened that as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. Then he also made a savory dish and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.” And Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac trembled exceedingly violently and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him? Indeed, he shall be blessed.” As Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, O my father!” And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his fellow brothers I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall be your habitation, And away from the dew of heaven from above. “By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall be when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.” So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” Then the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. “So now, my son, listen to my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! “Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s wrath subsides, until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
		
~~~~~~28~~~~~ ~~~~~~28~~~~~ ~~~~~~28~~~~~ ~~~~~~28~~~~~ ~~~~~~28~~~~~ So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. “Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become an assembly of peoples. “May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing in the sight of his father Isaac; and Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, besides the wives that he had. Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. Then he had a dream, and behold, a ladder stood on the earth with its top touching heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, Yahweh stood above it and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your seed. “And your seed will also 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 seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land; for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How fearsome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. And he called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey on which I am going, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in peace, then Yahweh will be my God. “Now this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
		
~~~~~~29~~~~~ ~~~~~~29~~~~~ ~~~~~~29~~~~~ ~~~~~~29~~~~~ ~~~~~~29~~~~~ Then Jacob took up his journey and came to the land of the sons of the east. And he looked, and behold, a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they gave water to the flocks to drink. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large. And all the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and give water to the sheep to drink and return the stone back to its place on the mouth of the well. And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.” Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.” And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.” And he said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Give water to the sheep to drink, and go, pasture them.” But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we give water to the sheep to drink.” While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. Now it happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and gave water to the flock of Laban his mother’s brother to drink. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father. So it happened that when Laban heard the report of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and he embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he recounted to Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him one month. Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance. Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.” So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his sight but a few days because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. Now it happened in the evening that he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her. Laban also gave his servant-woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a servant-woman. Now it happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?” But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to give the younger before the firstborn. “Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.” And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. Laban also gave his servant-woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant-woman. So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years. And Yahweh saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. So Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because Yahweh has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because Yahweh has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

~~~~~~30~~~~~ ~~~~~~30~~~~~ ~~~~~~30~~~~~ ~~~~~~30~~~~~ ~~~~~~30~~~~~ Then Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, so she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” And she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may obtain children.” So she gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, “God has rendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali. Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher. And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” Then Jacob came in from the field in the evening. And Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. And Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband will honor me because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” And she named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh give me another son.” Now it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own land. “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.” But Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; I have interpreted an omen that Yahweh has blessed me on your account.” And he continued to say, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.” But he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me. “For you had little before I came, but it has spread out to a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you at every step of mine. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. “So my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” And Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.” So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks. Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the trough, that is, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs, and he made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he set his own herds apart and did not set them with Laban’s flock. Now it would be that, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the trough, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. So the man spread out exceedingly and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

~~~~~~31~~~~~ ~~~~~~31~~~~~ ~~~~~~31~~~~~ ~~~~~~31~~~~~ ~~~~~~31~~~~~ Then Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.” And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, and he said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me. “You also know that I have served your father with all my power. “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to harm me. “If he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. “Thus God has delivered your father’s livestock and given them to me. “Now it happened at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your kin.’” Then Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? “Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. “Surely all the riches which God has delivered over to us from our father belong to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.” Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; and he drove away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had accumulated, his acquired livestock which he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, in order to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s. And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the River and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. Then it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled; so he took his relatives with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, “Beware lest you speak to Jacob either good or bad.” So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me—so that I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with tambourine and with lyre— and not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly. “It is in my hand to do evil against you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Beware of speaking either good or evil to Jacob.’ “So now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, because I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ “The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives recognize what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself.” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household idols. Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? “Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Place it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may decide between us two. “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. “That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. “Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. “These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times. “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the dread of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered the decision last night.” Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children whom they have borne? “So now come, let us cut a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.” Then Jacob took a stone and raised it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Then Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, and Mizpah, for he said, “May Yahweh watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other. “If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.” And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me. “This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me for harm. “The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the dread of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his relatives to eat a meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain. And Laban arose early in the morning and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
		
~~~~~~32~~~~~ ~~~~~~32~~~~~ ~~~~~~32~~~~~ ~~~~~~32~~~~~ ~~~~~~32~~~~~ Now Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. Then Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim. Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord, to Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban and have been delayed until now; And I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ” Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two camps. And he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp which remains will escape.” And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your kin, and I will prosper you,’ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the truth which You have shown to Your slave; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me down with the mothers and the children. “For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’” So he spent the night there. Then he took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. And he gave them into the hand of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me and put a space between flocks.” And he commanded the first one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” Then he commanded also the second and the third and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease his face with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face.” So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp. And he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two servant-women and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had. Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of dawn. And he saw that he had not prevailed against him, so he touched the socket of his thigh; and so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered.” And the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
		
~~~~~~33~~~~~ ~~~~~~33~~~~~ ~~~~~~33~~~~~ ~~~~~~33~~~~~ ~~~~~~33~~~~~ Then Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two servant-women. And he put the servant-women and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after them. But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “Who are these with you?” And he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” Then the servant-women came near with their children, and they bowed down. Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down. And he said, “What do you mean by all these camps which I have met?” And he said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” And Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. “Please take my blessing which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have everything.” Thus he urged him, and he took it. Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.” But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die. “Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.” Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why do this? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. But Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth. Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. Then he bought a portion of a field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred qesitah. Then he set up there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
			
~~~~~~34~~~~~ ~~~~~~34~~~~~ ~~~~~~34~~~~~ ~~~~~~34~~~~~ ~~~~~~34~~~~~ Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Then Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her and took her and lay with her and violated her. And he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke to the heart of the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl as a wife.” Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him as a wife. “And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. “Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and take possession of property in it.” And Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl as a wife.” But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, and thus they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. “Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male among you be circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.” Now their words seemed good in the sight of Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. So the young man did not delay to do the thing because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more honored than all the household of his father. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, “These men are peaceful with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us as wives and give our daughters to them. “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. “Will not their livestock and what they acquire and all their cattle be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.” And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. Now it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the unsuspecting city and killed every male. And they killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went away. Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; and they captured and plundered all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?”

~~~~~~35~~~~~ ~~~~~~35~~~~~ ~~~~~~35~~~~~ ~~~~~~35~~~~~ ~~~~~~35~~~~~ Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you and cleanse yourselves and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. Then they journeyed on, and there was a terror from God upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother. Then Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth. Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called his name Israel. God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from your loins. “And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your seed after you.” Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel. Then they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and Rachel gave birth, and she suffered severely in her labor. Now it happened that when she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.” Now it happened as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. Now it happened while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. And there were twelve sons of Jacob— the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-woman: Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant-woman: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

~~~~~~36~~~~~ ~~~~~~36~~~~~ ~~~~~~36~~~~~ ~~~~~~36~~~~~ ~~~~~~36~~~~~ Now these are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Then Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all his household, and his livestock and all his cattle and all his acquired goods, which he had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and he went to a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they sojourned could not sustain them because of their livestock. So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom. These then are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho and Gatam and Kenaz. Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah. These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon: she bore to Esau, Jeush and Jalam and Korah. These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. These are the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir. Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king of the sons of Israel reigned. And Bela the son of Beor became king in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place. Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place. Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who struck down Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith. Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place. Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the River became king in his place. Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place. Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar became king in his place; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. Now these are the names of the chiefs descended from Esau, according to their families and their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of the Edomites), according to their places of habitation in the land of their possession.

~~~~~~37~~~~~ ~~~~~~37~~~~~ ~~~~~~37~~~~~ ~~~~~~37~~~~~ ~~~~~~37~~~~~ Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back an evil report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and so they hated him and could not speak to him in peace. Then Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; so they hated him even more. And he said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had: Indeed, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf rose up and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” Then his brothers said to him, “Are you really going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he had still another dream and recounted it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers really come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.” Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” And he said, “I am seeking my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” Then the man said, “They have journeyed from here; for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. And they saw him from a distance, and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. Then they said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! “So now, come and let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” But Reuben heard this and delivered him out of their hands and said, “Let us not strike down his life.” Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not put forth your hands against him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands to return him to his father. Now it happened, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and cast him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted up their eyes and saw, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, going to bring them down to Egypt. And Judah said to his brothers, “What gain is it that we kill our brother and cover up his blood? “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened. Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. Then Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments. Then he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” So they took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please recognize it—whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” So Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
	
~~~~~~38~~~~~ ~~~~~~38~~~~~ ~~~~~~38~~~~~ ~~~~~~38~~~~~ ~~~~~~38~~~~~ Now it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her. So she conceived and bore a son, and he named him Er. Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she named him Onan. And she bore still another son, and she named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she bore him. Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a seed for your brother.” And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it happened that when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted it on the ground in order not to give seed to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of Yahweh; so He put him to death also. Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “I am afraid lest he also die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house. And after a considerable time, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Then Judah was comforted, and he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. Then it was told to Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” So she removed her widow’s garments from herself and covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself. And she sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. Then Judah saw her, and he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here now, let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He said, therefore, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, moreover, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?” Then he said, “What pledge shall I give 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 in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went. And she removed her veil from herself and put on her widow’s garments. Then Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. So he asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the cult prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no cult prostitute here.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’” Then Judah said, “Let her keep them, lest we become a laughingstock. Behold, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.” Now it happened about three months later that it was told to Judah saying, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these things belong.” And she said, “Please recognize this and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?” And Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again. Now it happened at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were twins in her womb. And it happened, while she was giving birth, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” And then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. So she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez. Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.

~~~~~~39~~~~~ ~~~~~~39~~~~~ ~~~~~~39~~~~~ ~~~~~~39~~~~~ ~~~~~~39~~~~~ Now Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian official of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there. And Yahweh was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that Yahweh was with him and how Yahweh caused all that he did to succeed in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended on him; and he appointed him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he gave in his hand. Now it happened that from the time he appointed him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, Yahweh blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the blessing of Yahweh was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s hand; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance. And it happened after these events that his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has given all that he owns into my hand. “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” So it happened that as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. Then she seized him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. Now it happened, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, that she called to the men of her household and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to laugh at us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. “Now it happened that when he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” And she placed his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words, saying, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to laugh at me; and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” Now it happened that when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned. So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But Yahweh was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. So the chief jailer gave into the hand of Joseph all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s hand because Yahweh was with him; and whatever he did, Yahweh made to succeed.

~~~~~~40~~~~~ ~~~~~~40~~~~~ ~~~~~~40~~~~~ ~~~~~~40~~~~~ ~~~~~~40~~~~~ Now it happened that after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. And the captain of the bodyguard appointed Joseph as overseer over them, and he attended to them; and they were in confinement for some time. Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. Now Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, and behold, they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, saying, “Why are your faces so sad today?” Then they said to him, “We have had a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Recount it to me, please.” So the chief cupbearer recounted his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream, behold, there was a vine in front of me; and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. “Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer. “Only remember me when it goes well with you, and please show me lovingkindness by remembering me to Pharaoh and getting me out of this house. “For I was in fact stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the pit.” And the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, so he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head off of you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off of you.” Thus it happened on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

~~~~~~41~~~~~ ~~~~~~41~~~~~ ~~~~~~41~~~~~ ~~~~~~41~~~~~ ~~~~~~41~~~~~ Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. And behold, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the reeds. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and thin, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. He again fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good. And behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Now it happened that in the morning his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh recounted to them his dream, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I would bring to remembrance today my own offenses. “Pharaoh was furious with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker. “And we had a dream on the same night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. “Now there was with us a Hebrew youth, a slave of the captain of the bodyguard, and we recounted them to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream. “And just as he interpreted for us, so it happened; he restored me in my office, but he hanged him.” Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they rushed him out of the pit; and he shaved himself and changed his clothes, and he came to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it; yet I have heard it said about you, that you hear a dream and that you can interpret it.” Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will answer concerning the welfare of Pharaoh.” So Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the Nile; and behold, seven cows, fat and sleek came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the reeds. “And behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and lean, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt, in regard to ugliness; and the lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows. “But they devoured them, and yet it could not be known that they had devoured them. For they were just as ugly as before. Then I awoke. “Then I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears, full and good, came up on a single stalk; and behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them; and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. So I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could declare it to me.” Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same; God has declared to Pharaoh what He is about to do. “The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one and the same. “And the seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven lean ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine. “It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. “Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; and after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land, so that the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very heavy. “Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is confirmed by God, and God will quickly bring it about. “So now let Pharaoh look for a man understanding and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. “Let Pharaoh take action and appoint overseers over the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. “Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and let them store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them keep watch over it. “And let the food be appointed for the land for the seven years of famine which will happen in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not be cut off during the famine.” And the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made you know all of this, there is no one so understanding and wise as you are. “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. And he had him ride in his second chariot; and they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt. Now Joseph was thirty years old 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. And during the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly. So he gathered all the food of these seven years which happened in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure. Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. And Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” And he named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Then the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. So there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. Then all the land of Egypt was famished, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.” Now the famine was over all the face of the land. And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Now all the earth also came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe in all the earth.
	
~~~~~~42~~~~~ ~~~~~~42~~~~~ ~~~~~~42~~~~~ ~~~~~~42~~~~~ ~~~~~~42~~~~~ Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?” Then 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 may live and not die.” So ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest any harm befall him.” So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also. Now Joseph was the one in power over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” But Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the nakedness of the land.” Then they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. “We are all sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.” And he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the nakedness of our land!” So they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” And Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, you are spies; by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! “Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” Then he put them all together in prison for three days. And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, bring grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “Surely we are guilty concerning our brother because we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; yet you would not listen? So also his blood, behold, it is required of us.” Now they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them. And he turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them. So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and went from there. Then one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place. And he saw his money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?” Then they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us and took us for spies of the country. “So we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ‘We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ “Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. ‘But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’” Now it happened that they were emptying their sacks, and behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and they and their father saw their bundles of money, and they feared. And their father Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.” But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone remains. If harm should befall him on the journey on which you are going, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”
	
~~~~~~43~~~~~ ~~~~~~43~~~~~ ~~~~~~43~~~~~ ~~~~~~43~~~~~ ~~~~~~43~~~~~ Now the famine was heavy in the land. And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ “If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. “But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. “I myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then I shall bear the sin before you all my days. “For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.” Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and bring them down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. “Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. “And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; and may God Almighty grant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” So the men took this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. Then Joseph saw Benjamin with them and said to his house steward, “Bring the men into the house, and slay an animal and prepare it; for the men are to eat with me at noon.” So the man did as Joseph said and brought the men to Joseph’s house. And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.” So they came near to Joseph’s house steward and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, and they said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, and it happened when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and behold, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full. So we have brought it back in our hand. “We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.” And he said, “Be well, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your money has come to me.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder. So they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there. Then Joseph came home, and they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and bowed to the ground before him. And he asked them about their well-being and said, “Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” They bowed down and prostrated themselves. Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. And he said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” And Joseph hurried out for he was deeply stirred with compassion over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself and said, “Set the meal.” So they set the meal for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. And he took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times greater than any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

~~~~~~44~~~~~ ~~~~~~44~~~~~ ~~~~~~44~~~~~ ~~~~~~44~~~~~ ~~~~~~44~~~~~ Then he commanded his house steward, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. “Now put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph had told him. As the morning light broke, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. Now they had just gone out of the city and were not far off when Joseph said to his house steward, “Arise, pursue the men; you shall overtake them and say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ‘Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses to interpret omens? You have done evil in doing this.’” So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. And they said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. “Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? “With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” So he said, “Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, but the rest of you shall be innocent.” Then they hurried, each man brought his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. So he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city. Then Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. So they fell to the ground before him. And Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed interpret omens?” So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.” But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.” Then Judah came near to him and said, “O my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh. “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ “And we said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’ “And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ “You said to your servants, however, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’ “Thus it happened that when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. “And our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ “But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’ “And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ‘If you take this one also from me and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in evil.’ “So now, when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us—and his life is bound up in the boy’s life— so it will be that when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. “For your servant became a guarantee for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the sin before my father all my days.’ “So now, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. “For how shall I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest I see the evil that would overtake my father?”

~~~~~~45~~~~~ ~~~~~~45~~~~~ ~~~~~~45~~~~~ ~~~~~~45~~~~~ ~~~~~~45~~~~~ Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he called out, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Then he wept loudly. And the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” And they came near. And he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. “So now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. “So God sent me before you to establish for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive for a great remnant of survivors. “So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has set me as a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has set me as lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. “And you shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household and all that you have be impoverished.” ’ “And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. “So you must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him. Now the news was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” And it was good in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ “Now you are commanded, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. ‘Now do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’” Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. To each of them he gave changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. Now to his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey. So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said to them, “Do not be stirred up on the journey.” Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But his heart was stunned, for he did not believe them. Yet they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him. Then the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, “It is enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

~~~~~~46~~~~~ ~~~~~~46~~~~~ ~~~~~~46~~~~~ ~~~~~~46~~~~~ ~~~~~~46~~~~~ So Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. “I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes with his hand.” Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their livestock and their possessions, which they had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him: his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his seed he brought with him to Egypt. Now these are the names of the sons of Israel—of Jacob and his sons—who were coming to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. The sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvvah and Iob and Shimron. The sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel. These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah; all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three. The sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli. The sons of Asher: Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah and their sister Serah. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons. The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. Now to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; there were fourteen persons in all. The sons of Dan: Hushim. The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all. All the persons belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, who came out of his loins, excluding the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all, and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, who came to Egypt, were seventy. Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.” And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ “And it will be when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth and until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

~~~~~~47~~~~~ ~~~~~~47~~~~~ ~~~~~~47~~~~~ ~~~~~~47~~~~~ ~~~~~~47~~~~~ Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” And he took five men from among his brothers and set them before Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; have your father and your brothers settle in the best of the land, let them settle in the land of Goshen; and if you know any excellent men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones. Now there was no food in all the land because the famine was very heavy, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. Then the money came to an end in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan. So all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.” Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. Then that year came to an end. And they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money has come to an end, and the livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our land. “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. “And it will be, at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s. Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they took possession of property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. Then the days for Israel to die drew near, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in lovingkindness and truth. Please do not bury me in Egypt. “But I will lie down with my fathers, and you will carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” Then he said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

~~~~~~48~~~~~ ~~~~~~48~~~~~ ~~~~~~48~~~~~ ~~~~~~48~~~~~ ~~~~~~48~~~~~ Now it happened after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. Then it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” so Israel strengthened himself and sat up in the bed. Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and I will make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.’ “So now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. “But your kin that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?” And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.” Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Then Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed as well.” Then Joseph took them from his knees and bowed with his face to the ground. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd throughout my life to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless these boys; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” But Joseph saw that his father set his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it was displeasing in his sight; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become the fullness of nations.” And he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. “And I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

~~~~~~49~~~~~ ~~~~~~49~~~~~ ~~~~~~49~~~~~ ~~~~~~49~~~~~ ~~~~~~49~~~~~ Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather together that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days. “Assemble together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father. “Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my vigor, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in strength. “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch. “Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence. “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they killed men, And in their self-will they hamstrung oxen. “Cursed be their anger, for it is strong; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will divide them amongst Jacob, And scatter them in Israel. “Judah, as for you, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lioness, who dares rouse him up? “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. “He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. “His eyes are dark from wine, And his teeth white from milk. “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore; And he shall be a shore for ships, And his flank shall be toward Sidon. “Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between the sheepfolds. “And he saw that a resting place was good And that the land was pleasant, So he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, And became a slave at forced labor. “Dan shall render justice to his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A horned snake in the path, That bites the horse’s heels, So that his rider falls backward. “For Your salvation I hope, O Yahweh. “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, But he will raid at their heels. “As for Asher, his food shall be rich, And he will yield royal dainties. “Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives beautiful words. “Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; Its branches run over a wall. “And the archers bitterly attacked him and shot at him, And they bore a grudge against him; But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, From the God of your father who helps you, And by the Almighty who blesses you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. “The blessings of your father Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; May they be on the head of Joseph, And on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil.” All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. So he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial site. “There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” So Jacob finished commanding his sons. And he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

~~~~~~50~~~~~ ~~~~~~50~~~~~ ~~~~~~50~~~~~ ~~~~~~50~~~~~ ~~~~~~50~~~~~ Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Then the forty days to do this were fulfilled, because in this manner the days of embalming are fulfilled. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. Then the days of weeping for him were past, and Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” So now, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’” And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.” So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very immense camp. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they lamented there with a very great and immense lamentation; and he observed seven days of mourning for his father. Now the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, and they said, “This is an immense mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them. Indeed, his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field for his possession as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. Then Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, and they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and returns back to us all the evil which we dealt against him!” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they dealt evil against you.” ’ So now, please forgive the transgression of the slaves of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your slaves.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day, to keep many people alive. “So now, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke to their heart. Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” So Joseph died at the age of 110 years; and they embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

