Genesis


1:1   In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 
1:2  Now the earth was {[2] Or possibly <became>} formless and empty,
darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters.  
1:3  And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 
1:4  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the
darkness. 
1:5  God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And
there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. 
1:6  And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate
water from water." 
1:7  So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from
the water above it. And it was so. 
1:8  God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was
morning--the second day. 
1:9  And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place,
and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 
1:10  God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called
"seas." And God saw that it was good. 
1:11   Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants
and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their
various kinds." And it was so. 
1:12  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their
kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And
God saw that it was good. 
1:13  And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. 
1:14  And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to
separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons
and days and years, 
1:15  and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the
earth." And it was so. 
1:16  God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the
lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 
1:17  God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 
1:18  to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.
And God saw that it was good. 
1:19  And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day. 
1:20  And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds
fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 
1:21  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and
moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every
winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 
1:22  God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and
fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 
1:23  And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. 
1:24  And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to
their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild
animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 
1:25  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock
according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 
1:26   Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the earth, {[26] Hebrew; Syriac <all the wild animals>}
and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 
1:27      So God created man in his own image, 
          in the image of God he created him; 
          male and female he created them. 
1:28   God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 
1:29   Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of
the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be
yours for food. 
1:30  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and
all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of
life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 
1:31   God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was
evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.  

2:1   Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 

2:2  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on
the seventh day he rested {[2] Or <ceased>; also in verse 3} from all his
work. 
2:3  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he
rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  
2:4   This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were
created.   When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- 
2:5  and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth {[5] Or <land>;
also in verse 6} and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD
God had not sent rain on the earth {[5] Or <land>; also in verse 6} and
there was no man to work the ground, 
2:6  but streams {[6] Or <mist>} came up from the earth and watered the
whole surface of the ground-- 
2:7  the LORD God formed the man {[7] The Hebrew for <man (adam)> sounds
like and may be related to the Hebrew for <ground (adamah)>; it is also the
name <Adam> (see Gen. 2:20).} from the dust of the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 
2:8   Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there
he put the man he had formed. 
2:9  And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees
that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden
were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 
2:10   A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was
separated into four headwaters. 
2:11  The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land
of Havilah, where there is gold. 
2:12  (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin {[12] Or <good;>
<pearls>} and onyx are also there.) 
2:13  The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire
land of Cush. {[13] Possibly southeast Mesopotamia} 
2:14  The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side
of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 
2:15   The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work
it and take care of it. 
2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree
in the garden; 
2:17  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
for when you eat of it you will surely die." 
2:18   The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will
make a helper suitable for him." 
2:19   Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the
field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what
he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that
was its name. 
2:20  So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and
all the beasts of the field.  But for Adam {[20] Or <the man>} no suitable
helper was found. 
2:21  So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he
was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs {[21] Or <took part of the man's
side>} and closed up the place with flesh. 
2:22  Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib {[22] Or <part>} he had
taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 
2:23   The man said, 
          "This is now bone of my bones 
          and flesh of my flesh; 
          she shall be called `woman, {[23] The Hebrew for <woman> sounds
like the Hebrew for <man.>}' 
          for she was taken out of man." 
2:24  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 
2:25   The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. 

3:1   Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD
God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat
from any tree in the garden'?" 
3:2   The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the
garden, 
3:3  but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the
middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 
3:4   "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 
3:5  "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 
3:6   When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and
pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some
and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate
it. 
3:7  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were
naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 
3:8   Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden. 
3:9  But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 
3:10   He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I
was naked; so I hid." 
3:11   And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from
the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" 
3:12   The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit
from the tree, and I ate it." 
3:13   Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" 
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 
3:14   So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, 
          "Cursed are you above all the livestock 
          and all the wild animals! 
          You will crawl on your belly 
          and you will eat dust 
          all the days of your life. 
3:15      And I will put enmity 
          between you and the woman, 
          and between your offspring {[15] Or <seed>} and hers; 
          he will crush {[15] Or <strike>} your head, 
          and you will strike his heel." 
3:16   To the woman he said, 
          "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; 
          with pain you will give birth to children. 
          Your desire will be for your husband, 
          and he will rule over you." 
3:17   To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the
tree about which I commanded you, `You must not eat of it,' 
          "Cursed is the ground because of you; 
          through painful toil you will eat of it 
          all the days of your life. 
3:18      It will produce thorns and thistles for you, 
          and you will eat the plants of the field. 
3:19      By the sweat of your brow 
          you will eat your food 
          until you return to the ground, 
          since from it you were taken; 
          for dust you are 
          and to dust you will return." 
3:20   Adam {[20] Or <The man>} named his wife Eve, {[20] <Eve> probably
means <living.>} because she would become the mother of all the living. 
3:21   The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed
them. 
3:22  And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing
good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also
from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 
3:23  So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the
ground from which he had been taken. 
3:24  After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side {[24] Or
<placed in front>} of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword
flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. 

4:1   Adam {[1] Or <The man>} lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant
and gave birth to Cain. {[1] <Cain> sounds like the Hebrew for <brought
forth> or <acquired.>} She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought
forth {[1] Or <have acquired>} a man." 
4:2  Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.  Now Abel kept flocks, and
Cain worked the soil. 
4:3  In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to the LORD. 
4:4  But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 
4:5  but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was
very angry, and his face was downcast. 
4:6   Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face
downcast? 
4:7  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do
what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but
you must master it." 
4:8   Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." {[8]
Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does
not have <"Let's go out to the field.">} And while they were in the field,
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 
4:9   Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"  "I don't
know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 
4:10   The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood
cries out to me from the ground. 
4:11  Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its
mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 
4:12  When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.
You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." 
4:13   Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 
4:14  Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your
presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me
will kill me." 
4:15   But the LORD said to him, "Not so {[15] Septuagint, Vulgate and
Syriac; Hebrew <Very well>}; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance
seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found
him would kill him. 
4:16  So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of
Nod, {[16] <Nod> means <wandering> (see verses 12 and 14).} east of Eden. 
4:17   Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to
Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 
4:18  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. 
4:19   Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 
4:20  Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents
and raise livestock. 
4:21  His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the
harp and flute. 
4:22  Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out
of {[22] Or <who instructed all who work in>} bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's
sister was Naamah. 
4:23   Lamech said to his wives, 
          "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; 
          wives of Lamech, hear my words. 
          I have killed {[23] Or <I will kill>} a man for wounding me, 
          a young man for injuring me. 
4:24      If Cain is avenged seven times, 
          then Lamech seventy-seven times." 
4:25   Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named
him Seth, {[25] <Seth> probably means <granted.>} saying, "God has granted
me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." 
4:26  Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.  At that time men began
to call on {[26] Or <to proclaim>} the name of the LORD.  

5:1   This is the written account of Adam's line.   When God created man, he
made him in the likeness of God. 
5:2  He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were
created, he called them "man. {[2] Hebrew <adam>}" 
5:3   When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in
his own image; and he named him Seth. 
5:4  After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and
daughters. 
5:5  Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. 
5:6   When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father {[6] <Father> may
mean <ancestor>; also in verses 7-26.} of Enosh. 
5:7  And after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had
other sons and daughters. 
5:8  Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died. 
5:9   When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 
5:10  And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had
other sons and daughters. 
5:11  Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died. 
5:12   When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 
5:13  And after he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and
had other sons and daughters. 
5:14  Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died. 
5:15   When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 
5:16  And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and
had other sons and daughters. 
5:17  Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died. 
5:18   When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 
5:19  And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had
other sons and daughters. 
5:20  Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. 
5:21   When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 
5:22  And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God
300 years and had other sons and daughters. 
5:23  Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 
5:24  Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

5:25   When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 
5:26  And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years
and had other sons and daughters. 
5:27  Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died. 
5:28   When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 
5:29  He named him Noah {[29] <Noah> sounds like the Hebrew for <comfort.>}
and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands
caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." 
5:30  After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and
daughters. 
5:31  Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died. 
5:32   After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and
Japheth. 

6:1   When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were
born to them, 
6:2  the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they
married any of them they chose. 
6:3  Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with {[3] Or <My spirit
will not remain in>} man forever, for he is mortal {[3] Or <corrupt>}; his
days will be a hundred and twenty years." 
6:4   The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when
the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They
were the heroes of old, men of renown. 
6:5   The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and
that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the
time. 
6:6  The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart
was filled with pain. 
6:7  So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the
face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the
ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." 
6:8  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.  
6:9   This is the account of Noah.   Noah was a righteous man, blameless
among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 
6:10  Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 
6:11   Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 
6:12  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth
had corrupted their ways. 
6:13  So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the
earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy
both them and the earth. 
6:14  So make yourself an ark of cypress {[14] The meaning of the Hebrew for
this word is uncertain.} wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch
inside and out. 
6:15  This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75
feet wide and 45 feet high. {[15] Hebrew <300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide
and 30 cubits high> (about 140 meters long, 23 meters wide and 13.5 meters
high)} 
6:16  Make a roof for it and finish {[16] Or <Make an opening for light by
finishing>} the ark to within 18 inches {[16] Hebrew <a cubit> (about 0.5
meter)} of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle
and upper decks. 
6:17  I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under
the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on
earth will perish. 
6:18  But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the
ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 
6:19  You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and
female, to keep them alive with you. 
6:20  Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind
of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 
6:21  You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it
away as food for you and for them." 
6:22   Noah did everything just as God commanded him. 

7:1   The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole
family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 
7:2  Take with you seven {[2] Or <seven pairs>; also in verse 3} of every
kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean
animal, a male and its mate, 
7:3  and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their
various kinds alive throughout the earth. 
7:4  Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and
forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living
creature I have made." 
7:5   And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. 
7:6   Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.

7:7  And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark
to escape the waters of the flood. 
7:8  Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that
move along the ground, 
7:9  male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded
Noah. 
7:10  And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. 
7:11   In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of
the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth,
and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 
7:12  And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. 
7:13   On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together
with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 
7:14  They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all
livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the
ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,
everything with wings. 
7:15  Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to
Noah and entered the ark. 
7:16  The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as
God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in. 
7:17   For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters
increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 
7:18  The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark
floated on the surface of the water. 
7:19  They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the
entire heavens were covered. 
7:20  The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than
twenty feet. {[20] Hebrew <fifteen cubits> (about 6.9 meters)}  {[20] Or
<rose more than twenty feet, and the mountains were covered>} 
7:21  Every living thing that moved on the earth perished--birds, livestock,
wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 
7:22  Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils
died. 
7:23  Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and
animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the
air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the
ark. 
7:24   The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. 

8:1   But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock
that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the
waters receded. 
8:2  Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been
closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 
8:3  The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred
and fifty days the water had gone down, 
8:4  and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on
the mountains of Ararat. 
8:5  The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first
day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. 
8:6   After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 
8:7  and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water
had dried up from the earth. 
8:8  Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the
surface of the ground. 
8:9  But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was
water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark.
He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in
the ark. 
8:10  He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 
8:11  When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a
freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from
the earth. 
8:12  He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time
it did not return to him. 
8:13   By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first
year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering
from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 
8:14  By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely
dry. 
8:15   Then God said to Noah, 
8:16  "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

8:17  Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you--the birds,
the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground--so they can
multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it." 
8:18   So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons'
wives. 
8:19  All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and
all the birds--everything that moves on the earth--came out of the ark, one
kind after another. 
8:20   Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the
clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 
8:21  The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never
again will I curse the ground because of man, even though {[21] Or <man,
for>} every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again
will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 
8:22      "As long as the earth endures, 
          seedtime and harvest, 
          cold and heat, 
          summer and winter, 
          day and night 
          will never cease." 

9:1   Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and
increase in number and fill the earth. 
9:2  The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth
and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the
ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 
9:3  Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave
you the green plants, I now give you everything. 
9:4   "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 
9:5  And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will
demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will
demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 
9:6       "Whoever sheds the blood of man, 
          by man shall his blood be shed; 
          for in the image of God 
          has God made man. 
9:7  As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth
and increase upon it." 
9:8   Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 
9:9  "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after
you 
9:10  and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the
livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with
you--every living creature on earth. 
9:11  I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off
by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the
earth." 
9:12   And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between
me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all
generations to come: 
9:13  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the
covenant between me and the earth. 
9:14  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the
clouds, 
9:15  I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living
creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to
destroy all life. 
9:16  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember
the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind
on the earth." 
9:17   So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have
established between me and all life on the earth." 
9:18   The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.
(Ham was the father of Canaan.) 
9:19  These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who
were scattered over the earth. 
9:20   Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded {[20] Or <soil, was the first>} to
plant a vineyard. 
9:21  When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered
inside his tent. 
9:22  Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two
brothers outside. 
9:23  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their
shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's
nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see
their father's nakedness. 
9:24   When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had
done to him, 
9:25  he said, 
          "Cursed be Canaan! 
          The lowest of slaves 
          will he be to his brothers." 
9:26   He also said, 
          "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! 
          May Canaan be the slave of Shem. {[26] Or <be his slave>} 
9:27      May God extend the territory of Japheth {[27] <Japheth> sounds
like the Hebrew for <extend.>}; 
          may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, 
          and may Canaan be his {[27] Or <their>} slave." 
9:28   After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 
9:29  Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.  

10:1   This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, who
themselves had sons after the flood. 
10:2  The sons {[2] <Sons> may mean <descendants> or <successors> or
<nations>; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.} of Japheth: Gomer,
Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. 
10:3  The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. 
10:4  The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim. {[4]
Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also
Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text
<Dodanim>} 
10:5  (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by
their clans within their nations, each with its own language.) 
10:6  The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, {[6] That is, Egypt; also in verse 13}
Put and Canaan. 
10:7  The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons
of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.  
10:8   Cush was the father {[8] <Father> may mean <ancestor> or
<predecessor> or <founder>; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.} of Nimrod,
who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. 
10:9  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like
Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." 
10:10  The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and
Calneh, in {[10] Or <Erech and Akkad--all of them in>} Shinar. {[10] That
is, Babylonia} 
10:11  From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth
Ir, {[11] Or <Nineveh with its city squares>} Calah 
10:12  and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great
city.  
10:13  Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites,
Naphtuhites, 
10:14  Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and
Caphtorites. 
10:15  Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, {[15] Or <of the
Sidonians, the foremost>} and of the Hittites, 
10:16  Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 
10:17  Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 
10:18  Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.  Later the Canaanite clans
scattered 
10:19  and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as
Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 
10:20   These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their
territories and nations.  
10:21   Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was {[21] Or <Shem,
the older brother of>} Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of
Eber.  
10:22  The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. 
10:23  The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. {[23] See Septuagint
and 1 Chron. 1:17; Hebrew <Mash>} 
10:24  Arphaxad was the father of {[24] Hebrew; Septuagint <father of
Cainan, and Cainan was the father of>} Shelah, and Shelah the father of
Eber. 
10:25  Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, {[25] <Peleg> means
<division.>} because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was
named Joktan. 
10:26  Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 
10:27  Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 
10:28  Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 
10:29  Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.  
10:30  The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in
the eastern hill country. 
10:31   These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their
territories and nations.  
10:32   These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of
descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the
earth after the flood.  

11:1   Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 
11:2  As men moved eastward, {[2] Or <from the east>; or <in the east>} they
found a plain in Shinar {[2] That is, Babylonia} and settled there. 
11:3   They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them
thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 
11:4  Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower
that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and
not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." 
11:5   But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men
were building. 
11:6  The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have
begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 
11:7  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not
understand each other." 
11:8   So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they
stopped building the city. 
11:9  That is why it was called Babel {[9] That is, Babylon; <Babel> sounds
like the Hebrew for <confused>.}--because there the LORD confused the
language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the
face of the whole earth.  
11:10   This is the account of Shem.   Two years after the flood, when Shem
was 100 years old, he became the father {[10] <Father> may mean <ancestor>;
also in verses 11-25.} of Arphaxad. 
11:11  And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and
had other sons and daughters. 
11:12   When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 
11:13  And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years
and had other sons and daughters. {[12,13] Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke
3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) <35 years, he became the father of Cainan.
[13] And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and
had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130
years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of
Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters>} 
11:14   When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 
11:15  And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and
had other sons and daughters. 
11:16   When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 
11:17  And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had
other sons and daughters. 
11:18   When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 
11:19  And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had
other sons and daughters. 
11:20   When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 
11:21  And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had
other sons and daughters. 
11:22   When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 
11:23  And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and
had other sons and daughters. 
11:24   When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 
11:25  And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and
had other sons and daughters. 
11:26   After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor
and Haran.  
11:27   This is the account of Terah.   Terah became the father of Abram,
Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 
11:28  While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the
Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 
11:29  Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and
the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the
father of both Milcah and Iscah. 
11:30  Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. 
11:31   Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his
daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out
from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they
settled there. 
11:32   Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.  

12:1   The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your
father's household and go to the land I will show you. 
12:2      "I will make you into a great nation 
          and I will bless you; 
          I will make your name great, 
          and you will be a blessing. 
12:3      I will bless those who bless you, 
          and whoever curses you I will curse; 
          and all peoples on earth 
          will be blessed through you." 
12:4   So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram
was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 
12:5  He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had
accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for
the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 
12:6   Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree
of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 
12:7  The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring {[7] Or
<seed>} I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who
had appeared to him. 
12:8   From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his
tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to
the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 
12:9  Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. 
12:10   Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to
live there for a while because the famine was severe. 
12:11  As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know
what a beautiful woman you are. 
12:12  When the Egyptians see you, they will say, `This is his wife.' Then
they will kill me but will let you live. 
12:13  Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake
and my life will be spared because of you." 
12:14   When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very
beautiful woman. 
12:15  And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh,
and she was taken into his palace. 
12:16  He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and
cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. 
12:17   But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household
because of Abram's wife Sarai. 
12:18  So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why
didn't you tell me she was your wife? 
12:19  Why did you say, `She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my
wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 
12:20  Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on
his way, with his wife and everything he had. 

13:1   So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and
everything he had, and Lot went with him. 
13:2  Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 
13:3   From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel,
to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 
13:4  and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name
of the LORD. 
13:5   Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds
and tents. 
13:6  But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for
their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 
13:7  And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot.
The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. 
13:8   So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and
me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. 
13:9  Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the
left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left." 
13:10   Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well
watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar.
(This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 
13:11  So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out
toward the east. The two men parted company: 
13:12  Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities
of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 
13:13  Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the
LORD. 
13:14   The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your
eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 
13:15  All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring {[15]
Or <seed>; also in verse 16} forever. 
13:16  I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if
anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 
13:17  Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving
it to you." 
13:18   So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of
Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD. 

14:1   At this time Amraphel king of Shinar, {[1] That is, Babylonia; also
in verse 9} Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king
of Goiim 
14:2  went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah,
Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that
is, Zoar). 
14:3  All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (the Salt
Sea {[3] That is, the Dead Sea}). 
14:4  For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the
thirteenth year they rebelled. 
14:5   In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him
went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in
Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim 
14:6  and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near
the desert. 
14:7  Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and
they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the
Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar. 
14:8   Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the
king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up
their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim 
14:9  against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king
of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar--four kings against five. 
14:10  Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to
the hills. 
14:11  The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all
their food; then they went away. 
14:12  They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since
he was living in Sodom. 
14:13   One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now
Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother {[13]
Or <a relative>; or <an ally>} of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were allied
with Abram. 
14:14  When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called
out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as
Dan. 
14:15  During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed
them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 
14:16  He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his
possessions, together with the women and the other people. 
14:17   After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied
with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh
(that is, the King's Valley). 
14:18   Then Melchizedek king of Salem {[18] That is, Jerusalem} brought out
bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 
14:19  and he blessed Abram, saying, 
          "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, 
          Creator {[19] Or <Possessor>; also in verse 22} of heaven and
earth. 
14:20     And blessed be {[20] Or <And praise be to>} God Most High, 
          who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a
tenth of everything. 
14:21   The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the
goods for yourself." 
14:22   But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the
LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath 
14:23  that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the
thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, `I made Abram
rich.' 
14:24  I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that
belongs to the men who went with me--to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them
have their share." 

15:1   After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: 
          "Do not be afraid, Abram. 
          I am your shield, {[1] Or <sovereign>} 
          your very great reward. {[1] Or <shield;> 
           <your reward will be very great>}" 
15:2   But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I
remain childless and the one who will inherit {[2] The meaning of the Hebrew
for this phrase is uncertain.} my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 
15:3  And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my
household will be my heir." 
15:4   Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your
heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 
15:5  He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the
stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your
offspring be." 
15:6   Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 
15:7   He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the
Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." 
15:8   But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain
possession of it?" 
15:9   So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each
three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." 
15:10   Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the
halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 
15:11  Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them
away. 
15:12   As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick
and dreadful darkness came over him. 
15:13  Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants
will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and
mistreated four hundred years. 
15:14  But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they
will come out with great possessions. 
15:15  You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a
good old age. 
15:16  In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for
the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." 
15:17   When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with
a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 
15:18  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your
descendants I give this land, from the river {[18] Or <Wadi>} of Egypt to
the great river, the Euphrates-- 
15:19  the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 
15:20  Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 
15:21  Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." 

16:1   Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an
Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 
16:2  so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go,
sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."  Abram
agreed to what Sarai said. 
16:3  So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife
took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his
wife. 
16:4  He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.  When she knew she was
pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 
16:5  Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am
suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is
pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me." 
16:6   "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever
you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 
16:7   The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was
the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 
16:8  And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and
where are you going?"  "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she
answered. 
16:9   Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and
submit to her." 
16:10  The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will
be too numerous to count." 
16:11   The angel of the LORD also said to her: 
          "You are now with child 
          and you will have a son. 
          You shall name him Ishmael, {[11] <Ishmael> means <God hears.>} 
          for the LORD has heard of your misery. 
16:12     He will be a wild donkey of a man; 
          his hand will be against everyone 
          and everyone's hand against him, 
          and he will live in hostility 
          toward {[12] Or <live to the east 
           of>} all his brothers." 
16:13   She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God
who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen {[13] Or <seen the back of>}
the One who sees me." 
16:14  That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi {[14] <Beer Lahai Roi>
means <well of the Living One who sees me.>}; it is still there, between
Kadesh and Bered. 
16:15   So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the
son she had borne. 
16:16  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. 

17:1   When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and
said, "I am God Almighty {[1] Hebrew <El-Shaddai>}; walk before me and be
blameless. 
17:2  I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly
increase your numbers." 
17:3   Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 
17:4  "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of
many nations. 
17:5  No longer will you be called Abram {[5] <Abram> means <exalted
father.>}; your name will be Abraham, {[5] <Abraham> means <father of
many.>} for I have made you a father of many nations. 
17:6  I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings
will come from you. 
17:7  I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and
you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your
God and the God of your descendants after you. 
17:8  The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as
an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will
be their God." 
17:9   Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you
and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 
17:10  This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the
covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 
17:11  You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the
covenant between me and you. 
17:12  For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days
old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought
with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring. 
17:13  Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must
be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 
17:14  Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh,
will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." 
17:15   God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer
to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 
17:16  I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless
her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come
from her." 
17:17   Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son
be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of
ninety?" 
17:18  And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your
blessing!" 
17:19   Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and
you will call him Isaac. {[19] <Isaac> means <he laughs.>} I will establish
my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after
him. 
17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will
make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the
father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 
17:21  But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to
you by this time next year." 
17:22  When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. 
17:23   On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in
his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and
circumcised them, as God told him. 
17:24  Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 
17:25  and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 
17:26  Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. 
17:27  And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his
household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him. 

18:1   The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he
was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 
18:2  Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them,
he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the
ground. 
18:3   He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, {[3] Or <O
Lord>} do not pass your servant by. 
18:4  Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and
rest under this tree. 
18:5  Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go
on your way--now that you have come to your servant."  "Very well," they
answered, "do as you say." 
18:6   So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get
three seahs {[6] That is, probably about 20 quarts (about 22 liters)} of
fine flour and knead it and bake some bread." 
18:7   Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave
it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 
18:8  He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been
prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them
under a tree. 
18:9   "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him.  "There, in the tent," he
said. 
18:10   Then the LORD {[10] Hebrew <Then he>} said, "I will surely return to
you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."  Now
Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 
18:11  Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and
Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 
18:12  So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and
my master {[12] Or <husband>} is old, will I now have this pleasure?" 
18:13   Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I
really have a child, now that I am old?' 
18:14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the
appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." 
18:15   Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh."  But he
said, "Yes, you did laugh." 
18:16   When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and
Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 
18:17  Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

18:18  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all
nations on earth will be blessed through him. 
18:19  For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and
just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised
him." 
18:20   Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so
great and their sin so grievous 
18:21  that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the
outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." 
18:22   The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained
standing before the LORD. {[22] Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal
tradition <but the LORD remained standing before Abraham>} 
18:23  Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the
righteous with the wicked? 
18:24  What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really
sweep it away and not spare {[24] Or <forgive>; also in verse 26} the place
for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 
18:25  Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the
wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you!
Will not the Judge {[25] Or <Ruler>} of all the earth do right?" 
18:26   The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of
Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake." 
18:27   Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to
speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 
18:28  what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you
destroy the whole city because of five people?"  "If I find forty-five
there," he said, "I will not destroy it." 
18:29   Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?" 
He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it." 
18:30   Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if
only thirty can be found there?"  He answered, "I will not do it if I find
thirty there." 
18:31   Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord,
what if only twenty can be found there?"  He said, "For the sake of twenty,
I will not destroy it." 
18:32   Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once
more. What if only ten can be found there?"  He answered, "For the sake of
ten, I will not destroy it." 
18:33   When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and
Abraham returned home. 

19:1   The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting
in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and
bowed down with his face to the ground. 
19:2  "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You
can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the
morning."  "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square." 
19:3   But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his
house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they
ate. 
19:4  Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city
of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. 
19:5  They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring
them out to us so that we can have sex with them." 
19:6   Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 
19:7  and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. 
19:8  Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me
bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do
anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." 
19:9   "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came
here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse
than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break
down the door. 
19:10   But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house
and shut the door. 
19:11  Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and
old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. 
19:12   The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here--sons-in-law,
sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them
out of here, 
19:13  because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD
against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it." 
19:14   So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to
marry {[14] Or <were married to>} his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out
of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!" But his
sons-in-law thought he was joking. 
19:15   With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take
your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away
when the city is punished." 
19:16   When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his
wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the
LORD was merciful to them. 
19:17  As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for
your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to
the mountains or you will be swept away!" 
19:18   But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, {[18] Or <No, Lord>; or <No, my
lord>} please! 
19:19  Your {[19] The Hebrew is singular.} servant has found favor in your
{[19] The Hebrew is singular.} eyes, and you {[19] The Hebrew is singular.}
have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the
mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die. 
19:20  Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me
flee to it--it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared." 
19:21   He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will
not overthrow the town you speak of. 
19:22  But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach
it." (That is why the town was called Zoar. {[22] <Zoar> means <small.>}) 
19:23   By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 
19:24  Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from
the LORD out of the heavens. 
19:25  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all
those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land. 
19:26  But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 
19:27   Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place
where he had stood before the LORD. 
19:28  He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the
plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a
furnace. 
19:29   So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered
Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities
where Lot had lived. 
19:30   Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains,
for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.

19:31  One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old,
and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over
the earth. 
19:32  Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve
our family line through our father." 
19:33   That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older
daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down
or when she got up. 
19:34   The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I
lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in
and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." 
19:35  So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the
younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when
she lay down or when she got up. 
19:36   So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. 
19:37  The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab {[37] <Moab>
sounds like the Hebrew for <from father.>}; he is the father of the Moabites
of today. 
19:38  The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi {[38]
<Ben-Ammi> means <son of my people.>}; he is the father of the Ammonites of
today. 

20:1   Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and
lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 
20:2  and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then
Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. 
20:3   But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You
are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married
woman." 
20:4   Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you
destroy an innocent nation? 
20:5  Did he not say to me, `She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, `He
is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands." 
20:6   Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a
clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is
why I did not let you touch her. 
20:7  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, you may be sure that
you and all yours will die." 
20:8   Early the next morning Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when
he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 
20:9  Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us?
How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my
kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done." 
20:10  And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?" 
20:11   Abraham replied, "I said to myself, `There is surely no fear of God
in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' 
20:12  Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though
not of my mother; and she became my wife. 
20:13  And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her,
`This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He
is my brother."'" 
20:14   Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves
and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 
20:15  And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like." 
20:16   To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels {[16]
That is, about 25 pounds (about 11.5 kilograms)} of silver. This is to cover
the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely
vindicated." 
20:17   Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and
his slave girls so they could have children again, 
20:18  for the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household
because of Abraham's wife Sarah. 

21:1   Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did
for Sarah what he had promised. 
21:2  Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the
very time God had promised him. 
21:3  Abraham gave the name Isaac {[3] <Isaac> means <he laughs.>} to the
son Sarah bore him. 
21:4  When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God
commanded him. 
21:5  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 
21:6   Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears
about this will laugh with me." 
21:7  And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse
children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." 
21:8   The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned
Abraham held a great feast. 
21:9  But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to
Abraham was mocking, 
21:10  and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son,
for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son
Isaac." 
21:11   The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 
21:12  But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your
maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac
that your offspring {[12] Or <seed>} will be reckoned. 
21:13  I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he
is your offspring." 
21:14   Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water
and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off
with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. 
21:15   When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of
the bushes. 
21:16  Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she
thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there nearby, she
{[16] Hebrew; Septuagint <the child>} began to sob. 
21:17   God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from
heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God
has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 
21:18  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a
great nation." 
21:19   Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went
and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 
21:20   God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and
became an archer. 
21:21  While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for
him from Egypt. 
21:22   At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said
to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do. 
21:23  Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with
me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you
are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you." 
21:24   Abraham said, "I swear it." 
21:25   Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that
Abimelech's servants had seized. 
21:26  But Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this. You did not tell
me, and I heard about it only today." 
21:27   So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and
the two men made a treaty. 
21:28  Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 
21:29  and Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe
lambs you have set apart by themselves?" 
21:30   He replied, "Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that
I dug this well." 
21:31   So that place was called Beersheba, {[31] <Beersheba> can mean <well
of seven> or <well of the oath.>} because the two men swore an oath there. 
21:32   After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol
the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 
21:33  Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called
upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. 
21:34  And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. 

22:1   Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"  "Here
I am," he replied. 
22:2   Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on
one of the mountains I will tell you about." 
22:3   Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took
with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood
for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 
22:4  On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 
22:5  He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the
boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." 
22:6   Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son
Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them
went on together, 
22:7  Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"  "Yes, my
son?" Abraham replied.  "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where
is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 
22:8   Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt
offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. 
22:9   When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an
altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him
on the altar, on top of the wood. 
22:10  Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 
22:11  But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham!
Abraham!"  "Here I am," he replied. 
22:12   "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him.
Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your
son, your only son." 
22:13   Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram {[13] Many
manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and
Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text <a ram behind [him]>} caught
by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt
offering instead of his son. 
22:14  So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day
it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." 
22:15   The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 
22:16  and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you
have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 
22:17  I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the
stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take
possession of the cities of their enemies, 
22:18  and through your offspring {[18] Or <seed>} all nations on earth will
be blessed, because you have obeyed me." 
22:19   Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for
Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. 
22:20   Some time later Abraham was told, "Milcah is also a mother; she has
borne sons to your brother Nahor: 
22:21  Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 
22:22  Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel." 
22:23  Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to
Abraham's brother Nahor. 
22:24  His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham,
Tahash and Maacah. 

23:1   Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 
23:2  She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and
Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. 
23:3   Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the
Hittites. {[3] Or <the sons of Heth>; also in verses 5, 7, 10, 16, 18 and
20} He said, 
23:4  "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a
burial site here so I can bury my dead." 
23:5   The Hittites replied to Abraham, 
23:6  "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead
in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for
burying your dead." 
23:7   Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the
Hittites. 
23:8  He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then
listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 
23:9  so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is
at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a
burial site among you." 
23:10   Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to
Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his
city. 
23:11  "No, my lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give {[11] Or <sell>} you
the field, and I give {[11] Or <sell>} you the cave that is in it. I give
{[11] Or <sell>} it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead." 
23:12   Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land 
23:13  and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I
will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead
there." 
23:14   Ephron answered Abraham, 
23:15  "Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels {[15]
That is, about 10 pounds (about 4.5 kilograms)} of silver, but what is that
between me and you? Bury your dead." 
23:16   Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price
he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver,
according to the weight current among the merchants. 
23:17   So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre--both the field and the
cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field--was deeded 
23:18  to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who
had come to the gate of the city. 
23:19  Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of
Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 
23:20  So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the
Hittites as a burial site. 

24:1   Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had
blessed him in every way. 
24:2  He said to the chief {[2] Or <oldest>} servant in his household, the
one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. 
24:3  I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of
earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the
Canaanites, among whom I am living, 
24:4  but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my
son Isaac." 
24:5   The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back
with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you
came from?" 
24:6   "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. 
24:7  "The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's
household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath,
saying, `To your offspring {[7] Or <seed>} I will give this land'--he will
send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 
24:8  If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be
released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there." 
24:9  So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and
swore an oath to him concerning this matter. 
24:10   Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking
with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram
Naharaim {[10] That is, Northwest Mesopotamia} and made his way to the town
of Nahor. 
24:11  He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was
toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 
24:12   Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success
today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 
24:13  See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the
townspeople are coming out to draw water. 
24:14  May it be that when I say to a girl, `Please let down your jar that I
may have a drink,' and she says, `Drink, and I'll water your camels
too'--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I
will know that you have shown kindness to my master." 
24:15   Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her
shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of
Abraham's brother Nahor. 
24:16  The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her.
She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. 
24:17   The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little
water from your jar." 
24:18   "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands
and gave him a drink. 
24:19   After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your
camels too, until they have finished drinking." 
24:20  So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well
to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 
24:21  Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether
or not the LORD had made his journey successful. 
24:22   When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose
ring weighing a beka {[22] That is, about 1/5 ounce (about 5.5 grams)} and
two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. {[22] That is, about 4 ounces
(about 110 grams)} 
24:23  Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room
in your father's house for us to spend the night?" 
24:24   She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah
bore to Nahor." 
24:25  And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room
for you to spend the night." 
24:26   Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, 
24:27  saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has
not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the
LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives." 
24:28   The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things. 
24:29  Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man
at the spring. 
24:30  As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his
sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went
out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. 
24:31  "Come, you who are blessed by the LORD," he said. "Why are you
standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels." 
24:32   So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw
and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to
wash their feet. 
24:33  Then food was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I
have told you what I have to say."  "Then tell us," [Laban] said. 
24:34   So he said, "I am Abraham's servant. 
24:35  The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy.
He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and
maidservants, and camels and donkeys. 
24:36  My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her {[36] Or <his>} old
age, and he has given him everything he owns. 
24:37  And my master made me swear an oath, and said, `You must not get a
wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 
24:38  but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for
my son.' 
24:39   "Then I asked my master, `What if the woman will not come back with
me?' 
24:40   "He replied, `The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his
angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife
for my son from my own clan and from my father's family. 
24:41  Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even
if they refuse to give her to you--you will be released from my oath.' 
24:42   "When I came to the spring today, I said, `O LORD, God of my master
Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have
come. 
24:43  See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw
water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar," 
24:44  and if she says to me, "Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels
too," let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master's son.' 
24:45   "Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her
jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said
to her, `Please give me a drink.' 
24:46   "She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, `Drink, and
I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also. 
24:47   "I asked her, `Whose daughter are you?'  "She said, `The daughter of
Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.'  "Then I put the ring in her
nose and the bracelets on her arms, 
24:48  and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God
of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the
granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. 
24:49  Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me;
and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn." 
24:50   Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the LORD; we can say
nothing to you one way or the other. 
24:51  Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your
master's son, as the LORD has directed." 
24:52   When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the
ground before the LORD. 
24:53  Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of
clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother
and to her mother. 
24:54  Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the
night there.  When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way
to my master." 
24:55   But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us
ten days or so; then you {[55] Or <she>} may go." 
24:56   But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has
granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master." 
24:57   Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it." 
24:58  So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" 
"I will go," she said. 
24:59   So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse
and Abraham's servant and his men. 
24:60  And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, 
          "Our sister, may you increase 
          to thousands upon thousands; 
          may your offspring possess 
          the gates of their enemies." 
24:61   Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and
went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. 
24:62   Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the
Negev. 
24:63  He went out to the field one evening to meditate, {[63] The meaning
of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.} and as he looked up, he saw
camels approaching. 
24:64  Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 
24:65  and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet
us?"  "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and
covered herself. 
24:66   Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 
24:67  Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married
Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted
after his mother's death. 

25:1   Abraham took {[1] Or <had taken>} another wife, whose name was
Keturah. 
25:2  She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 
25:3  Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan
were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 
25:4  The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All
these were descendants of Keturah. 
25:5   Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 
25:6  But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his
concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. 
25:7   Altogether, Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 
25:8  Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man
and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 
25:9  His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near
Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 
25:10  the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. {[10] Or <the sons of
Heth>} There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 
25:11  After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near
Beer Lahai Roi.  
25:12   This is the account of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's
maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.  
25:13   These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of
their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 
25:14  Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 
25:15  Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 
25:16  These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve
tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. 
25:17  Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He
breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 
25:18  His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the
border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward
{[18] Or <lived to the east of>} all their brothers.  
25:19   This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac.   Abraham became the
father of Isaac, 
25:20  and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of
Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram {[20] That is, Northwest Mesopotamia}
and sister of Laban the Aramean. 
25:21   Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was
barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 
25:22  The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this
happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. 
25:23   The LORD said to her, 
          "Two nations are in your womb, 
          and two peoples from within you will be separated; 
          one people will be stronger than the other, 
          and the older will serve the younger." 
25:24   When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in
her womb. 
25:25  The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy
garment; so they named him Esau. {[25] <Esau> may mean <hairy>; he was also
called Edom, which means <red.>} 
25:26  After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel;
so he was named Jacob. {[26] <Jacob> means <he grasps the heel>
(figuratively, <he deceives>).} Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave
birth to them. 
25:27   The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the
open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 
25:28  Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved
Jacob. 
25:29   Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open
country, famished. 
25:30  He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm
famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom. {[30] <Edom> means <red.>})

25:31   Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." 
25:32   "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright
to me?" 
25:33   But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him,
selling his birthright to Jacob. 
25:34   Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and
drank, and then got up and left.  So Esau despised his birthright. 

26:1   Now there was a famine in the land--besides the earlier famine of
Abraham's time--and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in
Gerar. 
26:2  The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in
the land where I tell you to live. 
26:3  Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless
you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will
confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 
26:4  I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and
will give them all these lands, and through your offspring {[4] Or <seed>}
all nations on earth will be blessed, 
26:5  because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my
decrees and my laws." 
26:6  So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 
26:7   When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is
my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The
men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is
beautiful." 
26:8   When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the
Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife
Rebekah. 
26:9  So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why
did you say, `She is my sister'?"  Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I
might lose my life on account of her." 
26:10   Then Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the
men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt
upon us." 
26:11   So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who molests this
man or his wife shall surely be put to death." 
26:12   Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a
hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. 
26:13  The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became
very wealthy. 
26:14  He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines
envied him. 
26:15  So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of
his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. 
26:16   Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Move away from us; you have become
too powerful for us." 
26:17   So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar
and settled there. 
26:18  Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father
Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he
gave them the same names his father had given them. 
26:19   Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh
water there. 
26:20  But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said,
"The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, {[20] <Esek> means
<dispute.>} because they disputed with him. 
26:21  Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so
he named it Sitnah. {[21] <Sitnah> means <opposition.>} 
26:22  He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled
over it. He named it Rehoboth, {[22] <Rehoboth> means <room.>} saying, "Now
the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land." 
26:23   From there he went up to Beersheba. 
26:24  That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your
father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and
will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant
Abraham." 
26:25   Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There
he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well. 
26:26   Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his
personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 
26:27  Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to
me and sent me away?" 
26:28   They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we
said, `There ought to be a sworn agreement between us'--between us and you.
Let us make a treaty with you 
26:29  that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always
treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the
LORD." 
26:30   Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 
26:31  Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then
Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. 
26:32   That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had
dug. They said, "We've found water!" 
26:33  He called it Shibah, {[33] <Shibah> can mean <oath> or <seven.>} and
to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba. {[33] <Beersheba> can
mean <well of the oath> or <well of seven.>} 
26:34   When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri
the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 
26:35  They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. 

27:1   When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer
see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son."  "Here I
am," he answered. 
27:2   Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. 
27:3  Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the
open country to hunt some wild game for me. 
27:4  Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so
that I may give you my blessing before I die." 
27:5   Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau
left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 
27:6  Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to
your brother Esau, 
27:7  `Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I
may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' 
27:8  Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 
27:9  Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can
prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 
27:10  Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his
blessing before he dies." 
27:11   Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy
man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. 
27:12  What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and
would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing." 
27:13   His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do
what I say; go and get them for me." 
27:14   So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she
prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 
27:15  Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she
had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 
27:16  She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the
goatskins. 
27:17  Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had
made. 
27:18   He went to his father and said, "My father."  "Yes, my son," he
answered. "Who is it?" 
27:19   Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as
you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me
your blessing." 
27:20   Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"  "The
LORD your God gave me success," he replied. 
27:21   Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to
know whether you really are my son Esau or not." 
27:22   Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The
voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 
27:23  He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his
brother Esau; so he blessed him. 
27:24  "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.  "I am," he replied. 
27:25   Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I
may give you my blessing."  Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he
brought some wine and he drank. 
27:26  Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me." 
27:27   So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his
clothes, he blessed him and said, 
          "Ah, the smell of my son 
          is like the smell of a field 
          that the LORD has blessed. 
27:28     May God give you of heaven's dew 
          and of earth's richness-- 
          an abundance of grain and new wine. 
27:29     May nations serve you 
          and peoples bow down to you. 
          Be lord over your brothers, 
          and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. 
          May those who curse you be cursed 
          and those who bless you be blessed." 
27:30   After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his
father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 
27:31  He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he
said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may
give me your blessing." 
27:32   His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?"  "I am your son," he
answered, "your firstborn, Esau." 
27:33   Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted
game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed
him--and indeed he will be blessed!" 
27:34   When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and
bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me--me too, my father!" 
27:35   But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

27:36   Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob {[36] <Jacob> means <he
grasps the heel> (figuratively, <he deceives>).}? He has deceived me these
two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he
asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?" 
27:37   Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made
all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new
wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?" 
27:38   Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father?
Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud. 
27:39   His father Isaac answered him, 
          "Your dwelling will be 
          away from the earth's richness, 
          away from the dew of heaven above. 
27:40     You will live by the sword 
          and you will serve your brother. 
          But when you grow restless, 
          you will throw his yoke 
          from off your neck." 
27:41   Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father
had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are
near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." 
27:42   When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for
her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling
himself with the thought of killing you. 
27:43  Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in
Haran. 
27:44  Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. 
27:45  When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you
did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I
lose both of you in one day?" 
27:46   Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with living because of
these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this
land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living." 

28:1   So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed {[1] Or <greeted>} him and
commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 
28:2  Go at once to Paddan Aram, {[2] That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also
in verses 5, 6 and 7} to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a
wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's
brother. 
28:3  May God Almighty {[3] Hebrew <El-Shaddai>} bless you and make you
fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 
28:4  May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so
that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the
land God gave to Abraham." 
28:5  Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban
son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of
Jacob and Esau. 
28:6   Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to
Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he
commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman," 
28:7  and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan
Aram. 
28:8  Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his
father Isaac; 
28:9  so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and
daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

28:10   Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 
28:11  When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the
sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and
lay down to sleep. 
28:12  He had a dream in which he saw a stairway {[12] Or <ladder>} resting
on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were
ascending and descending on it. 
28:13  There above it {[13] Or <There beside him>} stood the LORD, and he
said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I
will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 
28:14  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will
spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All
peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 
28:15  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will
bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I
have promised you." 
28:16   When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in
this place, and I was not aware of it." 
28:17  He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none
other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven." 
28:18   Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his
head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 
28:19  He called that place Bethel, {[19] <Bethel> means <house of God.>}
though the city used to be called Luz. 
28:20   Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will
watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and
clothes to wear 
28:21  so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD {[20,21]
Or <Since God... father's house, the LORD>} will be my God 
28:22  and {[21,22] Or <house, and the LORD will be my God,> [22] <then>}
this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all
that you give me I will give you a tenth." 

29:1   Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the
eastern peoples. 
29:2  There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying
near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the
mouth of the well was large. 
29:3  When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the
stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return
the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. 
29:4   Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?"  "We're
from Haran," they replied. 
29:5   He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?"  "Yes, we
know him," they answered. 
29:6   Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?"  "Yes, he is," they said, "and
here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep." 
29:7   "Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the
flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture." 
29:8   "We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the
stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water
the sheep." 
29:9   While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's
sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 
29:10  When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and
Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the
well and watered his uncle's sheep. 
29:11  Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 
29:12  He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of
Rebekah. So she ran and told her father. 
29:13   As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he
hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his
home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 
29:14  Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood."  After
Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, 
29:15  Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should
you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be." 
29:16   Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the
name of the younger was Rachel. 
29:17  Leah had weak {[17] Or <delicate>} eyes, but Rachel was lovely in
form, and beautiful. 
29:18  Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven
years in return for your younger daughter Rachel." 
29:19   Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other
man. Stay here with me." 
29:20  So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only
a few days to him because of his love for her. 
29:21   Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed,
and I want to lie with her." 
29:22   So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a
feast. 
29:23  But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to
Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 
29:24  And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her
maidservant. 
29:25   When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is
this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you
deceived me?" 
29:26   Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger
daughter in marriage before the older one. 
29:27  Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger
one also, in return for another seven years of work." 
29:28   And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban
gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 
29:29  Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her
maidservant. 
29:30  Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And
he worked for Laban another seven years. 
29:31   When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but
Rachel was barren. 
29:32  Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben,
{[32] <Reuben> sounds like the Hebrew for <he has seen my misery>; the name
means <see, a son>.} for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my
misery. Surely my husband will love me now." 
29:33   She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said,
"Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So
she named him Simeon. {[33] <Simeon> probably means <one who hears.>} 
29:34   Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now
at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him
three sons." So he was named Levi. {[34] <Levi> sounds like and may be
derived from the Hebrew for <attached.>} 
29:35   She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said,
"This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. {[35] <Judah>
sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for <praise.>} Then she
stopped having children. 

30:1   When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she
became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or
I'll die!" 
30:2   Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who
has kept you from having children?" 
30:3   Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so
that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a
family." 
30:4   So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 
30:5  and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 
30:6  Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea
and given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan. {[6] <Dan> here
means <he has vindicated.>} 
30:7   Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 
30:8  Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I
have won." So she named him Naphtali. {[8] <Naphtali> means <my struggle.>} 
30:9   When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her
maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 
30:10  Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 
30:11  Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" {[11] Or <"A troop is coming!">}
So she named him Gad. {[11] <Gad> can mean <good fortune> or <a troop.>} 
30:12   Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 
30:13  Then Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So
she named him Asher. {[13] <Asher> means <happy.>} 
30:14   During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some
mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah,
"Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." 
30:15   But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my
husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?"  "Very well," Rachel said,
"he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." 
30:16   So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to
meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my
son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night. 
30:17   God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth
son. 
30:18  Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my
husband." So she named him Issachar. {[18] <Issachar> sounds like the Hebrew
for <reward.>} 
30:19   Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 
30:20  Then Leah said, "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time
my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons." So
she named him Zebulun. {[20] <Zebulun> probably means <honor.>} 
30:21   Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. 
30:22   Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. 
30:23  She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken
away my disgrace." 
30:24  She named him Joseph, {[24] <Joseph> means <may he add.>} and said,
"May the LORD add to me another son." 
30:25   After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on
my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 
30:26  Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will
be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you." 
30:27   But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please
stay. I have learned by divination that {[27] Or possibly <have become rich
and>} the LORD has blessed me because of you." 
30:28  He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them." 
30:29   Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your
livestock has fared under my care. 
30:30  The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD
has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for
my own household?" 
30:31   "What shall I give you?" he asked.  "Don't give me anything," Jacob
replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending
your flocks and watching over them: 
30:32  Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every
speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or
speckled goat. They will be my wages. 
30:33  And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check
on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not
speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be
considered stolen." 
30:34   "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." 
30:35  That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or
spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on
them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his
sons. 
30:36  Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while
Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks. 
30:37   Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and
plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing
the white inner wood of the branches. 
30:38  Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so
that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink.
When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 
30:39  they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were
streaked or speckled or spotted. 
30:40  Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the
rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus
he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's
animals. 
30:41  Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the
branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the
branches, 
30:42  but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the
weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 
30:43  In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large
flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys. 

31:1   Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken
everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what
belonged to our father." 
31:2  And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had
been. 
31:3   Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and
to your relatives, and I will be with you." 
31:4   So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where
his flocks were. 
31:5  He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not
what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 
31:6  You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, 
31:7  yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times.
However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 
31:8  If he said, `The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the
flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, `The streaked ones will
be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. 
31:9  So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to
me. 
31:10   "In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw
that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or
spotted. 
31:11  The angel of God said to me in the dream, `Jacob.' I answered, `Here
I am.' 
31:12  And he said, `Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the
flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has
been doing to you. 
31:13  I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you
made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native
land.'" 
31:14   Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the
inheritance of our father's estate? 
31:15  Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he
has used up what was paid for us. 
31:16  Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to
us and our children. So do whatever God has told you." 
31:17   Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 
31:18  and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods
he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, {[18] That is, Northwest Mesopotamia} to
go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 
31:19   When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's
household gods. 
31:20  Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was
running away. 
31:21  So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, {[21] That is,
the Euphrates} he headed for the hill country of Gilead. 
31:22   On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 
31:23  Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and
caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 
31:24  Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to
him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad." 
31:25   Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban
overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 
31:26  Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You've deceived me,
and you've carried off my daughters like captives in war. 
31:27  Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me,
so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines
and harps? 
31:28  You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters
good-by. You have done a foolish thing. 
31:29  I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father
said to me, `Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.' 
31:30  Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father's
house. But why did you steal my gods?" 
31:31   Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you would
take your daughters away from me by force. 
31:32  But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the
presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of
yours here with me; and if so, take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel
had stolen the gods. 
31:33   So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the
tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of
Leah's tent, he entered Rachel's tent. 
31:34  Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her
camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in
the tent but found nothing. 
31:35   Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot
stand up in your presence; I'm having my period." So he searched but could
not find the household gods. 
31:36   Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. "What is my crime?" he asked
Laban. "What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? 
31:37  Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found
that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and
mine, and let them judge between the two of us. 
31:38   "I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats
have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 
31:39  I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss
myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or
night. 
31:40  This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the
cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 
31:41  It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I
worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your
flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 
31:42  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac,
had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But
God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked
you." 
31:43   Laban answered Jacob, "The women are my daughters, the children are
my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can
I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have
borne? 
31:44  Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a
witness between us." 
31:45   So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 
31:46  He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones
and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 
31:47  Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, {[47] The Aramaic <Jegar Sahadutha>
means <witness heap.>} and Jacob called it Galeed. {[47] The Hebrew <Galeed>
means <witness heap.>} 
31:48   Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That
is why it was called Galeed. 
31:49  It was also called Mizpah, {[49] <Mizpah> means <watchtower.>}
because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are
away from each other. 
31:50  If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my
daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness
between you and me." 
31:51   Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this
pillar I have set up between you and me. 
31:52  This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not
go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past
this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. 
31:53  May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father,
judge between us."  So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his
father Isaac. 
31:54  He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his
relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. 
31:55   Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his
daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home. 

32:1   Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 
32:2  When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named
that place Mahanaim. {[2] <Mahanaim> means <two camps.>} 
32:3   Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of
Seir, the country of Edom. 
32:4  He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my master Esau:
`Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained
there till now. 
32:5  I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and
maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find
favor in your eyes.'" 
32:6   When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your
brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are
with him." 
32:7   In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him
into two groups, {[7] Or <camps>; also in verse 10} and the flocks and herds
and camels as well. 
32:8  He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, {[8] Or <camp>} the
group {[8] Or <camp>} that is left may escape." 
32:9   Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father
Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, `Go back to your country and your relatives,
and I will make you prosper,' 
32:10  I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown
your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have
become two groups. 
32:11  Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he
will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 
32:12  But you have said, `I will surely make you prosper and will make your
descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'" 
32:13   He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected
a gift for his brother Esau: 
32:14  two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and
twenty rams, 
32:15  thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and
twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 
32:16  He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and
said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the
herds." 
32:17   He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you
and asks, `To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all
these animals in front of you?' 
32:18  then you are to say, `They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a
gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'" 
32:19   He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who
followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet
him. 
32:20  And be sure to say, `Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" For he
thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later,
when I see him, perhaps he will receive me." 
32:21  So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night
in the camp. 
32:22   That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants
and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 
32:23  After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his
possessions. 
32:24  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 
32:25  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the
socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the
man. 
32:26  Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."  But Jacob
replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 
32:27   The man asked him, "What is your name?"  "Jacob," he answered. 
32:28   Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,
{[28] <Israel> means <he struggles with God.>} because you have struggled
with God and with men and have overcome." 
32:29   Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."  But he replied, "Why do you
ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. 
32:30   So Jacob called the place Peniel, {[30] <Peniel> means <face of
God.>} saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was
spared." 
32:31   The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, {[31] Hebrew <Penuel>, a
variant of <Peniel>} and he was limping because of his hip. 
32:32  Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached
to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near
the tendon. 

33:1   Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men;
so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. 
33:2  He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her
children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 
33:3  He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as
he approached his brother. 
33:4   But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around
his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 
33:5  Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. "Who are these
with you?" he asked.  Jacob answered, "They are the children God has
graciously given your servant." 
33:6   Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. 
33:7  Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came
Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down. 
33:8   Esau asked, "What do you mean by all these droves I met?"  "To find
favor in your eyes, my lord," he said. 
33:9   But Esau said, "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have
for yourself." 
33:10   "No, please!" said Jacob. "If I have found favor in your eyes,
accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of
God, now that you have received me favorably. 
33:11  Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been
gracious to me and I have all I need." And because Jacob insisted, Esau
accepted it. 
33:12   Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you." 
33:13   But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender
and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If
they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 
33:14  So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly
at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come
to my lord in Seir." 
33:15   Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you."  "But why do
that?" Jacob asked. "Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord." 
33:16   So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 
33:17  Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself
and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called
Succoth. {[17] <Succoth> means <shelters.>} 
33:18   After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, {[18] That is, Northwest
Mesopotamia} he arrived safely at the {[18] Or <arrived at Shalem, a>} city
of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 
33:19  For a hundred pieces of silver, {[19] Hebrew <hundred kesitahs>; a
kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.} he bought from the
sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched
his tent. 
33:20  There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel. {[20] <El
Elohe Israel> can mean <God, the God of Israel> or <mighty is the God of
Israel.>} 

34:1   Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit
the women of the land. 
34:2  When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her,
he took her and violated her. 
34:3  His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl
and spoke tenderly to her. 
34:4  And Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this girl as my wife." 
34:5   When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons
were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they
came home. 
34:6   Then Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 
34:7  Now Jacob's sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard
what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had
done a disgraceful thing in {[7] Or <against>} Israel by lying with Jacob's
daughter--a thing that should not be done. 
34:8   But Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem has his heart set on your
daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 
34:9  Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for
yourselves. 
34:10  You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade
{[10] Or <move about freely>; also in verse 21} in it, and acquire property
in it." 
34:11   Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Let me find favor
in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. 
34:12  Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as
you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my
wife." 
34:13   Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied
deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. 
34:14  They said to them, "We can't do such a thing; we can't give our
sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 
34:15  We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you
become like us by circumcising all your males. 
34:16  Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for
ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you. 
34:17  But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister
{[17] Hebrew <daughter>} and go." 
34:18   Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 
34:19  The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's
household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted
with Jacob's daughter. 
34:20  So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak
to their fellow townsmen. 
34:21  "These men are friendly toward us," they said. "Let them live in our
land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry
their daughters and they can marry ours. 
34:22  But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the
condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 
34:23  Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals
become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among
us." 
34:24   All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his
son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised. 
34:25   Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of
Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and
attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 
34:26  They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from
Shechem's house and left. 
34:27  The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where
{[27] Or <because>} their sister had been defiled. 
34:28  They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of
theirs in the city and out in the fields. 
34:29  They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children,
taking as plunder everything in the houses. 
34:30   Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me
by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in
this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and
attack me, I and my household will be destroyed." 
34:31   But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a
prostitute?" 

35:1   Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build
an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your
brother Esau." 
35:2   So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid
of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your
clothes. 
35:3  Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God,
who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever
I have gone." 
35:4  So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in
their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 
35:5  Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all
around them so that no one pursued them. 
35:6   Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in
the land of Canaan. 
35:7  There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, {[7] <El
Bethel> means <God of Bethel.>} because it was there that God revealed
himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 
35:8   Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below
Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth. {[8] <Allon Bacuth> means <oak of
weeping.>} 
35:9   After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, {[9] That is, Northwest
Mesopotamia; also in verse 26} God appeared to him again and blessed him. 
35:10  God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, {[10] <Jacob> means <he grasps
the heel> (figuratively, <he deceives>).} but you will no longer be called
Jacob; your name will be Israel. {[10] <Israel> means <he struggles with
God.>}" So he named him Israel. 
35:11   And God said to him, "I am God Almighty {[11] Hebrew <El-Shaddai>};
be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will
come from you, and kings will come from your body. 
35:12  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will
give this land to your descendants after you." 
35:13  Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. 
35:14   Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with
him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 
35:15  Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel. {[15]
<Bethel> means <house of God.>} 
35:16   Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance
from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 
35:17  And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife
said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have another son." 
35:18  As she breathed her last--for she was dying--she named her son
Ben-Oni. {[18] <Ben-Oni> means <son of my trouble.>} But his father named
him Benjamin. {[18] <Benjamin> means <son of my right hand.>} 
35:19   So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is,
Bethlehem). 
35:20  Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar
marks Rachel's tomb. 
35:21   Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 
35:22  While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with
his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.  Jacob had twelve
sons: 
35:23  The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar and Zebulun. 
35:24  The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 
35:25  The sons of Rachel's maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. 
35:26  The sons of Leah's maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the
sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.  
35:27   Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba
(that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 
35:28  Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. 
35:29  Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people,
old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.  

36:1   This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).  
36:2   Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon
the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the
Hivite-- 
36:3  also Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. 
36:4   Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, 
36:5  and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were the sons of
Esau, who were born to him in Canaan. 
36:6   Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his
household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the
goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his
brother Jacob. 
36:7  Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land
where they were staying could not support them both because of their
livestock. 
36:8  So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.  
36:9   This is the account of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill
country of Seir.  
36:10  These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esau's wife
Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau's wife Basemath. 
36:11  The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. 
36:12  Esau's son Eliphaz also had a concubine named Timna, who bore him
Amalek. These were grandsons of Esau's wife Adah. 
36:13  The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were
grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath. 
36:14  The sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter
of Zibeon, whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam and Korah.  
36:15   These were the chiefs among Esau's descendants: The sons of Eliphaz
the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 
36:16  Korah, {[16] Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Gen.
36:11 and 1 Chron. 1:36) does not have <Korah>.} Gatam and Amalek. These
were the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in Edom; they were grandsons of Adah.

36:17  The sons of Esau's son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and
Mizzah. These were the chiefs descended from Reuel in Edom; they were
grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath. 
36:18  The sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
These were the chiefs descended from Esau's wife Oholibamah daughter of
Anah. 
36:19   These were the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these were their
chiefs.  
36:20   These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the
region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 
36:21  Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Horite
chiefs. 
36:22  The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. {[22] Hebrew <Hemam,> a variant of
<Homam> (see 1 Chron. 1:39)} Timna was Lotan's sister. 
36:23  The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 
36:24  The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered
the hot springs {[24] Vulgate; Syriac <discovered water;> the meaning of the
Hebrew for this word is uncertain.} in the desert while he was grazing the
donkeys of his father Zibeon. 
36:25  The children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah. 
36:26  The sons of Dishon {[26] Hebrew <Dishan,> a variant of <Dishon>}:
Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. 
36:27  The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. 
36:28  The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 
36:29  These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 
36:30  Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These were the Horite chiefs, according to
their divisions, in the land of Seir.  
36:31   These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king
reigned {[31] Or <before an Israelite king reigned over them>}: 
36:32  Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah. 
36:33  When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king.

36:34  When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him
as king. 
36:35  When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the
country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith. 
36:36  When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king. 
36:37  When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river {[37] Possibly the
Euphrates} succeeded him as king. 
36:38  When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Acbor succeeded him as king. 
36:39  When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad {[39] Many manuscripts of
the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac (see also 1 Chron.
1:50); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text <Hadar>} succeeded him as
king. His city was named Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of
Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.  
36:40   These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to
their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 
36:41  Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 
36:42  Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 
36:43  Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their
settlements in the land they occupied.  This was Esau the father of the
Edomites.  

37:1   Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of
Canaan.  
37:2   This is the account of Jacob.   Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was
tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of
Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about
them. 
37:3   Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he
had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented {[3]
The meaning of the Hebrew for <richly ornamented> is uncertain; also in
verses 23 and 32.} robe for him. 
37:4  When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of
them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 
37:5   Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated
him all the more. 
37:6  He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 
37:7  We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my
sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and
bowed down to it." 
37:8   His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you
actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and
what he had said. 
37:9   Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen,"
he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven
stars were bowing down to me." 
37:10   When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked
him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your
brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 
37:11  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in
mind. 
37:12   Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near
Shechem, 
37:13  and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing
the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them."  "Very
well," he replied. 
37:14   So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and
with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the
Valley of Hebron.  When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 
37:15  a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What
are you looking for?" 
37:16   He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they
are grazing their flocks?" 
37:17   "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say,
`Let's go to Dothan.'"  So Joseph went after his brothers and found them
near Dothan. 
37:18  But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they
plotted to kill him. 
37:19   "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 
37:20  "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns
and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of
his dreams." 
37:21   When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands.
"Let's not take his life," he said. 
37:22  "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the
desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from
them and take him back to his father. 
37:23   So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his
robe--the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-- 
37:24  and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was
empty; there was no water in it. 
37:25   As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan
of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices,
balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 
37:26   Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our
brother and cover up his blood? 
37:27  Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him;
after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.

37:28   So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph
up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels {[28] That is, about 8
ounces (about 0.2 kilogram)} of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to
Egypt. 
37:29   When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not
there, he tore his clothes. 
37:30  He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where
can I turn now?" 
37:31   Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe
in the blood. 
37:32  They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We
found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe." 
37:33   He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious
animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." 
37:34   Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his
son many days. 
37:35  All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be
comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave {[35]
Hebrew <Sheol>} to my son." So his father wept for him. 
37:36   Meanwhile, the Midianites {[36] Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint,
Vulgate and Syriac (see also verse 28); Masoretic Text <Medanites>} sold
Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the
guard. 

38:1   At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a
man of Adullam named Hirah. 
38:2  There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married
her and lay with her; 
38:3  she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. 
38:4  She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 
38:5  She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at
Kezib that she gave birth to him. 
38:6   Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 
38:7  But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD
put him to death. 
38:8   Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill
your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother."

38:9  But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay
with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from
producing offspring for his brother. 
38:10  What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death
also. 
38:11   Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in
your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may
die too, just like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's
house. 
38:12   After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When
Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who
were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. 
38:13   When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to
shear his sheep," 
38:14  she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to
disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on
the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she
had not been given to him as his wife. 
38:15   When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had
covered her face. 
38:16  Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her
by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you."  "And what will
you give me to sleep with you?" she asked. 
38:17   "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said.  "Will you give
me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. 
38:18   He said, "What pledge should I give you?"  "Your seal and its cord,
and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept
with her, and she became pregnant by him. 
38:19  After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes
again. 
38:20   Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in
order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. 
38:21  He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute who
was beside the road at Enaim?"  "There hasn't been any shrine prostitute
here," they said. 
38:22   So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the
men who lived there said, `There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.'" 
38:23   Then Judah said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a
laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't
find her." 
38:24   About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar
is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant."  Judah
said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!" 
38:25   As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her
father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. And she
added, "See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are." 
38:26   Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since
I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." And he did not sleep with her again. 
38:27   When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in
her womb. 
38:28  As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife
took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, "This one came out
first." 
38:29  But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said,
"So this is how you have broken out!" And he was named Perez. {[29] <Perez>
means <breaking out.>} 
38:30  Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out
and he was given the name Zerah. {[30] <Zerah> can mean <scarlet> or
<brightness.>} 

39:1   Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who
was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from
the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 
39:2   The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house
of his Egyptian master. 
39:3  When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave
him success in everything he did, 
39:4  Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put
him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he
owned. 
39:5  From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he
owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The
blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and
in the field. 
39:6  So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge,
he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.  Now Joseph
was well-built and handsome, 
39:7  and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,
"Come to bed with me!" 
39:8   But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not
concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has
entrusted to my care. 
39:9  No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld
nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do
such a wicked thing and sin against God?" 
39:10  And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed
with her or even be with her. 
39:11   One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of
the household servants was inside. 
39:12  She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he
left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 
39:13   When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out
of the house, 
39:14  she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this
Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep
with me, but I screamed. 
39:15  When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran
out of the house." 
39:16   She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 
39:17  Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came
to me to make sport of me. 
39:18  But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and
ran out of the house." 
39:19   When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is
how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 
39:20  Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the
king's prisoners were confined.  But while Joseph was there in the prison, 
39:21  the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor
in the eyes of the prison warden. 
39:22  So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison,
and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 
39:23  The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because
the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. 

40:1   Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt
offended their master, the king of Egypt. 
40:2  Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the
chief baker, 
40:3  and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in
the same prison where Joseph was confined. 
40:4  The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended
them.  After they had been in custody for some time, 
40:5  each of the two men--the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt,
who were being held in prison--had a dream the same night, and each dream
had a meaning of its own. 
40:6   When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were
dejected. 
40:7  So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in custody with him in his
master's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?" 
40:8   "We both had dreams," they answered, "but there is no one to
interpret them."  Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong
to God? Tell me your dreams." 
40:9   So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, "In my
dream I saw a vine in front of me, 
40:10  and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it
blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. 
40:11  Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them
into Pharaoh's cup and put the cup in his hand." 
40:12   "This is what it means," Joseph said to him. "The three branches are
three days. 
40:13  Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to
your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you used
to do when you were his cupbearer. 
40:14  But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness;
mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 
40:15  For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even
here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon." 
40:16   When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable
interpretation, he said to Joseph, "I too had a dream: On my head were three
baskets of bread. {[16] Or <three wicker baskets>} 
40:17  In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the
birds were eating them out of the basket on my head." 
40:18   "This is what it means," Joseph said. "The three baskets are three
days. 
40:19  Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a
tree. {[19] Or <and impale you on a pole>} And the birds will eat away your
flesh." 
40:20   Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for
all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the
chief baker in the presence of his officials: 
40:21  He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once
again put the cup into Pharaoh's hand, 
40:22  but he hanged {[22] Or <impaled>} the chief baker, just as Joseph had
said to them in his interpretation. 
40:23   The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot
him. 

41:1   When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing
by the Nile, 
41:2  when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and
they grazed among the reeds. 
41:3  After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile
and stood beside those on the riverbank. 
41:4  And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat
cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 
41:5   He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain,
healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. 
41:6  After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted--thin and scorched by
the east wind. 
41:7  The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads.
Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream. 
41:8   In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the
magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one
could interpret them for him. 
41:9   Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I am reminded of my
shortcomings. 
41:10  Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and
the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 
41:11  Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning
of its own. 
41:12  Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the
guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each
man the interpretation of his dream. 
41:13  And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was
restored to my position, and the other man was hanged. {[13] Or <impaled>}" 
41:14   So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the
dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.

41:15   Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.
But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret
it." 
41:16   "I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give
Pharaoh the answer he desires." 
41:17   Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the bank
of the Nile, 
41:18  when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and
they grazed among the reeds. 
41:19  After them, seven other cows came up--scrawny and very ugly and lean.
I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. 
41:20  The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. 
41:21  But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done
so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up. 
41:22   "In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good,
growing on a single stalk. 
41:23  After them, seven other heads sprouted--withered and thin and
scorched by the east wind. 
41:24  The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told
this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me." 
41:25   Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the
same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 
41:26  The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of
grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 
41:27  The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and
so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They
are seven years of famine. 
41:28   "It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is
about to do. 
41:29  Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of
Egypt, 
41:30  but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in
Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. 
41:31  The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine
that follows it will be so severe. 
41:32  The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the
matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon. 
41:33   "And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him
in charge of the land of Egypt. 
41:34  Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of
the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. 
41:35  They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming
and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the
cities for food. 
41:36  This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used
during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the
country may not be ruined by the famine." 
41:37   The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 
41:38  So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom
is the spirit of God {[38] Or <of the gods>}?" 
41:39   Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to
you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 
41:40  You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit
to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."

41:41   So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole
land of Egypt." 
41:42  Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on
Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain
around his neck. 
41:43  He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, {[43] Or <in
the chariot of his second-in-command>; or <in his second chariot>} and men
shouted before him, "Make way {[43] Or <Bow down>}!" Thus he put him in
charge of the whole land of Egypt. 
41:44   Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your word no
one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt." 
41:45  Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath
daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, {[45] That is, Heliopolis; also in
verse 50} to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. 
41:46   Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh
king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled
throughout Egypt. 
41:47  During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. 
41:48  Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of
abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food
grown in the fields surrounding it. 
41:49  Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea;
it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond
measure. 
41:50   Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by
Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. 
41:51  Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh {[51] <Manasseh> sounds like and
may be derived from the Hebrew for <forget.>} and said, "It is because God
has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." 
41:52  The second son he named Ephraim {[52] <Ephraim> sounds like the
Hebrew for <twice fruitful.>} and said, "It is because God has made me
fruitful in the land of my suffering." 
41:53   The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, 
41:54  and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There
was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was
food. 
41:55  When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh
for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph and do what he
tells you." 
41:56   When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the
storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe
throughout Egypt. 
41:57  And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because
the famine was severe in all the world. 

42:1   When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his
sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?" 
42:2  He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down
there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die." 
42:3   Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 
42:4  But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others,
because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 
42:5  So Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the
famine was in the land of Canaan also. 
42:6   Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to
all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him
with their faces to the ground. 
42:7  As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he
pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come
from?" he asked.  "From the land of Canaan," they replied, "to buy food." 
42:8   Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 
42:9  Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are
spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected." 
42:10   "No, my lord," they answered. "Your servants have come to buy food. 
42:11  We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not
spies." 
42:12   "No!" he said to them. "You have come to see where our land is
unprotected." 
42:13   But they replied, "Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of
one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our
father, and one is no more." 
42:14   Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you: You are spies! 
42:15  And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you
will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 
42:16  Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be
kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling
the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!" 
42:17  And he put them all in custody for three days. 
42:18   On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live,
for I fear God: 
42:19  If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison,
while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. 
42:20  But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words
may be verified and that you may not die." This they proceeded to do. 
42:21   They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of
our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his
life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us." 
42:22   Reuben replied, "Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But
you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood." 
42:23  They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was
using an interpreter. 
42:24   He turned away from them and began to weep, but then turned back and
spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their
eyes. 
42:25   Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man's
silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey.
After this was done for them, 
42:26  they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. 
42:27   At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his
sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his
sack. 
42:28  "My silver has been returned," he said to his brothers. "Here it is
in my sack."  Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and
said, "What is this that God has done to us?" 
42:29   When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they
told him all that had happened to them. They said, 
42:30  "The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us
as though we were spying on the land. 
42:31  But we said to him, `We are honest men; we are not spies. 
42:32  We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the
youngest is now with our father in Canaan.' 
42:33   "Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, `This is how I
will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with
me, and take food for your starving households and go. 
42:34  But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not
spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can
trade {[34] Or <move about freely>} in the land.'" 
42:35   As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his
pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were
frightened. 
42:36  Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my
children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take
Benjamin. Everything is against me!" 
42:37   Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put both of my sons to
death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will
bring him back." 
42:38   But Jacob said, "My son will not go down there with you; his brother
is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you
are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave {[38] Hebrew
<Sheol>} in sorrow." 

43:1   Now the famine was still severe in the land. 
43:2  So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt,
their father said to them, "Go back and buy us a little more food." 
43:3   But Judah said to him, "The man warned us solemnly, `You will not see
my face again unless your brother is with you.' 
43:4  If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy
food for you. 
43:5  But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man
said to us, `You will not see my face again unless your brother is with
you.'" 
43:6   Israel asked, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the
man you had another brother?" 
43:7   They replied, "The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our
family. `Is your father still living?' he asked us. `Do you have another
brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would
say, `Bring your brother down here'?" 
43:8   Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy along with me and
we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not
die. 
43:9  I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally
responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here
before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 
43:10  As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned
twice." 
43:11   Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be, then do this:
Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to
the man as a gift--a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh,
some pistachio nuts and almonds. 
43:12  Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the
silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a
mistake. 
43:13  Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 
43:14  And may God Almighty {[14] Hebrew <El-Shaddai>} grant you mercy
before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back
with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved." 
43:15   So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and
Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to
Joseph. 
43:16  When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his
house, "Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare dinner;
they are to eat with me at noon." 
43:17   The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph's house. 
43:18  Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They
thought, "We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into
our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize
us as slaves and take our donkeys." 
43:19   So they went up to Joseph's steward and spoke to him at the entrance
to the house. 
43:20  "Please, sir," they said, "we came down here the first time to buy
food. 
43:21  But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks
and each of us found his silver--the exact weight--in the mouth of his sack.
So we have brought it back with us. 
43:22  We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don't
know who put our silver in our sacks." 
43:23   "It's all right," he said. "Don't be afraid. Your God, the God of
your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver."
Then he brought Simeon out to them. 
43:24   The steward took the men into Joseph's house, gave them water to
wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. 
43:25  They prepared their gifts for Joseph's arrival at noon, because they
had heard that they were to eat there. 
43:26   When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had
brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 
43:27  He asked them how they were, and then he said, "How is your aged
father you told me about? Is he still living?" 
43:28   They replied, "Your servant our father is still alive and well." And
they bowed low to pay him honor. 
43:29   As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's
son, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?"
And he said, "God be gracious to you, my son." 
43:30  Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and
looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. 
43:31   After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself,
said, "Serve the food." 
43:32   They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the
Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat
with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 
43:33  The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from
the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in
astonishment. 
43:34  When portions were served to them from Joseph's table, Benjamin's
portion was five times as much as anyone else's. So they feasted and drank
freely with him. 

44:1   Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: "Fill
the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's
silver in the mouth of his sack. 
44:2  Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's
sack, along with the silver for his grain." And he did as Joseph said. 
44:3   As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.

44:4  They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward,
"Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them,
`Why have you repaid good with evil? 
44:5  Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination?
This is a wicked thing you have done.'" 
44:6   When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 
44:7  But they said to him, "Why does my lord say such things? Far be it
from your servants to do anything like that! 
44:8  We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we
found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold
from your master's house? 
44:9  If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest
of us will become my lord's slaves." 
44:10   "Very well, then," he said, "let it be as you say. Whoever is found
to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame." 
44:11   Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 
44:12  Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and
ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 
44:13  At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys
and returned to the city. 
44:14   Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in,
and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 
44:15  Joseph said to them, "What is this you have done? Don't you know that
a man like me can find things out by divination?" 
44:16   "What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "What can we say? How
can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are
now my lord's slaves--we ourselves and the one who was found to have the
cup." 
44:17   But Joseph said, "Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man
who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back
to your father in peace." 
44:18   Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your
servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though
you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 
44:19  My lord asked his servants, `Do you have a father or a brother?' 
44:20  And we answered, `We have an aged father, and there is a young son
born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of
his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.' 
44:21   "Then you said to your servants, `Bring him down to me so I can see
him for myself.' 
44:22  And we said to my lord, `The boy cannot leave his father; if he
leaves him, his father will die.' 
44:23  But you told your servants, `Unless your youngest brother comes down
with you, you will not see my face again.' 
44:24  When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord
had said. 
44:25   "Then our father said, `Go back and buy a little more food.' 
44:26  But we said, `We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with
us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is
with us.' 
44:27   "Your servant my father said to us, `You know that my wife bore me
two sons. 
44:28  One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn
to pieces." And I have not seen him since. 
44:29  If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will
bring my gray head down to the grave {[29] Hebrew <Sheol>; also in verse 31}
in misery.' 
44:30   "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my
father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,

44:31  sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring
the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. 
44:32  Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, `If I
do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father,
all my life!' 
44:33   "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in
place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. 
44:34  How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not
let me see the misery that would come upon my father." 

45:1   Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his
attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there
was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 
45:2  And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's
household heard about it. 
45:3   Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still
living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were
terrified at his presence. 
45:4   Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had
done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 
45:5  And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for
selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

45:6  For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next
five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 
45:7  But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. {[7] Or <save you as a great
band of survivors>} 
45:8   "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father
to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 
45:9  Now hurry back to my father and say to him, `This is what your son
Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't
delay. 
45:10  You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me--you, your
children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 
45:11  I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still
to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will
become destitute.' 
45:12   "You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it
is really I who am speaking to you. 
45:13  Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about
everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly." 
45:14   Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and
Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 
45:15  And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his
brothers talked with him. 
45:16   When the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had
come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. 
45:17  Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, `Do this: Load your
animals and return to the land of Canaan, 
45:18  and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you
the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.' 
45:19   "You are also directed to tell them, `Do this: Take some carts from
Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. 
45:20  Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will
be yours.'" 
45:21   So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh
had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 
45:22  To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three
hundred shekels {[22] That is, about 7 1/2 pounds (about 3.5 kilograms)} of
silver and five sets of clothes. 
45:23  And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the
best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and
other provisions for his journey. 
45:24  Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to
them, "Don't quarrel on the way!" 
45:25   So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the
land of Canaan. 
45:26  They told him, "Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all
Egypt." Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 
45:27  But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when
he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their
father Jacob revived. 
45:28  And Israel said, "I'm convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will
go and see him before I die." 

46:1   So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached
Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 
46:2   And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob!
Jacob!"  "Here I am," he replied. 
46:3   "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go
down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 
46:4  I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back
again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes." 
46:5   Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel's sons took their father Jacob
and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to
transport him. 
46:6  They also took with them their livestock and the possessions they had
acquired in Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt. 
46:7  He took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and
granddaughters--all his offspring.  
46:8   These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants)
who went to Egypt:  Reuben the firstborn of Jacob. 
46:9  The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. 
46:10  The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the
son of a Canaanite woman. 
46:11  The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. 
46:12  The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan
had died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. 
46:13  The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, {[13] Samaritan Pentateuch and
Syriac (see also 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text <Puvah>} Jashub {[13]
Samaritan Pentateuch and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Num. 26:24
and 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text <Iob>} and Shimron. 
46:14  The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon and Jahleel. 
46:15   These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, {[15] That
is, Northwest Mesopotamia} besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and
daughters of his were thirty-three in all.  
46:16  The sons of Gad: Zephon, {[16] Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint
(see also Num. 26:15); Masoretic Text <Ziphion>} Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri,
Arodi and Areli. 
46:17  The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah. Their sister was
Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel. 
46:18   These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had
given to his daughter Leah--sixteen in all.  
46:19  The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 
46:20  In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath
daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. {[20] That is, Heliopolis} 
46:21  The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh,
Muppim, Huppim and Ard. 
46:22   These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob--fourteen in
all.  
46:23  The son of Dan: Hushim. 
46:24  The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem. 
46:25   These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to
his daughter Rachel--seven in all.  
46:26   All those who went to Egypt with Jacob--those who were his direct
descendants, not counting his sons' wives--numbered sixty-six persons. 
46:27  With the two sons {[27] Hebrew; Septuagint <the nine children>} who
had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob's family, which went
to Egypt, were seventy {[27] Hebrew (see also Exodus 1:5 and footnote);
Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14) <seventy-five>} in all.  
46:28   Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to
Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 
46:29  Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his
father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms
around his father {[29] Hebrew <around him>} and wept for a long time. 
46:30   Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for
myself that you are still alive." 
46:31   Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I
will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, `My brothers and my
father's household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 
46:32  The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought
along their flocks and herds and everything they own.' 
46:33  When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, `What is your occupation?' 
46:34  you should answer, `Your servants have tended livestock from our
boyhood on, just as our fathers did.' Then you will be allowed to settle in
the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians." 

47:1   Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and brothers, with their
flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan
and are now in Goshen." 
47:2  He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. 
47:3   Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What is your occupation?"  "Your
servants are shepherds," they replied to Pharaoh, "just as our fathers
were." 
47:4  They also said to him, "We have come to live here awhile, because the
famine is severe in Canaan and your servants' flocks have no pasture. So
now, please let your servants settle in Goshen." 
47:5   Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to
you, 
47:6  and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your
brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you
know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own
livestock." 
47:7   Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before
Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed {[7] Or <greeted>} Pharaoh, 
47:8  Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?" 
47:9   And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred
and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the
years of the pilgrimage of my fathers." 
47:10  Then Jacob blessed {[10] Or <said farewell to>} Pharaoh and went out
from his presence. 
47:11   So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them
property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh
directed. 
47:12  Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's
household with food, according to the number of their children. 
47:13   There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine
was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 
47:14  Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and
Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to
Pharaoh's palace. 
47:15  When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt
came to Joseph and said, "Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes?
Our money is used up." 
47:16   "Then bring your livestock," said Joseph. "I will sell you food in
exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone." 
47:17  So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in
exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys.
And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their
livestock. 
47:18   When that year was over, they came to him the following year and
said, "We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone
and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except
our bodies and our land. 
47:19  Why should we perish before your eyes--we and our land as well? Buy
us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in
bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that
the land may not become desolate." 
47:20   So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians,
one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them.
The land became Pharaoh's, 
47:21  and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, {[21] Samaritan
Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also Vulgate); Masoretic Text <and he moved
the people into the cities>} from one end of Egypt to the other. 
47:22  However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they
received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the
allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. 
47:23   Joseph said to the people, "Now that I have bought you and your land
today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 
47:24  But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other
four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves
and your households and your children." 
47:25   "You have saved our lives," they said. "May we find favor in the
eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh." 
47:26   So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt--still in
force today--that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the
land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's. 
47:27   Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They
acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. 
47:28   Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were
a hundred and forty-seven. 
47:29  When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son
Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand
under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness.
Do not bury me in Egypt, 
47:30  but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me
where they are buried."  "I will do as you say," he said. 
47:31   "Swear to me," he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel
worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. {[31] Or <Israel bowed down
at the head of his bed>} 

48:1   Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his
two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 
48:2  When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied
his strength and sat up on the bed. 
48:3   Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty {[3] Hebrew <El-Shaddai>}
appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me 
48:4  and said to me, `I am going to make you fruitful and will increase
your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this
land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.' 
48:5   "Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you
here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as
Reuben and Simeon are mine. 
48:6  Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory
they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 
48:7  As I was returning from Paddan, {[7] That is, Northwest Mesopotamia}
to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the
way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road
to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem). 
48:8   When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?" 
48:9   "They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father. 
Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them." 
48:10   Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could
hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed
them and embraced them. 
48:11   Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and
now God has allowed me to see your children too." 
48:12   Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his
face to the ground. 
48:13  And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's
left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought
them close to him. 
48:14  But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head,
though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on
Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. 
48:15   Then he blessed Joseph and said, 
          "May the God before whom my fathers 
          Abraham and Isaac walked, 
          the God who has been my shepherd 
          all my life to this day, 
48:16     the Angel who has delivered me from all harm 
          --may he bless these boys. 
          May they be called by my name 
          and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, 
          and may they increase greatly 
          upon the earth." 
48:17   When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head
he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from
Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 
48:18  Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put
your right hand on his head." 
48:19   But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too
will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his
younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a
group of nations." 
48:20  He blessed them that day and said, 
          "In your {[20] The Hebrew is singular.} name will Israel pronounce
this blessing: 
          `May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" So he put Ephraim
ahead of Manasseh. 
48:21   Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with
you {[21] The Hebrew is plural.} and take you {[21] The Hebrew is plural.}
back to the land of your {[21] The Hebrew is plural.} fathers. 
48:22  And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of
land {[22] Or <And to you I give one portion more than to your brothers--the
portion>} I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow." 

49:1   Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell
you what will happen to you in days to come. 
49:2      "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; 
          listen to your father Israel.  
49:3      "Reuben, you are my firstborn, 
          my might, the first sign of my strength, 
          excelling in honor, excelling in power. 
49:4      Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, 
          for you went up onto your father's bed, 
          onto my couch and defiled it.  
49:5      "Simeon and Levi are brothers-- 
          their swords {[5] The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is
uncertain.} are weapons of violence. 
49:6      Let me not enter their council, 
          let me not join their assembly, 
          for they have killed men in their anger 
          and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. 
49:7      Cursed be their anger, so fierce, 
          and their fury, so cruel! 
          I will scatter them in Jacob 
          and disperse them in Israel.  
49:8      "Judah, {[8] <Judah> sounds like and may be derived from the 
          Hebrew for <praise.>} your brothers will praise you; 
          your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; 
          your father's sons will bow down to you. 
49:9      You are a lion's cub, O Judah; 
          you return from the prey, my son. 
          Like a lion he crouches and lies down, 
          like a lioness--who dares to rouse him? 
49:10     The scepter will not depart from Judah, 
          nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, 
          until he comes to whom it belongs {[10] Or <until Shiloh comes>;
or <until he comes to whom tribute belongs>} 
          and the obedience of the nations is his. 
49:11     He will tether his donkey to a vine, 
          his colt to the choicest branch; 
          he will wash his garments in wine, 
          his robes in the blood of grapes. 
49:12     His eyes will be darker than wine, 
          his teeth whiter than milk. {[12] Or <will be dull from wine, 
           his teeth white from milk>}  
49:13     "Zebulun will live by the seashore 
          and become a haven for ships; 
          his border will extend toward Sidon.  
49:14     "Issachar is a rawboned {[14] Or <strong>} donkey 
          lying down between two saddlebags. {[14] Or <campfires>} 
49:15     When he sees how good is his resting place 
          and how pleasant is his land, 
          he will bend his shoulder to the burden 
          and submit to forced labor.  
49:16     "Dan {[16] <Dan> here means <he provides justice.>} will 
          provide justice for his people 
          as one of the tribes of Israel. 
49:17     Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, 
          a viper along the path, 
          that bites the horse's heels 
          so that its rider tumbles backward.  
49:18     "I look for your deliverance, O LORD.  
49:19     "Gad {[19] <Gad> can mean <attack> and <band of raiders.>} will 
          be attacked by a band of raiders, 
          but he will attack them at their heels.  
49:20     "Asher's food will be rich; 
          he will provide delicacies fit for a king.  
49:21     "Naphtali is a doe set free 
          that bears beautiful fawns. {[21] Or <free; 
           he utters beautiful words>}  
49:22     "Joseph is a fruitful vine, 
          a fruitful vine near a spring, 
          whose branches climb over a wall. {[22] Or <Joseph is a wild colt,

           a wild colt near a spring, 
           a wild donkey on a terraced hill>} 
49:23     With bitterness archers attacked him; 
          they shot at him with hostility. 
49:24     But his bow remained steady, 
          his strong arms stayed {[23,24] Or <archers will attack... will
shoot... will remain... will stay>} limber, 
          because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, 
          because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 
49:25     because of your father's God, who helps you, 
          because of the Almighty, {[25] Hebrew <Shaddai>} who blesses you 
          with blessings of the heavens above, 
          blessings of the deep that lies below, 
          blessings of the breast and womb. 
49:26     Your father's blessings are greater 
          than the blessings of the ancient mountains, 
          than {[26] Or <of my progenitors, 
           as great as>} the bounty of the age-old hills. 
          Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, 
          on the brow of the prince among {[26] Or <the one separated from>}
his brothers.  
49:27     "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; 
          in the morning he devours the prey, 
          in the evening he divides the plunder."  
49:28   All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their
father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing
appropriate to him. 
49:29   Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be gathered to
my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the
Hittite, 
49:30  the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which
Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the
field. 
49:31  There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his
wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 
49:32  The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. {[32] Or
<the sons of Heth>}" 
49:33   When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his
feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. 

50:1   Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed
him. 
50:2  Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his
father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, 
50:3  taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for
embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. 
50:4   When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court,
"If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, 
50:5  `My father made me swear an oath and said, "I am about to die; bury me
in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now let me go up and
bury my father; then I will return.'" 
50:6   Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to
do." 
50:7   So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials
accompanied him--the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of
Egypt-- 
50:8  besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and
those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their
flocks and herds were left in Goshen. 
50:9  Chariots and horsemen {[9] Or <charioteers>} also went up with him. It
was a very large company. 
50:10   When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they
lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period
of mourning for his father. 
50:11  When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing
floor of Atad, they said, "The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of
mourning." That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.
{[11] <Abel Mizraim> means <mourning of the Egyptians.>} 
50:12   So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them: 
50:13  They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in
the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial
place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. 
50:14  After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his
brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father. 
50:15   When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,
"What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the
wrongs we did to him?" 
50:16  So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these
instructions before he died: 
50:17  `This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your
brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.'
Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When
their message came to him, Joseph wept. 
50:18   His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are
your slaves," they said. 
50:19   But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

50:20  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish
what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 
50:21  So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children."
And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. 
50:22   Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father's family. He lived
a hundred and ten years 
50:23  and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children. Also the children
of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph's knees. {[23] That
is, were counted as his} 
50:24   Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will
surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." 
50:25  And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will
surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this
place." 
50:26   So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they
embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. 
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