Genesis 43

¹ The famine in the land was severe, ² so when they had eaten all the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy a little more food for us.”

³ Judah said to him, “The man sternly warned us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you, ⁵ but if you do not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶ Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ They said, “The man interrogated us about ourselves and about our relatives. He asked, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

⁸ Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will get up and go, so that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹ I will serve as a guarantee for him. You can hold me accountable for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him in front of you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ Look, if we had not delayed, we certainly could have returned for a second time by now.”

¹¹ Their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then this is what you should do: Put some of the best products of the land into your containers and take a gift for the man: a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹² Also take double the amount of silver with you. Take back the silver that was returned into the mouths of your bags. Perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³ Also take your brother. Get going and return to the man. ¹⁴ May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. But if I am deprived of my children, I am deprived.”

¹⁵ The men took that present, and they took double the amount of silver with them. They also took Benjamin. They got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the manager ^[1] of his house, “Bring the men into the house. Butcher an animal and prepare it, for the men will dine with me at noon.”

¹⁷ The manager did as Joseph commanded and brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ The brothers were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “Because of the money that was returned into our bags the first time, we are being brought in, so that he may find a pretext against us, pounce on us, seize us as slaves, and take our donkeys.”

¹⁹ They approached the manager of Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the door of the house. ²⁰ They said, “Please, my lord, we really did come down the first time to buy food. ²¹ When we came to the lodging place, we opened our bags, and to our surprise each man’s silver was in the mouth of his bag, the full amount of our money. ^[2] We have brought it back with us. ²² We have also brought down with us additional money to buy food. We do not know who put our money into our bags.”

²³ He said, “There is no problem. Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your bags. I received your money.” He brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, so they could wash their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵ They prepared the gift for Joseph, who was coming at noon, because they heard that they would be eating bread there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gift that they had brought to the house, and they bowed down to the ground in front of him. ²⁷ He asked them about their welfare: “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” ^[3] They bowed down and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ Joseph looked up and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” He said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Joseph hurried out, because he was overcome by his emotions over his brother, and he looked for a place to weep. He went into his room and wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. After he regained control of himself, he said, “Serve the meal.”

³² They served Joseph by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians do not eat with Hebrews, for that is repulsive to the Egyptians. ³³ The brothers were seated in front of him. They were lined up in order, starting with the firstborn based on his birthright down to the youngest based on his youth, and the men expressed their amazement to each other. ³⁴ He sent servings to them from his table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They were drinking and they were feeling the effects. ^[4]

Genesis 42

Joseph and His Brothers

¹ When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing here looking at each other?” ² He also said, “Listen, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us there, so that we may live and not die.” ³ So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin along with his other brothers, because he said, “Something bad might happen to him.”

⁵ The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain because of the famine in the land of Canaan. ⁶ Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where did you come from?”

They said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where the land is exposed.”

¹⁰ They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all one man’s sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”

¹² He said to them, “No, you have come to see where the land is exposed!”

¹³ They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Listen, at the present time the youngest remains with our father, and one is no more.”

¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is just as I said. You are spies! ¹⁵ This is how you will be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall never get out of here, unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you to get your brother. The rest of you will be kept under arrest, so that your words may be tested, whether you are telling the truth. Otherwise, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies.” ¹⁷ He kept them all together, confined in the jail for three days.

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do what I tell you and you will live, because I fear God. ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in the jail, but the rest of you go and deliver grain to your houses to relieve the famine. ²⁰ Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified, and you will not die.” So they did as he said.

²¹ They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the misery of his soul when he begged us, but we would not listen. That is why this misery has come upon us.”

²² Reuben answered them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you would not listen. So now payment for his blood is being required from us.”

²³ They did not know that Joseph understood them, because an interpreter was being used between them. ²⁴ Joseph turned away from them and wept. After he returned and spoke to them, he seized Simeon from among them and tied him up before their very eyes. ²⁵ Then Joseph gave a command to fill their containers with grain, to return each man’s money into his sack, and to give them food for the journey. So all this was done for them.

²⁶ They loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. ²⁷ When one of them opened his sack at the lodging place to give his donkey food, he saw his money. It was right there in the mouth of his bag. ²⁸ He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Look, there it is, in my bag!” Their hearts sank, and they turned to one another trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ They came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him everything that had happened to them. They said, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and accused us of being spies against the country. ³¹ We said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One brother is no more, and at the present time the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ That man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me. Take grain to relieve the famine at your houses, and go on your way. ³⁴ Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will release your brother to you, and you will be allowed to conduct business in the land.’”

³⁵ Then as they emptied their sacks, they were surprised to see that each man’s pouch of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their pouch of money, they were afraid.

³⁶ Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have deprived me of my children! Joseph is no more. Simeon is no more. And now you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Reuben spoke to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you again.”

³⁸ Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you, since his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If he has a mishap on the journey that you are taking, you will bring my gray hairs down to the grave with sorrow.”

Genesis 41:14-57

Genesis 41

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon. Joseph shaved, changed his clothing, and went to Pharaoh.

¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.”

¹⁶ Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in my power. God will give Pharaoh an answer to give him peace of mind.”

¹⁷ Pharaoh spoke to Joseph: “In my dream, there I was, standing on the bank of the river. ¹⁸ Suddenly seven fat, beautiful cows came up out of the river and were grazing in the marsh grass. ¹⁹ Just then seven poor cattle, very ugly and thin, came up after them. They were uglier than any I had ever seen in the whole land of Egypt. ²⁰ The thin, ugly cattle ate up the first seven cattle, the fat ones, ²¹ and when they had eaten them up, you could not even tell that they had eaten them, because they were still as ugly as they were at the beginning. Then I woke up.

²² “Later I had another dream, in which I saw seven heads of grain grow on one stalk. They were full and good. ²³ Then I saw seven heads of grain spring up after them. They were withered, thin, and blasted by the east wind. ²⁴ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told the dream to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has declared to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cattle are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. It is one dream. ²⁷ The seven thin, ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted by the east wind. They will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is the very thing that I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Look, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt. ³⁰ Seven years of famine will come up after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be remembered in the land because of the famine that follows, for it will be very severe. ³² The double dream was shown to Pharaoh, because this matter is established by God, and God will bring it to pass very soon.”

Joseph Comes to Power

³³ “Let Pharaoh, therefore, look for a man who is wise and discerning, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ When Pharaoh does this, let him appoint overseers over the land to collect one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ Let them collect all this food from these good years that are coming. Accumulate grain under the authority of Pharaoh to provide food for the cities, and let them store it. ³⁶ The food will be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt so that the land does not perish because of the famine.”

³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man, a man who has the spirit of God?”

³⁹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people will submit to your word. Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “Look, I have appointed you over the whole land of Egypt.”

⁴² Pharaoh took his signet ring off of his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He dressed Joseph in robes made from the best linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in the second best chariot that he had. Men went ahead of him crying out, “Kneel down!” ^[1] Pharaoh appointed him over the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but in the whole land of Egypt no one will lift up his hand or his foot without your permission.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath Paneah, and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. Joseph went out and began to rule over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and traveled throughout the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance the earth produced plentiful harvests. ⁴⁸ He collected all the food during the seven good years in the land of Egypt, and he stored up the food in the cities. In every city he stored the food from the fields that were around the city. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up a huge amount of grain, like the sand of the sea. Finally he stopped keeping track, because it was too much to measure.

⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Joseph before the first year of famine arrived. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, gave birth to them. ⁵¹ Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, because he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.” ^{[2] 52} He named the second son Ephraim. He said, “Yes, God has made me fruitful in the land where I was afflicted.” ^[3]

⁵³ So the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end. ⁵⁴ The seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt was starving, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you.” ⁵⁶ The famine spread over the face of the whole earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ The whole world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe all over the whole world.

Genesis 40:1 – 41:13

Joseph Interprets Dreams

Genesis 40

¹ Sometime after this, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt committed an offense against their lord, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ³ He put them under custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he was responsible for them. They stayed in prison for some time. ^{[1] 5} While they were confined in the prison, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt each had a dream. Each man had his own dream during the same night. Each man’s dream had its own meaning. ⁶ Joseph came to them in the morning, looked at them, and saw that they were troubled. ⁷ He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so troubled today?”

⁸ They said to him, “We each had a dream, but there is no one who can interpret it.”

Joseph said to them, “Interpretations belong to God, don’t they? Please tell me the dreams.”

⁹ The chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. “In my dream, there was a vine in front of me, ¹⁰ and the vine had three branches. As I watched, it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. ¹¹ I had Pharaoh’s cup in my hand. I took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and handed the cup to Pharaoh.”

¹² Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office. You will place Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But remember me when everything is going well for you. Please show kindness to me, and mention me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this jail, ¹⁵ because I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I also have done nothing here to deserve to be put into the dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. I saw three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket there were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off of you.”

²⁰ And so it was that on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, Pharaoh had a feast prepared for all his officials, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his officials. ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his position again, and he again placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them. ²³ Nevertheless, the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Pharaoh’s Dreams

Genesis 41

¹ At the end of two full years Pharaoh also had a dream. In the dream he was standing beside the river. ² There, right in front of him, seven beautiful, fat cows came up out of the river and were grazing in the marsh grass. ³ Just then seven ugly, thin cows came up out of the river behind them, and they stood beside the other cows on the bank of the river. ⁴ The ugly, thin cows ate up the seven beautiful, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ Pharaoh fell asleep again and dreamed a second time. He saw seven healthy, good heads of grain come up on one stalk. ⁶ Right after that, seven thin heads of grain, blasted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ⁷ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Pharaoh woke up and realized that it was a dream. ⁸ The next morning he was very troubled, so he sent for all of Egypt’s magicians ^[2] and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults. ¹⁰ Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard—me and the chief baker. ¹¹ We each had a dream during the same night—he and I. Each of us dreamed a dream that had its own interpretation. ¹² There was a young man with us, a Hebrew, a servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each man he gave the interpretation of his dream. ¹³ It turned out exactly as he interpreted them for us. Pharaoh restored me to my office but hanged the chief baker.”

Genesis 38 – 39

Judah and Tamar

Genesis 38

¹ About that time Judah went down from his brothers and visited a man from Adullam named Hirah. ² There Judah saw a daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He took her as a wife and went to her. ³ She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er. ⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Onan. ⁵ She gave birth to yet another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to Shelah.

⁶ Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn. Her name was Tamar. ⁷ It turned out that Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him.

⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Go to your brother’s wife. Perform your duty for her as the brother of her deceased husband and provide offspring ^[1] for your brother.” ⁹ Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he went to his brother’s wife, he wasted his semen on the ground, so that he would not provide offspring for his brother. ¹⁰ But the thing that he did was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him also.

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah is grown up.” Actually he had said to himself, “I do not want him to die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹² After some time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ Tamar was told, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ She took off the garments that identified her as a widow, covered herself with her veil, disguised herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah, because she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not going to be given to him as a wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He turned to her by the roadside and said, “Please, let me come to you,” because he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me, so that you may come to me?”

¹⁷ He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.”

She said, “Will you give me something as a security deposit until you send the goat?”

¹⁸ He said, “What should I give you as a deposit?”

She said, “Your stamp seal on its cord and your staff that is in your hand.”

He gave them to her and went to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left. Later she took off her veil and put her widow’s garments back on.

²⁰ Judah sent the young goat with his friend, the Adullamite, to get back the deposit from the woman’s possession, but he could not find her. ²¹ So he asked the men from that place, “Where is the sacred prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?”

They said, “There hasn’t been any sacred prostitute here.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and the men of the place said, ‘There hasn’t been any sacred prostitute here.’”

²³ Judah said, “Let her keep it, so that we are not disgraced. Look, I did send this young goat, but you were unable to find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has prostituted herself, and even worse, she is pregnant by prostitution.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and burn her.”

²⁵ When she was brought, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” She also said, “Please help me identify whose these are—this stamp seal on its cord and the staff.”

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah, my son.” But he was not intimate with her again.

²⁷ When the time came for her to go into labor, it turned out that there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ When she was in labor, one of the twins put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But then after he had pulled back his hand, his brother came out first, so she said, “What a breakthrough you made for yourself!” That is why he was named Perez. ^{[2] 30} Afterward his brother who had the scarlet thread on his hand came out, so he was named Zerah. ^[3]

Joseph in Egypt

Genesis 39

¹ When Joseph was brought down to Egypt, Potiphar the Egyptian, who was an officer ^[4] of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down to Egypt. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he became successful. He served in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made everything that he touched a success. ⁴ Joseph found favor in his sight. Joseph served him, and he made Joseph manager of his household. He put Joseph in charge of everything.

⁵ From the time that Potiphar made him manager of his household, in charge of everything that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake, and the blessing of the Lord rested on everything that he had, both in the house and in the fields. ⁶ So he left Joseph in charge of everything that he had. He did not concern himself with anything except the food that he ate.

Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷ Sometime after all this, his master’s wife had her eye on Joseph, and she said, “Come, lie down with me.”

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not concern himself with anything that has been entrusted to me in the house. He has put me in charge of everything that he has. ⁹ He has no one in this house greater than I am, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁰ She kept speaking to Joseph day after day, but he would not listen to her. He would not lie down beside her or even be with her. ¹¹ But one day when he went into the house to do his work, none of the men of the household were there inside the house. ¹² She caught him by his garment and said, “Come, lie down with me!” He left behind his garment in her hand and ran outside.

¹³ When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “Look, my husband has brought a Hebrew man in to put us to shame. He came in to lie down with me, but I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁶ She kept his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ This is what she told him: “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came to me to put me to shame and said to me, ‘Let me lie down with you.’ ^{[5] 18} And look, when I screamed and cried out, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became very angry. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined, so Joseph was kept in prison there.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph. He showed mercy to him and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison. ²² The warden of the prison made Joseph responsible for all the prisoners who were in the prison. Joseph was responsible for whatever they did there. ²³ The warden of the prison did not pay attention to anything that was under his authority, because the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord made everything that he did succeed.

Genesis 37

Trouble in Jacob’s Family

¹ Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided as an alien, that is, in the land of Canaan.

² This is the account about the development of the family of Jacob:

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers. He was just a boy compared to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son born in his old age, ^[1] and he made him a special robe. ^{[2] 4} His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him in a friendly way.

⁵ Once Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, so they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷ There we were, binding sheaves in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “So will you really reign over us? Will you really have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more because of his dreams and what he said.

⁹ Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. This is what I saw: The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” ¹⁰ He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept what he had said in mind.

¹² His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Go, I will send you to them.”

Joseph said to him, “Yes, I will do it.”

¹⁴ Israel said to him, “Please go and see whether everything is going well with your brothers and with the flock. Then bring me word again.” So he sent him off from the valley at Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem.

¹⁵ A man met him as he was wandering in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.”

¹⁷ The man said, “They have left here. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”

Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸ They saw him in the distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, “Look, here comes this master of dreams. ²⁰ Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we will say, ‘A wild animal has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

²¹ Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” ²² Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this cistern that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” He said this so that he could rescue him out of their hands and restore him to his father.

²³ And so when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the special robe he was wearing. ²⁴ Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ They sat down to eat bread, and they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, which they were going to deliver to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there in killing our brother and concealing his blood? ²⁷ Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, since he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers listened to him. ²⁸ As the Midianites, who were merchants, were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces ^[3] of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the cistern, he saw that Joseph was not in the cistern, so he tore his clothing. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is no longer here, and as for me, where will I go now?”

³¹ Then they took Joseph’s robe, killed a male goat, and dipped the robe in the goat’s blood. ³² They took the special robe, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Examine it now, and see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

³³ He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A wild animal has devoured him. Without a doubt Joseph has been torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Jacob tore his clothing, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. ³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “No, I will mourn for my son until I go down to the grave.” So his father wept for him.

³⁶ In Egypt the Midianites sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, who was the captain of the guard.

Genesis 36

Esau’s Descendants

¹ Now this is the account about the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom): ² Esau took Canaanite women as his wives. They were Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. ³ He also married Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

⁴ Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau.

Basemath gave birth to Reuel.

⁵ Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, along with his livestock, all his animals, and all the possessions that he had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and he went into another land, away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ Their herds were too large for them to stay together, and the land where they had settled could not support both of them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is another name for Edom.)

⁹ This is the account about the descendants of Esau, who was the founding father of Edom in the hill country of Seir:

¹⁰ The following are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹² Timna was the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹³ The following are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁴ The following were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon. She gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah for Esau.

The Chiefs of the Clans of Edom

¹⁵ The following are the chiefs of the clans of the descendants of Esau:

From the descendants of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau they were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, ¹⁶ Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These are the chiefs who descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the descendants of Adah.

¹⁷ The following are the descendants of Esau’s son Reuel: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs who descended from Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸ The following are the descendants of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, and Chief Korah. These are the chiefs who came from Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah. ¹⁹ These are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

Other People of Edom

²⁰ The following are the sons of Seir the Horite, who lived in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs who descended from the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.

²² The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman. Lotan’s sister was Timna.

²³ The following are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴ The following are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the wilderness as he was feeding the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

²⁵ The following are the descendants of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

²⁶ The following are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷ The following are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Za’avan, and Akan.

²⁸ The following are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹ The following are the chiefs who descended from the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, ³⁰ Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishan. These are the chiefs who came from the Horites, according to their chiefdoms in the land of Seir.

Kings of Edom

³¹ The following are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel:

³² Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³ Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place.

³⁴ Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

³⁵ Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the territory of Moab, reigned in his place. The name of his city was Avith.

³⁶ Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place.

³⁷ Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his place.

³⁸ Shaul died, and Baal Hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

³⁹ Baal Hanan son of Achbor died, and Hadad ^[1] reigned in his place. The name of his city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ The following are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, listed according to their clans, their territory, and their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, ⁴¹ Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, ⁴² Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, ⁴³ Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to the territory they inhabited in the land they possessed. (Edom is another name for Esau, the father of the Edomites.)

Genesis 35

The Return to Bethel

¹ God said to Jacob, “Get up and go to Bethel, and live there. Make an altar there for God, who appeared to you when you fled from the presence of Esau your brother.”

² Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothing. ³ Let’s get up and go to Bethel. I will make an altar there for God, who answered me in the day when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I have traveled.”

⁴ They gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ They set out, and terror from God fell on the cities that were around them, so they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. ⁶ So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ He built an altar there and named the place El Beth El, ^[1] because God had been revealed to him there, when he fled from the presence of his brother.

⁸ Deborah, who was Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under the oak below Bethel. So the place was named Allon Bacuth. ^[2]

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Paddan Aram, and he blessed him. ^{[3] 10} God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will not be Jacob anymore. Your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. ^{[4] 11} God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a community of nations will descend from you, and kings will come from your body. ¹² The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give also to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

¹³ God left him in the place where he had spoken with him, ¹⁴ and Jacob set up a memorial in the place where God had spoken with him. It was a memorial stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.

Jacob’s Sons

¹⁶ Then they traveled from Bethel. As they were coming close to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. She was experiencing hard labor, ¹⁷ and when she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”

¹⁸ Then as her life was slipping away ^[5] (for she was dying), she named her son Benoni, ^[6] but his father named him Benjamin. ^{[7] 19} So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set up a memorial stone on her grave. It is the marker for Rachel’s tomb to this day. ²¹ Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ^[8]

²² While Israel lived in that region, Reuben went and lay down with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons.

²³ The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s maid) were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s maid) were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷ Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre near Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided as aliens.

The Death of Isaac

²⁸ The days of Isaac’s life were one hundred eighty years. ²⁹ Isaac breathed his last and died. He was gathered to his people. He had lived a long, full life. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

Genesis 34

Dinah and Shechem

¹ Dinah, Jacob’s daughter by Leah, went out to see the young women of the land. ² Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the chief of that part of the land, saw her and took her, lay down with her, and humiliated her. ^{[1] 3} He had a strong desire for Dinah, ^[2] the daughter of Jacob, and he was in love with the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ^{[3] 4} Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”

⁵ When Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, his sons were out in the field with his livestock, so Jacob kept quiet about it until they came back. ⁶ Hamor the father of Shechem came to talk with Jacob. ⁷ The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it. The men were shocked by the outrage, and they were very angry, because he had disgraced Israel by lying down with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that should not be done. ⁸ Hamor spoke with them. He said, “My son Shechem has a deep longing for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. ⁹ Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You may live among us, and the land will be open to you. Live in it, conduct trade, and acquire property in it.”

¹¹ Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you ask from me I will give. ¹² No matter how great a bride price and gift ^[4] you demand, I will give it. Just give me the young woman as a wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this—giving our sister to a man who is uncircumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent to your offer: If all your males become circumcised as we are, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not accept our terms and undergo circumcision, then we will take our sister, ^[5] and we will be gone.”

¹⁸ Their offer pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay acting on it, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter, and he was the most important ^[6] of all the household of his father. ²⁰ Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and discussed this with the men of their city. They said, ²¹ “These men want peace with us. So let them live in the land and trade in it. Look, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives for ourselves, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and to become one people with us: if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. ²³ Won’t all their livestock, all their possessions, and all their animals become ours? So let’s accept their offer, so that they will settle among us.”

²⁴ Everyone who assembled at the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to Shechem his son. So all the males who assembled at the gate of the city were circumcised. ²⁵ Then on the third day, when they were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, attacked the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword. They took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left.

²⁷ Jacob’s sons then came to the dead bodies and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, everything that was in the city, everything that was in the countryside, ²⁹ and all their wealth. They took all their little ones and their wives as captives. They looted everything that was in the houses.

³⁰ Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me. You have made me stink to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”

³¹ But they said, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

Genesis 33

¹ Jacob looked up, and there was Esau coming with four hundred men. Jacob divided the children into groups with Leah and Rachel and with the two maids. ² He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the end. ³ He himself crossed over the stream ahead of the others and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

⁴ Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged him around the neck, and kissed him. They both wept. ⁵ Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children and asked, “Who are these people with you?”

Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the maids came forward with their children, and they bowed low. ⁷ Leah and her children also came forward and bowed low. After them, Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed low.

⁸ Esau said, “What did you mean by this whole camp that I met?”

Jacob said, “To gain favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹ Esau said, “I have enough, my brother. Keep what is yours.”

¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, if I have now found favor in your sight, then please accept the gift from my hand, because when I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God, now that you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have everything I need.” He urged him, and he accepted it.

¹² Esau said, “Let us get going on our journey, and I will lead the way for you.”

¹³ Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are still young, and that my flocks and herds are nursing their young, and if the herdsmen drive them too hard for even one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord go ahead of his servant, and I will follow slowly, at the right pace for the livestock and the right pace for the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

¹⁵ Esau said, “Please let me leave some of my people with you.”

But he said, “Why? Just let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶ So Esau set out that day on his way back to Seir. ¹⁷ Jacob traveled to Succoth, built a house for himself, and made shelters for his livestock. That is why that place is called Succoth. ^[1]

¹⁸ When he returned from Paddan Aram, Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and he camped in front of the city. ¹⁹ He bought the piece of land where he pitched his tent from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of silver. ^{[2] 20} He erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel. ^[3]

Genesis 32:3-32

Genesis 32

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the region of Edom. ⁴ He gave them a command. “Tell my lord, Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says: I have lived as an alien with Laban until very recently. ⁵ I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent this message to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We came to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you, and he has four hundred men with him.”

⁷ So Jacob was terrified and very distressed. He divided the people who were with him, as well as the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps. ^{[1] 8} He said, “If Esau comes to one camp and strikes it, then the other camp will escape.” ⁹ Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will do good for you,’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of even a bit of all the mercy and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for I crossed over this Jordan with just my staff, and now I have grown into two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid that he will come and strike me and the mothers, as well as the children. ¹² You said, ‘I will surely do good for you and make your descendants like the grains of sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because there are so many.’”

¹³ Jacob spent that night there and selected a gift for Esau his brother from the possessions he had with him: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys with ten foals. ¹⁶ He handed them over to his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Cross over in front of me, and keep some space between each herd and the next one.” ¹⁷ He commanded the one in front, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks, ‘Whose people are you? Where are you going? Whose herds are these in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. It is a gift sent to you, my lord Esau. Look, he is right behind us.’” ¹⁹ He commanded the second group, and the third, and all those who followed the herds, “This is how you shall speak to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ You shall say, ‘What’s more, look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob said, “I will win his favor with the gift that I have sent ahead of me, and after that I will see his face, and perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹ So the gift was sent over ahead of him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² He got up that night and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and he also sent his possessions across. ²⁴ Jacob was left alone, and he wrestled with a man there until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled. ²⁶ The man said, “Let me go. It’s daybreak.”

Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ Then he said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

²⁸ Then he said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men, and you have won.”

²⁹ Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”

He said, “Why do you ask what my name is?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ Jacob named the place Peniel, ^[2] because he said, “I have seen God face-to-face, and my life has been spared.” ³¹ The sun rose as he crossed over at Peniel, and he was limping because of his thigh. ³² For that reason, to this day the people of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip that is on the socket of the thigh, because God touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh on the tendon of the hip.

Genesis 31:1 – 32:2

Genesis 31

¹ Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything from our father. He has acquired all his wealth from things that belonged to our father.” ² From the look on Laban’s face Jacob realized that his attitude toward him was not what it had been before. ³ The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

⁴ Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah and told them to come to the field where his flock was. ⁵ He said to them, “I see the look on your father’s face, and it is not favorable toward me as it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. ⁷ Your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ then all the flock gave birth to speckled young. If he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wages,’ then all the flock gave birth to streaked young. ⁹ In this way God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ Once during mating season, in a dream I watched and saw male goats that were streaked, speckled, and spotted ^[1] mating with the flock. ¹¹ The Angel of God called out to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I answered, ‘I am here.’ ¹² He said, ‘Look! All the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone, and where you made a vow to me. Now get going, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.’”

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we still have any share of the inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Isn’t he treating us like foreigners? First he sold us. Now he has used up almost all the money he received for us. ¹⁶ All the riches that God has taken away from our father belong to us and our children. Now do whatever God has told you to do.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob got ready to go. He placed his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He took with him all his livestock and all his possessions that he had accumulated, including the livestock that he had acquired in Paddan Aram. He set out to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ Now when Laban had gone off to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ^[2]

²⁰ Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had. He set out, crossed over the Euphrates River, and headed toward the hill country ^[3] of Gilead.

²² On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ He took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days. He overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream during the night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not say anything to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ Laban caught up with Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban along with his relatives also set up camp in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? Why have you deceived me and carried away my daughters like prisoners of war? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly and steal from me? Why didn’t you tell me, so that I could have sent you away with a celebration and with songs, with drums and with lyres? ²⁸ Why didn’t you allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? ^[4] By doing this you have acted foolishly. ²⁹ I have it in my power to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be careful that you do not say anything to Jacob either good or bad.’ ³⁰ But even if you were so eager to leave because of your strong desire to return to your father’s house, why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹ Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force. ³² But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, identify anything I have that belongs to you, and take it.” (Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household gods.)

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the gods. After he had left Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Rachel had taken the household gods and put them into her camel’s saddle, and she was sitting on them. Laban felt all around the tent, but he did not find them. ³⁵ Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry, my lord, because I cannot stand up in your presence. I’m having my period.” He searched, but he did not find the gods.

³⁶ Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. Jacob responded to Laban, “What is my crime? What is my sin that set you off in hot pursuit after me? ³⁷ Now that you have rummaged through all my belongings, what have you found there that came from your house? Set it out here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they can settle the case between the two of us. ³⁸ These twenty years that I have been with you, your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten rams from your flocks. ³⁹ I did not bring to you those that were torn up by wild animals. I bore the loss myself. You made me pay for all the losses, whether they were stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ I was the one out there, consumed by the scorching heat of the day and by the frost at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ These twenty years I put up with this in your house: I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for a share of your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. ⁴² Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the God revered ^[5] by Isaac, had been with me, you certainly would have now sent me away empty-handed. But God saw the oppression I suffered and the labor of my hands, and he rebuked you last night.”

⁴³ Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters. These children are my children. These flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine, but what can I do today about these daughters of mine or about the children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ Now come, let us make a covenant, ^[6] you and I, and let it stand as a witness between me and you.” ^[7]

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They collected stones and piled them up. They ate there beside the pile of stones. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, ^[8] but Jacob called it Galeed. ^{[9] 48} Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness between me and you this day.” So it was named Galeed ⁴⁹ and Mizpah, ^[10] for he also said, “May the Lord watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take any wives in addition to my daughters, even if no one else sees it, understand that God is a witness between me and you.”

⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, “See this pile of stones and see the memorial stone that I have set between me and you. ⁵² May this pile be a witness, and may the memorial stone be a witness that I will not cross over beyond this pile to you, and that you will not cross over beyond this pile and this memorial stone to harm me. ⁵³ May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.”

Then Jacob swore by the God revered by his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Jacob offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to eat bread with him. They ate bread and stayed all night in the hill country. ⁵⁵ Early in the morning Laban got up, kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob Meets Esau

Genesis 32

¹ Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ^{[11] 2} When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He named that place Mahanaim. ^[12]

Genesis 29:31 – 30:43

Genesis 29

Jacob’s Family

³¹ The Lord saw that Leah was not loved, and he allowed her to conceive, but Rachel had no children. ³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, ^[1] because she had said, “The Lord has looked at my misery. So now my husband will love me.”

³³ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. ^[2]

³⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son. She said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ^[3]

³⁵ She conceived again and gave birth to a son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. ^[4] Then she stopped having children.

Genesis 30

¹ When Rachel saw that she was bearing no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”

² Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you fruit from your womb?”

³ She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go to her, so that she may bear a child for me, and my family will be built up through her.” ⁴ So she gave her servant girl Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he went to her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor. He has heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. ^[5]

⁷ Bilhah, Rachel’s servant girl, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Rachel said, “I have had a desperate struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali. ^[6]

⁹ When Leah saw that she was no longer bearing sons, she took her servant girl Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ Zilpah, Leah’s servant girl, bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. ^[7]

¹² Zilpah, Leah’s servant girl, bore a second son for Jacob. ¹³ Leah said, “I am blessed, for women will call me blessed.” She named him Asher. ^[8]

¹⁴ At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found mandrakes ^[9] in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ She said to her, “Isn’t it bad enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you want to take away my son’s mandrakes as well?”

Rachel said, “He will sleep with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come to me, because I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”

So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷ God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me the wages I deserve, because I gave my servant girl to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ^[10]

¹⁹ Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰ Leah said, “God has given me a great reward. Now my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulun. ^[11]

²¹ Afterward, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. ²³ She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph ^[12] and said, “May the Lord add another son to me.”

Jacob Versus Laban

²⁵ After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go home to my own place in my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, because you know how much I have served you.”

²⁷ Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have learned by divination ^[13] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ So he said, “Set your wages for me, and I will pay them.”

²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You know how well I have served you, and how your livestock have fared under my care. ³⁰ For before I came, you had very little, and it has been multiplied many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I set foot. Now isn’t it time for me to provide for my own household as well?”

³¹ Laban asked, “What shall I give you?”

Jacob said, “You do not have to give me anything. But if you will do this thing for me, I will continue to take your flock to pasture and watch over it: ³² I will pass through all your flocks today and take all the speckled and spotted sheep, every dark brown sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled goats. These will be my wages. ³³ This is how I will be able to prove my honesty whenever you demand an accounting of my wages: Any goats that are not spotted or speckled, and any lambs that are not dark brown that are found with me will be treated as stolen.”

³⁴ Laban said, “Very well. We will do what you have said.” ³⁵ But that day Laban removed all the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had any white on it, and all the dark brown sheep, and handed them over to his sons. ³⁶ Then he separated himself from Jacob by a three days’ journey, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Jacob took fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He peeled stripes on them so that the white inside the branches was visible. ³⁸ He put the branches that he had peeled into the gutters of the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so the flocks would see them. They conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹ The flocks conceived in front of the branches, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted animals. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and he made the flocks face toward the streaked animals and all the black animals in the flock of Laban, and he kept his own herds separate and did not put them into Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ And whenever the stronger animals in the flock were in heat, Jacob laid the branches in the gutters where the flocks could see them, so that they would conceive while looking at the branches. ⁴² But when the weak animals in the flock were in heat, he did not put the branches in. So the weaker animals were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s. ⁴³ The man became much wealthier and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 29:1-30

Genesis 29

Jacob and Laban

¹ Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. ^[1]

² He looked around and noticed a well in the field, and he saw three flocks of sheep lying there beside it. (That well was used to water the flocks. There was a large stone over the mouth of the well. ³ All the flocks would gather there. Then the shepherds would roll the stone away from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.)

⁴ Jacob said to the men waiting there, “My brothers, where are you from?”

They said, “We are from Haran.”

⁵ He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?”

They said, “We know him.”

⁶ He said to them, “Is he doing well?”

They said, “He is. Look, there is his daughter Rachel, coming with the sheep.”

⁷ He said, “Look, it is still the middle of the day. It is not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep and go pasture them.”

⁸ They said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.”

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep because she took care of them. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went up, rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother’s brother. ¹¹ Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly. ¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

¹³ When Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob repeated all these things to Laban. ¹⁴ Laban said to him, “Certainly you are my own flesh and blood.” ^[2]

Jacob lived with him for a month. ¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, is that any reason you should serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

¹⁶ Laban had two daughters. The name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah had attractive eyes, ^[3] but Rachel had a beautiful face and figure. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”

¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to another man. Stay with me.”

²⁰ Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him like a few days, because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time of service is finished, so that I may go to her.”

²² Laban gathered together all the local people and made a feast. ²³ When evening had arrived, he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob went to her. ²⁴ (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.) ²⁵ When morning came, Jacob realized it was Leah. So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I serve you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶ Laban said, “That is not the way we do it here. We do not give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Fulfill the marriage week for this one, and we will give you the other one too—for seven more years of service.”

²⁸ So that is what Jacob did. When he fulfilled the marriage week, Laban gave him Rachel his daughter as his wife. ²⁹ (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.) ³⁰ Jacob also went to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Laban seven more years.