Genesis Translation
Genesis
Creation
In the beginning, God created the earth and the sky. Now the earth was barren and empty, and darkness covered the surface of the deep. But the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.
God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. God saw the light was good. Then he divided the light from the darkness. He named the light “day” and the darkness “night.” Then evening came, followed by morning. This was a first day.
Then God said, “Let there be a covering in the middle of the water to divide the waters!” And God made the covering and divided the water under it from the water above it. And it was just as he said. He named the covering “sky.” Then evening came, followed by morning. This was a second day.
Then God said, “Let the water under the sky gather together so dry ground appears!” And it was just as he said. He named the dry ground “land” and the gathered water “seas.” God saw it was good.
Then God said, “Let the earth sprout new growth: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees producing seed-bearing fruit, each according to its own kind!” And it was just as he said. The earth brought forth new growth: seed-bearing plants, each according to its own kind, and trees producing seed-bearing fruit, each according to its own kind. God saw it was good. Then evening came, followed by morning. This was a third day.
Then God said, “Let there be lamps in the sky covering to divide day from night! They will serve as signs of appointed times, days, and years. And they will serve as lamps in the sky covering to light the earth.” And it was just as he said. God made the two great lamps, the greater one to govern the day and the lesser one to govern the night. He also made the stars. Then God placed them in the sky covering to light the earth, to rule the day and the night, and to divide light from darkness. God saw it was good. Then evening came, followed by morning. This was a fourth day.
Then God said, “Let the waters abound with swarms of living creatures! And let birds fly above the earth across the sky covering!” God created the great beasts of the sea and all the living creatures that glide through the water, with which the waters abound, each according to its own kind. And he made all the winged birds, each according to its own kind. God saw it was good.
He blessed them, “Be fruitful and increase, filling the water in the seas! And let the birds increase on the earth!” Then evening came, followed by morning. This was a fifth day.
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures, each according to its own kind: livestock, creatures that glide along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its own kind!” And it was just as he said. God made the wild animals, each according to its own kind, the livestock, each according to its own kind, and creatures that glide along the ground, each according to its own kind. God saw it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make humanity as our image to be like us! They will rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and the animals—over all the earth and every creature that moves upon it.”
God created humanity as his own image.
As the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
God blessed them, “Be fruitful and increase, filling the earth and subduing it! Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every living creature that moves upon the earth!”
Then God said, “I give you all the seed-bearing plants that cover the earth and all the trees that produce seed-bearing fruit. These are for you to eat. And to all the living creatures of the earth—every bird of the sky and every living creature that moves upon the earth—I give all the green plants to eat.” And it was just as he said.
God surveyed all he had made. It was very good! Then evening came, followed by morning. This was the sixth day.
So the earth, the sky, and everything in them were completed. On the seventh day, God was done with everything he made, so he stopped making everything he made. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he stopped making everything he created.
The Creation of Humanity
These are the descendants of the earth and the sky when they were created, when Yahweh God made the earth and the sky:
No desert shrub existed yet, and no crops were growing, because Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth and no human existed to cultivate the ground. Instead, streams would overflow from the earth and water all the ground.
Yahweh God formed a human out of dust from the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. So the human became a living creature. Then Yahweh God planted a garden on the east side of Eden, and there he put the human he had formed. Yahweh God made all the trees that are beautiful and delicious grow there. In the midst of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of judgment.
A river flowing from Eden would water the garden and from there divide to become the headwaters of four rivers. The first is named the Pishon. It winds through all the land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold there is pure, and there are also pearls and onyx stones. The second river is named the Gihon. It winds through all the land of Cush. The third river is named the Tigris. It flows east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Yahweh God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to serve and to guard. He commanded the human, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. But you may not eat from the tree of judgment! Because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the human to be by himself. I will make him a counterpart to help him.” So Yahweh God formed all the animals and birds out of the ground. He brought them to the human to find out what he would call each one. Whatever the human called each living creature would be its name. So the human named all of the livestock, the birds, and the wild animals. But he did not find a counterpart to help him.
So Yahweh God caused the human to fall into a deep sleep. While the human slept, Yahweh God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh around where it had been. Yahweh God constructed a woman out of the rib he took from the human, and he brought her to him. Then the human said, “At last! This one is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She will be called ‘woman’ because she was taken from man.”
Because of this, a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife so they become one.
Rebellion
Although the human and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed. But the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals Yahweh God made. It said to the woman, “God really said, ‘You may not eat from all the trees in the garden’!”
The woman replied to the snake, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God did say we may not eat fruit from the tree in the midst of the garden or even touch it. Otherwise we’ll die.”
“You certainly won’t die! Rather God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened. Like God, you’ll be able to judge right and wrong.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food and beautiful to look at. It was desirable because it could give understanding. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked. So they attached fig leaves together to make loincloths for themselves.
In the evening, they heard Yahweh God walking around in the garden. So the human and his wife hid from him among the trees. Then Yahweh God called out to the human, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I’m naked. That’s why I hid.”
“Who told you you’re naked? Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”
“It was the woman you gave me! She gave me some fruit from the tree, so I ate.”
Then Yahweh God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“It was the snake! It tricked me, so I ate.”
So Yahweh God said to the snake, “Because you did this, you are more cursed than all the livestock and all the other wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust for as long as you live. I will create hostility between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your suffering during pregnancy. In pain you will give birth to children. You will still desire your husband, but he will have authority over you.”
To the man he said, “Because you obeyed your wife by eating from the tree I commanded you not to eat from, the ground is cursed on your account. Through suffering you will eat for as long as you live. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, forcing you to eat crops. Through hard work you will eat food until you return to the ground from which you were taken. Because you are dust, you will return to dust!”
The human named his wife Eve because she was the mother of everyone living.
Yahweh God made tunics of animal skins for the human and his wife, and he clothed them. Then he said, “The human can now judge right and wrong, like one of us. Therefore, he must not also take fruit from the tree of life. If he eats it, he will live forever!”
So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden to work the ground he was taken from. After he drove the human out, he placed cherubs and a flaming sword turning to and fro on the east side of the garden of Eden to guard the path to the tree of life.
Cain and Seth
The human made love to Eve, his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have acquired a man with Yahweh.” Later she also gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel was a shepherd, and Cain worked the ground. After a while, Cain brought some of his produce to Yahweh as a gift. Abel also brought the fatty parts of some of the firstborn from his flock. Yahweh was pleased with Abel and his gift, but he was not pleased with Cain and his gift.
So Cain became very angry and dejected. Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why do you look so dejected? If you do what is right, will you not be restored? But if you do not do what is right, sin is a crouching animal at the door. It desires you, but you must master it!”
Then Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. When they were in the field, Cain rose against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
Then Yahweh asked Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”
“I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?”
“What have you done!” exclaimed Yahweh. “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! Now you are cursed more than the ground that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield a harvest for you. Instead, you will wander aimlessly over the earth.”
Cain replied to Yahweh, “My punishment is too great to bear! Look! Today you’re driving me away from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your presence and will wander aimlessly over the earth. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
“On the contrary, anyone who kills Cain will receive sevenfold vengeance.” Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain so no one who found him would strike him. Then Cain left Yahweh’s presence and lived in the land of wandering, east of Eden.
Cain made love to his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. At that time, he was building a settlement, so he named it Enoch after his son. Enoch fathered Irad, Irad fathered Mehujael, Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
Lamech married two wives. The first was named Adah, and the second was named Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the predecessor of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother was named Jubal. He was the predecessor of all who play the lyre and flute. Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who sharpened bronze and iron into all kinds of tools. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice.
Wives of Lamech, listen to what I have to say.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a youth for striking me.
Seven times Cain is avenged,
and Lamech seventy-seven!”
Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth because “God has appointed another offspring for me in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. It was around this time that people began to call on Yahweh’s name.
The Descenants of Adam
This is the written record of the descendants of Adam:
When God created Adam, he created him to be like God. He created them male and female, and he blessed them and named them humanity when they were created.
Adam lived 130 years, and then he fathered a son like him, according to his own image, and named him Seth. After fathering Seth, Adam lived another 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years. Then he died.
Seth lived 105 years, and then he fathered Enosh. After fathering Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived 912 years. Then he died.
Enosh lived 90 years, and then he fathered Kenan. After fathering Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years. Then he died.
Kenan lived 70 years, and then he fathered Mahalalel. After fathering Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years. Then he died.
Mahalalel lived 65 years, and then he fathered Jared. After fathering Jared, Mahalalel lived another 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years. Then he died.
Jared lived 162 years, and then he fathered Enoch. After fathering Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years. Then he died.
Enoch lived 65 years, and then he fathered Methuselah. After fathering Methuselah, Enoch walked with God another 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God and then was no longer there because God had taken him.
Methuselah lived 187 years, and then he fathered Lamech. After fathering Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years. Then he died.
Lamech lived 182 years, and then he fathered a son. He named him Noah because “this one will bring us relief from the pain our hands have endured from working the ground Yahweh cursed.” After fathering Noah, Lamech lived another 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years. Then he died.
Noah lived 500 years, and then he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
As humanity began to increase across the face of the earth, daughters were also born to them. The sons of God saw that the daughters of humanity were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then Yahweh said, “My breath will not remain in humanity forever because they are flesh. Their lifespan will be 120 years.”
The mighty warlords were on the earth in those days, and also later on, when the sons of God would go in to the daughters of humanity, who would bear them children. They were the famous warriors of old.
Yahweh saw that the evil of humanity had become great on the earth. All the plans they devised were completely evil all the time. Yahweh regretted having made humanity on the earth, and it broke his heart. So he said, “I will wipe from the land the humans I created—not just humans but also the animals, the creatures that glide along the ground, and the birds in the sky. I regret having made them.”
But Yahweh was gracious to Noah.
The Descendants of Noah
These are the descendants of Noah, a righteous man who was blameless among the people of his generation and who walked with God:
Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Now the earth stood ruined before God. It was filled with injustice. God saw the earth and how thoroughly ruined it was because of the ruined behavior of all the creatures on the earth. So God said to Noah, “I have decided to bring an end to all creatures because they have filled the earth with injustice. Therefore, I will ruin them along with the earth!
“Make yourself a ship of cypress wood, divide it into stalls, and coat it with pitch inside and out. Make the ship three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, and set it a cubit above the top of the walls. Put the door of the ship on one side, and make three decks inside of it.
“Then I will cover the earth with floodwater to ruin every creature under the sky that has the breath of life in it. Everything on the earth will die. But I will confirm my covenant with you. You will enter the ship with your sons, your wife, and your daughters-in-law.
“As for all living things, you are to take male and female pairs of every creature into the ship so they remain alive. Pairs of every kind of bird, every kind of animal, and every kind of creature that glides along the ground will come to you to remain alive. Gather all kinds of food, whatever you need so that you and the animals will have food.”
Noah obeyed. He did everything exactly the way God had commanded him.
The Flood
Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Board the ship with your family, for I have seen that you are the only one among the people of this generation who does what I say is right. Take with you seven pairs of all the clean animals, each one with its mate. Take one pair of all the animals that are not clean, each one with its mate. And take seven male and female pairs of the birds in the sky. Do this to preserve their offspring throughout the earth.
“Only seven more days remain before I send rain that will fall on the earth night and day for forty days. I will wipe from the land everything I made.”
Noah did everything exactly the way Yahweh commanded him. He was 600 years old when the flood inundated the earth. At that time, he boarded the ship with his sons, his wife, and his daughters-in-law to escape the floodwaters along with some of the clean animals, some of the animals that are not clean, and some of the birds and the creatures that glide along the ground. Two at a time, they came to Noah, and each male and female pair boarded the ship, just as God had commanded him.
After those seven days, the floodwaters inundated the earth. On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, the springs of the great deep were split apart, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The downpour inundated the earth night and day for forty days.
On that same day, Noah had boarded the ship with his sons—
Shem, Ham, and Japheth—
his wife, and his three daughters-in-law. With them was every kind of wild animal, every kind of livestock, every kind of creature that glides along the ground, and every kind of bird and winged creature. Some of every creature that has the breath of life came to Noah and boarded the ship two at a time. Males and females of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then Yahweh shut the door behind him.
The flood inundated the earth for forty days. As the water rose, it lifted the ship up above the earth. The water triumphed over the earth, rising dramatically, but the ship floated on the surface of the water.
The water triumphed so completely over the earth that it covered all the highest mountains under the entire sky. The water triumphed until it covered the mountains by fifteen cubits. Every creature that moved on the land died—the birds, the livestock, the wild animals, the creatures that glide along the ground, and all of humanity.
Everything on dry ground that lived by breathing the breath of life died. God wiped out all existence from the surface of the ground. The humans, the animals, the creatures that glide along the ground, and the birds in the sky were wiped from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ship remained. The water triumphed over the earth for one hundred and fifty days.
Then God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the ship. God made the wind blow over the earth so the water would recede. The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the sky closed, and it stopped raining.
The water on the earth returned gradually and receded starting from the end of the one hundred and fifty days. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship ran aground in the mountains of Ararat. The water continued receding until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.
Forty days later, Noah opened the window he had made in the ship and sent out a raven. It flew around until the earth had dried. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water over the ground had abated. But the dove found nowhere to perch. It returned to Noah in the ship because the water still covered the earth. So he stretched out his hand and brought it back inside.
He waited another seven days and sent the dove out of the ship again. That evening, it returned to him holding a fresh olive leaf in its beak. In this way, Noah discovered that the water on the earth had abated. He waited another seven days and again sent out the dove, but this time it did not return to him.
On the first day of the first month, when Noah was 601 years old, the water no longer covered the earth. When Noah removed the covering from the ship, he saw that the surface of the ground was no longer covered in water. On the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.
The Covenant with Noah
Then God said to Noah, “Leave the ship with your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law. Bring out all the animals with you, some of every creature—the birds, the livestock, and the creatures that glide along the ground. They will disperse throughout the earth and be fruitful and increase on it.”
So Noah left the ship with his sons, his wife, and his daughters-in-law. All the animals, all the creatures that glide along the ground, and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—left the ship, each with its own kind.
Noah built an altar to Yahweh and offered some of the clean livestock and the clean birds as burnt offerings on it. When Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma, he thought to himself, “Never again will I show contempt for the ground on account of humanity, because the plans of humanity are evil from youth! Therefore, never again will I destroy all life as I have done.
While the earth still exists,
sowing and reaping,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, “Be fruitful and increase, filling the earth! All the animals on earth, all the birds in the sky, all the creatures that glide along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will be terrified of you. I now give you full control over them. You may eat anything alive that moves. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. Nevertheless, you must not eat meat that still contains blood, for that is its life.
“But for your blood—your lives—I will hold all accountable. I will hold all the animals accountable, and I will also hold all humanity accountable for human life.
Those who shed human blood,
by humanity will their blood be shed.
For God made humanity as his own image.
But as for you, be fruitful and increase. Disperse throughout the earth and increase on it.”
Then God said to Noah and his sons, “As for me, I am about to confirm my covenant with you, your offspring to come after you, and every living creature with you: the birds, the livestock, and all the animals of the earth, including all those that left the ship and every animal that will ever live on the earth. I confirm my covenant with you that the floodwaters will never again kill all creatures and a flood will never again destroy the earth.
“This is the sign of the covenant I am enacting between me and you and every living creature with you for all the generations to come. I have placed my bow in the clouds as a covenantal sign between me and the earth. When I spread clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature.
“Never again will the floodwaters destroy all creatures. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.
“This is the sign of the covenant I have confirmed between me and all creatures on the earth.”
The sons of Noah, who left the ship, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. The population of the entire earth spread out from these three sons of Noah.
Now Noah started farming the land and planted a vineyard. One day, he drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself in the middle of his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers, who were outside. So Shem and Japheth took a cloak and laid it across their shoulders. They both walked backward to cover their father. Because their faces were turned away, they did not see his nakedness.
When Noah woke up from his drunken stupor, he found out what his youngest son had done to him. He said, “Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.”
He also said:
“Blessed be Yahweh,
the God of Shem.
May Canaan serve them!
May God make room for Japheth.
May he dwell among the tents of Shem.
May Canaan serve them!”
After the flood, Noah lived another 350 years. Altogether, Noah lived 950 years. Then he died.
The Descendants of Noah’s Sons
These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the children born to them after the flood:
The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, and he was also the ancestor of the Kittites and Rodanites. From his descendants, the people across the sea branched out into their own lands, each with its own language, according to their families within their nations.
The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteka. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
Cush was the ancestor of Nimrod, who became a great warrior on the earth. He was a skilled hunter in Yahweh’s presence, which is the origin of the proverb “like Nimrod, a skilled hunter in Yahweh’s presence.” The major cities of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, and Akkad, all in the land of Shinar. From that land, the Assyrians went forth and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah, the great city.
Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Casluhites (where the Philistines came from), and Caphtorites. Canaan fathered Sidon (his firstborn) and Heth, and he was also the ancestor of the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. The families of the Canaanites spread out until their borders reached from Sidon to Gerar, from Gaza to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, and all the way to Lasha. These were the descendants of Ham according to their families and languages within their territories and nations.
Shem also had children. He was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber and the brother of Japheth, who was the eldest. The sons of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arphaxad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.
Eber fathered two sons. One was named Peleg because the earth was divided during his lifetime. His brother’s name was Joktan. Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these sons of Joktan lived between Mesha and the eastern hill country of Sephar. These were the descendants of Shem according to their families and languages within their territories and nations.
These were the families of Noah’s sons according to their descendants within their nations. From them the nations of the earth branched out after the flood.
Now at one time, everyone on earth spoke the same language and the same dialect. As they traveled eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and decided to settle there.
They said to each other, “Let’s make bricks and bake them until they harden.” They used bricks instead of stones and pitch instead of mortar.
Then they said, “Let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches heaven! We will make a name for ourselves so we won’t be scattered throughout the world.”
Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower humanity was building. He said, “Look at this! Since they are one people with the same language, this is only the beginning of what they will do. Now nothing they plan will be impossible for them. Let’s go down to mix up their language so they won’t be able to understand each other anymore.”
In this way, Yahweh dispersed them throughout the earth. So they stopped building the city. Therefore, it was called Babylon because that’s where Yahweh mixed up the world’s language and dispersed humanity throughout the earth.
The Descendants of Shem
These are the descendants of Shem:
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arphaxad. After fathering Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
Arphaxad lived 35 years, and then he fathered Shelah. After fathering Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Shelah lived 30 years, and then he fathered Eber. After fathering Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Eber lived 34 years, and then he fathered Peleg. After fathering Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
Peleg lived 30 years, and then he fathered Reu. After fathering Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
Reu lived 32 years, and then he fathered Serug. After fathering Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
Serug lived 30 years, and then he fathered Nahor. After fathering Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
Nahor lived 29 years, and then he fathered Terah. After fathering Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
Terah lived 70 years, and then he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Descendants of Terah
These are the descendants of Terah:
Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, the father of Lot. Haran died in his homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father was still alive. Abram and Nahor both married. Abram married Sarai, and Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. But Sarai had no children because she was barren.
Terah left Ur of the Chaldeans with his son Abram, his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram. They were headed toward Canaan, but when they arrived at Harran, they settled there. Terah died in Harran at the age of 205.
Abram’s Call
Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your homeland, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make a great nation from you, I will bless you, and I will make you famous so you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you, but anyone who shows contempt for you I will curse. Through you, every family on earth will be blessed.” So Abram left just as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Harran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, all the possessions they had acquired, and the people who joined their household in Harran. They set out for the land of Canaan.
When they arrived there, Abram traveled through the land until he reached the oak of Moreh, Shechem’s sacred site. At that time the Canaanites inhabited the land, but Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So there Abram built an altar to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
Then he continued on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and camped with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He also built an altar to Yahweh there and called on Yahweh’s name. Then Abram continued gradually traveling south.
Abram in Egypt
Later, the land was struck by famine. So Abram went to stay in Egypt for a while because the famine was severe. As he approached the Egyptian border, he said to Sarai, his wife, “You are so beautiful that when the Egyptians see you and realize you’re my wife, they’ll kill me but leave you alive. I would like you to say you’re my sister. That way, they’ll treat me kindly and let me live because of you.”
As Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman was indeed very beautiful. The pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her before the pharaoh. So they took her to his palace. The pharaoh treated Abram kindly because of her. As a result, he had flocks, herds, donkeys, servants, and camels.
But Yahweh sent terrible plagues against the pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So the pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she’s your wife? Why did you say she’s your sister so that I took her to be my own wife? But now, here is your wife! Take her and go!”
Then the pharaoh commanded his men to send Abram away along with his wife and everything he owned. So Abram left Egypt and returned to the Negev with his wife and everything he owned. And Lot was with him as well.
Lot’s Departure
Abram was very wealthy and had livestock, silver, and gold. He continued his journey, gradually moving from the Negev to Bethel, until he arrived at the place between Bethel and Ai where he had camped before. At the altar he had previously built there, Abram called on Yahweh’s name.
Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and people. They had so many animals the land could not support them living together, and a conflict arose between the servants who tended Abram’s animals and the servants who tended Lot’s animals. There were also Canaanites and Perizzites living there at that time.
So Abram said to Lot, “There should be no conflict between us or between our servants. We’re family! Isn’t the whole land in front of you? You should separate yourself from me. If you choose to g o left, I’ll go right. If you choose to go right, I’ll go left.”
So Lot looked around and saw that the entire Jordan Valley was well watered all the way to Zoar. Before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, it was like the garden of Yahweh and like the land of Egypt. Then Lot chose for himself the entire Jordan Valley and traveled east. In this way, they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived among the cities of the valley and camped near Sodom. But the people of Sodom were evil and committed horrible sins against Yahweh.
After Lot departed, Yahweh said to Abram, “I would like you to look around from where you are. Look to the north, south, east, and west because I will give all the land you see to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as numerous as the dust on the earth. Just as no one can count the dust, no one will be able to count your offspring. Go walk around through the length and breadth of the land because I give it to you.”
Then Abram moved his camp and went to live near the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to Yahweh.
Blessings and Curses
During the reigns of Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Kedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Tidal, who was king over several nations, the kings went to war. They attacked Bera, king of Sodom; Birsha, king of Gomorrah; Shinab, king of Admah; Shemeber, king of Zeboim; and the king of Bela (now called Zoar), who all joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (now the Dead Sea).
Now Kedorlaomer had subjugated these five kings for twelve years, but they rebelled against him in the thirteenth year. So in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and his allies came.
On the way, they defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in the plain of Kiriathaim, and the Horites in the hill country of Seir all the way to El Paran on the edge of the desert. Then they turned back toward En Mishpat (now called Kadesh), and they conquered all the land of the Amalekites as well as the Amorites living in Hazazon Tamar.
So the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela (now called Zoar) went out to the Valley of Siddim and fought with Kedorlaomer, king of Elam; Tidal, who was king over several nations; Amraphel, king of Shinar; and Arioch, king of Ellasar. There were four kings against five.
The Valley of Siddim contained tar pit after tar pit. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, but the survivors fled to the hill country. Then the victors took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, including all their food, and left. They also captured Abram’s nephew Lot with all his possessions because he was living in Sodom.
One of the fugitives came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. The three of them had formed an alliance with Abram. When Abram heard his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth all 318 of his dedicated fighters, who were born in his household, and they pursued the invaders to Dan.
Then Abram divided his servants into groups and attacked the kings during the night, pursuing them all the way to Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the possessions, his nephew Lot with his possessions, and also the women along with rest of the people.
As Abram was returning from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allies, the king of Sodom met him in the Valley of Shaveh (now called the King’s Valley). Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram:
“May Abram be blessed by God Most High,
who owns the earth and the sky!
And blessed be God Most High,
who has given you power over your enemies!”
So Abram gave him a tenth of everything he had recovered.
Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Return the people to me, but keep the rest for yourself.”
Abram replied, “I have sworn an oath to Yahweh, God Most High, who owns the earth and the sky. I will take nothing that belongs to you, not even a sandal strap or a piece of string! You will not be able to say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’ I will accept only what my servants have eaten and the share that belongs to Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, who went with me. Let them have their share.”
The Covenant with Abram
Afterward, Abram heard the word of Yahweh in a vision. “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, and you will be abundantly rewarded.”
But Abram replied, “Lord Yahweh, what can you give me when I still don’t have any children? My heir is Eliezer of Damascus! Since you haven’t given me any offspring, a member of my household will inherit everything I have.”
Again, Abram heard the word of Yahweh. “Not this man but a son from your own body will inherit everything you have.”
Then Yahweh led him outside. “I would like for you to look up at the sky and count the stars—if you can! Your offspring will be just as numerous.”
Abram trusted Yahweh, so he credited him with righteousness.
Then Yahweh said, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
But Abram replied, “Lord Yahweh, how can I know I’ll possess it?”
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
So Abram brought the animals, cut them in half lengthwise, and placed the two halves across from each other. But he did not cut the birds in half. When carrion birds swooped down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Then, as the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a strong feeling of dark dread washed over him.
Yahweh said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that does not belong to them. They will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. But then I will judge the nation they serve, and they will leave with great wealth.
“As for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at an advanced age. And the fourth generation will return here, for the Amorites are not yet completely wicked.”
When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a burning flame appeared and passed between the pieces of the animals. At that time, Yahweh made a covenant with Abram. “To your offspring I give this land—the land from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates that belongs to the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
The Birth of Ishmael
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, still had no children. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, “Yahweh has prevented me from having children, so I want you to sleep with my servant. Maybe our family can grow through her.” Then Abram obeyed Sarai.
So Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave him Hagar, her Egyptian servant. Ten years after Abram settled in Canaan, she gave her to Abram, her husband, as his wife. Then Abram made love to Hagar, and she became pregnant.
When she realized she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress. So Sarai told Abram, “This injustice is your fault! I’m the one who put my servant in your arms. But now that she has realized she’s pregnant, she looks down on me. May Yahweh judge between us!”
“Look, your servant is under your authority,” replied Abram. “Do whatever you think is right!” Then Sarai treated her so badly she ran away.
Yahweh’s messenger found Hagar at a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur. “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from? And where are you going?”
“I’m running away from Sarai, my mistress.”
Then Yahweh’s messenger told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. I will greatly increase the number of your offspring. They will be too numerous to count.”
Then Yahweh’s messenger said:
“Your pregnancy will result
in the birth of a son.
You are to name him Ishmael
because Yahweh has heard about your suffering.
He will be a man like a wild donkey,
opposing everyone
and everyone opposing him.
So he will live with no regard for his brothers.”
Then Hagar named Yahweh, who spoke to her: “You are a God Who Sees.”
“Have I really looked upon the one who sees me?” she wondered. That’s why the well is called Beer Lahai Roi. It’s between Kadesh and Bered.
Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named the son Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son Ishmael.
The Sign of the Covenant
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to him. “I am God Almighty. Walk in my presence with integrity so I may fulfill my covenant with you by greatly increasing your numbers.” Then Abram bowed down before him.
God continued, “As for me, my covenant is with you. You will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram. Your name is now Abraham because I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and create nations from you. Kings will come forth from you.
“I will confirm my covenant with you and with your offspring after you in every generation as an eternal covenant to be your God and theirs. I will give to you and your offspring after you the land where you are a foreigner, the entire land of Canaan, as an eternal possession. And I will be their God.
“As for you, you and every generation of your offspring after you must keep my covenant. This is my covenant that you and your offspring after you must keep: every male must be circumcised. You must circumcise your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between us.
“At eight days old, all males in every generation must be circumcised, even those who are not your offspring but are born into your household or purchased from a foreigner. Whether born into your household or purchased, they must certainly be circumcised. In this way, your bodies will bear the mark of my eternal covenant. Any uncircumcised male who refuses to have his foreskin circumcised will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.
“As for Sarai, your wife, you will no longer call her Sarai because her name is now Sarah. I will bless her by giving you another son through her. I will bless her so she will bring forth nations. Kings will trace their ancestry to her.”
Then Abraham bowed down before him and laughed, wondering, “Can a one-hundred-year-old man really father a child? Or can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in your presence!”
God replied, “Sarah, your wife, will certainly give birth to a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will bless him by making him fruitful and greatly increasing his numbers. He will father twelve rulers and grow into a great nation. But my covenant I will confirm with Isaac, the son Sarah will give birth to around this time next year.” When God finished speaking with Abraham, he left.
So on that same day, Abraham circumcised Ishmael, his son, all those born into his household, and all those he had purchased—all the men in his household—just as God had told him to. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen. Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were both circumcised on that same day. All the men in his household, whether born into his household or purchased from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
The Three Visitors
Yahweh appeared to Abraham again near the oaks of Mamre when he was sitting in the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. When Abraham looked up, he saw three men standing near him. He ran to meet them and bowed down before them.
Abraham said, “Please, my Lord, favor me by not passing by your servant. Allow me to bring you a little water so you can wash your feet and rest in the shade of the tree. Then allow me to bring a few pieces of bread to restore your strength before you continue your journey. For this is the reason you have passed near your servant.”
“Do as you have said,” they replied.
Abraham hurried to Sarah in the tent. “Hurry! Three seahs of the best wheat flour! Knead and make bread!” Then Abraham ran to the herd to select a tender and tasty calf. He gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
Abraham brought out fresh milk and soured milk, along with the calf he had prepared, and set everything before the visitors. He stood near them under the tree while they ate.
Then they asked him, “Where is your wife, Sarah?”
“There, in the tent,” he replied.
“Next spring, I will certainly return here. By then your wife, Sarah, will have given birth to a son.”
Now Sarah was behind him at the entrance to the tent, listening. Abraham and Sarah were both old, and Sarah had passed menopause. So she laughed to herself and thought, “Will I finally have this pleasure after I am worn out? And my lord is also old!”
Then Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she wonder, ‘Could I really give birth to a child now that I am old?’ Is that too amazing for Yahweh to do? At the appointed time next spring, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah was afraid and denied it. “I did not laugh.”
“Yes, you did.”
When the men left, they went to look down over Sodom. Abraham also went with them to see them on their way. Yahweh thought, “Should I hide what I’m doing from Abraham? He will certainly become a great and powerful nation. Through him, every nation on earth will be blessed because I have chosen him to instruct his children and his household after him. They will follow Yahweh’s way by doing what is right and just so I may do for Abraham what I promised.”
So Yahweh said, “How profuse is the cry from Sodom and Gomorrah! How terrible their sin! I need to go down to see if they’ve really done everything I’ve heard about. If not, I’ll know.” Then the men turned away and headed toward Sodom. But Yahweh stayed behind with Abraham.
Abraham moved closer. “Would you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty? There may be fifty innocent people in the city. Would you still sweep them away and not forgive the place for the sake of the fifty innocents in it? Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing—putting to death the innocent with the guilty! Should the innocent and the guilty be treated the same? Surely not! Shouldn’t the Judge of the whole earth judge fairly?”
“If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom,” Yahweh replied, “I’ll forgive the entire place for their sake.”
Abraham answered, “I’ve dared to speak to my Lord, although I’m nothing but dust and ashes! But there may be five fewer than fifty innocents. Would you destroy the entire city for the lack of five people?”
“I won’t destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
“But you may find only forty.”
“I won’t do this for the sake of forty.”
Abraham continued, “Please don’t be angry with me for speaking, my Lord! You may find only thirty there.”
“I won’t do this if I find thirty there.”
“Again I’ve dared to speak to my Lord! But you may find only twenty there.”
“I won’t destroy it for the sake of twenty.”
Then Abraham said, “Please don’t be angry with me for speaking just one more time. But you may find only ten there.”
“I won’t destroy it for the sake of ten.”
Yahweh left when he had finished speaking with Abraham. So Abraham returned to his camp.
Lot’s Downfall
The two angels arrived in Sodom that evening while Lot was sitting near the gateway. When he saw them, he went to meet them and bowed down before them. “Please, my lords, come this way to your servant’s house to wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and continue on your way.”
“No, thank you. We can sleep in the town square.”
But Lot persisted, so they followed him to his house. He baked unleavened bread and prepared a feast, which they ate. Before they went to bed, all the men of Sodom, young and old, surrounded the house. They called out to Lot, “Where are the men staying with you tonight? Bring them out so we can have sex with them!”
So Lot stepped outside the house and closed the door behind him. “Please, my friends, don’t do anything so terrible! Look! I have two daughters who are virgins. Please, let me bring them out, and you can do to them as you please. But don’t do anything to these men who have come under the protection of my roof.”
“Get over here, you!” they responded. “This foreigner came to live here, and now he wants to judge us! We’ll do far worse to you than to them.” They relentlessly persisted and drew closer to break down the door.
So the visitors reached out and pulled Lot back into the house with them. Then they shut the door. They confused the vision of the men in front of the house, young and old, so they grew frustrated trying to find the door.
Then the visitors asked Lot, “Who is still here who belongs to you—a son-in-law or your sons and daughters? Get everyone in the city who belongs to you out of here! We are going to destroy this place because the outcry that has come before Yahweh is so great that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.”
So Lot left to tell his sons-in-law, who married his daughters. “Get out of here! Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was mocking them.
At daybreak, the angels urged Lot, “Go! Take your wife and the two daughters you have here so you won’t be swept away when the city is punished!” But he hesitated, so they grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. Because Yahweh had compassion on him, they led him out of the city.
As soon as they had brought them outside, one said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Run for the hills so you won’t be swept away!”
But Lot begged them, “Please, no, my Lord! You have been gracious to your servant and have shown your great faithfulness to me by saving my life. But I can’t escape to the hills before this disaster overtakes me. I I’ll die! Look! There’s a town close enough to flee to, and it’s small. Please allow me to escape there. Isn’t it small? Then I’ll live.”
“Fine,” he replied “I will also do this for you. I will not destroy the town you speak of. Now hurry and escape! I can’t do anything until you arrive there.”
That’s why the town is called Zoar.
As the sun rose, Lot reached Zoar. Then Yahweh rained burning sulfur down on Sodom and Gomorrah. It came from Yahweh in heaven. He destroyed these cities and the entire valley, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew there. Behind Lot, his wife looked back, and she became a salt formation.
Abraham rose early that morning and returned to the place where he had stood in Yahweh’s presence. He looked down over Sodom, Gomorrah, and the entire valley and saw smoke rising from the land like smoke from a kiln.
So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, he remembered Abraham and sent Lot away from the cataclysm that destroyed the cities where Lot lived.
Then Lot left Zoar with his two daughters to live in the hill country because he was afraid to stay in Zoar. Instead he and his two daughters lived in a cave.
The firstborn said to the younger daughter, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the world to sleep with us, as is the custom everywhere on earth. Let’s make our father drunk with wine and sleep with him. That way we can produce offspring from our father.”
That very night, they made their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn slept with her father. He was unaware when she lay down and when she got up.
The next day, the firstborn said to her younger sister, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let’s make him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you go and sleep with him so we can produce offspring from our father.”
That very night, they made their father drunk with wine again, and the younger sister slept with him. He was unaware when she lay down and when she got up.
Both of Lot’s daughters become pregnant by their father. The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the present-day Moabites. The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi. He is the ancestor of the present-day Ammonites.
Abraham and Abimelech
Then Abraham traveled to the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. While staying in Gerar, he claimed Sarah was his sister. So Abimelech, king of Gerar, took her.
One night, God spoke to Abimelech in a dream. “You are as good as dead because of the woman you took. She has a husband!”
Abimelech, who had not approached her, replied, “My Lord, would you kill an innocent nation? Didn’t he tell me she’s his sister? And didn’t she also say he’s her brother? I did this innocently, with the best of intentions.”
In the dream, God said, “Yes, I know you did this innocently. I am the one who prevented you from sinning against me by not allowing you to touch her. Now return the man’s wife. Because he is a prophet, he will pray for you so you will live. But if you don’t return her, know that you and all who belong to you will certainly die.”
The next morning, Abimelech rose early and summoned all his servants. When he told them about his dream, they were terrified.
Then Abimelech summoned Abraham. “What have you done to us? What did I do to you that you would cause me and my kingdom to commit such a terrible sin? Who would do such a thing! What were you thinking that led you to do this?”
Abraham answered, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, so they’ll kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister. She’s my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s, and she became my wife. When God made me stray from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your devotion to me: wherever we go, tell people I’m your brother.’”
Abimelech gave Abraham flocks, herds, and slaves, and he returned Sarah to him. “Look, my land is before you! You may live wherever you like.”
Then he said to Sarah, “Here, I give a thousand shekels of silver to your brother to exonerate you in the eyes of everyone with you. You are vindicated!”
So Abraham prayed to God, and God restored Abimelech, his wife, and his maidservants so they could have children again. Yahweh had made everyone in Abimelech’s household infertile because of Abraham’s wife, Sarah.
Isaac and Ishmael
Yahweh watched over Sarah just as he had said and did for Sarah what he had promised.
At the time God appointed, Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was old. Abraham named the son Sarah bore to him Isaac, and he circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded. Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah said, “God has made me laugh! And all who hear will laugh with me. Who told Abraham Sarah would nurse children? Now he is old, but I have given him a son.”
The child grew and was weaned. So Abraham prepared a feast to celebrate Isaac’s weaning. When Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian—the son she had given birth to for Abraham—celebrating, Sarah said to Abraham, “Drive this slave and her son away! This slave’s son will not share the inheritance with my son, Isaac!”
This infuriated Abraham because of his son, but God said to him, “Don’t be angry about the boy and your slave. Obey everything Sarah tells you because your offspring will come through Isaac. But I will also make the slave’s son into a nation because he is your offspring.”
The next morning, Abraham rose early, placed some food and a full waterskin on Hagar’s shoulders, gave her the child, and sent her off.
Hagar left and wandered lost in the wilderness of Beersheba until the waterskin was empty. Then she dragged the child under a shrub and went to sit by herself about a bowshot away. “I can’t bear to watch the child die!” she wept.
When God heard the boy’s voice, God’s messenger called out to Hagar from heaven. “What’s the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy’s voice from over there. Go help him up and support him because I will make a great nation from him.” Then God revealed to her a well, and she went to fill the waterskin and give the boy a drink.
God was with the boy as he grew, and he lived in the wilderness as an archer. While he was living in the wilderness of Paran, his mother found an Egyptian wife for him.
The Treaty of Beersheba
At that time, Abimelech and Phicol, his military commander, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you’re doing. So swear by God that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. Treat me and the land where you are a foreigner as faithfully as I have treated you.”
Abraham responded, “I swear.”
Then Abraham confronted Abimelech about a well Abimelech’s servants had seized. Abimelech replied, “I have no idea who did this. You didn’t tell me, and this is the first I’ve heard about it.”
So Abraham gave sheep and cattle to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. But Abraham set aside seven female lambs, so Abimelech asked him, “What have you set these seven lambs aside for?”
“Accept the seven lambs from me so you may be a witness that I dug this well.” That’s why the place where the two of them swore an oath is called Beersheba.
After making the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, his military commander, returned to the land of the Philistines. Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and called on the name of Yahweh, the Eternal God. He lived in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
Abraham’s Test
Afterward, God tested Abraham:
“Abraham!” God said.
“Yes? I’m here.”
“Please take your son, your beloved only child, Isaac, to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him as a burnt offering there on the mountain I will show you.”
The next morning, Abraham rose early, saddled his donkey, took two young men and his son Isaac with him, and chopped the firewood for the burnt offering. Then he set out for the place God had told him about.
On the third day, Abraham looked and saw the place in the distance. He told the young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship, and then we will return.”
Abraham placed the firewood for the burnt offering to Isaac, his son. But he carried the fire and the knife himself. Then the two of them continued on together.
Isaac said to his father, Abraham, “Father?”
“What is it, my son?”
“We have the fire and the firewood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
“God will provide the sheep for the burnt offering himself, my son,” Abraham replied. Then the two of them continued on together.
When they arrived at the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the firewood. Then he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the firewood on top of the altar. He reached out and readied the knife to kill his son. But Yahweh’s messenger called out from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes? I’m here!”
“Don’t hurt the boy! Do him no harm! Now I know you fear God because you have not denied me even your son, your only child.”
Then Abraham looked around and saw a ram with its horns caught in a thicket. He took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham named that place Yahweh Yireh, which is the origin of the proverb said today “On Yahweh’s mountain it is provided.”
Yahweh’s messenger called out from heaven a second time, “Yahweh proclaims, ‘By myself I swear that because you have done this and have not denied me even your son, your only child, I will certainly bless you by making your offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will take possession of his enemies’ cities. Through your offspring, every nation on earth will continue to be blessed because you have obeyed me.’”
Then Abraham returned to the young men, and together they set out for Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.
Afterward, Abraham received news that Milcah and his brother Nahor also had children: Uz (the firstborn), his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. It is Bethuel who fathered Rebekah. These are the eight sons of Milcah and Abraham’s brother Nahor. Nahor’s concubine, Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
The Field in Machpelah
Sarah lived 127 years. She died in Kiriath Arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourned and wept for her. After the time of mourning passed, he went to speak with the Hittites. “I am a foreigner who has settled here with you. Grant me possession of a burial site where I may bury my dead.”
The Hittites replied, “Please hear us out, my lord! You are a mighty ruler in our midst. Bury your dead in the best of our burial sites. No one among us will refuse to let you bury your dead in his burial site.”
Abraham stood up and then bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. “If you accept that I may bury my dead, hear me out. Intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will grant me the cave in Machpelah on the edge of his field for the full value. Let him grant me possession of it in your presence to use as a burial site.”
Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people, so he answered Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites, the citizens of the town. “No, my lord, hear me out! I grant you the field as well as the cave that is in it. I grant it to you here before my people. Go ahead and bury your dead.”
Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. He spoke to Ephron in their hearing. “Nevertheless, please hear me out! I will pay you the value of the field. Accept it from me so I may bury my dead there.”
Ephron replied, “Please, my lord, hear me out! What is a piece of land worth just four hundred shekels of silver between you and me? Go ahead and bury your dead.”
Abraham accepted Ephron’s offer and weighed out the amount he spoke of in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver according to the weight used by the merchants.
So Ephron sold his field in Machpelah, on the outskirts of Mamre. He sold the field, the cave, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field to Abraham before all the Hittites, the citizens of the town. Then Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field in Machpelah, on the outskirts of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave in it were sold to Abraham by the Hittites to be a burial site.
Isaac’s Marriage
Now Abraham had grown old, and Yahweh had blessed him in every way. He said to his chief steward, who was responsible for everything he owned, “I would like you to take a solemn oath and swear by Yahweh, the God of the earth and the sky, that you will not arrange a marriage between my son and any Canaanite woman here where I live. Instead, you must go to my homeland and to my people to find a wife for my son Isaac.”
“What if the woman is not willing to return here with me?” the servant asked. “Should I really take your son to the land you left?”
“Under no circumstance will you take my son there! Yahweh, the God of heaven, took me from my father’s household and from the land of my people and swore to give this land to my offspring. He will send his messenger before you to help you find a wife for my son there. But if she is not willing to leave with you, you will be free from this oath. But you must not take my son back there!”
So the servant solemnly swore this oath to his master, Abraham. Then he took ten of his master’s camels and all the best of his master’s wealth and set out for Nahor’s city in Aram Naharaim.
Outside the city, he had the camels kneel by the well in the evening, when the women come out to draw water. He prayed, “Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please show your faithfulness to my master by accomplishing this task for me today. Look! I’m standing by the spring, and the women of the city are coming out to draw water. I will say to a girl, ‘Please lower your jar so I may have a drink.’ Let the one who replies ‘Drink, and I will also draw water for your camels’ be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This is how I will know that you have shown your faithfulness to my master.”
Even before he finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah. The girl was a very beautiful young virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and returned. Then the servant ran to meet her. “Please, may I have a sip of the water in your jar?”
“Drink, my lord,” she answered, quickly lowering her jar into her hands so she could give him a drink.
When he had finished drinking, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have drunk their fill.” Then she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to draw more water from the well. She drew enough to satisfy all his camels. The man silently watched her, wanting to know whether Yahweh had made his journey successful.
When the camels had drunk their fill, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing half a shekel and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. “Who is your father?” he asked. “Please tell me whether there is any room in your father’s house for us to stay the night.”
“I’m the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor and Milcah,” she answered. “We have plenty of straw and feed and also room for the night.”
The man bowed low, prostrating himself before Yahweh. “May Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, be blessed! He has not failed to show true faithfulness to my master. And even me! He has led me straight to the family of my master’s brothers.”
The girl ran to tell her mother’s family everything that happened. Rebekah’s brother, Laban, ran out to meet the man at the spring as soon as he saw the nose ring and the bracelets his sister was wearing and heard Rebekah recount what the man had said to her. He found the man still standing by the spring with the camels.
“Come with me, you who are blessed by Yahweh!” he said. “Why are you still standing outside? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So the man went to their house. After the baggage was unloaded, the camels were given straw and feed. Then the steward and the men with him were given water to wash their feet.
When the meal was set out, the steward said, “I will not eat until I have said what I came to say.”
“Please tell us.”
“I’m Abraham’s servant,” he said. “Yahweh has greatly blessed my master, so he has prospered. He has given him flocks, herds, silver, gold, servants, camels, and donkeys. And Sarah, my master’s wife, gave birth to a son although she had grown old. My master has given his son everything he has.
“My master made me swear I would not arrange a marriage between his son and any Canaanite woman in the land where he lives. Instead, he sent me to his father’s household, to his family, to find a wife for his son.
“When I asked my master what I should do if the woman would not return with me, he replied, ‘Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his messenger with you. He will make your journey successful, helping you find a wife for my son from my family, from my father’s household. You will be free from my curse only when you go to my family. Even if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my curse.’
“Today, when I arrived at the spring, I prayed to Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, ‘Please make this journey I’m on successful. Look! I’m standing by the spring. When a young woman comes out to draw water, I’ll ask her to please give me a sip of water from her jar. Let the one who offers to both give me a drink and draw water for the camels be the one Yahweh has chosen for my master’s son.’
“I had not yet finished my silent prayer when Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring to draw water, and I asked her to please give me a drink. She quickly lowered her jar and said, ‘Drink, and I will also get water for your camels.’ So I drank, and she also got water for the camels.
“I asked her who her father is, and she replied, ‘I’m the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor and Milcah.’ Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. I bowed low, prostrating myself, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right path to find the granddaughter of my master’s brother as a wife for his son.
“Now tell me whether you will show true faithfulness to my master. If not, I’ll turn elsewhere.”
Laban and Bethuel answered, “Yahweh has decided. There is nothing more for us to say. Here is Rebekah! Take her with you so she may marry your master’s son, just as Yahweh has decreed.”
When Abraham’s servant heard these words, he bowed down before Yahweh. Then he brought out garments and gifts of silver and gold that he gave to Rebekah. He also gave costly gifts to her brother and mother.
The servant and the men with him ate and drank and then spent the night there. When they awoke the next morning, the servant said, “Allow me to return to my master.”
But her brother and mother replied, “Let the girl stay with us a few more days before she leaves.”
“Don’t detain me. Now that Yahweh has made my journey successful, allow me to return to my master.”
So they suggested, “Let’s call for the girl and ask her opinion.”
They called for Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”
“Yes, I’ll go,” she answered.
So they sent off their sister Rebekah with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. They blessed her, “Our sister, may you have thousands upon thousands of descendants. May your offspring take possession of the cities of any who hate him.” Then Rebekah and her maids left. Riding on the camels, they followed the servant. So the servant left with Rebekah.
Now Isaac had returned from Beer Lahai Roi, where he was living in the Negev. In the early evening, he went out to the fields to think. When he looked up, he saw the camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac, so she jumped down from the camel. “Who’s this man walking toward us in the field?”
“He’s my master,” replied the servant. So she covered her face with her veil.
Then the servant told Isaac everything that had happened. So Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He married Rebekah, and his love for her comforted him after the death of his mother.
The Death of Abraham
Abraham married again. His wife’s name was Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan, and Dedan was the ancestor of the Ashurites, Letushites, and Leummites. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Enoch, Abida, and Eldah. These were all descendants of Keturah.
Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still alive, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them east, away from his son Isaac.
Abraham lived 175 years. He died at an advanced age, old and content, and was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave in Machpelah, in the field on the outskirts of Mamre that had belonged to Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. Abraham bought the field from the Hittites, and he and his wife Sarah were buried there.
After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived at Beer Lahai Roi.
The Descendants of Ishmael
These are the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael, the son born to Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant:
These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, according to the names given to their descendants: Nebaioth (Ishmael’s firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their settlements and encampments—twelve rulers according to their tribes.
Ishmael lived 137 years. He died and was gathered to his people. His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, on the border of Egypt heading toward Ashur. He spread out with no regard for his brothers.
The Descendants of Isaac
These are the descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac:
Abraham was the father of Isaac. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah. She was the daughter of Bethuel and sister of Laban, Arameans from Paddan Aram.
Isaac’s wife was barren, so he prayed to Yahweh on her behalf. Yahweh heard his prayer, and his wife, Rebekah, became pregnant. The babies in her womb pushed against each other, and she wondered, “Why is this happening to me?”
So Rebekah went to ask Yahweh about it. Yahweh responded:
“Two nations are in your womb.
Two separate peoples will come from you.
One will be stronger than the other,
and the older one will serve the younger.”
When the time for her to deliver came, she gave birth to twins. The first to come out had a ruddy complexion, and hair covered his whole body like a cloak. They named him Esau. Then his brother came out holding on to Esau’s heel. They named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when his sons were born.
When the boys grew up, Esau learned to hunt and was an avid outdoorsman. Jacob was a man of integrity who stayed close to home. Isaac loved the taste of wild game, so he favored Esau. But Rebekah favored Jacob.
One day, Jacob cooked some soup. When Esau came in from hunting, he was famished. “Please give me a swallow of the red stuff—that red stuff there. I’m famished!” That’s why he was called Edom.
Jacob replied, “Then trade me your birthright as of today.”
“I’m starving to death!” said Esau. “What good will a birthright do me?”
“Swear to me as of today.” So Esau swore. He traded his birthright to Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil soup. After eating and drinking, Esau got up and left. In this way, he showed his disdain for his birthright.
Isaac and Abimelech
Now the land was struck by another famine, in addition to the famine during Abraham’s time. So Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines in Gerar.
Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Don’t go to Egypt! Settle where I tell you. Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you because I will give all these lands to you and your offspring. I confirm the oath I swore to your father, Abraham. I will multiply your offspring like the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. Through your offspring, every nation on earth will continue to be blessed because Abraham obeyed me. He dutifully kept my commands, decrees, and teachings.”
So Isaac lived in Gerar. When the men living there asked about his wife, he told them she was his sister. He was afraid that if he told them she was his wife, they would kill him because of how beautiful she was.
After they had lived there for some time, Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, looked through a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife, Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac. “Look! She’s clearly your wife! How could you claim she’s your sister?”
Isaac replied, “I was afraid I would die because of her.”
“What have you done to us! It would not have taken much for someone to sleep with your wife. Then you would have made us guilty!”
So Abimelech commanded all of his people, “Anyone who lays a finger on this man or his wife will certainly be put to death!”
Isaac planted crops in that land, and that year he reaped one hundred times as much as he sowed. Yahweh blessed him, and he grew richer and richer until he was exceedingly wealthy. Isaac had so many flocks, herds, and servants that the Philistines grew envious of him. They stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug when Abraham was alive. They filled them all with dirt. Abimelech told Isaac, “Move away from us. You have become much too powerful for us.”
So Isaac left there and camped in the Wadi Gerar, where he settled for a while. He redug the wells dug when his father, Abraham, was alive and gave them the same names his father had. The Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died.
Isaac’s servants also dug in the wadi and found a well of spring water, but shepherds from Gerar argued with Isaac’s shepherds. “The water belongs to us!” they claimed. Isaac named the well Esek because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, but the Philistines also argued about that one. So he named it Sitnah.
Then Isaac moved on and dug another well, which they didn’t argue about. So he named it Rehoboth and said, “Now Yahweh has made ample room for us to flourish in this land.”
From there, he went to Beersheba. That night, Yahweh appeared to him. “I am the God of your father, Abraham. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring for the sake of my servant Abraham.” So Isaac built an altar there and called on Yahweh’s name. He set up his camp there, and his servants started digging another well.
Then Abimelech, along with Ahuzzath, his adviser, and Phicol, his military commander, traveled from Gerar to see Isaac. Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to see me? You hate me and drove me away!”
“We can clearly see that Yahweh is with you. So, please, we think there should be an oath sworn between us. We want to make a covenant with you so you will do us no harm, just as we have not laid a finger on you but have done you only good. We sent you away in peace, and now you are blessed by Yahweh.”
So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. The next morning, they rose early and swore an oath to each other. Isaac saw them off, and they left in peace.
On that same day, Isaac’s servants returned and told him they had found water in the well they were digging. Isaac named it Shibah, which is why the city is called Beersheba even today.
Isaac’s Blessing
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. They brought Isaac and Rebekah grief.
When Isaac had grown old and lost his sight, he called for Esau, his firstborn son. “My son!” Isaac said.
“Yes? I’m here.”
“Listen. I have grown old, and I don’t know how much time I have left. So please take your hunting gear—your quiver and bow—and go hunt some wild game for me. Then prepare my favorite meal and bring it to me so I can bless you before I die.”
Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to Esau. When Esau left to hunt and bring back wild game, she told her son Jacob, “Listen! I overheard your father speaking to your brother, Esau. ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare a delicious meal so I can eat and bless you in Yahweh’s presence before I die.’
“So listen, my son, and do as I say. Please go to the flock and bring two of the best young goats so I can prepare your father’s favorite meal. Then you must take it for your father to eat so he’ll bless you before he dies.”
Jacob replied to his mother, “But my brother is a hairy man! My skin is smooth! If my father touches me, he’ll think I’m trying to ridicule him, and I’ll receive a curse, not a blessing.”
“May your curse fall on me, my son,” his mother said. “Just obey me. Go and get the goats for me.”
So Jacob went to get them, and his mother prepared his father’s favorite meal. Rebekah had some of the nicest clothes belonging to Esau, her oldest son, with her in the house. She took them and had Jacob, her youngest son, put them on. Then she covered his arms and the back of his neck with the goat skins and gave him the delicious meal and some bread she had made.
Jacob went to his father. “Father?”
“I’m here. Who are you, my son?”
“I’m Esau, your firstborn,” replied Jacob. “I’ve done what you asked me to. Come eat my wild game so you can bless me.”
Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“Yahweh, your God, accomplished this for me.”
Then Isaac told Jacob, “Please come closer so I can feel you, my son. Then I’ll know whether or not you are my son Esau.”
So Jacob drew closer to his father. Isaac felt him and wondered how his voice could sound like Jacob’s but his hands feel like Esau’s. Because Jacob’s hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s, Isaac did not recognize him. So Isaac decided to bless him.
“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“I am.”
So he said, “Bring me the food. I will eat some of your wild game, my son, so I can bless you.” Jacob took it to him, and he ate. Jacob also brought wine, and Isaac drank it.
Then Isaac, his father, said, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”
When Jacob drew close and kissed him, Isaac smelled the scent on his clothes and blessed him, “My son smells like a field blessed by Yahweh.
“May God provide you with
dew from the sky,
bounty from the earth,
and an abundance of grain and sweet wine!
Nations will serve you,
and peoples bow down to you
so you’ll be the master of your brothers.
May the children of your mother bow down to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed!”
Isaac finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had barely left his father’s presence when Esau returned from hunting. Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. “Come, Father, and eat my wild game so you can bless me.”
But Isaac, his father, asked, “Who are you?”
“I’m your firstborn son, Esau.”
Isaac began to shake uncontrollably. “Then who brought me the wild game I finished eating just before you came? I blessed him—and he will be blessed!”
As soon as Esau heard what his father said, he screamed loudly and bitterly, “Bless me! Bless me too, Father!”
But Isaac said, “Your brother came and took your blessing deceitfully.”
“Is his name not Jacob? Twice now he has surpassed me. First he took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing! Don’t you not have any blessing left for me?”
“I have made him master over you and given him all his brothers as servants,” answered Isaac. “I have also sustained him with grain and sweet wine. So what could I do for you, my son?”
“Can you give only one blessing?” Esau asked his father. “Bless me! Bless me too, Father!”
So his father answered him:
“You’ll dwell apart from the bounty from the earth
and the dew from the sky above.
You’ll live by your sword
and serve your brother.
But when you grow sick of it,
you’ll tear his yoke off your neck.”
Because of his father’s blessing, Esau resented Jacob and thought to himself, “Soon we’ll mourn my father’s death, and then I’ll kill my brother, Jacob.”
Rebekah found out what Esau, her oldest son, was planning. So she called for Jacob, her youngest son. “Listen! Your brother, Esau, is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now obey me, my son. Flee to my brother Laban in Harran, and stay with him a few days until your brother calms down. When his anger subsides and he forgets what you did to him, I’ll send someone to bring you back. Otherwise I’ll lose both of you at the same time!”
Then Rebekah told Isaac, “These Hittite women have made my life miserable! If Jacob marries a woman like these, a Hittite from this land, my life will no longer be worth living.”
So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman! Instead, go to the home of your grandfather Bethuel in Paddan Aram, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. May God Almighty bless you, make you fruitful, and multiply you into a fellowship of peoples. May he grant you and your offspring Abraham’s blessing to possess the land where you’re a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
Isaac sent Jacob away to Paddan Aram, the home of Laban, son of Bethuel and brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother.
Esau discovered that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to find a wife in Paddan Aram. He also found out that Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. Jacob obeyed his parents and left for Paddan Aram. Then Esau realized how much the Canaanite women irritated his father, Isaac. So in addition to the wives he already had, Esau went to the Ishmaelites and married Mahalath, daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob’s Dream
Jacob left Beersheba. As he headed toward Harran, he came to a certain place. The sun had set, so he spent the night there. He lay down, resting his head against a stone.
Then Jacob started to dream. There was a stairway reaching from earth up to heaven! And God’s angels traveled up and down it! And there was Yahweh standing over him!
“I am Yahweh, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give the land where you are lying to you and your offspring. Your offspring will be as numerous as the dust on the earth and will spread out to the north, south, east, and west. Through you and your offspring, every family on earth will be blessed.
“See? I am with you and will protect you wherever you go. Then I will bring you back to this land. I will not abandon you but will accomplish everything I have said.”
Then Jacob woke up. “Yahweh is here in this place, but I didn’t realize it,” he said, afraid. “This place is terrifying. It must be God’s house, the very gate of heaven!”
Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had rested his head on and set it upright as a sacred pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. He named that place Bethel, though the town was previously called Luz.
Then Jacob vowed, “If God will be with me to protect me on this journey, provide me with food and clothing, and bring me back to my father’s house in peace—if Yahweh will be my God—then this stone I have set up as a sacred pillar will be God’s house and I will return to you a tenth of everything you give me.”
Jacob’s Wives
Jacob continued on his way to the land of those who live in the east. There he ran across a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying down near it because that was the well people drew water from for their flocks. A large stone covered the top of the well, and they’d remove the stone only when all the animals were gathered there. Then they’d draw water for the flocks and place the stone back over the top of the well.
Jacob asked the shepherds, “Where are you from, my friends?”
“We’re from Harran,” they replied.
“Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”
“Yes, we do.”
“How is he?” Jacob asked.
“He’s doing well. And there’s his daughter Rachel coming with their flock.”
Then Jacob said, “Look! The sun is still high in the sky. It’s not yet time to bring the flocks in. Draw water for the sheep, and take them back to pasture.”
“We can’t!” the shepherds said. “Not until all the flocks are gathered. Then we’ll move the stone and draw water for the flocks.”
While he was talking to them, Rachel approached with her father’s sheep because she shepherded them. As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel and his uncle’s sheep, he went up to the well and removed the stone on top of it. Then he drew water for his uncle’s sheep.
Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. He told her he was Rebekah’s son, her father’s nephew, so she ran to tell her father. As soon as Laban heard about his nephew Jacob, he ran to meet him. Laban embraced Jacob, kissed him, and brought him to his home. When Jacob told Laban what had happened, Laban replied, “You are truly my own flesh and blood!”
After Jacob had stayed with Laban for a month, Laban asked him, “Should you work for me for nothing just because you’re my nephew? Tell me what you want for your wages.”
Now Laban had two daughters. The eldest was Leah, and the youngest was Rachel. Leah had a gentle demeanor, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will work for you for seven years to marry your youngest daughter, Rachel.”
Laban replied, “I’d rather give her to you than to another man. Stay here with me.”
So Jacob worked seven years to marry Rachel, but the years flew by because of how much he loved her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife! I have completed the time we agreed to for me to marry her.”
So Laban invited everyone around to the wedding feast. When evening came, he took his daughter Leah to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.
In the morning, Jacob discovered it was Leah! So he confronted Laban. “What have you done to me! Didn’t I work for you to marry Rachel? Why have you deceived me?”
Laban replied, “We don’t do such things here! We don’t give a younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn. Finish the marriage week for this one, and then we’ll give you the other as well, in return for another seven years of work.”
So Jacob did what Laban said and finished her marriage week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. Then Jacob also made love to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban seven more years.
Jacob’s Children
Yahweh saw that Leah was unloved, so he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren.
Leah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben. “Yahweh has seen my misery. Now my husband will love me!”
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son. “Yahweh heard that I am unloved, and he has given me this one as well.” So she named him Simeon.
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son. “This time, my husband will unite with me because I have given him three sons!” So the child was named Levi.
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son. “This time, I will praise Yahweh” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
When Rachel realized she couldn’t give Jacob children, she grew jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, “Give me children! If not, I may as well die!”
Then Jacob grew angry with Rachel. “Can I take God’s place? He’s the one who has prevented you from having children!”
“Then sleep with my servant Bilhah! She can have children for me so our family can grow through her!”
So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife. Jacob slept with her, and Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son. Then Rachel said, “God has exonerated me! He listened to me and gave me a son.” So she named him Dan.
Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Then Rachel said, “I have struggled mightily against my sister, and I have won!” So she named him Naphtali.
When Leah realized she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as his wife. Zilpah also gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “What luck!” So she named him Gad.
Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “What happiness for me! The women consider me happy.” So she named him Asher.
During the wheat harvest, Reuben found some mandrakes out in the field. He brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel asked Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
“Is it not enough you stole my husband? Now you want my son’s mandrakes too!”
“Fine then!” replied Rachel. “He can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
When Jacob returned from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must come with me. I have hired you in exchange for my son’s mandrakes.” So that night Jacob slept with her.
God heard Leah, so she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son. “God has compensated me for giving my servant to my husband,” she said. So she named him Issachar.
Again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. “God has given me a wonderful gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons!” So she named him Zebulun. Later, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
Then God remembered Rachel. He heard her and opened her womb, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. So she named him Joseph. “May Yahweh give me another son.”
Jacob Enriched
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Allow me to return to my homeland. Let me take my wives and children and leave. I served you for them, and you know how hard I’ve worked for you.”
“Please do me the favor of listening,” Laban replied. “I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me because of you. Name your wages. I will pay it.”
“You know how well I have served you and how your livestock have fared in my care,” said Jacob. “The little you had before I came has increased abundantly. Yahweh has blessed you through everything I’ve done. So when do I get to take care of my own family?”
“What do you want me to give you?”
So Jacob answered, “You don’t need to give me anything. I’ll continue to care for and protect your flock if you’ll do this one thing. Let me go through your whole flock today to remove every animal with spots and patches. The black sheep and the goats with spots and patches will serve as my wages.
“When you come to check on my wages later, my integrity will be obvious. If you find any goat in my possession that doesn’t have spots or patches or any sheep that isn’t black, it’s stolen.”
Laban agreed. But that same day, he removed all the male goats with stripes and patches and all the female goats with spots and patches—all that had white on them. He also removed all the black sheep. Then he gave them to his sons to take care of and moved a three-day journey away from Jacob.
So Jacob took care of the rest of Laban’s flock. He cut fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and made white marks by stripping pieces of the bark away, exposing the white underneath. He placed the stripped branches in the troughs that held the water the goats would drink. So the branches were in front of the goats when they bred and came to drink. The goats bred near the branches and gave birth to young with stripes, spots, and patches.
But Jacob separated the sheep and made them face the striped and black goats belonging to Laban. He set apart his own flocks and did not mix them with Laban’s flock.
Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set the branches in the troughs in front of them so they would breed near the branches. But when the weaker females were in heat, he would not set them out. Then the weaker kids belonged to Laban and the stronger kids belonged to Jacob. Jacob grew exceedingly wealthy and had large flocks, servants, camels, and donkeys.
Fleeing Laban
Now Jacob found out Laban’s sons were complaining about him. “Jacob has taken everything our father had! He gained all his wealth from what belonged to our father!” Jacob also noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him had changed.
Then Yahweh told Jacob, “Return to your homeland and to your people, and I will be with you.”
So Jacob called for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where his flock was. He told them, “I’ve noticed your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But my father’s God has been with me.
“You know how I’ve served your father with all my strength. Yet your father has cheated me by repeatedly changing my wages. But God hasn’t allowed him to harm me. When he made the spotted animals my wages, the whole flock gave birth to spotted young. When he made the striped animals my wages, the whole flock gave birth to striped young. So God took your father’s livestock away and gave them to me.
“Now during the breeding season, I had a dream. I saw that the male goats mating with the females were striped, spotted, and dappled. In the dream, God’s messenger called to me, ‘Jacob!’
“‘Yes? I’m here.’
“‘Please look! All the male goats mating with the females are striped, spotted, and dappled because I’ve seen what Laban has done to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a sacred pillar and made a vow to me. Now leave this land and return to your homeland.’”
Rachel and Leah answered, “Do we have any share of the inheritance from our father left? Doesn’t he consider us foreigners? He sold us and has completely used up the money! All the wealth God has taken from our father belongs to us and our children. So do everything God has told you.”
Then Jacob put his wives and children on camels and left to return to his father, Isaac, in the land of Canaan. He drove ahead of him all his livestock and everything he had acquired—his own animals he acquired in Paddan Aram. Since Laban had left to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the family idols belonging to her father.
So Jacob fooled Laban the Aramean by not revealing his intention to flee. He fled with everything he owned and crossed the Euphrates. Then he headed toward the hills of Gilead.
The Treaty at Mizpah
Three days later, Laban was informed Jacob had fled. After gathering his relatives, Laban pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hills of Gilead. But that night God spoke to Laban the Aramean in a dream, “Take care you don’t threaten Jacob!”
When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob set up camp in the hills, and Laban also set up camp in the hills of Gilead. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, fooling me like this and carrying away my daughters like prisoners of war! Why did you flee in secret and fool me by not telling me? I would have sent you away with the joyful music of drums and lyres. You didn’t even let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren goodbye.
“What a foolish thing you’ve done! I have the power to harm all of you, but your father’s God told me last night, ‘Take care you do not threaten Jacob!’ I understand you left because you were homesick for your father’s house. But why would you steal my gods?”
Jacob responded, “I was afraid you would forcibly take your daughters from me. But if you find your gods, the person who has them will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives, identify what I have that belongs to you and take it.” But Jacob didn’t know Rachel had stolen them.
So Laban entered the tents belonging to Jacob, Leah, and the two servants, but he didn’t find the family idols. After leaving Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s. Now Rachel had hidden the idols in her camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. Though Laban scoured the tent, he didn’t find them because she said, “Please don’t be angry, my lord. But I can’t get up because I’m having my period.”
Though he searched, Laban didn’t find his family idols. So Jacob grew angry and scolded Laban, “What crime have I committed? How have I wronged you that you would hunt me down like this? You have scoured everything I have! What did you find that belongs to your household? Lay it before your relatives and mine so they can judge between us.
“During the twenty years I’ve been with you, your ewes and goats didn’t miscarry. I didn’t eat rams from your flock. When a predator killed one of your animals, I didn’t bring you the evidence. I compensated you myself. You demanded restitution whether it was stolen during the day or at night! The heat tormented me by day and the frost by night, depriving me of sleep.
“This was my lot for the twenty years I was a part of your household. I served you fourteen years to marry your two daughters and six years to acquire your flock. Yet you repeatedly changed my wages! If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, hadn’t intervened for me, by now you would have sent me away with nothing. But God saw my misery and how hard I worked, and last night he pronounced judgment.”
Laban responded, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flock is my flock. Everything you see belongs to me! But my daughters—what can I do for them today? Or for their children? So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Then there will be a witness between us.”
So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a sacred pillar. Then Jacob told his relatives to gather stones, and they piled the stones up in a heap. Then they ate there next to the stones. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
Laban said, “This pile is a witness between you and me.” That’s why Jacob named it Galeed. He also called it Mizpah because Laban said, “May Yahweh watch us even when we cannot see each other. If you mistreat my daughters or take any other wives besides my daughters—even though no one is with us—be aware that God is a witness between us.”
“Look,” Laban continued, “I have set up this pile of stones and this pillar between you and me. May this pile be a witness! May this pillar be a witness! I will not pass beyond this pile to harm you, and you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to harm me. May the God of Abraham and the gods of Nahor judge between us.”
So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father, Isaac. Then he offered a sacrifice on the hill and invited his relatives to the meal. They ate and then spent the night in the hills. The next morning, Laban rose early, kissed his daughters and grandchildren, and blessed them. Then he left to return home.
Meeting Esau
As Jacob continued on his way, some of God’s angels encountered him. When he saw them, Jacob cried out, “This is God’s camp!” So he named the place Mahanaim.
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir in Edom. Jacob commanded them, “You must tell my lord Esau his servant Jacob says this: ‘I have been staying with Laban and was detained there until now. I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and servants. I am sending messengers to inform my lord and seek your favor.’”
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We found your brother, Esau, and now he is coming to meet you with four hundred men.” This terrified Jacob. In his distress, he divided the people with him and his flocks, herds, and camels into two camps. He thought if Esau attacked one of the camps, the other might escape.
Then Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac, Yahweh, you told me to return to my homeland and promised you would make me prosper. I don’t deserve any of the true faithfulness you’ve shown your servant. I crossed the Jordan with nothing but my staff, but now I’ve become two camps! Please save me from my brother, Esau. I’m afraid he’ll attack me and the mothers with their children. But you promised you would certainly make me prosper and make my offspring like the sand on the seashore, which is too numerous to count.”
Jacob stayed there that night, and from what he had, he chose a gift for Esau, his brother: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, thirty nursing camels with their calves, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. He set each herd by itself and put his servants in charge of them. Then he told his servants, “Continue on ahead of me, making sure to leave some distance between each herd.”
Then Jacob commanded the first group, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, he’ll ask who you belong to, where you’re going, and who owns the animals. Tell him, ‘They’re a gift from your servant Jacob to my lord Esau. See? He’s coming behind us.’”
He also commanded both the second and third groups and all those following the herds, “In the same way, you must answer Esau when you find him. And don’t forget to say ‘See? Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’”
Jacob thought, “I’ll appease him with the gifts sent ahead of me. When I see him after that, maybe he’ll accept me.” So the gift continued on ahead of him, but Jacob spent the night in the camp.
That night Jacob took his two wives, their two servants, and his eleven sons across the ford of the Jabbok River. He sent them across, and then he sent across his belongings.
When Jacob was left alone, a man wrestled with him until dawn. When the man realized he wasn’t winning, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. Then he said, “Let me go! It’s dawn!”
But Jacob replied, “No! I will not let you go until you bless me.”
“What’s your name?” the man asked.
“Jacob.”
So the man said, “Your name is not Jacob anymore. Your name is Israel because you have contended with God and humanity, and you have won.”
“Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.
“Why are you asking about my name?” Then the man blessed Jacob.
Jacob named the place Peniel because “I saw God face-to-face, but my life was saved!”
The sun was rising as he passed through Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. To this day the Israelites do not eat the sciatic nerve over the hip socket because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip near the sciatic nerve.
When Jacob looked around, he saw Esau heading his way with four hundred men. So Jacob separated the children, along with Leah, Rachel, and their two servants. He lined up the servants with their children first, then Leah with her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph. But Jacob went in front of them, bowing down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
Esau ran to meet and embrace Jacob. Throwing his arms around his neck, he kissed him, and they both wept. Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children. “Who are they?”
“The children God has favored your servant with.”
The servants and their children drew near and bowed down. Then Leah and her children drew near and bowed down. Finally, Joseph and Rachel drew near and bowed down.
Then Esau asked, “What is the purpose of all those herds I met?”
“To seek my lord’s favor.”
“I already have enough, my brother,” Esau answered. “Keep what’s yours.”
“Please,” replied Jacob, “favor me by taking my gift because I have seen your face—like seeing the face of God—and you have accepted me. Please take my blessing brought to you because God has favored me and I have more than enough!” Because Jacob persisted, Esau took it.
Then Esau said, “Let’s continue on our way. I’ll travel alongside you.”
“My lord knows the children are frail and I must care for the nursing flocks and herds,” Jacob replied. “If they are driven too hard for one day, the entire flock will die. Please, my lord, go on ahead of your servant. I must travel slowly, at the pace of the livestock and the pace of the children, until I arrive where my lord is in Seir.”
“Then please allow me to leave some of my people with you.”
“What for?” Jacob responded. “Let my lord show me his favor.”
So Esau left that day to return to Seir. But Jacob traveled to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock. That’s why he named the place Succoth.
Later, Jacob arrived safely in the town of Shechem in the land of Canaan. After he returned from Paddan Aram, he camped near the city. He bought the part of the field where he set up his camp for one hundred pieces of silver from the people of Hamor, the father of Shechem. He set up an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.
Avenging Dinah
Leah’s daughter Dinah, the daughter she gave birth to for Jacob, went to visit with the young ladies of the land. Now Hamor the Hivite ruled that area. When his son Shechem saw Dinah, he abducted and raped her. Then his heart yearned for Jacob’s daughter Dinah. He loved the girl and spoke reassuringly to her. So he told Hamor, his father, “Get this child as a wife for me!”
Jacob found out Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were in the field with the livestock, so he held his tongue until they returned. Then Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to speak with Jacob. As soon as they found out, Jacob’s sons returned from the field grief-stricken and furious because he had done something so appalling in Israel as raping Jacob’s daughter. Such things should never be done!
Hamor said to them, “My son desires your daughter. Please allow him to marry her. Intermarry with us. Allow us to marry your daughters, and we’ll allow you to marry our daughters. If you live with us here, you’ll have access to the land to live, trade, and acquire property.”
Then Shechem told her father and brothers, “Favor me, and I’ll give you whatever you ask. Make the bride-price and gift as high as you like. I’ll give it to you if you’ll allow me to marry the girl.”
Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father, Hamor, deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah. “We can’t do that. It would be shameful for us to give our sister in marriage to an uncircumcised man. We’ll agree to the marriage on one condition. Every male among you must be circumcised, as we are. Then we’ll allow you to marry our daughters, and we’ll marry your daughters. We’ll live here with you, and we’ll become one people. But if you don’t agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our daughter and leave.”
Hamor and his son Shechem approved of their proposal. Because Jacob’s daughter delighted him, the young man wasted no time implementing it. He was the most influential member of his father’s household. So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gateway to speak with the men of the town.
“These men desire peace with us. We should allow them to live here in this land and to trade in it. There’s plenty of room for them! Then we can marry their daughters, and they’ll marry our daughters. They have one condition before agreeing to live with us and to become one people. All the males among us must be circumcised as they are circumcised. But won’t their livestock and possessions and all their other animals belong to us if we just accept? Then they’ll live with us.”
All the citizens of the town agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem. So every male among the citizens of the town was circumcised.
On the third day, they were in pain. Then two of Jacob’s sons, Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting town, killing all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. Jacob’s sons attacked the slain and plundered the town because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks, herds, donkeys, and everything else in the town and the fields. They plundered all their wealth, everything in their homes, and took captive their wives and children.
Then Jacob rebuked Simeon and Levi, “You have put me in grave danger by making me odious to the inhabitants of this land, the Canaanites and Perizzites! I have few men with me. If they unite against me, I and my household will be destroyed!”
“Should he have treated our sister like a whore?”
Return to Bethel
God told Jacob, “Go to Bethel and stay there for a while. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from Esau, your brother.”
So Jacob told his household and everyone with him, “Discard the foreign gods you have. Then purify yourselves, and change your clothes. Let’s go to Bethel, where I’ll build an altar to the God who responded to me when I was in trouble and who has been with me everywhere I went.” Then they handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods they possessed, as well as their earrings. Jacob buried them under the terebinth tree near Shechem.
As they set out, God made the cities around them terrified so no one would pursue Jacob’s sons. Jacob and all those with him arrived at Luz (now called Bethel) in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and called the area El Bethel because that was where the heavenly beings were revealed to him when he fled from his brother. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel, under the oak tree. That’s why it’s called Allon Bacuth.
When Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again. God blessed him, “Your name is Jacob. But you’ll no longer be called Jacob because your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel. Then he continued, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and increase! From you will come a nation, even a fellowship of nations. Kings will come forth from you. I give to you the land I gave to Abraham and Isaac, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
Then God left Jacob in the place where he spoke to him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God spoke to him and poured a drink offering and some olive oil on it. He named the place where God spoke to him Bethel.
When they set out from Bethel but had not yet arrived in Ephrathah, Rachel went into labor. But she struggled to give birth. When she was struggling the most, the midwife told her, “Don’t be afraid! You’re having another son!” With her dying breath, she named him Benoni. But his father called him Benjamin. Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrathah (now called Bethlehem). Jacob set up a pillar over her grave, and the pillar marks Rachel’s grave to this day.
Then Israel set out again and set up his camp past Migdal Eder. While he lived in that area, Reuben slept with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel found out.
Now Jacob had twelve sons. Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin. Bilhah was Rachel’s servant, and her sons were Dan and Naphtali. Zilpah was Leah’s servant, and her sons were Gad and Asher. These were Jacob’s sons, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
Jacob returned to his father, Isaac, at Mamre near Kiriath Arba (now called Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived as foreigners. Isaac lived 180 years. Then he died and was gathered to his people. He was an old man who had lived a full life. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
The Descendants of Esau in Canaan
These are the descendants of Esau, also called Edom:
Esau married Canaanite women, Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite and Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. He also married Basemath daughter of Ishmael, Nebaioth’s sister.
Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau, and Basemath gave birth to Reuel. Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau’s sons, who were born in the land of Canaan.
Esau left with his wives, his sons, his daughters, and his entire household, as well as his livestock, all his animals, and everything he acquired in Canaan. He moved away from Jacob, his brother, because their possessions had grown too numerous for them to live together. The land where they lived as foreigners couldn’t support them with their livestock. Then Esau, also called Edom, lived in the hill country of Seir.
The Descendants of Esau in Seir
These are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir:
These were the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. Esau’s son Eliphaz also had a concubine named Timna, who gave birth to Amalek. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.
The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon, gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These were the clans descended from Esau: Eliphaz, his firstborn, was the ancestor of the clans of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Gatam, and Amalek. These were the clans of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, the descendants of Adah.
Esau’s son Reuel was the ancestor of the clans of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom, the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.
Esau’s wife Oholibamah was the ancestor of the clans of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the clans of Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah. These were the sons of Esau, also called Edom, and these were their clans.
These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who lived in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Horite clans, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.
The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Lotan’s sister was Timna. The sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah, who found the springs in the wilderness while pasturing his father’s donkeys. The children of Anah were Dishon and Oholibamah, Anah’s daughter. The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran. The sons of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. The sons of Dishan were Uz and Aran.
These were the Horite clans: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Horite clans according to the list of their clans in the land of Seir.
These were the kings who reigned over the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom. His city was named Dinhabah. When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him. When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, succeeded him. His city was named Avith. When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him. When Samlah died, Saul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him. When Saul died, Baal-Hanan son of Achbor succeeded him. When Baal-Hanan son of Achbor died, Hadad succeeded him. His city was named Pau, and his wife was named Mehetabel daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Mezahab.
These were the names of the clans of Esau according to their families and their locations: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar Magdiel, and Iram. These were the clans of Edom according to their settlements in the land they possessed.
Esau was the ancestor of the Edomites. But Jacob lived in the land where his father lived as a foreigner, in the land of Canaan.
The Descendants of Jacob
These are the descendants of Jacob:
At seventeen, Joseph shepherded the flock with his brothers. He assisted the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph reported bad things about them to their father.
Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old. Jacob made him an ornate tunic. When Joseph’s brothers realized their father loved him more than all of them, they hated him and couldn’t speak kindly to him.
One night, Joseph had a dream. When he told his brothers, they hated him all the more.
“Please listen to this dream I had! We were binding together sheaves of grain out in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up! Then your sheaves also stood up, surrounded my sheaf, and bowed down to it!”
His brother responded, “So you think you’ll reign over us? You think you’ll rule us?” Then they hated him all the more because of his dreams and his words.
Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it, “I had another dream! The sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me!”
But this time he told his father, as well as his brothers. His father scolded him, “What kind of dream is that? Will your mother, your brothers, and I really bow down before you?” Though his brothers were jealous of him, his father pondered the matter.
Now his brothers took their father’s flock to find pasture near Shechem. Then Israel told Joseph, “Come. Your brothers have taken the flock near Shechem, and I’m going to send you to them.”
“Yes, I’m here,” Joseph replied.
“Please go make sure everything is well with your brothers and the flock. Then report back to me.”
So Jacob sent Joseph from the valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around the fields and asked, “What are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for my brothers. Please, do you know where they’ve taken the flock?”
“They’re no longer here,” the man replied. “I heard them talk about going to Dothan.” So Joseph followed after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
When they saw him coming while he was still a ways off, they conspired to kill him. “Look. Here comes the lord of dreams. Come on! Let’s kill him and throw him in a cistern. We’ll just say a wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams.”
But Reuben heard and saved Joseph from them. “We must not take his life! Shed no blood. Just throw him into this cistern in the wilderness, but don’t attack him.” Reuben wanted to rescue him and return him to his father.
When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped off his ornate tunic, which he wore. They threw him in the empty cistern. There was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat.
When they looked up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels carrying aromatic gums and resins. They were traveling down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “How does killing our brother and covering his blood benefit us? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites! Let’s not harm him ourselves. After all, he’s our brother, our own flesh and blood.”
His brothers agreed with him. So when the Midianite traders passed by, the brothers lifted Joseph out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Then the traders took Joseph to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the cistern, Joseph wasn’t there. So Reuben tore his clothes. Then he returned to his brothers and cried, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn to now?”
Then they took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. They sent the ornate tunic to their father. “We found this. Please look to see whether it’s your son’s tunic.”
Jacob recognized it. “It’s my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! Joseph has surely been torn apart!” Then Jacob tore his cloak and covered his loins in sackcloth. He mourned for his son a long time. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I’ll go down to my son in the underworld still mourning.” And his father wept for him.
In Egypt, the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of the pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
Judah and Tamar
About that time, Judah left his brothers and stayed with an Adullamite named Hirah.
While there Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite. He married her and made love to her. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son. He was named Er. She conceived and gave birth to another son. She named him Onan. Then she gave birth to a third son. She named him Shelah. Judah was in Kezib when she gave birth to Shelah.
Judah arranged for Er, his firstborn, to marry a woman named Tamar. But Yahweh considered Er, Judah’s firstborn, evil. So Yahweh killed him.
Then Judah told Onan, “Go sleep with your brother’s wife. Fulfill your duty to her to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew the offspring wouldn’t be considered his. So whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he tried to prevent her from becoming pregnant so he wouldn’t give offspring to his brother. Yahweh considered what he did evil. So Yahweh killed him too.
Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Live in your father’s house as a widow until my son Shelah grows up.” He was afraid Shelah would die like his brothers. So Tamar left and lived in her father’s house.
Some time later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah was comforted, he went to see his sheepshearers in Timnah, along with his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
Tamar was told, “Look! Your father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his sheep.” So she changed out of her widow’s clothes, covered her face with a veil, and wrapped herself up. Then she sat down near the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah because she realized that even though Shelah had grown up, she had not been allowed to marry him.
When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. So he turned aside off the road and said to her, “Please let me sleep with you.” He didn’t recognize her as his daughter-in-law.
“What will you give me if I let you sleep with me?”
“I will send you a kid from my flock.”
“Only if you give me a pledge until you send it,” she replied.
“What pledge do you want me to give you?”
“Your seal with its cord and the staff in your hand.”
He gave them to her and slept with her. And she became pregnant by him. Then she got up and left. She removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothes.
Judah sent his friend the Adullamite with the goat to retrieve the pledge from the woman. But he couldn’t find her. He asked the men living there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?”
“There was no shrine prostitute here,” they replied.
So he returned and told Judah, “I couldn’t find her. And the men said there had been no shrine prostitute there.”
“Let her keep what she has,” Judah said. “Otherwise, we’ll be ridiculed. Besides, I did send the goat, but you couldn’t find her.”
About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been sleeping around, and now she’s pregnant because of it!”
So Judah said, “Bring her out and burn her!”
As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law. “I’m pregnant by the man who owns these. Please look to see if you know who owns this seal, cord, and staff.”
Judah recognized them. “She’s more innocent than I am. I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” He never slept with her again.
When the time came, she gave birth to twins. While she was in labor, one baby put his hand out. So the midwife tied a scarlet thread to it. “This one came out first.” But then he pulled his hand back in, and his brother came out! The midwife asked, “How did you break through like that?” So he was named Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand. He was named Zerah.
Yahweh with Joseph
Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelites. They sold him to an Egyptian, Potiphar, one of the pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the palace guard.
But Yahweh was with Joseph. Joseph thrived and worked in the house of his Egyptian master. When Joseph’s master realized Yahweh was with Joseph and caused all he did to thrive under his authority, he favored Joseph, who became his personal attendant. He appointed Joseph over his household and placed everything he owned under Joseph’s authority.
After the Egyptian appointed Joseph over his household and over all he owned, Yahweh blessed his household because of Joseph. Yahweh’s blessing was on everything he owned, whether in the house or the field. So he left everything he owned under Joseph’s authority and paid no attention to anything except the food he was eating.
Now Joseph was shapely and handsome, so his master’s wife eventually noticed Joseph and enticed him. “Sleep with me!”
But Joseph refused. “See here! With me, my master pays no attention to what goes on in the house. He’s placed everything he owns under my authority. In this household, even he is not greater than I am. He’s withheld nothing from me except you because you’re his wife! So how could I commit such a great evil? I would be sinning against God!”
Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to lie beside her or even be with her. On one such day, when he went inside to do his work, none of the men were there in the house. So she grabbed his garment. “Sleep with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled outside.
As soon as she realized he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, she called out to the men of her household. She told them, “Look! He brought a Hebrew here to ridicule us! He came in to sleep with me, but I screamed. As soon as he heard me scream, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”
She kept his garment beside her until his master returned home. Then she told him the same story. “The Hebrew slave you brought here to ridicule me came in to me! But as soon as I screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”
As soon as Joseph’s master heard the story his wife told him about what his slave had done, he was furious. Joseph’s master threw him in the prison where the king’s prisoners were kept.
But though Joseph was there in the prison, Yahweh was with him and remained faithful to him. He caused the warden to favor Joseph, so the warden put all the prisoners in the prison under Joseph’s authority. Joseph was responsible for everything they did. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s authority because Yahweh was with him and caused all he did to thrive.
The Pharaoh’s Officials
Some time later, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker enraged their master, the king of Egypt. The pharaoh was so angry with his two officials that he placed his head cupbearer and head baker under guard in the prison overseen by the captain of the palace guard, the same prison where Joseph was kept. The captain of the palace guard appointed Joseph to serve as their attendant. They remained under guard a long time.
One night, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. They dreamed two different dreams, each with its own meaning. When Joseph arrived in the morning, he noticed they looked troubled. He asked the pharaoh’s officials, who were under guard with him in the prison overseen by his master, “Why do you look so upset today?”
“We each had a dream,” they replied, “but no one here can tell us what they mean.”
“Doesn’t God know what they mean? Please tell me about them.”
So the head cupbearer told Joseph about his dream. “In my dream, I saw a vine with three branches. They budded, and then the buds immediately blossomed and produced clusters of ripe grapes. I had the pharaoh’s cup in my hand, so I squeezed the grapes into the cup and put it in his hand.”
“This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days. Three days from now, the pharaoh will release you and restore you to your previous position. You will place the pharaoh’s cup in his hand just as you did before when you were his cupbearer.
“So remember me when you’re back in good standing. Please show me faithfulness by telling the pharaoh about me and getting me out of this place. I was truly stolen from the land of the Hebrews. And while here I’ve done nothing to deserve being put in this pit!”
When the head baker realized the meaning was good, he told Joseph, “As for me, in my dream there were three baskets of bread on my head. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for the pharaoh. But the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
“This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets represent three days. Three days from now, the pharaoh will release your head from your body and hang you from a tree. And the birds will eat your flesh.”
The third day was the pharaoh’s birthday, so he threw a feast for all his officials. He released the head cupbearer and head baker in the presence of his officials. Then he restored the head cupbearer to his position, placing the cup in the pharaoh’s hand. But he had the head baker hanged exactly according to Joseph’s interpretation.
But the head cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph. He forgot all about him.
Joseph’s Rise to Power
Two whole years later, the pharaoh dreamed he was standing on the banks of the Nile. Out of the Nile came seven splendidly fat cows, who grazed among the reeds. Seven hideously scrawny cows came out after them and stood beside them on the banks of the Nile. The hideously scrawny cows ate the seven splendidly fat cows. Then the pharaoh woke up.
He fell back asleep and had a second dream. Seven heads of well-ripened grain grew on a single stalk. After them sprouted seven thin heads withered by the desert wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven fully ripened heads. Then the pharaoh woke up and realized it was a dream.
In the morning, he was distressed. So he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all his skilled advisers. The pharaoh described his dream, but no one could explain the meaning to him.
Then the head cupbearer told the pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my failures. The pharaoh was angry with his servants and placed me under guard in the prison overseen by the captain of the palace guard, along with the head baker. One night, he and I each had a different dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the palace guard. We described our dreams to him, and he explained the meaning of each. And everything happened just as he predicted. I was restored to my position, but the baker was hanged.”
So the pharaoh summoned Joseph, and he was quickly retrieved from the pit. He shaved, changed his clothes, and appeared before the pharaoh. The pharaoh said to him, “I had a dream, but no one can explain the meaning. I have heard you need only hear a dream to explain it.”
“That is quite beyond me,” Joseph replied. “But God will give the pharaoh the answer he seeks.”
So the pharaoh told Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. Out of the Nile came seven splendidly fat cows, who grazed among the reeds. Seven hideously scrawny cows came out after them. I’ve never seen such hideous cows in all the land of Egypt! The hideously scrawny cows ate the first seven fat cows. Yet after they had eaten them, you would never know it! They were just as hideous as before. Then I woke up.
“I also saw in my dream seven heads of fully ripened grain growing on a single stalk. After them sprouted seven thin heads parched and withered by the desert wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven ripe heads. When I told my advisers, no one could explain it to me.”
“The pharaoh’s dream is one dream,” Joseph told him. “God has shown you what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is the same. The seven hideously scrawny cows coming out after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads of grain withered by the desert wind will be seven years of famine.
“As I told the pharaoh, what God is about to do, he has shown you. The entire land of Egypt will soon enjoy seven years of abundance. But seven years of famine will follow, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will decimate the land. No evidence will remain of the abundance in the land because of how devastating the famine that follows will be. Since the pharaoh had the same dream twice, God has firmly decided the matter and is moving quickly to accomplish it.
“Therefore, let the pharaoh seek out a wise and discerning man to put in charge of the land of Egypt. Appoint overseers over the land and divide the land of Egypt into five parts during the seven years of abundance. Let them gather all the food during these coming good years to store the grain in the cities under the pharaoh’s authority. They must protect it! This food should be stored for the land to eat during the seven years of famine that will afflict the land of Egypt. That way, the land will not be decimated by the famine.”
The pharaoh and all his servants approved of the plan. So the pharaoh asked his servants, “Could we find anyone filled with a divine spirit like this man?”
Then the pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that the gods have revealed all this to you, no one else is as wise and discerning as you. You will be in charge of my household, and all of my people will submit to your command. Only because of the throne will I be greater than you. See, I put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt!”
The pharaoh took his signet ring off his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. Then he clothed Joseph in fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had Joseph ride in the chariot of his second-in-command as servants cried out before him, “Make way!” In this way he put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt.
The pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am the pharaoh, yet without your permission, no one in the entire land of Egypt will lift hand or foot.” He named Joseph Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph ruled the land of Egypt.
Joseph was thirty years old when he appeared before the pharaoh, king of Egypt. When he left the pharaoh’s presence, he traveled throughout the land of Egypt. During the seven years of abundance, the land produced bountiful harvests. Joseph gathered all the food from those seven years in the land of Egypt. He stored the food in the cities, with each city storing the food from the fields around it. He stored up grain like the sand of the sea, so much he stopped recording the amount. It was too much to keep track of!
Before the famine started, Joseph fathered two sons. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, gave birth to them. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh because “God has allowed me to forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s household.” He named the second Ephraim because “God has made me fruitful in this land where I have suffered.”
The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt ended, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was a famine everywhere, but in the entire land of Egypt, there was food.
Everyone in Egypt was hungry, so the people cried out to the pharaoh for food. The pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you to.”
So when the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened the granaries and sold grain to the Egyptians because the famine was severe. Then the whole world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe everywhere.
The Brothers in Egypt
Jacob also found out there was grain in Egypt, so he told his sons, “Why are you just standing around? Look, I found out there’s grain in Egypt. Go buy some for us there so we’ll live, not die.” Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. But Jacob didn’t send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers because Jacob feared something might happen to him.
Israel’s sons arrived to buy grain among the others who came because the famine was also in the land of Canaan. Since it was Joseph who ruled the land and sold grain to everyone, his brothers came and bowed low before him. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them but acted as if he were a stranger. He spoke to them roughly. “Where have you come from?”
“From the land of Canaan. We came to buy food.”
Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him. He remembered the dreams he’d had about them and said to them, “You’re spies! You’ve come to search for where the land is vulnerable!”
“No, my lord!” they replied. “Your servants came to buy food. We’re all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies!”
“No! You’ve come to search for where the land is vulnerable!”
“Your servants are twelve brothers,” they said. “We’re the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father now, and another is gone.”
But Joseph insisted, “As I said, you’re spies. You’ll be tested in this way: As assuredly as the pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your younger brother comes. Send one among you to bring your brother while you remain in prison. Then your words will be tested. Do you speak the truth? If not, as assuredly as the pharaoh lives, you’re spies!” Then he put them under guard for three days.
On the third day, Joseph told them, “I fear God. So do this and you’ll live: If you’re honest, leave one of your brothers imprisoned where you’ve been kept under guard. Meanwhile you go take grain to your hungry households. Then bring your youngest brother to me so your words can be verified and you won’t die.” And they agreed to do so.
Then the brothers said to each other, “We’re surely being punished because of our brother! We saw his anguish, but when he begged for mercy, we refused to listen. That’s why this anguish has happened to us.”
Reuben said, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you refused to listen! Now look! We must answer for his blood.”
Because Joseph spoke to them through an interpreter, they didn’t realize he understood. He moved away from them and wept. When he returned, he spoke to them. He took Simeon and had him bound as they watched. Then he commanded their bags be filled with grain and each one’s silver returned to his sack. He also ordered they be given provisions for the journey.
When he had done this for them, they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. At the place where they stayed the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey. He found his silver at the top of his sack and told his brothers, “My silver has been returned. Look! Here it is in my sack.”
Then they lost heart and asked each other, trembling, “What has God done to us?”
When they returned to Jacob, their father, in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened. “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and treated us like spies in the land. We told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies. We are twelve brothers, the sons of our father. One is gone, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’
“Then the man, the lord of the land, said, ‘This is how I’ll know you’re honest: Leave one of your brothers with me. Take what you need for your hungry families and go. Then bring your youngest brother to me so I’ll know you’re not spies but honest men. I’ll give you back your brother, and you can trade in the land.’”
Later they emptied their sacks, and each man’s bag of silver was in his sack. When they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were afraid. Jacob, their father, cried, “You’ve robbed me of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! Now you want to take Benjamin! Everything is against me.”
Then Reuben said to his father, “If I don’t bring him back to you, kill two of my sons. Place him under my authority, and I will return him to you.”
“My son will not go with you!” Jacob replied. “His brother is dead, and he’s the only one left. If anything should happen to him on the way, you would send this old man down to the underworld in sorrow.”
Judah’s Redemption
The famine grew even more severe in the land. When they ran out of the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father told them, “Go back to buy us some more food.”
But Judah reminded him, “The man strictly warned us we can’t meet with him again unless our brother goes with us. So if you send our brother with us, we’ll go buy you food. But if not, we won’t go, because the man told us we can’t meet with him again unless our brother goes with us.”
Then Israel said, “Why did you bring this evil on me by telling the man you have another brother?”
“The man expressly asked us about ourselves and our family,” they replied. “‘Is your father still alive?’ ‘Do you have any other brothers?’ We simply answered his questions. How could we possibly know he would tell us to bring our brother?”
So Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy with me, and then we’ll set out. That way we’ll live, not die—we and you and our little ones. I myself will serve as a pledge for his safety, and you may hold me personally responsible. If I don’t bring him back and set him here before you, I’ll be guilty the rest of my life. If we hadn’t delayed, we could have made the trip twice by now.”
Israel, their father, replied, “If this must be, pack some of the best produce of the land in your baggage and take as a gift to the man a little balm, honey, aromatic gums and resins, pistachios, and almonds. And take twice the amount of silver. Take back the silver that was returned to the tops of your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake. Then take your brother and set out. Return to the man. May God Almighty give the man compassion for you so he’ll release your other brother and Benjamin. But as for me, if I lose my children, I lose my children.”
So the men took the gift and double the silver as well as Benjamin. They set out for Egypt, where they stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told his chief steward, “Take the men to the house. Prepare a meal with meat for the men to eat with me at noon.”
The man did just as Joseph said, taking the men to Joseph’s house. Because they were taken to Joseph’s house, they were afraid. “It’s because of the silver that returned to our sacks last time. He’s taking us to ambush us! He’ll attack us to enslave us and take our donkeys!”
When they arrived in the courtyard, they approached Joseph’s steward. “Forgive us, my lord, but we came here before to buy food. When we arrived at the place where we stayed the night, we opened our sacks and discovered that we each had the full amount of our silver still at the top! So we brought it back with us, and we’ve brought more silver to buy food. We don’t know who put the silver in our sacks.”
“Be at peace, and don’t be afraid,” he responded. “Your God, the God of your father, must have given you treasure in your sacks. I received your silver.”
Then the man brought Simeon out to them. When he had taken them to Joseph’s house, he gave them water to wash their feet and fodder for their donkeys. They prepared their gift until Joseph arrived at noon because they found out they were to eat there.
When Joseph returned home, they brought their gift into the house and bowed down to him. He asked, “How are you? How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?”
“Your servant, our father, is alive and well.” They bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.
Joseph looked around and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son. “Is this the younger brother you told me about? May God show you favor, my son!” Then he rushed out because he was so filled with compassion for his brother that he needed a place to cry. He went into his room and wept.
After washing his face, he came out and restrained himself. “Serve the food,” he said. They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves. The Egyptians couldn’t eat with the Hebrews because they consider that repulsive.
The brothers sat in front of him in order, from to the firstborn according to his birthright to the youngest according to his youth. And they looked at each other in amazement. Joseph had portions taken to them from what was set before him, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than the others. And they drank with him until they were drunk.
Then Joseph commanded his chief steward, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry. And put each man’s silver in the top of his sack. Put my goblet, the silver goblet, in the top of the youngest one’s sack along with the silver he paid for his grain.” The steward did just as Joseph told him to.
At first light, the men were sent off with their donkeys. They left the city, but before they had gone far, Joseph told his steward, “Go after the men! When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you repaid good by doing evil? Isn’t this what my master drinks from? And he even practices divination with it! You have done a terrible thing!’”
When he overtook them, that’s what he said to them. But they replied, “What’s my lord talking about? Your servants would never do such a thing! We brought back from the land of Canaan the silver we found at the top of our sacks. How could we then steal silver or gold from your master’s house? If it’s found with any of your servants, he’ll die! Then the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”
“As you have said, except only the one who is found to have it will be my slave. The rest of you are innocent.”
So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. Then the steward searched. He started with the eldest and ended with the youngest. And the goblet was found in Benjamin’s sack. So they tore their cloaks, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.
Joseph was still at his house when Judah arrived there with his brothers. They threw themselves on the ground before him. Joseph asked them, “What have you done? Didn’t you know a man like me surely practices divination?”
“What can we say, my lord?” Judah answered. “What words can we speak to justify ourselves? God has revealed your servants’ guilt. Here we are! We are my lord’s slaves along with the one found in possession of the goblet.”
“I would never do such a thing!” Joseph responded. “Only the man found in possession of the goblet with be my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”
So Judah approached him and said, “Forgive me, lord! Please allow your servant to speak with my lord, and don’t be angry with your servant. You’re like the pharaoh!
“My lord asked his servants whether we have a father or brother. We told my lord we have an elderly father and a young brother born when our father was already old. His brother died, and he’s the only one of his mother’s children left. And his father loves him.
“Then you told your servants to bring him to you so you could see him. We told my lord the boy couldn’t leave his father. Otherwise his father would die. But you told your servants we couldn’t meet with you again unless our youngest brother came with us.
“So we returned to your servant, my father, and told him what my lord said. When our father told us to come back to buy more food, we reminded him we couldn’t come back unless our youngest brother came with us because we wouldn’t be allowed to meet with you if our youngest brother didn’t come with us.
“Then your servant, my father, said to us, ‘As you know, my wife gave birth to two sons. One left me, and I think he must have been torn to pieces. I haven’t seen him since. If you take this one from me and something happens to him too, you’ll send this old man down to the underworld in disaster!’
“His life is bound to the boy’s life. So as soon I return to your servant, my father, without the boy and as soon as he sees the boy’s not with us, he’ll die! Your servants will send your servant, our elderly father, to the underworld in sorrow!
“Your servant swore to my father to serve as a pledge for the boy. If I don’t take him back, I will be guilty before my father the rest of my life. So please allow your servant to remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. Allow the boy to go back with his brothers. How could I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see the disaster that would befall my father!”
Joseph Revealed
Joseph could no longer control himself in front of those present there, and he exclaimed, “Make everyone leave!” So no one else was there when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. He broke down crying, and the Egyptians and the pharaoh’s household heard him.
Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m Joseph! Is my father really still alive?” But his brothers were too terrified to answer him.
“Please come closer,” said Joseph. So they drew closer. “I’m your brother Joseph. You sold me to Egypt. But don’t be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me here because God sent me ahead of you to save lives.
“For two years the famine has affected the land, and for five years there will still be no plowing or harvesting. God sent me ahead of you to establish for you a remnant on earth and to save for you many survivors. So you didn’t send me here. God did. He has appointed me as a father to the pharaoh, as lord of all his household, and as ruler over all the land of Egypt.
“Hurry! Return to my father and give him this message from his son Joseph: ‘God has appointed me as lord over all Egypt! Come here to me without delay. You’ll live in the land of Goshen, close to me, with your children, grandchildren, flocks, herds, and all who belong to you. I’ll provide for you there because five more years of famine remain. Otherwise, you, your household, and all who belong to you will lose everything.’
“Look! You can see with your own eyes—and my brother Benjamin can see—I’m talking to you directly. Tell my father about all the honor I’ve received in Egypt and everything you’ve seen. Then hurry to bring my father here!”
Then Joseph embraced his brother Benjamin and wept. Benjamin also wept as they embraced. And Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that, they spoke with him.
When the news that Joseph’s brothers had come reached the pharaoh’s palace , it pleased the pharaoh and his servants. So the pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Load up your animals and go back to the land of Canaan to get your father and your households. Then return to me, and I’ll give you good things from the land of Egypt. You’ll eat the best from the land.’
“And this is a direct command: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives. Carry your father and return. Don’t give a second thought to your belongings because good things from the entire land of Egypt belong to you.’”
So Israel’s sons did so, and Joseph gave them wagons as the pharaoh had commanded and provisions for the journey. He also gave each of them a new cloak. But he gave Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver and five new cloaks. To his father he sent ten male donkeys carrying some of the good things from Egypt and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and provisions for his father during the trip. Then he sent off his brothers. As they left, he told them not to grow anxious on the way.
Moving to Egypt
Joseph’s brothers left Egypt for the land of Canaan. They returned to their father, Jacob. “Joseph is still alive! He rules the entire land of Egypt!”
Yet Jacob became obstinate because he didn’t believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them and he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived. “That’s enough! Joseph, my son, is still alive. I’ll go see him before I die.”
So Israel set out with everyone who belonged to him. When he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. During the night, God spoke to Israel in visions. “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Yes? I’m here.”
“I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go to Egypt because I’ll make a great nation from you there. I’ll go with you to Egypt myself, and I’ll certainly also bring you back. And Joseph himself will close your eyes.”
Then Jacob left Beersheba. Israel’s sons carried their father, Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons the pharaoh sent to carry him. They took their livestock and the possessions they gained in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring arrived in Egypt. He brought all his offspring—his sons, grandsons, daughters, and granddaughters—with him to Egypt.
These are the names of Israel’s descendants who arrived in Egypt, Jacob and his descendants:
Jacob’s firstborn was Reuben. The sons of Reuben were Enoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Saul, whose mother was Canaanite. The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. These were the sons Leah gave birth to for Jacob in Paddan Aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah, thirty-three sons and daughters in total.
The sons of Gad were Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Serah was their sister. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malkiel. These were the children of Zilpah, the servant Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She gave birth to children for Jacob, sixteen in total.
The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph fathered Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, gave birth to them. The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. These were the sons Rachel gave birth to for Jacob, fourteen in total.
The son of Dan was Hushim. The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. These were the sons of Bilhah, the servant Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She gave birth to children for Jacob, seven in total.
Everyone belonging to Jacob, his descendants who arrived in Egypt (not counting his sons’ wives), totaled sixty-six. Including Joseph’s two sons born in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s household who arrived in Egypt totaled seventy.
Now Jacob sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way to Goshen. When they arrived in Goshen, Joseph prepared his chariot and went to Goshen to meet Israel, his father. When he appeared, he embraced him and wept for a long time. Israel said to Joseph, “I’m ready to die now that I’ve seen your face because you’re still alive!”
Then Joseph told his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go and tell the pharaoh, ‘My brothers and my father’s household have come to me from the land of Canaan. The men are shepherds who care for livestock, and they have brought their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ When the pharaoh summons you, he will ask about your occupation. Tell him, ‘Your servants have cared for livestock since our youth, the same as our fathers did.’ That way you will be allowed to live in the land of Goshen because a shepherd is repulsive in Egypt.”
Jacob in Egypt
Then Joseph went and told the pharaoh, “My father and brothers have arrived from the land of Canaan with their flocks, their herds, and everything they own. They’re in the land of Goshen.”
He chose five of his brothers and presented them before the pharaoh. The pharaoh asked them, “What’s your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were. We’ve come to stay in this land a while because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. There’s no pasture for your servant’s flocks. So please allow your servants to live in the land of Goshen.”
The pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and brothers have come to you. Now, the land of Egypt lies before you. Settle your father and brothers in the best of the land. They may settle in Goshen. And if you know of any who are particularly capable, put them in charge of my livestock.”
Then Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and presented him to the pharaoh. And Jacob blessed the pharaoh. The pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
“My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My life has been short and miserable, and I haven’t reached the ages my fathers attained during their pilgrimages.”
Then Jacob blessed the pharaoh and left his presence.
As the pharaoh commanded, Joseph gave his father and brothers a possession in the best of the land of Egypt, the land of Rameses, and settled them there. He provided food for his father, brothers, and everyone in his father’s household, down to the smallest child.
But in all the land the people had no food because the famine was so severe. In the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, they wasted away because of the famine. Joseph gathered all the money that could be found in Egypt and Canaan in exchange for the grain the people bought. He brought the money to the pharaoh’s palace.
When the people in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan ran out of money, all the Egyptians came to Joseph. “Give us food. Why should we die in front of you just because our money is gone?”
“Then bring your livestock,” Joseph responded. “If your money is gone, I’ll give you food in exchange for your livestock.”
So they brought Joseph their livestock, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, flocks, herds, and donkeys. For that year, he sustained them with food in exchange for all their livestock.
That year ended, and they came to Joseph the next year. “We can’t hide from my lord that our money is gone. The livestock belong to my lord. Nothing remains except ourselves and our land. Why watch us die? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we will serve the pharaoh. Give us seed so we’ll live, not die, and the land won’t become desolate.”
So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields because the famine was so severe. Then the land belonged to the pharaoh. Joseph made the people servants from one end of Egypt to the other. The only land he didn’t buy belonged to the priests because they received an allotment from the pharaoh. They ate from the allotment the pharaoh gave them, so they didn’t have to sell their land.
Joseph told the people, “Look! Today I have bought you and your land for the pharaoh. Here is seed for you. Go plant the fields! When the harvest comes in, you must give a fifth to the pharaoh. Four-fifths will belong to you as seed for the field and as food for yourselves, your households, and your little ones.”
“You’ve saved our lives!” the people said. “Favor us, my lord, and we’ll serve the pharaoh!”
Joseph established a law that stands to this day in the land of Egypt: a fifth belongs to the pharaoh. Only the land of the priests didn’t belong to the pharaoh.
Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen. They had possessions there and were fruitful and increased greatly. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years. So Jacob lived 147 years.
When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called for his son Joseph. “Please favor me by taking a solemn oath that you’ll treat me with true faithfulness. Please don’t bury me in Egypt! When I lie with my fathers, carry me from Egypt to bury me in their tomb.”
“I will do as you say,” Joseph replied.
“Swear an oath to me!”
So Joseph swore an oath. Then Israel bowed down at the head of his bed.
Ephraim and Manasseh Adopted
Some time later, Joseph was told his father was ill. So he went with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. When Jacob heard his son Joseph had come to see him, he gathered his strength to sit up on the bed.
Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan. He blessed me there. ‘I will make you fruitful and increase your numbers into a fellowship of peoples. Then I will give this land to your offspring after you as an eternal possession.’
“So from now on your two sons born in the land of Egypt before I came are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh are just like Reuben and Simeon. They belong to me. Any children you have after them will belong to you. They’ll receive their inheritance under their brothers’ names. When I returned from Paddan, because of me Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we traveled and were still some distance from Ephrathah. I buried her there near the road.” (Ephrathah is now called Bethlehem.)
Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons and asked, “Who are they?”
“These are my sons God has given me here,” Joseph replied.
“Bring them to me so I can bless them.” Israel’s eyesight was failing because of his old age. Since his father couldn’t see well, Joseph brought his sons close. Then Israel kissed them and embraced them.
“I never thought I’d see you again,” Israel said to Joseph. “Now look! God has even shown me your offspring.” Joseph moved his sons away from his father’s knees and bowed down.
Then Joseph took both his sons and brought them near his father again. He took Ephraim on his right and led him to Israel’s left side, and he took Manasseh on his left and led him to Israel’s right side. But Israel reached out to place his right hand on Ephraim’s head, though he was younger. He crossed his arms and placed his left hand on Manasseh’s head, though he was the firstborn.
Then he blessed Joseph. “The God my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked before is the God who has shepherded me throughout my life and the messenger who has rescued 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. May they increase abundantly in the midst of the land.”
When Joseph saw his father put his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it upset him. He grabbed his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. “Not like that, father! This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused. “I know, my son. I know. He will also become a people and will be great. Yet his younger brother will be even greater, and his offspring will be numerous enough to fill nations.”
That day he blessed them, “By you Israel will bless each other. They will say, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Israel told Joseph, “I will die soon, but God will be with you. He will take you back to the land of your fathers. But first I give Shechem, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow, to you instead of your brothers.
Jacob’s Deathbed Blessing
Then Jacob called his sons together. “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in the future
“Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob.
Listen to Israel, your father.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength and the firstfruits of my virility,
flourishing in rank and flourishing in power.
Wayward like water, you’ll no longer flourish
because you climbed into your father’s bed and defiled it.
He climbed onto my couch!
“Simeon and Levi are brothers.
Their swords are tools of injustice.
Let me not participate in their council
or join in their fellowship.
In anger they’ve killed men.
For pleasure they’ve crippled cattle.
Cursed be their anger so intense
and their fury so ruthless!
I’ll divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.
“Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You’ll grasp your enemies by the neck,
and your father’s sons will bow down before you.
Judah is a lion cub.
My son, you rise from the prey.
He kneels down. He crouches like a lioness.
Like a lion, who dares rouse him?
The scepter won’t pass from Judah,
nor the royal staff from between his feet
until tribute comes to him
and peoples obey him.
Tying his donkey to the grapevine,
his foal to the best vine,
he’ll wash his clothes in wine,
his garments in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will be red from wine,
and his teeth white from milk.
“Zebulun will settle down toward the seashore,
which will become a harbor for boats.
His back will face Phoenicia.
“Issachar is a strong donkey
crouching among the baggage.
He’ll see that the place where he rests is good
and the land is delightful.
So he’ll lower his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labor.
“Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan will be a snake on a road,
a viper on a path.
He’ll bite a horse’s heels
so its rider will fall backward.
“I wait for your salvation, Yahweh!
“Raiders will plunder Gad,
but he’ll plunder at their heels.
“Asher will have rich food
and provide kingly delicacies.
“Naphtali is a doe sent out,
the giver of lovely words.
“Joseph is a wild donkey’s colt,
a wild colt by a spring,
wild donkeys over a wall.
In bitterness they shot.
The master archers resent him.
Yet his bow stayed constant,
and his arms were limber
by the power of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the name of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,
by your father’s God, who helps you,
and by the Almighty, who blesses you.
Blessings of the sky above!
Blessings of the deep below!
Blessings of breast and womb!
Your father’s blessings surpass
the blessings of the ancient mountains,
the treasures of the eternal hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the one set apart from his brothers.
“Benjamin is a ferocious wolf.
In the morning he devours the prey.
In the evening he divides the spoils.”
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed each one according to his own blessing.
The Deaths of Jacob and Joseph
Then Jacob commanded them, “I’ll soon be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. The cave is in the field in Machpelah, on the outskirts of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought the field from Ephron the Hittite to be a burial site. Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there. Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there. And I buried Leah there in the field and cave acquired from the Hittites.”
When Jacob finished giving instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet back up into bed. Then he died and was gathered to his people.
Joseph embraced his father, wept over him, and kissed him. Then he commanded the healers in his service to embalm his father. So the healers embalmed Israel. This took forty days, the usual time required for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
When the time of mourning had passed, Joseph spoke to the pharaoh’s officials, “Please favor me by speaking to the pharaoh on my behalf. My father made me swear an oath. ‘See, I’m about to die. Bury me in the grave I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ So please allow me to go bury my father. Then I’ll return.”
The pharaoh answered, “Go. Bury your father just as he made you swear to do.”
So Joseph left to bury his father. All the pharaoh’s officials, the elders of his household and the elders of the land of Egypt, went with him. All of Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household went. They left only their small children, flocks, and herds in the land of Goshen. Both chariots and horsemen went with Joseph—an immense entourage!
When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there deeply and grievously. Joseph decreed seven days of mourning for his father. The Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. “What a deep mourning this is for the Egyptians!” So they called it Abel Mizraim. It’s on the other side of the Jordan.
Jacob’s sons did just as he had commanded them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field in Machpelah. Abraham bought the field on the outskirts of Mamre from Ephron the Hittite to be a burial site. After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and everyone who had left with him.
As Joseph’s brothers processed their father’s death, they said, “What if Joseph resents us and repays us for how horribly we treated him?” So they sent this command to Joseph: “Before he died, your father commanded us to say to you, ‘Please forgive your brothers’ crimes and sins, though they treated you horribly.’ Now please forgive the crimes committed by the servants of your father’s God.”
Joseph wept when he heard this.
Then his brothers also went and bowed down before him. “We are your servants!”
But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Can I take God’s place? Though you planned to harm me, God planned it for good—to save many lives, as he has now accomplished. Now don’t be afraid. I’ll provide for you and your little ones.”
Joseph comforted them and spoke reassuringly to them. And he remained in Egypt with his father’s household.
Joseph lived 110 years. He saw three generations of Ephraim’s children, and the children of Manasseh’s son Makar were considered Joseph’s.
Joseph said to his family, “I’ll die soon, but God will certainly come to you and lead you out from this land to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Then Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath. “God will certainly come to you, and you must take my bones from this place.”
Joseph died at the age of 110. He was embalmed and placed in a sarcophagus in Egypt.