Genesis Chapters

PROLOGUE

1 |• ¹ In the beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth, ²the earth had no form and was void; darkness was over the deep and the spirit of God hovered over the waters.

³God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light ‘Day’ and the darkness ‘Night.’ There was evening and there was morning: the first day.

⁶God said, “Let there be a firm ceiling between the waters and let it separate waters from waters.” ⁷So God made the ceiling and separated the waters below it from those above it. And so it was. ⁸God called the firm ceiling ‘Sky.’ There was evening and there was morning: the second day.

⁹God said, “Let the waters below the sky be gathered together in one place and let dry land appear.” And so it was. ¹⁰God called the dry land ‘Earth,’ and the waters gathered together he called ‘Seas.’ God saw that it was good.

¹¹God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit with seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And so it was. ¹²The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kind and trees producing fruit with seed according to their kind. God saw that it was good. ¹³There was evening and there was morning: the third day.

¹⁴God said, “Let there be lights in the ceiling of the sky to separate day from night and to serve as signs for the seasons, days and years; ¹⁵and let these lights in the sky shine above the earth.” And so it was. ¹⁶God, therefore, made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the smaller light to govern the night, and God made the stars as well. ¹⁷God placed them in the ceiling of the sky to give light on the earth ¹⁸and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. ¹⁹There was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.

²⁰God said, “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth under the ceiling of the sky.” ²¹God created the great monsters of the sea and all living animals, those that teem in the waters, according to their kind, and every winged bird, according to its kind. God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³There was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.

²⁴God said, “Let the earth produce living animals according to their kind: cattle, creatures that move along the ground, wild animals according to their kind.” So it was. ²⁵God created the wild animals according to their kind, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

²⁶God said, “Let us make man in our image, to our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, the wild animals, and all creeping things that crawl along the ground.” ²⁷So God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹God said, “I have given you every seed-bearing plant which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food. ³⁰To every wild animal, bird of the sky, everything that creeps along the ground, and everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” So it was.

³¹God saw all he had made, which was very good. There was evening and morning, the sixth day.

2 | ¹That was how the sky and earth were created and all their vast array. ²By the seventh day, the work God had done was completed, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work. ³And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on that day he rested from all the work he had done in his creation. ⁴These are the successive steps in the creation of the heavens and the earth.

First Part:

THE ORIGIN OF HUMANITY

The Story of Eden

• On the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵there was not yet on the earth any shrub of the fields, nor had any plant yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the earth, ⁶but a mist went up from the earth and watered the surface of the earth.

⁷Then the Lord God formed man, dust drawn from the clay, and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life and man became alive with breath. ⁸God planted a garden in Eden in the east and there he placed man whom he had created. ⁹The Lord God caused to grow from the ground every kind of tree that is pleasing to see and good to eat, also the tree of Life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

¹⁰A river flowed from Eden to water the garden and from there it divided to form four main streams. ¹¹The name of the first river is Pishon. It is the one that flows around all the country of Havilah where there is gold, ¹² and the gold of that country is good; bdellium and onyx stones are there. ¹³The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one that flows around all the land of Cush. ¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris. It is the one that flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took man and placed him in the garden of Eden to till it and take care of it. ¹⁶Then the Lord God gave the order to man saying, “You may eat of every tree in the garden, 17 but the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you will not eat, for on the day you eat of it, you will die.”

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will give him a helper who will be like him.” ¹⁹Then the Lord God formed from the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air and brought them to man to see what he would call them; and whatever man called every living creature, that was its name.

²⁰So man gave names to all the cattle, the birds of the air and to every beast of the field. But he did not find among them a helper like himself. ²¹Then the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over man and he fell asleep. He took one of his ribs and filled its place with flesh. ²²The rib which the Lord God had taken from man he formed into a wom­an and brought her to the man. ²³The man then said, “Now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken from man.” ²⁴That is why man leaves his father and mother and is attached to his wife, and with her becomes one flesh. ²⁵Both the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed.

The fall

3 | • ¹Now the serpent was the craftiest of all the wild creatures that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” ²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said: You must not eat, and you must not touch it or you will die.” ⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, ⁵but God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.”

⁶The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, and pleasant to the eyes, and ideal for gaining knowledge. She took its fruit and ate it and gave some to her husband who was with her. He ate it. ⁷Then their eyes were opened and both of them knew they were naked. So they sewed leaves of a fig tree together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, and they, the man and his wife, hid from the Lord God among the garden's trees.

⁹ The Lord God called the man, saying, “Where are you?” ¹⁰He said, “I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” ¹¹God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?” ¹²The man answered, “The woman you put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” ¹³God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

The Judgment of God

•  ¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵I will make you enemies, you and the wom­an, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.”

¹⁷To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering, you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life. ¹⁸It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹With sweat on your face, you will eat your bread until you return to clay, since it was from clay that you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

²⁰The man called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for the man and his wife, and with these, he clothed them.

²²Then the Lord God said, “Man has now become like one of us, making himself judge of good and evil. Let him not stretch out his hand to take and eat from the tree of Life as well and live forever.” ²³So God cast him from the garden of Eden to till the soil from which he had been made. ²⁴And after having driven the man out, God posted cherubim and a flaming sword that kept turning at the east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Cain and Abel

4 | • ¹Adam had intercourse with Eve his wife; she became pregnant and gave birth to a child. She named him Cain, for she said, “I have got a man with help from the Lord.” ²She later gave birth to Abel, his brother. Abel was a shepherd and kept flocks, and Cain tilled the soil.

³After a time, Cain brought fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴Abel, for his part, brought the firstborn of his flock, and some fat as well. Now the Lord was well pleased with Abel and his offering, ⁵but towards Cain and his offering; he showed no pleasure. This made Cain very angry and downcast.

⁶Then the Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry and downcast? ⁷If you do right, why do you not look up? But sin lurks at the door if you are not doing what is right. It is striving to get you, but you must control it.”

⁸Cain told his brother Abel, “Let’s go to the fields.” Once there, Cain turned on his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother, Abel?” He answered, “I don’t know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord asked, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹Now be cursed and driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood that your hand has shed. ¹²When you till the soil, it will no longer yield its produce. You will be a fugitive wandering on the earth.”

¹³Cain told the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴See! Today, you drive me from this land. I must hide from you and be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will so happen that whoever meets me will kill me.” ¹⁵ The Lord told him, “Well then, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain to prevent anyone who met him from killing him.

¹⁶Cain then went from the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod to the east of Eden.

The descendants of Cain and Seth

•  ¹⁷Cain had intercourse with his wife; she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. As he was building a town, he called it by the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸A son, Irad, was born to Enoch. Irad became the father of Mehujael, Mehujael of Methushael, and Methushael of Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah. ²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was a father to those who live in tents and keep flocks. ²¹His brother was Jubal: a father to all who played the lyre and flute. ²²As for Zillah, she gave birth to Tubalcain, a forger of all tools in bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

wives of Lamech, listen to what I say,

for I killed a man for wounding me

and a boy for striking me.

²⁴If Cain will be avenged seven times,

then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

²⁵Adam again had intercourse with his wife and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “The Lord has given me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him.” ²⁶To Seth also a son was born and he called him Enosh. At that time, people began to call on the name of the Lord.

The descendants of Adam

5 | ¹This is the account of Adam’s descendants. When God created Adam he made him in the likeness of God; ²male and female he created them; he blessed them and called them man on the day they were created.

³Adam was a hundred and thirty years old when he became the father of a son born in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. ⁴After the birth of Seth, Adam lived for eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵Altogether Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.

⁶When Seth was a hundred and five, he became the father of Enosh. ⁷After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years. He had other sons and daughters. ⁸Altogether, Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years; then he died.

⁹When Enosh was ninety years old, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and he had other sons and daughters. ¹¹Altogether, Enosh lived nine hundred and five years; then he died.

¹²When Kenan was seventy years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years, and he had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴Altogether, Kenan lived nine hundred and ten years; then he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel was sixty-five, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶Afterward, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷All the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; then he died. ¹⁸When Jared was a hundred and sixty-two, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. ²⁰Altogether, Jared lived nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died.

²¹When Enoch was sixty-five, he became the father of Methuselah. ²²After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. ²³In all Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴After Enoch had walked with God, he disappeared because God took him up.

•  ²⁵When Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and he had other sons and daughters. ²⁷In all, Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died.

²⁸Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two when he became a father of a son ²⁹and named him Noah, for he said, “He will console us in the hard toil and suffering of our hands because of the soil that was cursed by the Lord. ³⁰After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and he had other sons and daughters. ³¹In all Lamech lived seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.

³²When Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Sons of God and Daughters of Men

6 | • ¹When people began to increase on the earth, and daughters were born to them, ²the sons of God saw that men’s daughters were very beautiful, so they married those they chose. ³The Lord then said, “My spirit will not remain in man forever, for he is flesh. His span of life will be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴At that time there were giants on the earth, and afterward, when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. These were the heroes of old, men of renown.

The flood

•   ⁵ The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on earth was and that evil was always the only thought of his heart. ⁶ The Lord regretted having created man on the earth and his heart grieved. ⁷He said, “I will destroy man whom I created and blot him out from the face of the earth, as well as the beasts, creeping creatures, and birds, for I am sorry I made them.” ⁸But Noah was pleasing to God.

⁹This is the story of Noah. Noah was a just man, blameless among the people of his time, who walked with God. ¹⁰Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹The earth became corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹²God saw the earth and saw it was corrupt, for corrupt, indeed, was the way of all mortals.

¹³The Lord said to Noah, “I have in mind to destroy all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. This is why I will destroy them and, with them, the earth. ¹⁴As for you, build an ark of cypress wood. You will make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and outside. ¹⁵This is how you will do it: the length of the ark, four hundred and fifty feet; the width, seventy-five feet; the height, forty-five feet. ¹⁶You will put a roof on the ark and finish it within eighteen inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and have lower, middle, and upper decks. ¹⁷I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life. Everything on earth will perish, ¹⁸but I will establish my Covenant with you. You shall come into the ark, with you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁹You shall bring into the ark two of every kind of living thing, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰Of the birds, the animals, and all creeping things on the ground, according to their kind, two of every sort shall come in to be kept alive with you.

²¹Take with you every sort of food that is eaten. Make a store of it, and it will be food for you and them.”

²²And Noah did all as God had commanded him.

7 | ¹ The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I see that you are just in this generation. ²Of all the clean animals, you are to take with you seven of each kind, male and female, and a pair of unclean animals, a male and a female. ³In the same way for the birds of the air, take seven and seven, male and female, to keep their kind alive over all the earth, ⁴for in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will blot out from the face of the earth all the living creatures I have created.”

⁵Noah did all as the Lord had commanded. ⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters covered the earth.

⁷So Noah went into the ark with his children, his wife, and his sons’ wives to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸Clean animals and also unclean, birds, and all that crawls on the earth went into the ark with Noah; ⁹they went two and two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰And after seven days the waters of the flood were over the earth.

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month and on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth ¹²  and there was a downpour on the earth lasting forty days and forty nights. ¹³On that same day, Noah went into the ark, as well as Shem, Ham, and Japheth, his sons, and his wife and his daughters-in-law. ¹⁴All the animals according to their kind also entered into the ark, all the cattle, all the creeping things that crawl on the earth and all the birds according to their kind; all that flies and everything with wings. ¹⁵They came to Noah in the ark, two by two, all creatures that had the breath of life in them. ¹⁶And they that went in were male and female just as God had commanded.

Then the Lord closed the door on Noah. ¹⁷The flood lasted for forty days on the earth. The waters rose and lifted the ark above the earth.

¹⁸The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of them.

¹⁹The waters rose more and more above the earth, and all the high mountains under the heavens were submerged. ²⁰The waters had risen and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. ²¹Every living thing that moved on the earth died: birds, cattle, animals, everything that swarmed on the earth—and all humankind.

²²All on the face of the earth that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³Every living being on the face of the earth, humans, and animals, and creatures that crawl and the birds of the air were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left and those that were with him in the ark.

8 | ²⁴The waters flooded the earth for one hundred and fifty days. ¹Then God remembered Noah and all the animals and cattle that were with him in the ark. God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided.

²Then the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed and the downpour from the heavens held back.

³The waters receded from the earth and after one hundred and fifty days the waters had abated. ⁴In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested on Mount Ararat. ⁵The waters continued to recede until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the mountaintops could be seen.

⁶At the end of the forty days, Noah opened the ark window that he had built ⁷and let the raven out. This went off and kept flying to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

⁸Then Noah let out the dove to see if the waters were receding from the earth. ⁹But the dove could not find a place to set its foot and flew back to him in the ark for the waters still covered the whole earth's surface. So Noah stretched out his hand, took hold of it and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰He waited some more days and again sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹This time, the dove came back to him in the evening with a fresh olive branch in its beak.

Then Noah knew the waters had receded from the earth. ¹²He waited sev­en more days and let the dove loose, but it did not return to him anymore.

¹³In the year six hundred and one, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and looked out and saw that the surface of the earth was dry. ¹⁴On the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶“Come out of the ark, you and your wife, your sons, and their wives with you. ¹⁷Bring out with you all flesh, that is, all the animals who are with you, all things of flesh; birds, cattle and all that crawls on the earth. Let them abound on the earth, be fruitful and increase in number.” ¹⁸So Noah went out, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹All the animals, all the birds, all that creeps on the earth, came out of the ark, one kind after another.

²⁰Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and all the clean birds, he offered burnt offerings on it. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said to himself: “Never again will I curse the earth because of man, even though his heart is set on evil from childhood; never again will I strike down every living creature as I have done.

²²As long as the earth lasts,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night,

shall not cease to be.”

The New World Order

9 | • ¹God blessed Noah and his sons and he said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. ² Fear and dread of you will be in all the animals of the earth and in all the birds of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. They are given to you. ³Everything that moves and lives shall be food for you; as I gave you the green plants, I have now given you everything. ⁴On­ly you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

⁵But I will also demand a reckoning for your lifeblood. I will demand it from every animal; and from man, too, I will demand a reckoning for the life of his fellow man.

⁶He who sheds the blood of man shall have his blood shed by man; for in the image of God has God made man.

⁷As for you, be fruitful and increase. Abound on the earth and be master of it.”

⁸God spoke to Noah and his sons, ⁹“See I am making a Covenant with you and with your descendants after you; ¹⁰also with every living animal with you: birds, cattle, that is, with every living creature of the earth that came out of the ark. ¹¹I establish my Covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²God said, “This is the sign of the Covenant I make between me and you, and every animal living with you for all future generations. ¹³I set my bow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember the Covenant between me and you and every kind of living creature, so that never again will floodwaters destroy all flesh. ¹⁶When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting Covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that exists on the earth.” ¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the Covenant I have made between me and all that has life on the earth.”

Noah and his sons

•   ¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the ancestor of Canaan. ¹⁹These were Noah’s three sons and from them, the whole earth was peopled.

²⁰Noah, a man of the soil, planted a vineyard. ²¹He drank the wine, became drunk, and lay uncovered in the middle of his tent. ²²When Ham, Canaan’s ancestor, saw his father’s nakedness, he told his two brothers outside the tent. ²³But Shem and Japheth took a cloak, put it on their shoulders, the two of them, then walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵And he said, “Cursed be Canaan! He shall be his brothers’ meanest slave!”

²⁶He then added: “Blessed be the Lord, God of Shem, let Canaan be his slave! ²⁷May God extend (the territory of) Japheth, and may he live in the tents of Shem! And may Canaan be his slave!”

²⁸Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. ²⁹In all Noah lived for nine hundred and fifty years. Then he died.

The list of nations

10 | • ¹These are the descendants of  Noah’s sons. Shem, Ham, and Japheth are their sons born after the flood. ²Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras. ³Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Diphath, Togarmah. ⁴Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Rodanim). ⁵These were dispersed and peopled the islands of the nations.

These were Japheth’s sons, according to their countries and each of their languages, according to their tribes and their nations.

⁶Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan. ⁷Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca. Raamah’s sons: Sheba, Dedan.

⁸Cush became the father of Nimrod who was the first great ruler on earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter in the eyes of the Lord, hence the saying, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the eyes of the Lord.” ¹⁰The beginning of his empire was Babel, with Erech and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. ¹¹From this country came Ashur, the builder of Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, ¹²and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (this is the great city).

¹³Mizraim became the father of the people of Ludim, of Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, Casluhim and Caphtorim, from which the Philistines came.

¹⁵Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and of Heth, ¹⁶and the Jebusites, the Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites; later the Canaanite tribes scattered. ¹⁹The Canaanite frontier stretched from Sidon in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, and as far as Lasha.

²⁰These were Ham’s sons, according to their tribes, languages, countries, and nations.

²¹There were also children born to Shem, the ancestor of all the sons of Eber, who are the Hebrews, and the elder brother of Japheth.

²²Shem’s sons: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram. ²³Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber. ²⁵To Eber were born two sons: the first was called Peleg because it was in his time that the earth was divided, and his brother was called Joktan. ²⁶Joktan became the father of Al­modad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah, Jobab; all these are sons of Joktan. ³⁰They occupied a stretch of country from Mesh toward Sephar, to the eastern mountain range.

³¹These were Shem’s sons, according to their tribes and languages and according to their countries and nations.

³²These were the tribes of Noah’s sons, according to their descendants and their nations. From these came the dispersal of the nations over the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 | • ¹The whole world had one language and a common speech. ²As people moved from the east, they found a plain in the country of Shinar where they settled.

³They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.” They used brick for stone and bitu­men for mortar. ⁴They said also, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven; so that we may become a great people and not be scattered over the face of the earth!”

⁵ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man were building, ⁶and the Lord said, “They are one people and they have one language. Nothing they decide to do from now on will be impossible if they carry this through. ⁷Come! Let us go down and confuse their language so that they will no longer understand each other.”

⁸So the Lord scattered them over all the earth and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth and from there the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

¹⁰These are Shem’s descendants:

When Shem was a hundred years old, two years after the flood, he became the father of Arpachshad. After the birth of Arpachshad, 11 Shem lived five hundred years, and he had more sons and daughters.

¹²When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old he became the father of Shelah. ¹³After the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years and he had more sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah was thirty years old he became the father of Eber. After the birth of Eber, ¹⁵ Shelah lived four hundred and three years and he had more sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber was thirty-four years old he became the father of Peleg. After the birth of Peleg, ¹⁷Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and he had more sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg was thirty years old he became the father of Reu; ¹⁹Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and he had more sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu was thirty-two years old he became the father of Serug; ²¹Reu lived two hundred and seven years and he had more sons and daughters.

²²When Serug was thirty years old he became the father of Nahor. After the birth of Nahor, ²³Serug lived two hundred years and he had more sons and daughters.          

²⁴When Nahor was twenty-nine years old he became the father of Terah. After the birth of Terah, ²⁵Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years and he had more sons and daughters.

•  ²⁶ When Terah was seventy, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷These are Terah’s descendants: Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹Abram and Nahor married: Abram’s wife was called Sarai; Nahor’s wife was called Milcah, the daughter of Ha­ran, father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰Sarai was barren, having no child.

³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grand­son Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram, and made them leave Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But on arrival in Haran, they settled there. ³²Terah lived two hundred and five years and died in Haran.

The Three Sayings of God

In the first chapter of Genesis, God said, and we have Creation.

Again, in Chapter 9, God said it is to bless all humanity.

In Chapter 12, God said a third time, the beginning of God’s people.

These are very uneven steps in the Scriptures since the revelation to God’s people fills the rest of the Sacred Scriptures. What we read from here concerns all humanity, but it will be what God has said and done to his people.

Let's enter deeply into the spirit of the Scriptures. We will discover that these three facets of the divine work—creation, blessing to humanity, and God’s people—form a whole and are interrelated in thousands of ways. But let us beware! Suppose we do not understand the meaning of these three steps which come from the mouth of God. In that case, there will come a time when we will no longer be able to accept the testimony of the Scriptures and even the meaning of Jesus will be lost for us, because these three “words” are contrary to some preconceptions which deeply mark our time.

In the first “God said,” this word created the universe with its natural laws. Scripture recalls that these laws are permanent. It will also add that the universe is always at God’s service and obeys God’s word. To say that God put the world on automatic pilot is mostly true: God does not constantly pull strings. However, we would be far from biblical revelation if we said that God fixed everything at the beginning and did not allow other forces to interfere with these laws or make them incidental (from our point of view). On the seventh day, God is said to have rested from work done (Gen 2:4), but the opposite is also true: “The Father goes on working (Jn 5:17).” God is always expressing Self through works, and creation continues to live and exist in God. Nature’s laws are the shadow of a superior justice in God, but in nature, starting with its richness and splendor, we find much more than just physical laws. Its ongoing creativity, one of its most mysterious capacities, reflects God’s creative freedom, which is never shackled.

This is enough to startle all those who theorize about absolute truth, such as laws are inflexible and nothing exists outside of what is measurable. There would be no scientific research without such theories, but that does not mean they present the whole reality of the world or even what is essential. Yet, this preconception prevents many Christians from admitting any intervention by God in the natural order of the world. In the Gospels, they will first reject the multiplication of the loaves, Mary’s virginity, and the Transfiguration… or make the texts mean the opposite of what they actually say. They will reject all the actual testimonies of those who have experienced similar interventions by God. Going further, they will reject any direct intervention by God in our inner world, and very logically, they will deny that prayer makes sense. This rationalism will give rise to many books and discussions, but in the end, it is fruitless. It will not arouse faith, and it never brings joy.

The second “God said” in Noah’s story is equally meaningful. God inaugurates the post-flood days by making a pact with all the nations and religions since all are Noah’s children. If God blesses them, God offers them a path to salvation: they will find God through their many cultures and religions (Acts 17:27).

When God's Word or Wisdom becomes present in their search for wisdom in the words of their sacred books, it merely continues its creative work: through this, God arranged the stages of creation (Heb 1:2). Therefore, the whole course of history will continue the plan of God the Creator, and for their part, religions will always be connected with a discovery of God or of “the divine” in nature (Rom 1:20; Acts 17:27).

What more do we need? Doesn’t humanity have all it needs to complete creation and reach its goal? That would mean forgetting that “Noah’s children are still Adam’s children.” Worldwide conflicts may turn us back quickly from our dreams into reality, which is not very pretty. But let us not dwell on the failures and limitations of human wisdom because what matters is found elsewhere.

Creation was God’s way of expressing the Godself. Even if God could bestow the richness of the universe on humanity, having become somewhat rational, nothing of what is more extraordinary in God would appear—the dynamism and the excesses of a love whose initiatives God alone can fathom. And God could not go beyond all the forms of benevolence that we commonly call Providence without breaking the circle of a seemingly perfect happy world. Such a relationship between God and God’s creation would still be alien to the holiness of God. And so, God calls individuals and groups to share in this unique history. They would embark on new and untrodden paths, which often run counter to common experience. The call of Abraham was the first branching off, the first break.

This third “God said” marks the start of God’s people, different from all other people; this contrast, or simply the duality between those chosen and those not, causes great uneasiness in many Christians’ consciences. Why this double standard? Are we sure that biblical revelation is more than just another religion, among others? We may be tempted to renounce our richness out of false humility: why would I have the truth more than others? At this point again, an act of faith is required of us. Now is the time to accept or reject the God of the Scriptures, who is “predilection and fidelity.” God calls whom he wants and gives one person what he does not give to another. God gives more so that we produce more and so that everyone may benefit from it, but God gives definitely what he wants. Often, without admitting it, we consider God as an unjust boss facing all the workers and not treating them all in the same way. This has nothing to do with reality. Workers did not wait for the boss to exist. It is the opposite of God: we are not ready-made before God, waiting for what God will give us. Instead, God made us all different and out of nothing. At the same time as God makes us what we are, our Creator places us on a path merging with our needs, hopes, and longing for happiness.

From the outset, Christians must accept the unique aspect of their vocation: it is both their treasure and their service to the world. It would make no sense for them to return to the ranks of non-believers since others are not after their places. Fear alone can cause such panic: the fear of being different or perhaps another fear, a lack of faith. Are not God’s great promises an illusion?

Second Part:

The ancestors of the people of god

The Call of Abram

12 | • ¹ The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. ²I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and in you, all people of the earth will be blessed.”

⁴So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.

Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵Abram took Sarai, his wife, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan.

They arrived at Canaan. ⁶Abram traveled through the country as far as Shechem to the oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants, I will give this land.” There he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.

⁸From there, he went on to the mountains east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There also he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. ⁹Then Abram set out in the direction of Negeb.

•  ¹⁰There was famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for some time, for the famine was severe in the land.

¹¹Just as he was about to enter Egypt he said to Sarai, his wife, “Now I know you are a beautiful woman. ¹²When the Egyptians see you they will say: ‘That is his wife!’ They will then kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³Say that you are my sister so that they treat me well on account of you and my life be spared because of you.”

¹⁴In fact, when Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh. The woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house ¹⁶and because of her he dealt well with Abram; he received sheep, cattle, donkeys, menservants, maidservants, she-asses and camels.

¹⁷But the Lord inflicted severe plagues on Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What have you done to me? ¹⁹Why did you say: ‘She’s my sister,’ so I took her for my wife. Now, here is your wife! Take her and go!” ²⁰And Pharaoh gave orders to his men regarding Abram, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all that was his.

13 | ¹ Abram went up from Egypt to the Negeb, he and his wife, with all he had and Lot with him. ² Now Abram was very rich in flocks, silver, and gold. ³As he journeyed on, he went from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where he first pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai ⁴at the spot where he had formerly made an altar and called on the Name of the Lord.

Abram and Lot separate

•   ⁵Lot who went with Abram also had flocks, cattle, and tents. ⁶The land was not sufficient to allow them to stay together, for their possessions were too great for them to live together.

⁷A quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Abram’s flock and those of Lot. (The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at the time.) ⁸Abram said to Lot, “Don’t let there be a dispute between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and yours since we are brothers! ⁹Isn’t the whole land there before you? Let us part company. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

¹⁰Lot looked up and saw the whole valley of the Jordan: how well it was watered! Before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, this was like one of the Lord’s gardens, like the country of Egypt, on coming to Zoar. ¹¹Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley and journeyed eastward. In this way, they separated from each other. ¹²Abram settled in the country of Canaan while Lot lived among the towns of the plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the people of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the Lord.

¹⁴The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, “Raise your eyes and look from where you are, towards the north, the south, the east, and the west; ¹⁵all the land you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. ¹⁶I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; if the grains of the dust can be counted, then your descendants may be counted. ¹⁷Come, travel through the length and breadth of the land, for it is to you that I am giving it.”

¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and came to live by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.

14 | ¹At the time of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ²these kings made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³All these joined forces in the valley of Siddim (that is the Salt Sea). ⁴Twelve years they had been dominated by Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies, came and fought and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim ⁶and the Horites in their Mount Seir as far as El-paran which is near the desert.

⁷They then turned back and came to the Spring of Judgment (that is, Kadesh) and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, as well as that of the Amorites who lived in Hazazontamar. ⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and took up battle positions in the valley of Siddim ⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against five.

¹⁰Now there were many bitumen pits in the valley of Siddim, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them and the rest took refuge in the mountains. ¹¹The enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their provisions and went off. ¹²They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who lived in Sodom, and his possessions and went off.

¹³One who escaped came to tell Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These Abram’s allies.

Abram and Melchizedek

•  ¹⁴As soon as Abram heard that his brother had been taken away captive, he assembled and led forth his trained men born in his house, three hundred and eighteen men and set off in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵He grouped his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed and followed them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶Then he brought back all his possessions, his kinsman Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the people.

¹⁷On his return after defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that is the Valley of the King).

¹⁸Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High, ¹⁹and he blessed Abram saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth! ²⁰And blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hands!”

And Abram gave him a tenth part of everything.

²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” ²²Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand to the Lord God Most High, creator of heaven and earth, to swear ²³that not one thread or thong of a sandal, or anything that is yours, would I take. Lest you say, ‘Abram became rich at my expense,’ ²⁴I claim nothing for myself! Only what the young men have eaten and the share due to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, the men who came with me.”

God’s Covenant with Abram

15 | • ¹After this, the word of the Lord was spoken to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great!”

²Abram said, “My Lord God, where are your promises? I am still childless, and all I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus. ³You have given me no children, so a slave of mine will be my heir.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord was spoken to him again, “Eliezer will not be your heir, but a child born of you (your own flesh and blood) will be your heir.” ⁵Then the Lord brought him outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.”

⁶Abram believed the Lord who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. ⁷And he said, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

⁸Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know it shall be mine?” ⁹The Lord replied, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun went down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him. ¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be exiles in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there, oppressed for four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will judge the nation that oppresses them; after that, they will not leave empty-handed. ¹⁵As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. ¹⁶Your descendants of the fourth generation will come back here, for the wickedness of the Amorites has not yet deserved that I take the land from them.”

¹⁷When the sun had set, and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. ¹⁸On that day, the Lord made a Covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants, I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.

¹⁹The land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

The Birth of Ishmael

16 | • ¹Sarai, Abram’s wife had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, ²and she said to Abram, “Now, since the Lord has kept me from having children, go to my servant; perhaps I shall have a child by her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

³Abram had been in the land of Canaan ten years when Sarai, his wife, took Hagar, her Egyptian maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as wife. ⁴He went in to Hagar and she became pregnant.

When she was aware of this, she despised her mistress. ⁵Sarai said to Abram, “May this injury done to me be yours. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let the Lord judge between me and you.” ⁶Abram said to Sarai, “Your servant is in your power; do with her as you please.” Then Sarai treated her so badly that she ran away.

• ⁷The angel of the Lord found her near a spring in the wilderness ⁸and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I’m running away from Sarai, my mistress.” ⁹The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.” ¹⁰The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to be counted.” ¹¹Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Now you are with child, and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your distress. ¹²He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”

¹³Hagar gave to the Lord who spoke to her the name of El Roi, for she said: “I have seen the One who sees me.” ¹⁴That is why this well is called the well of Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵Hagar gave birth to a son, and Abram named the child Hagar bore him Ishmael. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

Abram Becomes Abraham

17 | • ¹When Abram was ninety-nine, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk in my presence and be without blame! ²I will make a Covenant between myself and you, and I will multiply your race.” ³Abram fell face down and God said to him, ⁴“This is my Covenant with you: you will be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but Abraham, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you more and more famous; I will multiply your descendants; nations shall spring from you, kings shall be among your descendants. ⁷And I will establish a covenant, an everlasting Covenant between you and myself and your descendants after you; from now on, I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you, for generations to come. ⁸I will give to you and your descendants after you the land you are living in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession, and I will be the God of your race.”

The Circumcision

•  ⁹God said to Abraham, “For your part, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. ¹⁰This is my Covenant with you that you will keep, you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹you shall circumcise your foreskin, and that will be the sign of the Covenant between me and you. ¹²When he is eight days old, every male among you will be circumcised, generation after generation; ¹³those born in your household or bought from a foreigner to be slaves. Whether born in your household or bought to be slaves, they must be circumcised. So my Covenant will be written in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people for having broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, no longer are you to call her Sarai, but Sarah. ¹⁶I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and from her will come nations; kings and peoples shall come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell face down, and he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? And can Sarah who is ninety have a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “If only you would accept Ishmael as yours!” ¹⁹But God said, “Not at all! It is Sarah, your wife, who will give birth to your son and you will name him Isaac. I will establish my Covenant with him and his descendants after him forever. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I heard you. I will bless him and make him fruitful, and I will multiply his race. He shall be the father of twelve princes and I will make of him a great nation. ²¹But my Covenant I will establish with Isaac, the child Sarah will have this time next year.” ²²When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went away from him.

²³Abraham then took Ishmael, his son, as well as all those born in his house and all those he had bought to be slaves, all the males in the household of Abraham, and circumcised their foreskins that same day as God had told him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵and his son, Ishmael, was thirteen. ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised that same day. ²⁷And every male in his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

The Lord visits Abraham

18 | • ¹The Lord appeared to Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of day ²when he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the tent's entrance to meet them. He bowed to the ground ³and said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass your servant by. ⁴Let a little water be brought. Wash your feet and then rest under the trees. ⁵I shall fetch some bread so you can be refreshed and continue on your way since you have come to your servant.” They then said, “Do as you say.” ⁶Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said to her, “Quick, take three measures of flour, knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷Abraham then ran to the herd, took a fine, tender calf, gave it to the servant who hurried to prepare it. ⁸He took butter and milk and, together with the calf he had prepared, laid it all before them. And while he remained standing, they ate. ⁹They then asked, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” Abraham answered, “She is in the tent.” ¹⁰And the visitor said, “At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”

Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent. ¹¹Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah no longer had her monthly periods. ¹²Sarah laughed to herself saying, “Now that I am old and worn and my husband is an old man, am I to have this pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying: ‘Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is there anything impossible for God? At this same time next year, I will return, and Sarah, by then, will have a son.”

¹⁵Sarah denied saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. But he said, “You did laugh.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

•  ¹⁶The men went away and turned towards Sodom. Abraham walked with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷And the Lord said, “Can I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸Abraham, in fact, is going to become a great and powerful nation. Through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed, ¹⁹for I have chosen him to command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰Then the Lord said, “How great is the cry for justice against Sodom and Gomorrah! And how grievous is their sin! ²¹I am going down to see if they have done all they are charged with in the outcry that has reached me. If it is not so, I will know.”

²²The men with him turned away and approached Sodom, but the Lord stood before Abraham. ²³Abraham went forward and said, “Will you really let the just perish with the wicked? ²⁴Perhaps there are fifty good people in the town. Are you really going to let them perish? Would you not spare the place for the sake of these fifty righteous people? ²⁵It would not be at all like you to do such a thing, and you can’t let the good perish with the wicked, nor treat the good and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the judge of all the earth be just?” ²⁶The Lord said, “If I find fifty good people in Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham spoke up again, “I know that I am very bold to speak like this to my Lord, I who am only dust and ashes! ²⁸But perhaps the number of good is five less than fifty. Will you destroy the town because of five?” The Lord replied, “I will not destroy the town if I find forty-five good people there.” ²⁹Again Abraham said, “Perhaps there will be only forty.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” ³⁰Abraham went on, saying, “May my Lord not be angry, but let me speak. Maybe only thirty good people will be found in the town.” The Lord answered, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty there.” ³¹Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to my Lord, what if only twenty can be found?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy the place.”

³²But Abraham insisted, “May my Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found?” And the Lord answered, “For the sake of ten good people, I will not destroy Sodom.” ³³When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham went home.

The Destruction of Sodom

19 | • ¹ When the two angels reached Sodom in the evening, Lot was sitting at the town gate. As soon as he saw them, he rose to meet them, bowed with his face to the ground, ²and said, “My lords, I pray you come to your servant’s house to stay the night. Wash your feet, and then in the morning, you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.” ³But so strongly did he insist that they went with him to his house; he prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast. This they ate.

⁴They had not yet gone to bed when men from the town surrounded the house; they were the men of Sodom, young and old, the entire population. ⁵They called Lot and asked him, “Where are the men who arrived tonight? Send them out so that we may have sex with them.”

⁶Lot went out to meet them, shut the door behind him and said, ⁷“I beg you, my brothers, don’t do such a wicked thing. ⁸I have two daughters who are still virgins; let me bring them out to you; you may do with them as you please, but don’t do anything to these men, for they have come to shelter under my roof.” ⁹But they replied, “Get out of the way! This fellow is a foreigner, and he wants to play the judge! Now, we will do worse with you than with them.” They pressed hard against Lot and drew near to break the door. ¹⁰But the visitors inside the house stretched out their hands to bring Lot inside and then shut the door. ¹¹As for those at the entrance to the house, they were struck with blindness, from the smallest to the largest, so they could not find the door.

¹²The visitors asked Lot, “Who is still here with you? Your sons-in-law? Get them out of the place: your sons, your daughters, and all your townspeople. We are about to destroy this place. ¹³The cry for retribution against it is great before the Lord who has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, saying, “Hurry, leave, for the Lord is about to destroy the town.” But they took what he said as a joke.

¹⁵At daybreak, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and two daughters who are here, lest they perish because of the sin of the town.” ¹⁶As he hesitated, the men took him by the hand and his wife and two daughters with him because the Lord had mercy on him. And they led him outside the town.

¹⁷When they were outside, the visitors said to him, “Flee for your life, don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountain lest you perish.”

¹⁸But Lot replied, “My lords, your servant has found favor with you, ¹⁹and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains for fear the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. See, there is a town near enough for me to flee to, and it’s a small one. ²⁰Let me flee there: it is very small (that is why the town is called Zoar). So I will be safe.” ²¹And the angel answered, “I grant you this favor by not destroying the town you speak of. ²²But flee fast, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.”

²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot reached Zoar. ²⁴Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, burning sulfur out of the heavens from the Lord, ²⁵and he completely destroyed those towns and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the towns and everything that grew there.

Other Legends

• ²⁶Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Early the next morning, Abraham returned to where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the valley, and he saw smoke rising from the earth like the smoke from a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the towns of the plain he remembered Abraham and made Lot escape from the catastrophe while he destroyed the cities where Lot had lived.

³⁰Lot went up from Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters because he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹The elder said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the country to lie with us as is the custom all over the world. ³²Come, let us make our father drunk with wine; we shall lie with him and have the race survive through our father.” ³³So they made their father drink wine that night and the elder went to lie with her father. He knew nothing of it, neither when she lay down nor when she left.

³⁴The next day, the elder daughter said to the younger, “Last night, I lay with my father. Let us give him wine again tonight and you go and lie with him. In this way, we shall continue the race through our father.” ³⁵Again that night, they got their father to drink wine. The younger went and lay with him. He knew nothing, neither when she lay with him nor when she left. ³⁶And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷The elder gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He was the ancestor of the Moabites who live today. ³⁸The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ammon. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites who exist to this day.

Abraham and Sarah at Gerar

20 | • ¹Abraham left there for the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and he stayed for a time in Gerar. ²Abraham had said of his wife, “She is my sister”; so Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and had her brought to him.

³But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night. He said to him, “You are a dead man because of this woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.” ⁴But Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, “My Lord, are you going to kill a pagan who acted with good intention? ⁵Didn’t he say to me: ‘She is my sister’? And she said to me: ‘He is my brother.’ I acted in the simplicity of my heart and with innocent hands.” ⁶God said to him in the dream, “I knew that you did that in the simplicity of your heart, and I prevented you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷Now give the woman back to the man, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not give her back, know that you will surely die; you and all yours will die.”

⁸So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his officials, and told them all these things. The officials were terrified. ⁹Abimelech then called Abraham and said, “What have you done to us? In what way have I wronged you, for you to bring such a grave sin against me and my kingdom? You have done to me things that should not be done.” ¹⁰Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why did you act as you did?” ¹¹Abraham said, “I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. ¹²Yet it is true that she is my sister, my father's daughter, but not my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³So, when the gods made me wander far from my father’s family, I said to her: Now, if you love me, I beg you to say that I am your brother wherever we go.”

¹⁴Abimelech then brought sheep and cattle, male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and he had Sarah return to her husband. ¹⁵He told Abraham, “See, you have the run of my land; live wherever you please.” ¹⁶And to Sarah, he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand silver coins. It will be a protection for you, and evidence for all those with you. So none of them will think ill of you.” ¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his servants so that they were able to have children again. 18 For the Lord had made it impossible for Abimelech’s wife and maids to have more children because of Abraham’s wife, Sarah.

The Birth of Isaac

21 | • ¹ The Lord was kind to Sarah as he had said and fulfilled his promise to her. ²Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time the Lord had promised. ³Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son that Sarah bore him ⁴and circumcised him when he was eight days old, as the Lord had commanded. ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.” ⁷She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age.”

Abraham Dismisses Hagar

• ⁸The child grew and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. ⁹Sarah saw the child that Hagar, the Egyptian, had borne to Abraham, mocking her son ¹⁰and she said to Abraham, “Send this slave girl and her son away; the child of this slave must not share the inheritance with my son, Isaac.”

¹¹This matter distressed Abraham because it concerned his son, ¹²but God said to him, “Don’t be worried about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to Sarah and do whatever she says, because the race, which is called by your name, will spring from Isaac. ¹³But from the son of your servant I will also form a nation, for he too is your offspring.”

¹⁴Abraham rose early the next morn­ing and gave Hagar bread and a skin bag of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She went off and wandered in the desert of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵When there was no more water in the skin, she pushed the boy under one of the bushes, ¹⁶and then went and sat down about a hundred yards away, for she thought, “I cannot bear to see my son die.”

But as she sat there, the child began to wail. ¹⁷God heard him, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. ¹⁸Get up, pick the boy up, and hold him safely, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹God then opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰God was with the boy. He grew up, made his home in the wilderness, and became an expert archer.

²¹He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother chose a wife for him from Egypt.

²²At that time, Abimelech came with Phicol, the commander of his army, to speak to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do; ²³swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my descendants, but instead you will show to me and the country where you are living the same kindness that I have shown to you.” ²⁴And Abraham said, “Yes, this I swear.”

²⁵Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized. ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this; you did not tell me, and I only heard about it today.” ²⁷Abraham then took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty. ²⁸Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs from the flock. ²⁹Abimelech said to him, “Why have you put aside these seven ewe lambs?” ³⁰Abraham replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as evidence that I dug this well.” ³¹The place was called Beersheba because the two men took an oath there. ³²After making the treaty at Beersheba, Abimelech went away with Phicol, the commander of his army, and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and there he called on the Lord, the everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22 | • ¹Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” ²Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I shall point out to you.”

³Abraham rose early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and set out for the place to which God had directed him. 4 On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance, ⁵ and he said to the young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will come back to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He carried in his hand the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, “Father!” ⁸And Abraham replied, “Yes, my son?” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.”

They went on, the two of them together, ⁹until they came to the place God had directed them. When Abraham had built the altar and set the wood on it, he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood placed on the altar. ¹⁰He then stretched out his hand to seize the knife and slay his son. ¹¹But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.” ¹²“Do not lay your hand on the boy; do not harm him, for now, I know that you fear God, and you have not held back from me, your only son.”

¹³Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush behind him. He offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴Abraham named the place ‘The Lord will provide.’ And the saying has lasted to this day.

¹⁵And the angel of the Lord called from heaven a second time, ¹⁶“By my­self I have sworn, it is the Lord who speaks because you have done this and not held back your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the lands of their enemies. ¹⁸All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your descendants because you have obeyed me.”

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. It was there that Abraham stayed.

²⁰Sometime after this, Abraham was told that Milcah, too, had borne children for Nahor, Abraham’s brother: ²¹ Uz, the firstborn; Buz, his brother, Kemuel, the father of Aram, ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. ²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight children Milcah gave Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴He also had a concubine, named Reumah, who gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

The Tomb of Abraham and Sarah

23 | • ¹Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years. ²She died at Kiriath-arba—that is Hebron—in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to weep and mourn for Sarah.

³Abraham left his dead one ⁴and spoke to the Hittites, “I am only a stranger among you; give me a burial place among you, so that I may bury my dead.” ⁵The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶“Hear us, my lord. You are God’s prince among us; bury your dead in the best of our tombs; none of us would refuse you a tomb to bury your dead.” ⁷Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land, ⁸and then spoke to them, “If you are willing that I bury my dead, hear me and plead with Ephron, the son of Zohar, ⁹to give me the cave of Machpelah belonging to him; it is at the edge of his field. For the full price and in your presence, let him give it to me for a burial place.” ¹⁰Now Ephron was there sitting among the Hittites, and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all seated at the town gate, ¹¹“No, my lord, listen! I give you the field, and I give you the cave in it. In the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you. Bury your dead there.”

¹²Abraham bowed before the people of the land and spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, ¹³“Ah, if only you will listen to me, I will give you the price of the land. Accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴Ephron replied to Abraham, “My lord, hear me. ¹⁵Four hundred silver coins for a piece of land, is it not the right price for both of us? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶Abraham agreed with Ephron and he weighed out for Ephron the silver he had insisted on in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred silver coins, in merchants’ coins.

¹⁷And so Ephron’s field in Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave in it, and all the trees in the field, throughout its entire area, ¹⁸was acquired by Abraham as his possession in the presence of the Hittites and of all who went in at the gate of their city. ¹⁹After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of Machpelah. ²⁰The unused field and the cave in it were given to Abraham as a possession for a burying place by the Hittites.

Eliezer Finds a Wife for Isaac

24 | • ¹Abraham was now old and well on in years. The Lord had blessed him in every way. ²Abraham said to his senior servant, who was his steward, “Put your hand under my thigh ³and you will swear to me by the Lord, God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom we live; ⁴rather it is to my country and my kinsfolk that you will go to choose a wife for my son, Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not want to follow me to this country. In that case, should I take your son to the country you came from?” ⁶Abraham said to him, “In no way will you take my son back. ⁷For the Lord, God of heaven and earth, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my birth, spoke to me and swore to me that he would give this country to my race. He will send his angel before you, that you may find a wife for my son. ⁸But if the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be free of this oath. In any case, you are not to take my son down there.” ⁹So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him that he would do it.

¹⁰The servant took ten of his master’s camels and set out, taking with him something of the best from all his master owned. He rose and went off toward Aram Naharaim, towards the town of Nahor. ¹¹And he made the camels kneel outside the town, near the well, in the evening when the women go to draw water.

¹²The steward then prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, be with me and show your loving kindness to Abraham, my master. ¹³See, I am standing in the spring while the city girls are coming to draw water. ¹⁴Now, I will ask them like this: ‘Please tilt your pitcher that I may drink.’ Now, the first girl who will say: ‘Drink and I will water your camels as well’; let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. In this way, I shall know you have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵He had not finished praying when Rebekah came out. She was the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, and wife of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. She had a pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶The girl was very beautiful and a virgin, for no man had lain with her. She went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up again. ¹⁷The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.” ¹⁸She said, “Drink, my lord!” and at once, lowering her pitcher to her hand, she let him drink. ¹⁹When she had finished letting him drink, she said, “I am going to water your camels as well until they have had enough.” ²⁰She hurried to empty her pitcher into the trough and then ran again to draw water for all his camels, ²¹while the man watched in silence to find out whether the Lord was making his journey successful or not.

²²So when the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing half a shekel and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels for her arms. ²³He then said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me! Is there room in your father’s house where we can spend the night?” ²⁴She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son Milcah bore to Nahor.” ²⁵She continued, “We have plenty of straw, fodder, and room for you to spend the night.”

²⁶Then the man knelt and worshiped the Lord ²⁷saying, “Blessed be the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who has not stopped showing kindness and faithfulness to my master. The Lord has guided me to the house of my master’s brother.” ²⁸The girl ran to her mother’s house and related everything. ²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban and Laban ran out to the man, near the spring. ³⁰As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, as soon as he heard his sister Rebekah saying, “This is what the man said to me…,” he came towards Abraham’s steward who was standing near the camels by the spring. ³¹He said to him, “Come in, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why do you stay outside? I have prepared the house, and there is room for your camels.” ³²So the man entered the house and unloaded the camels. Straw and fodder were given to the camels, and water was to wash the feet of the man and of those who were with him. ³³Then they gave him food, but he said, “I won’t eat until I have said what I have to say!” Laban said, “Speak!”

³⁴ Then he said, “I am the servant of Abraham. The Lord has greatly blessed my master and he has become very rich. ³⁵ The Lord has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Now Sarah, my master’s wife, bore him a son in her old age; ³⁷so my master has given him all he owns and he made me swear an oath saying: ‘You will not choose a wife for my son from the daughters of these Canaanites in whose country I live; ³⁸ rather you will go to my father’s house, to my kinsfolk and there you will choose a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I then said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not agree to come with me!’ ⁴⁰ His reply was: ‘The Lord, in whose presence I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey successful. You will choose a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s house. ⁴¹ This is what you have to do to be released from your oath. Whether they refuse you or not, you will be free of the oath.’

⁴²So on arriving at the spring, I prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master, Abra­ham, if you wish my journey to be successful, let it happen like this: ⁴³As I stand by the spring, a girl will come to draw water, and I will say to her: Let me drink a little from your pitcher. ⁴⁴If she answers me: Yes, drink, and I will draw water for your camels as well, let it be that she is the wife the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’ I was still thinking this over, ⁴⁵when Rebekah came out with a pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please, let me drink!’ ⁴⁶She immediately lowered the pitcher and said, ‘Drink! I will water your camels as well!’ I drank and she watered the camels. ⁴⁷I questioned her saying, ‘Who is your father?’ And she said, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah.’ I then put this ring through her nostril and bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸Then I knelt in worship and blessed the Lord, God of my master, Abraham, who had led me to choose the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹Now let me know whether you intend to show kindness and faithfulness to my master; if not, tell me, and I shall know which way to turn.”

⁵⁰Laban and Bethuel replied, “This is God’s doing. It is not for us to decide either way. ⁵¹Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Let her become the wife of your master’s son as the Lord has directed.” ⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard this answer, he bowed to the ground before the Lord. ⁵³He then took the gold and silver jewelry and the clothes and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave costly gifts to her brother and mother. ⁵⁴They ate and drank, and he and his companions spent the night there.

When they were up the next morning, the servant said, “Let me return to my master.” ⁵⁵Rebekah’s mother and brother replied, “Let the girl remain with us for a few days, about ten. After that, she may go.” ⁵⁶He said, “Do not delay me; since the Lord has made my journey successful, let me leave and return to my master.” ⁵⁷They then said, “Call the girl and ask her about it.” ⁵⁸They called and questioned Rebekah, “Do you want to leave with this man?” She said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹So they let Rebekah, their sister, go with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰They blessed Rebekah with these words,

“Sister of ours, may you increase to thousands upon thousands, may your descendants take possession of the cities of their enemies.”

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her maids got ready, mounted the camels, and followed Abraham’s servant. So he departed, bringing Rebekah.

⁶²Now Isaac had come from the well of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negeb. ⁶³As Isaac went out in the early evening to meditate in the field, he looked up and saw camels coming. ⁶⁴Rebekah also looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from her camel ⁶⁵and said to the servant, “Who is this man in the field coming to meet us?” He replied, “It is my master!” She then covered her face with her veil. ⁶⁶The servant related to Isaac all that he had done ⁶⁷and Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of Sarah, his mother. He made her his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Abraham and his Descendants

25 | • ¹Abraham married another wife named Keturah. ²She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites. ⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

⁵Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶To the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave presents, and as long as he lived, he sent them away from his son Isaac, to the land of the east.

⁷Abraham had lived a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸Then at a good old age, Abraham breathed his last, an old man, after a full span of years, and was gathered to his ancestors. ⁹His sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave at Machpelah, ¹⁰in the field of Ephron the Hittite, son of Zohar. This was the field near Mamre that Abraham bought from the Hittites. Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were buried there. ¹¹After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac who lived near the well of Beer-lahai-roi.

¹²These are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in order of their birth. Ishmael’s firstborn was Nebaioth and after him Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, according to their settlements and camps, twelve tribal princes. ¹⁷Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.

¹⁸His descendants lived in the territory stretching from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt in the direction of Assyria. They have been fighting continually among themselves.

¹⁹This is the story of Isaac, son of Abraham. ²⁰Isaac was forty when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean from Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

•  ²¹Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she could not have children. The Lord heard Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. ²²As the children struggled together within her, she said, “If it is like this, why do I continue to live?” She went to consult the Lord, ²³and the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be born of you; one nation will be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.”

²⁴When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵The first to be born was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment, so they called him Esau. 26 Then his brother was born, and his hand had gripped Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty at the time of their birth.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country; Jacob was a quiet man living in tents. ²⁸Isaac, who had a liking for the game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once, when Jacob was making a stew, Esau came back from the country, and he was famished; ³⁰and he said to Jacob, “Let me have some of that red stew, for I am famished.” That is why he was also called Edom. ³¹Ja­cob said, “First sell me your right as the firstborn.” ³²Esau said, “Since I am to die soon, what good is my right as the firstborn to me?” ³³Then Jacob said, “Give me your oath first.” So he swore to him and sold his firstborn right to Jacob. ³⁴Then Jacob gave him bread and the lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and then got up and went his way. So it was that Esau thought nothing of his right as the firstborn.

Events in Isaac’s Life

26 | • ¹There was a famine in the land—a second one after the famine that had taken place in the time of Abraham—and Isaac went to Gerar, the land of Abimelech, king of the Philistines. ²For the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land I shall tell you of. ³Remain in this land, and I will be with you, and I will bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your race and keep the oath I swore to your father, Abraham. For I told him: ⁴I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the heavens, and to them, I will give all these lands; and through your descendants, all nations in the world will be blessed ⁵because you were obedient and kept my charge, my commandments, my decrees, and my laws.”

⁶So Isaac stayed in Gerar. ⁷When the men of that place questioned him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” He would not say, “She is my wife,” for he was afraid and he thought, “The men of this place might kill me because of Rebekah who is very beautiful.”

⁸When Isaac had been there a long time, it happened that Abimelech, looking out of a window, saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹Abimelech called Isaac and said, “So she really is your wife! Why did you tell me that she was your sister?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought that they might kill me on her account.” ¹⁰Then Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of my people could have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” ¹¹So Abimelech gave an order to all the people: “Whoever molests this man or his wife will be put to death.”

¹²Isaac sowed crops on this land, and that same year, he harvested a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him ¹³and he prospered. He continued to prosper until he was very rich. ¹⁴He had flocks, herds, and many servants, so the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵All the wells dug by his father’s servants in Abraham’s time were stopped up by the Philistines and filled with earth. ¹⁶Abimelech told Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are more powerful than we are.” ¹⁷So Isaac left that place, encamped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.

¹⁸Isaac opened up again the wells that had been dug in the time of his father, Abraham, and that the Philistines had blocked up after Abraham’s death. He gave these wells the names his father had given them. ¹⁹Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a freshwater spring. ²⁰The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek because they squabbled about it. ²¹They dug another well and quarreled about that as well, so he called it Sitnah. ²²He moved away from there and dug another well, and as no one quarreled over it, he called it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has made room for us, we shall prosper in the land.”

²³From there, Isaac went to Beersheba, 24 and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham, your father; do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and increase your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. It was there that he pitched his tent, and there, his servants dug a well.

²⁶Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phicol, the commander of his forces. ²⁷Isaac asked him, “Why have you come after me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away?” ²⁸They answered, “We have clearly seen that the Lord is with you, so we said: Let peace be sworn between us and you and let us make a treaty: ²⁹You will do us no harm, just as we have not interfered with you, but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. We know that you have the Lord’s blessing.”

³⁰Isaac then made a feast for them and they ate and drank. ³¹Next morning they rose early and swore an oath to each other. Isaac then set them on their way and they left him in peace. ³²That day Isaac’s servants came and told him of the well they had dug: “We have found water.” ³³He called the well Shibeah, which is why the town's name has been Beer-sheba to this day.

³⁴When Esau was forty, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, the Hivite. ³⁵They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Jacob obtains the blessing by deceit

27 | ¹When Isaac was old and his eyes so weak that he could no longer see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. ²Isaac continued, “You see, I am old and I don’t know when I shall die; ³so take your weapons, your bow and arrow, go out into the country, and hunt some game for me. ⁴Then prepare some of the savory food I like and bring it to me so that I may eat and give you my blessing before I die.”

⁵Now, Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went into the country to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father saying to your brother Esau: ⁷‘Bring me some game and prepare food for me that I may eat and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ ⁸Now my son, listen and do what I command you. ⁹Go to the flock and bring me two fine kids so that I can prepare for your father the food that he likes. ¹⁰You will bring it to your father and he will eat it and give you his blessing before he dies.”

¹¹Jacob said to Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth-skinned. ¹²Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will seem to be tricking him and bringing a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” ¹³But his mother said, “Let the curse fall on me, my son! Only do what I tell you; go and get the kids for me.” ¹⁴So he went and got them and took them to his mother to prepare food that his father liked. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her elder son Esau in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. ¹⁶With the goatskin, she covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck, ¹⁷and she handed to him the bread and food she had prepared.

¹⁸He went to his father and said, “Father!” He answered, “Yes, my son, who is it?” ¹⁹and Jacob said to his father, “It is Esau, your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Come, sit up and eat my game so that you may bless me.” ²⁰Isaac said, “How quick you have been my son!” Jacob said, “Lord, your God, guided me.” ²¹Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near and let me feel you, my son, and know that it is you, Esau my son, or not.”

²²When Jacob drew near to Isaac, his father felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau, his brother, and so he blessed him. ²⁴He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” and Jacob answered, “I am.” ²⁵Isaac said, “Bring me some of your game, my son, so that I may eat and give you my blessing.” So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶Then his father Isaac said, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷So Jacob came near and kissed him.

Isaac then caught the smell of his clothes and blessed him, saying,

“The smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.

²⁸May God give you of the dew of heaven;

and of the richness of the earth;

and abundance of grain and wine.

²⁹Let peoples serve you

and nations bow down before you.

Be lord over your brothers,

and let your mother’s sons bow down to you.

Cursed be everyone that curses you

and blessed be everyone

that blesses you!”

³⁰When Isaac had finished blessing him, and Jacob had just left Isaac’s room, Esau came in from hunting. ³¹He also prepared food, brought it to his father, and said, “Father, sit up and eat the game your son has prepared so that you may give me your blessing.” ³²Isaac said, “Who are you?” “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him, and he will be blessed.”

³⁴On hearing his father’s words, Esau gave a loud and bitter cry and said, “Bless me, too, father.” ³⁵But Isaac said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” ³⁶Esau said, “Is it because he is called Jacob that he has supplanted me twice? First, he took my birthright and has now taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you kept a blessing for me?” ³⁷Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him your lord. I have given him all his brothers as servants; I have provided him with grain and wine. What can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing? Father, bless me, too.” Then Esau wept aloud. ³⁹Isaac then gave him this answer,

“Your dwelling place shall be far away from the richness of the earth, away from the dew of heaven above.

⁴⁰You shall live by your sword, and you shall serve your brother;

but when you win your freedom, you will throw off his yoke from your neck.”

Jacob Flees to the House of Laban

⁴¹Now Esau continued to hate his brother because of the blessing his father had given him, and he thought to himself, “The time of mourning for my father is near; I shall then kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴²When Rebekah was told what her elder son had said, she sent and called her younger son, Jacob, and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. ⁴³Now my son, listen to me and flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ⁴⁴You will stay with him for a time ⁴⁵until your brother’s fury has cooled, and when he has forgotten his anger and what you did to him, I will send someone to bring you back. Why should I lose both of you on the same day?”

⁴⁶Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries a woman from this land, a Hittite like these, what value is there left in life for me?”

28 | ¹Isaac summoned Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman. ²Go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and choose a wife for yourself from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ³May God Almighty bless you and make you increase to become a group of nations. ⁴May he grant you and your descendants the blessings of Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you live now, and that the Lord gave to Abraham. ⁵Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Aramean, brother to Rebekah.

⁶Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to choose a wife for himself, and in blessing him had commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.” ⁷And in obedience to his father and mother, Jacob had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸So Esau understood how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac. ⁹So he went to Ishmael and chose a wife for himself besides those he already had—Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham and sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream

•  ¹⁰Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹When he reached a certain place the sun had set and he spent the night there. He took one of the stones that was there and using it as a pillow, he lay down to sleep.

¹²While Jacob was sleeping, he had a dream in which a ladder stood on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and on it were angels of God going up and coming down. ¹³And the Lord was standing there near him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I give you and your descendants the land on which you sleep. ¹⁴Your descendants will be numerous like the specks of dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and the east, to the north and the south. Through you and your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁵See, I am with you and I will keep you safe wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land and not leave you until I have done what I promised.” ¹⁶Jacob woke from his dream and said, “Truly the Lord was in this place and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷He was afraid and said, “How full of awe is this place! It is nothing less than a house of God; it is the Gate to Heaven!”

¹⁸Then Jacob rose early, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹He named that place Bethel, although before that it was called Luz. ²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, “If the Lord will be with me and keep me safe during this journey I am making if he gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear ²¹and if I return in peace to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God. ²²This stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me, I will give back a tenth.”

Jacob Arrives at Laban’s Home

29 | • ¹Jacob set out and came to the land of the people of the east. ²There he saw a well and lying beside the well were three flocks of sheep, for it was at this well that the flocks were watered, and a large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³Then, when all the flocks gathered there, the shepherds rolled away the stone from the opening of the well, watered their flocks, and replaced the stone at the mouth of the well. ⁴Jacob said to them, “Brothers, where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they replied. ⁵He then said, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s son?” “Yes, we know him,” they replied. ⁶And Jacob asked, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is well,” they said, “and here is Rachel, his daughter, coming with the sheep!”

⁷Jacob then said, “Look! The sun is still high; it’s not yet time for the flocks to be gathered together. Water the sheep and let them graze.” ⁸But they said, “We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well; it’s then we water the sheep.”

⁹He was still speaking when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she looked after them. ¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw Rachel he went forward and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and then watered Laban’s flock. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.

¹²Jacob told Rachel he was her father’s kinsman and Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father. ¹³As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob being his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and after embracing and kissing him he brought him into his house. Jacob told Laban all that had happened ¹⁴and Laban said to him, “Truly you are my bone and flesh!” And Jacob stayed there for a month with him.

Jacob’s Two Marriages

¹⁵Laban said to Jacob, “Even if you are my kinsman, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what wages do you want?”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the older one was Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. ¹⁸ Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, and he said, “I will work for you for seven years in return for your younger daughter, Rachel.” ¹⁹Laban said, “It is better for me to give her to you than to any other man; stay with me.”

²⁰To win Rachel, Jacob worked for seven years, which seemed to him only a few days, because he loved her so much. ²¹Jacob then said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for I have served my time and I want to lie with her.” ²²So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and gave a feast. ²³But when night came he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob and he lay with her. ²⁴Laban gave his slave-girl Zilpah to Leah to be her maid.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What have you done to me? Haven’t I worked with you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?” ²⁶Laban said, “It is not our custom to give the younger daughter before the firstborn. ²⁷As soon as the marriage week is over, I will give you my younger daughter as well, but you must work with me for another seven years.” ²⁸Jacob agreed to this and when he completed the week with Leah, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

²⁹Laban gave Rachel his slave girl, Bilhah, to be her maidservant. ³⁰So Jacob also slept with Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He continued working for Laban for another seven years.

Jacob’s Children

³¹As the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he let her have children, but Rachel was barren. ³²Leah gave birth to a child and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; my husband is sure to love me now.” ³³She gave birth to another son and said, “The Lord saw that I was neglected and has given me this son as well,” and she called him Simeon. ³⁴Again, she gave birth to a son and said, “This time, my husband will be united to me because I have borne him three sons.” That is why he was called Levi. ³⁵She gave birth to a son again and said: “This time I will praise the Lord.” That is why she named him Ju­dah. After that, she had no more children.

30 | • ¹ When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister, and so she said to Jacob, “Give me sons or I shall die.” ²Jacob became angry and said to her, “Is it my fault that God has deprived you of children?” ³She then said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; sleep with her so that she may give birth on my knees; so the child will be mine.” ⁴And she gave Bilhah her servant as wife to Jacob. ⁵She became pregnant and bore him a son. ⁶Rachel then said, “God has done me justice! He has heard my prayer and given me a son. That is why she named him Dan. ⁷Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, bore a second son to Jacob. ⁸And Rachel said, “I have had a mighty struggle with my sister, and I have won!” And so she named her son Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹Leah said “How fortunate!” and named him Gad. ¹²Leah’s servant bore a second son to Jacob. ¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! Women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴At the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben went out to the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother, Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵But Leah replied, “Isn’t it enough for you to have taken my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well!” Rachel then said, “He will sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶In the evening, when Jacob came in from the fields, Leah went to meet him and said, “You will sleep with me tonight, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes!” So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷The Lord heard Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I gave my maidservant to my husband.” She named the child Issachar.

¹⁹Leah bore another son to Jacob. ²⁰Then she said, “God has offered me a beautiful gift; this time my husband will honor me for I have given him six children.” She named the child Zebulun. ²¹She later gave birth to a daughter and called her Dinah.

²²Then the Lord remembered Rachel and let her have a child. ²³She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. “The Lord has taken away my shame,” she said. ²⁴And she called the child Joseph saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”

Other Legends

²⁵After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob told Laban, “Let me go so that I may return to my homeland. ²⁶Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know how well I have served you.” ²⁷Laban said, “If I have won your friendship… I have learned from signs that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸He then added, “Say what you want for wages, and I will pay you.” ²⁹Jacob said, “You know how well I have served you and how your cattle have prospered with me. ³⁰For you had little when I came, but since I have been with you, there has been a considerable increase, and the Lord has blessed you. But now, when will I do something for my own household?” ³¹Laban asked, “What shall I give you?”

Jacob replied, “You will give me nothing, but if you do for me what I ask, I will continue to pasture and look after your flock. ³²Today, I shall go through your flock removing from it every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats; these shall be my wages. ³³My honesty will answer for me later when you come to look into my wages. Any goat among my herd that is not spotted or speckled, any lamb found among the sheep in my possession that is not black will be counted as stolen.” ³⁴Laban said, “Agreed, it will be as you say.”

³⁵That same day, Laban put aside the streaked he-goats, everyone with white on it, and all the black sheep. He handed these over to his son 36 , and he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob. So Jacob looked after the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷Jacob then gathered fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane. He peeled white streaks in them, letting the white of the stems be seen. ³⁸Then he placed the branches he had peeled in front of the channels of the watering troughs where the animals came to drink and where they could be clearly seen by the animals. And as they mated in front of the branches when they came to drink, ³⁹the animals produced streaked, spotted, and speckled young. ⁴⁰He put the sheep apart but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. In this way, he built up his own droves and did not add them to Laban’s flock. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the ewes were breeding, Jacob put the branches in the channels in front of the eyes of the ewes so that they would mate there among the branches. ⁴²But for the feebler ewes, he did not put them there so that the feebler were for Laban and the more robust for Jacob. ⁴³In this way, he became extremely rich with many sheep, maidservants and menservants, camels and donkeys.

Jacob Returns to His Land

31 | ¹Jacob learned that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned, and it is at our father’s expense that he has accumulated this fortune.” ²Jacob understood from Laban’s expression that his attitude towards him was no longer the same.

³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to your homeland, the country of your kinsmen. I will be with you.” ⁴Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were. ⁵He said to them, “I see that your father no longer looks kindly on me, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷But your father has not been straight with me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me harm. ⁸Whenever he said: ‘The spotted ones will be your wages,’ then all the ewes had spotted lambs. And whenever he said: ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the ewes produced streaked lambs.

⁹God who has taken your father’s livestock in that way and given it to me. ¹⁰For, in the breeding season, when I looked up, I saw in a dream that the rams mating with the ewes were streaked, spotted or speckled. ¹¹And the angel in the dream said to me: ‘Jacob.’ ‘Here I am,’ I replied. ¹²He then said: ‘Look up and see that all the rams mating with the ewes are streaked, spotted or speckled. I have seen all that Laban has done to you. ¹³I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel where you anointed a pillar and vowed to me by oath. Now get ready, leave this country and return to the land of your birth.”

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Have we still any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? ¹⁵Haven’t he regarded us as foreigners since he has sold us, and well and truly used up our money? ¹⁶Surely all the fortune that God has taken from our father belongs to us and our children. So do then all that God has told you.”

¹⁷ Jacob got ready and put his children and his wives on camels. ¹⁸He also took with him all his livestock and all that he had accumulated (the livestock he had acquired at Paddan-aram) to return to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹Rachel then took advantage of Laban. While he was shearing his sheep, she stole her father’s family gods.

²⁰So Jacob tricked Laban into not letting him know he was running away. ²¹He fled with all he had, and after crossing the river Euphrates he made for the hill country of Gilead.

²²Three days later, Laban heard that Jacob had fled. ²³Taking his brothers with him, he followed Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴God appeared to Laban in a dream at night and said, “Be careful not to say anything—either good or bad—to Jacob.” ²⁵Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him. Laban and his brothers al­so encamped on the hills of Gilead. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, tricking me and carrying my daughters off like prisoners of war?

²⁷Why did you run away secretly and cheat me? Why didn’t you tell me? I could have sent you off with joy, singing, and the music of tambourine and harp. ²⁸You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing, ²⁹and I have the power to harm you, but last night the God of your father warned me saying: ‘Be careful not to say anything—good or evil—to Jacob.’ ³⁰Now, if you have gone off because you were planning to return to your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?”

³¹Jacob replied to Laban, “It was because I was afraid you would take your daughters from me! ³²But whoever is found in possession of your gods will not live. In the presence of our relatives see for yourself if anything that belongs to you is here with me and, if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.

³³Laban entered Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s and then the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. When Laban came out of Leah’s tent, he entered the tent of Rachel. ³⁴Rachel had taken the gods but put them into the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent but did not find them. ³⁵Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry with me, my lord, if I do not stand in your presence, for I am having my period.” So he searched but did not find the gods.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry and rebuked Laban. “What is my crime?” he asked him. “What sin of mine makes you hound me down? ³⁷Now that you have searched through all my belongings, have you found anything that belongs to your household? If so, let it be seen here in the presence of your family and mine, and let them judge between us. ³⁸During the twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and your she-goats have not miscarried, and I haven’t eaten any of the rams from your flocks. ³⁹I haven’t brought you any animal torn by a wild beast. I suffered the loss, and you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰During the day, I have been stifled by the heat, and at night, I have suffered from the cold, and sleep has left my eyes. ⁴¹It’s twenty years that I’ve been with you. I worked fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and ten times you have altered my wages. ⁴²If the God of my father Abraham and the Fearsome God of Isaac had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he passed sentence.”

⁴³Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, these sheep are my sheep, and all that you see are mine. How can I harm today these daughters of mine or their children? ⁴⁴Come now, let us make a treaty, you and me, and let it be a witness between us.”

⁴⁵Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶He then said to his kinsmen, “Collect stones.” So they gathered stones and piled them up and ate there by the pile. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it, Galeed. ⁴⁸La­ban said, “This pile of stones is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed; ⁴⁹and it was also known as Mizpah because Laban had said, “May the Lord watch between me and you when we are no longer in sight of each other. ⁵⁰If you harm my daughters or take other wives besides my daughters, even though no man is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is the pile and the pillar I have set between you and me. ⁵²This pile and this pillar will witness that I will not pass beyond this pile to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and pillar to harm me. ⁵³May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us!” So Jacob swore by the Fearful God of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Jacob also offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his brothers to the meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.

32 | • ¹Next morning, Laban rose early. After kissing his sons and daughters, he blessed them and left for home.

²As for Jacob, he went on his way and met the angels of God. ³On seeing them, Jacob exclaimed, “This is God’s camp,” and he named the place Mahanaim. ⁴And going on his way, he sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

Jacob’s Struggle with God

⁵Jacob sent Esau this message, “I have been staying with Laban until now. I have oxen, asses, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent to tell you this, my lord, that you may receive me kindly.”

⁶The messenger returned and said to Jacob, “We went to your brother Esau, and he is already coming to meet you with four hundred men.”

⁷Jacob was full of fear and distress. He then divided the people with him, the flocks, the herds, and the camels into two camps, ⁸thinking, “If Esau attacks one camp, the other will escape.”

⁹And Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me: ‘Return to your country, to your father’s land, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰I am unworthy of the kindness and faithfulness you have shown to me, for with only my staff I crossed the Jordan, and now I have enough to form two companies. ¹¹Deliver me from the hands of my brother Esau, for I am afraid lest he come and kill us all, even the mothers and their children. ¹²Yet you said: I will be good to you and make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, so many that they cannot be counted.” ¹³So Jacob spent the night there.

Then he took what he had with him, a present for his brother Esau: ¹⁴two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty camels in milk and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me and leave a space between each herd.” ¹⁷He instructed the leader, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? And where are you going? Who is the owner of the animals you are driving?’ ¹⁸Then you shall say: They belong to your servant Jacob. It is a present he is sending to my lord Esau. He himself is coming along behind us!”

¹⁹Jacob ordered the second and third servants and all following the herds in the same way, “That is what you shall say to Esau when you meet him: ²⁰Your servant Jacob is following!” He thought, “I may pacify him with the present I sent ahead, so that when I meet him face to face, he may perhaps receive me kindly.” ²¹So the present went ahead of him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

•  ²²That same night, Jacob got up and, taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream and everything he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone.

Then, a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not get the better of Jacob, he struck him in the socket of his hip and dislocated it as he wrestled with him.

²⁶The man said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you have given me your blessing.” ²⁷The man then said, “What is your name?” “Jacob” was the reply. ²⁸He answered, “You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have been strong-with-God as you have been with men and have prevailed.”

²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “I have seen God face to face and survived.” ³¹The sun rose as he passed through Penuel, limping because of his hip.

³²That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic nerve, which is in the hip socket, because the sciatic nerve in Jacob’s hip had been touched.

The Meeting of Esau and Jacob

33 | ¹Jacob looked up and saw that Esau was coming with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. 2 He then put the maidservants in front with their children, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³He himself went on before them and bowed to the ground seven times until he came near his brother.

⁴Esau ran to meet him, took him in his arms, kissed him, and both wept. ⁵ Esau looked up and, seeing the women and the children, said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob replied, “They are the children God has given to your servant.”

⁶Then the servants and their children went forward and bowed down. ⁷Leah with her children likewise advanced and bowed, and lastly, Joseph and Rachel went forward and bowed.

⁸Esau said, “What is the meaning of all this company I have met?” Jacob replied, “It is to win your favor.” ⁹Esau answered, “Brother, I have plenty; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰Jacob said, “But, no, please! Accept the gift I offer, for I came to you as to God, and you received me kindly. ¹¹So accept the gift I have brought you, for God has dealt generously with me, and I have plenty.” And so much did Jacob insist that Esau accepted the gift.

¹²Esau then said, “Let us be on our way. I will lead you.” ¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are not strong, and besides, I must think of the ewes with lambs and the cows that have calves and if they are driven too hard, even for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let it please my lord to go ahead of me while I move on slowly at the pace of the cattle I’m driving and that of the children until I reach my lord at Seir.” ¹⁵Esau said, “At least let me leave some of my men with you.” Jacob replied, “Why? All I want is to keep your friendship.”

¹⁶So Esau returned that same day to Seir. ¹⁷But Jacob left for Succoth. There he built a house for himself and shelters for his cattle. That is why the place was called Succoth.

¹⁸On his return from Paddan-aram, Jacob safely reached Shechem, a town in the land of Canaan, and encamped within sight of the town. ¹⁹For one hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of land where he had pitched his tent. ²⁰There he erected an altar and called it God—the God of Israel.

The Rape of Dinah, Daughter of Jacob

34 | ¹Now Dinah, Jacob’s daughter by Leah, went out to visit the women of that place. ²When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of that country, saw her, he seized her, raped her and dishonored her. ³He was attracted to Jacob’s daughter Dinah and loved the girl and spoke to her affectionately.

⁴ Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl to be my wife.”

⁵Now Jacob heard how his daughter Dinah had been dishonored but said nothing until his sons, who were in the fields with his cattle, came home. ⁶Hamor, the father of Shechem, went to speak with Jacob. ⁷When Jacob’s sons returned from the fields and heard what had happened, they were indignant and very angry that Shechem had committed what was a crime in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, something which should never be done.

⁸But Hamor spoke to them saying, “Shechem, my son, deeply loves your daughter; please give her to him to be his wife. ⁹Let us intermarry; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You will settle with us and the land is there before you to live in it, travel through it and acquire property in it.”

¹¹Shechem spoke to the girl's father and brothers, “Please forgive me, and I will give you whatever you ask of me. 12 Fix a price for the marriage and whatever gift you require. Whatever you ask, I will give, but only let me have the girl as my wife.”

¹³Jacob’s sons gave a cunning answer to Shechem and Hamor because Shechem had defiled their sister: ¹⁴“We cannot do such a thing—give our sister to an uncircumcised man—for that would be a disgrace for us. ¹⁵Only on one condition would we consent—that you and every male become like us and be circumcised. ¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters and take yours, live with you, and with you become one people. ¹⁷But if you don’t listen to us and be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.” ¹⁸What they said pleased Hamor and Shechem, his son.

¹⁹Shechem lost no time in doing what was demanded for he was truly in love with Jacob’s daughter, and he was the most honored in his father’s family.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to their fellow citizens, ²¹“These men are peaceful. Let them settle here and move around freely. The land is vast enough for them. We shall marry their daughters and give our daughters in marriage to them. ²²But on one condition will these men agree to live with us and become one people with us, and that is, that every male be as they are and be circumcised. ²³If we agree with them, their flocks, their possessions, their cattle will be ours. Let’s do what they ask and they will settle with us.” ²⁴All those who went out to the gate of the city agreed with Hamor and Shechem and every male was circumcised.

²⁵Three days later, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and entered and took the town by surprise ²⁶ They slew Hamor, Shechem, and all the males. They took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went off.

²⁷Jacob’s sons attacked the wounded and plundered the city because their sister had been violated. ²⁸They took their flocks and their herds and donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the fields, 29 all their wealth, women and children. They plundered all that was in their houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me hateful to the people of this land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have only a few men and if the others unite against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, myself and my household. ³¹But their reply was, “Is it right for him to treat our sister as a prostitute?”

Jacob at Bethel

35 | • ¹God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” ²Jacob said to his family and all those with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. ³We will then go up to Bethel. There, I will make an altar to God who helped me when I was in trouble and who was with me during my journey.”

⁴So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had as well as their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. ⁵ They then left, and a terror fell on all the surrounding towns with the result that no one followed in pursuit of them.

⁶When Jacob and all those with him came to Luz in Canaan—which is Bethel—⁷he built an altar there and called the place El-Bethel because it was there that God had shown himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. ⁸At that time, Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died and was buried below Bethel near the oak. That is why it was called the Oak of Tears.

⁹God appeared again to Jacob when he arrived from Paddan-aram and blessed him ¹⁰and said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but no longer will you be called Jacob, for Israel will be your name.” So he was called Israel. ¹¹Then God said to him, “Be fruitful and grow in number! A nation or rather a group of nations will come from you. ¹²The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and your descendants after you.” ¹³Then God left him.

¹⁴Jacob set up a stone in the place where God had spoken to him, offered a libation on it, and poured oil on it.

¹⁵Jacob called the place where God had spoken to him, Bethel.

¹⁶They moved on from Bethel and were still some distance from Ephrath when Rachel gave birth and the delivery was very difficult. ¹⁷When she was in great pain the midwife said to her, “Courage! For now, you will have another son.” ¹⁸And as she breathed her last—for she was dying—she called him Ben-oni (which means: son of my pain), but his father named him Benjamin. ¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath—that is Bethlehem—²⁰and Jacob placed a pillar over her tomb which marks the place of the tomb to this day.

²¹Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder. ²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

The twelve sons of Jacob

• Jacob had twelve sons. ²³By Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons by Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s slave girl: Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶The sons by Zilpah, Leah’s slave girl: Gad and Asher. These were the sons born to Jacob in Paddan-aram. ²⁷Jacob came home to his father Isaac at Mamre or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) where Abraham and Isaac had lived. ²⁸After living a hundred and eighty years ²⁹Isaac breathed his last and was gathered to his people at a good old age. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Esau the father of the Edomites

36 | ¹These are the descendants of Esau that is, Edom. Esau married women of Canaan: ²Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite, ³Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz, Basemath bore Reuel, ⁵Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Esau, with his wives, his sons and daughters, all the members of his household, his livestock, all his cattle and all the goods he had acquired in the land of Canaan, left for the land of Seir far removed from his brother Jacob. ⁷For they had acquired too much to live together. The land where they were living at that time could not support them both because of their cattle. ⁸That is why Edom settled in the hilly country of Seir. Esau is Edom.

⁹These are the descendants of Esau, the father of Edom, in the mountainous region of Seir.

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

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz. ¹²Eliphaz, the son of Esau had Timna for concubine and she bore him Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife.

¹³These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.

¹⁴These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah son of Zibeon: she bore him Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the clans of the sons of Esau.

The sons of Eliphaz, firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, ¹⁶chief Kenaz, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Adah.

¹⁷And these are the sons of Reuel, the son of Esau: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.

¹⁸And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: chief Jeush, Jalam, Korah. These are the chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.

¹⁹These are the sons of Esau. This is Edom and these are their chiefs.

²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹Dishon, Ezer, Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam, and Lotan’s sister was Timna. ²³These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Mahanath, Ebal, Shepo, Onam. ²⁴These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah, Anah—the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon. ²⁵These are the children of Anah: Dishon, Oholibamah daughter of Anah. ²⁶These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, Cheran. ²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, Akan. ²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites according to their clans in the land of Seir: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan.

³¹These kings reigned in the land of Edom before any Israelite king reigned. ³²In Edom these reigned: Bela son of Beor; his city was called Dinhabah. ³³Bela died and Jobab son of Zerah, from Bozrah, succeeded him as king. ³⁴Jobab died and Husham of the land of the Temanites succeeded. ³⁵Husham died and Hadad, son of Bedad succeeded; he defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab, and his city was called Avith. ³⁶Hadad died and Samlah of Masrekah succeeded. ³⁷Samlah died and Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River) succeeded. ³⁸Shaul died and Baal-hanan, the son of Achbor succeeded. ³⁹Baal-hanan died and Hadad succeeded; his city was called Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, from Mezahab.

⁴⁰These are the names of the chiefs of Esau according to their clans and localities, by name: chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³Magdiel, Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom according to their families and residence in the land that was theirs. (This is Esau, father of Edom).

Third Part:

the story of Joseph

37 | ¹Jacob lived in the land where his father had settled, in the land of Canaan. ²This is the history of Jacob’s family.

Joseph and his brothers

•  Joseph, a seventeen-year-old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph informed his father of the bad reputation they had. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other children, for he was the son of his old age, and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. ⁴His brothers who saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, hated him and could no longer speak to him in a friendly way.

⁵ Joseph had a dream which, when he told it to his brothers, made them hate him the more: ⁶“Listen to the dream I had. ⁷We were binding sheaves in the field when my sheaf rose and stood up and your sheaves gathered round and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers said to him, “So you want to rule us or lord it over us!” They hated him even more because of his dreams and what he said.

⁹Joseph had another dream, telling his brothers, “I saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down before me.” ¹⁰When he told his father and brothers, his father rebuked him, “What is this dream of yours? Are all of us, myself, your mother, and your brothers, to bow to the ground before you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

•  ¹²His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem, ¹³and Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the flock at Shechem; come along, I’ll send you to them.” Joseph replied, “Here I am.” ¹⁴Then his father said, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and the flock; then come back and tell me.” Jacob sent him from the valley of Hebron, and Joseph arrived at Shechem.

¹⁵A man met him while wandering through the countryside and asked, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷The man said, “They have gone from here, for I heard them say: Let’s go to Dothan!” So Joseph went off after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes the specialist in dreams! ²⁰Now’s the time! Let’s kill him and throw him into a well. We’ll say a wild animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what his dreams were all about!” ²¹But Reuben heard this and tried to save him from their hands ²²saying, “Let us not kill him; shed no blood! Throw him in this well in the wilderness, but do him no violence.” This he said to save him from them and take him back to his father.

²³So as soon as Joseph arrived, they stripped him of his long-sleeved coat that he wore ²⁴and then took him and threw him in the well. Now, the well was empty, without water.

²⁵They were sitting for a meal when they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with spices, balm, and myrrh, which they were taking down to Egypt. ²⁶Judah then said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and hiding his blood? ²⁷Come! We’ll sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother and our own flesh!” His brothers agreed to this.

²⁸So when the Midianite merchants came along, they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the well. For twenty pieces of silver, they sold Joseph to the Midianites, who took him to Egypt. ²⁹ When Reuben returned to the well, Joseph was no longer there. He tore his clothes,, ³⁰returned to his brothers and said, “The boy has disappeared, and what am I to do?”

³¹They then took Joseph’s coat, killed a goat and dipped the coat in its blood. ³²They sent the long-sleeved coat and had it taken to their father, saying, “This we have found; see if it is your son’s coat or not.” ³³He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s coat. Joseph has been attacked by a wild animal and torn to pieces.” ³⁴Jacob then tore his garments, put on sackcloth and mourned his son for a long time. ³⁵All his sons and daughters came to comfort him but he refused to be consoled saying, “No, I shall go down to the land of Shadows, mourning for my son.” Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the guard's commander.

The Story of Judah and Tamar

38 | • ¹It happened at this time that Judah left his brothers and went to stay with an Adullamite by the name of Hirah. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite called Shua. He married her, ³and she gave birth to a son whom he called Er. ⁴She had another child and called him Onan. ⁵And then she had a third child called Shelah. She was at Chezib when she gave birth to him.

⁶Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn son. Her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight and the Lord took his life. ⁸Then Judah told Onan, “Lie with your brother’s widow and fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law; the child to be born will be your brother's heir.” ⁹But Onan knew the child would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s widow, he spilled the semen on the ground lest he give an heir to his brother. ¹⁰What he did was displeasing to the Lord, who took his life as well. ¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah, my son has grown up,” for he was afraid that Shelah, like his brothers, might die. So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time, the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter died. When Judah became consoled, he went up to Timnah to his sheep-shearers with his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. ¹³It happened that Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴She took off her widow’s clothes, wrapped herself in a veil and sat down at the entrance to Enaim which is on the road to Timnah, for she knew that Shelah was a grown man and had not been given to her in marriage.

¹⁵Judah saw her and as her face was veiled, he took her for a prostitute. ¹⁶He approached her on the roadside and said, “Allow me to sleep with you,” for he didn’t know she was his daughter-in-law. She asked, “What will you give me to sleep with you?” ¹⁷He said, “I will send you a kid from my flock.” She replied, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?” ¹⁸“What pledge shall I give you?” he asked. She answered, “Give me your seal, your cord and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her; ¹⁹then she rose and left him and, taking off her veil, she put on her widow’s clothes. And she became pregnant.

²⁰When Judah sent the kid by his friend, the Adullamite, to recover the pledge from the woman, he did not find her. ²¹So he questioned the local people, “Where is the prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” “There has been no prostitute there,” they said. ²²He returned to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her and even the local people said that there was no prostitute there.” ²³Judah then said, “Let her keep it all for herself lest the people finally laugh at us. At least I sent her the kid even if you didn’t find her.”

²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law played the prostitute and moreover, she is now with child.” Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned.” ²⁵As they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “I have become pregnant by the man who owns these things. Find out to whom this seal, cord, and staff belong!” ²⁶Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more righteous than I am since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he had no further intercourse with her.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸And when she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around his wrist, saying, “This one is the firstborn.” ²⁹But he withdrew his hand, and his brother came out first, and she said, “What a rift you have made for yourself!” And he was called Perez. ³⁰Then his brother with the scarlet thread on his wrist came out and he was given the name Zerah.

39 | • ¹Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, commander of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. ²The Lord blessed Joseph while he lived in the house of his master, the Egyptian, and everything went right for him.

³The Egyptian could see that God was with him. Everything worked well for him. ⁴So Joseph pleased his master who made him overseer of his house and of all that he owned, ⁵and from that time God blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph; he blessed all that the Egyptian owned, his household and his land. ⁶The Egyptian left all he had to the care of Joseph and, with Joseph fully in charge, he concerned himself with nothing except the food that he ate.

Now Joseph was a handsome man and well-built. ⁷After some time his master’s wife kept noticing him and said, “Sleep with me.” ⁸But he refused and said to her, “With me in charge, my master has no concern about anything in the house and has entrusted to me all that he has. ⁹He is no more master in this house than I am, and he refuses me nothing, except yourself, of course, because you are his wife. How then could I do such an evil thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰Now, although day after day she spoke to Joseph, he would not agree to sleep with her or give himself to her.

¹¹It happened that one day, when he entered the house to attend to his duties, none of the servants were in the house. ¹²Then Potiphar’s wife caught hold of Joseph by his cloak saying, “Come to bed with me.” But Joseph left his cloak in her hands and ran out of the house. ¹³As soon as he had run out of the house, ¹⁴she called her servants and said, “Look, a Hebrew has been brought here to make fun of us; he came here to lie with me; so I screamed ¹⁵and when he heard me scream he left his cloak with me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁶Then she kept the cloak by her until the master came home. ¹⁷She then told her story, “That Hebrew slave of yours came to make sport of me, ¹⁸but when I screamed, he left his cloak with me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹When his master heard what his wife told him, “This is how your servant treated me,” he blazed angrily. ²⁰He took Joseph and put him in the Royal Prison, where the king’s prisoners were kept. But while Joseph was in prison ²¹The Lord was with him and showed him kindness so that he was well-liked by the prison's warden. ²²The warden put him in charge of all the prisoners and made him responsible for all that was done there. ²³The warden did not interfere with anything under Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him and gave him success in everything he did.

Joseph Interprets the Dreams

40 | ¹Some time after this it happened that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt, who prepared the drinks for Pharaoh, and his chief baker offended their lord. ²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers ³ and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was kept. ⁴So the captain of the guard appointed Joseph to attend to their needs, for they were under arrest for some time.

⁵One night, both of them dreamed, each one his own dream, and each dream had its own meaning. As the two officers were with Joseph in custody in his master’s house, ⁶when Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw they were troubled. ⁷So he questioned them, “Why do you look sad today?” ⁸They answered, “Both of us have had a dream, but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Is it not God who interprets dreams? Tell me what they were.”

⁹Then the chief cupbearer told Joseph what his dream had been. “In my dream, there was a vine in front of me, ¹⁰and on the vine, there were three branches. As it grew and flowered, its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand and I pressed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in his hand.”

¹²Joseph said to him, “Here’s the interpretation: the three branches are three days. ¹³Within three days Pharaoh will release you and restore you to your office and you will place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as before when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴But when things go well with you, remember me and be kind enough to speak my name to Pharaoh and get me out of this place, ¹⁵for I was, in fact, kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve imprisonment.”

¹⁶ The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation was favorable, said to Joseph, “In my dream, I had three baskets of cakes on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it from the basket above my head.” ¹⁸Joseph said, “The three baskets are three days, ¹⁹and before three days have passed Pharaoh will take off your head and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

²⁰It so happened that on the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his officers and remembered the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ²¹The cupbearer was restored to his office and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; ²²but the chief baker was hanged, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.

The Dreams of Pharaoh

41 | • ¹After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile 2 when seven sleek and fat cows were coming up from the Nile and beginning to feed among the rushes. ³Behind them came seven other cows, lean and scraggy, who stood beside the cows already there. ⁴These devoured the sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

⁵He fell asleep again and had a second dream. He saw growing on one stalk seven ears of corn that were full and ripe. ⁶And after these, seven more ears of corn sprouted small and scorched by the east wind. ⁷Now, the small ears of corn swallowed the plump and ripe ones. Then Pharaoh awoke.

⁸In the morning, he was uneasy and called all the magicians and wise men in Egypt. He told his dreams to them but not one among them was able to interpret his dreams. ⁹Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, “This reminds me of my wrongs. ¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants and had me put in custody in the house of the captain of the guard and with me, the chief baker. ¹¹Once on the same night, we both had a dream, each with its own meaning. ¹²With us was a young Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him our dreams, he interpreted them, giving each one its own meaning. ¹³What he interpreted for us happened. I was restored to my office, and the chief baker was hanged.”

¹⁴Pharaoh then had Joseph summoned. They took him quickly from the prison, shaved him, changed his clothes, and presented himself to Pharaoh. ¹⁵Then Pharaoh addressed him, “I have had a dream which no one can explain; now I have heard that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph replied, “It’s not I but God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” ¹⁷Pharaoh then began telling his dream.

“I was beside the Nile ¹⁸when seven fine cows, sleek and fat, came up from the river and began to feed in the rushes. ¹⁹Then, seven other cows came up behind them. These were poor, scraggy, and lean. I had never seen any so ugly in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰The thin, gaunt cows ate up the seven fat cows, ²¹but after eating them, it was as if they had not eaten them at all because they remained as lean and scraggy as they were before. And then I woke. ²²I also saw seven ears of corn growing on one stalk, full and ripe in my dream. ²³Then, after them, there sprouted seven ears of corn that were hard and small and withered by the east wind. ²⁴The withered ears of corn swallowed the good ears. I told this to the magicians but none of them could explain its meaning.”

²⁵Then, Joseph said, “Pharaoh’s dream is one and the same. The Lord has just revealed to Pharaoh what he will do. ²⁶The seven fat cows are seven years and the seven good ears as well. It’s one dream! ²⁷The seven lean cows coming after them are seven years as are the seven withered ears of corn scorched by the east wind, and they are seven years of famine. ²⁸As I said to Pharaoh, God reveals to him what he is about to do. ²⁹There will be seven years of plenty throughout the land of Egypt, ³⁰but they will be followed by seven years of famine. Then the time of abundance will be forgotten, and famine will exhaust the land. ³¹So severe will the famine be that no one will remember the time of plenty.

³²If the dream has been repeated twice for Pharaoh, it is because God has so determined and will soon make it happen. ³³Now it is for Pharaoh to choose an intelligent and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Pharaoh could have supervisors in the land and levy a tax of one-fifth of the produce during the seven years of plenty. ³⁵They must gather all the food of these productive years that are coming and, by the authority of Pharaoh, store grain for food in the towns and keep it. ³⁶This food will be a reserve for the seven years of famine coming to the land of Egypt so that the people will not die of hunger.”

Joseph, the Head Minister

³⁷The proposal of Joseph pleased Pharaoh and his ministers, and Pharaoh asked them, ³⁸“Where shall we find such a man possessed with the spirit of God?” ³⁹And to Joseph, he said, “Since it is to you that God has made known all this, there can be no one as intelligent and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be over my house, and all my people will obey your orders. Only I myself will be greater than you.”

⁴¹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴²He then took the signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He clothed him in fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³He had him ride in the chariot that was second only to his, and they cried out before him, “Make way.” Thus, he was put in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh! Without your consent, no one is to raise hand or foot in the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah and gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. After that Joseph traveled throughout the land of Egypt. ⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he was summoned to the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. After leaving Pharaoh, he journeyed through the entire land of Egypt.

⁴⁷During the seven years of plenty, the land produced abundantly. ⁴⁸So Joseph gathered up all the food that was produced during these years, storing the food from the fields around each town. ⁴⁹Joseph stored huge quantities of wheat, like the sand from the sea, so much that they lost count of the amount.

⁵⁰Before the years of famine came, Asenath, Joseph’s wife, had two sons. ⁵¹Joseph called the first Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” ⁵²He called the second Ephraim, for he said, “God has given me children in the land of my sorrow.”

⁵³When the seven years of plenty throughout the land of Egypt ended, ⁵⁴the seven years of famine began as Joseph had foretold. There was a famine in all the countries, but the bread was to be had in every part of Egypt. ⁵⁵When the land of Egypt be­gan to suffer from the famine, the people came to Pharaoh for bread. But Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do as he tells you.” ⁵⁶When the famine spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians for the famine was severe over the land. ⁵⁷As the famine had worsened throughout the world, people came from other countries to buy grain from Joseph.

The Sons of Jacob Go Down to Egypt

42 | • ¹When Jacob heard there was wheat in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you stand looking at one another? ²I’ve heard there is grain in Egypt, so go down and buy some for us so that we may stay alive and not die!” ³Joseph’s brothers—ten of them—went down to Egypt to buy wheat ⁴but Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, for he said, “Something might happen to him.”

⁵So the sons of Israel were among those going to buy grain, for there was famine in Canaan. ⁶Joseph, as governor of the land, sold the grain to all the people. When his brothers arrived, they bowed before him, with their faces to the ground. ⁷Joseph recognized his brothers but did not make himself known and harshly said to them, “Where do you come from?” And they answered, “We come from the land of Canaan to buy grain for food.”

⁸Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ He remembered the dreams he once had concerning them. He told them, “You are spies, and it is to discover the weak points of the land that you have come.” ¹⁰They said, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy grain for food. ¹¹We are all sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants are not spies.” ¹²Joseph replied, “No, it is to find out the weak points of the country that you have come.” ¹³They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest is today with our father, and the other is no more.” ¹⁴But Joseph insisted, “As I said, you are spies! ¹⁵And this will be proved. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶One of you is to go and fetch your brother. While I verify whether you are telling the truth, the others will be imprisoned. If not, then as true as Pharaoh lives, you are spies.” ¹⁷And so he put them all in prison for three days.

¹⁸On the third day, Joseph said to them, “I will help you to save yourselves, for I am a man who fears God. ¹⁹If you are sincere, let one of your brothers remain prisoner in the house of the guard where you now are, and the rest of you take the grain to save your families from famine. ²⁰Then you will bring back your youngest brother, so the truth of what you say will be proved and your lives spared.” They did as ordered ²¹and said among themselves, “Alas! We are guilty because of the way we treated our brother when he pleaded with us for mercy, but we didn’t listen. That is why this trouble has come upon us.”

²²Reuben answered them, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen, and now we are brought to account for his blood.” ²³They did not know that Joseph understood them as there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴As for Joseph, he withdrew and wept. When he came back, he spoke to them and took Simeon and had him bound and put in prison while they looked on.

²⁵Joseph ordered their sacks to be filled with wheat and their money replaced in the sack of each one, and provisions be given to them for the journey. All this was done; ²⁶they loaded the grain on their donkeys and set off. ²⁷But in the evening, one of them emptied his sack to feed his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his money at the mouth of the sack, so he said, ²⁸“My money has been put back: here it is in my sack.” Their hearts failed them and they trembled and turned to each other and said, “What is this that God has done to us!”

²⁹When they came back to Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him about all their adventures:

³⁰“The man who is governor of the country spoke harshly to us and treated us as spies, ³¹but we said: ‘We are honest men, not spies. ³²We were twelve brothers, sons of the same father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man who is lord of the land said: By this, I will know if you are honest. Leave one of your brothers here; take grain to save your families from the famine and go. ³⁴Bring back your youngest brother and let me see you are not spies but honest men. Then I shall release your brother and you can trade in the land.”

³⁵Now, when they emptied their sacks, each one found his moneybag in his sack. When they saw this, they were afraid and their father as well. ³⁶Jacob, their father said to them, “You are taking my children from me. Joseph has gone; Simeon has gone, and now you are taking Benjamin. I have all this to bear!”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may have the lives of my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to me, and I shall see that he comes back.” ³⁸But Jacob said, “My son will not go with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If he were to meet with some misfortune on the way, you would send my gray head to the land of Shadows in sorrow.”

The Second Journey to Egypt

43 | • ¹Now the lack of food was severe in the land, ² when they had eaten the grain they brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go down again and buy us a little food.” ³But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us that our brother had to come with us. ⁴If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you; ⁵but if you don’t send him, we will not go, for the man said: You will not be admitted to my presence if your brother is not with you.” ⁶Israel then said, “Why did you bring this misery on me by letting the man know you have another brother?” ⁷They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kinsfolk saying: ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And so we answered these questions. Could we have known that he would tell us to bring our brother?”

⁸Judah then told Israel his father, “Send the boy with me. Let us go so that we, you and our children, may live and not die. ⁹I will guarantee his safety. If I do not bring him back and set him here before you, I will bear the blame forever. ¹⁰If we hadn’t delayed for so long we could have been there and back twice over.”

¹¹Israel their father said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some choice products of the land in your bags and a gift for the man—some balm, a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹²Take double the money with you, and you will repay what was put in your sacks; it may have been a mistake. ¹³Take your brother and return to the man. ¹⁴May God Almighty grant you mercy in his presence so that he will allow you to bring back your other brother and Benjamin. As for myself, if I am bereaved of my children, then bereaved I shall have to be.”

¹⁵The men took the gift and the double amount of money as well. Taking Benjamin, they set off for Egypt and were admitted to Joseph's presence.

¹⁶When Joseph saw that Benjamin was with them, he said to his steward, “Bring these men to my house. Have an animal slaughtered and a meal prepared, for these men will eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷The steward did as Joseph directed and brought the men to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸They were afraid and said to each other, “It’s because of the money that was placed in our sacks the last time that we were brought in. He wants to attack and overpower us and have us as slaves and take our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the door of the house, ²⁰“Oh my lord, we came down here the first time to buy food, ²¹and when we reached a lodging place and opened our sacks, we found in the mouth of the sacks each one’s money to the full weight. We have brought it back with us ²²and additional money to buy food. We don’t know who put the money in our sacks.” ²³The steward said, “Be at peace! Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, put a treasure in your grain sacks. Your money reached me safely.” He then brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴The steward took them into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet and fodder for their donkeys. ²⁵They prepared their present and waited for Joseph’s arrival at midday, for they heard they were to dine there.

²⁶When Joseph came into the house, they offered him the gift they had with them and bowed to the ground before him. ²⁷He asked them how they were and said, “Is your father well, the old man you spoke about? Is he still alive?” ²⁸They answered, “Your servant our father is well and is still alive.” ²⁹He looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, the son of his own mother, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he added, “God be good to you, my son!” ³⁰So deeply moved was Joseph on seeing his brother that he wanted to cry and went out quickly and wept in his own private room. ³¹After he had washed his face and come out, controlling himself, he said, “Serve the meal.” ³²He was served separately, and so were they, and the Egyptians as well, for the Egyptians cannot share a meal with Hebrews; for the Egyptians, this would be a shame. ³³They were seated opposite him in the order of their ages from the eldest to the youngest, and they looked at each other in astonishment.

³⁴Joseph had portions from his own dish taken to them, and Benjamin’s portion was five times more than the others. So they drank freely with him.

Joseph’s Cup in Benjamin’s Sack

44 | ¹Now Joseph gave this order to his steward, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry and put back each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack, ²and put my cup, the silver cup with the money for the grain in the sack of the youngest.” The steward did as Joseph had directed.

³As soon as it was light the next morning, the men were sent away with their donkeys. ⁴When they had gone but were still not far from the city, Joseph said to his steward, “Go quickly after those men, and when you have caught up with them, say this: Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? You have done a wicked thing.”

⁶When he caught up with them, he repeated these words. ⁷They asked him, “Why does my lord speak like that? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. ⁸The money we found in the mouths of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan! How could we have stolen silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹If one of your servants is found with the object, he will die, and we too will become my lord’s slaves.” ¹⁰“Very well then,” he said, “it will be as you say. The one who is found to have the cup will become my master’s slave; the rest of you will go free.” ¹¹Then, each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹²And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they tore their clothes and, reloading their donkeys, returned to the city.

¹⁴Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers returned, and they threw themselves on the ground before him. ¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What have you done? Didn’t you know that a man such as I am can practice divination?”

¹⁶Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servant’s guilt; we are my lord’s slaves, and we are the one who has been found with the cup.” ¹⁷But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do that. Only the man found to have the cup will be my slave. As for the rest, go back in peace to your father.”

¹⁸Judah then went forward and said, “My lord, allow your servant to speak. Do not be angry with your servant, although you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹The last time you questioned your servants saying: ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰We said to my lord: ‘We have an aged father who had a child in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one left of his mother’s children. And his father loves him.’ ²¹Then you said to us: ‘Bring him down so that I can see him for myself.’ ²²We told my lord that the boy could not leave his father, for if he did, his father would die.

²³You then told us that we would not be admitted to your presence if our youngest brother did not come with us. ²⁴All this we said to our father on returning there. ²⁵So when he told us to come back and buy some food, ²⁶we said: ‘We cannot go down again unless our youngest brother is with us. We shall not be admitted to the lord’s presence unless our brother is with us.’ ²⁷Then my father said: ‘You know that my wife had two children. ²⁸One went away from me and has surely been torn to pieces since I have not seen him anymore. ²⁹If you take this one from me and something happens to him you will bring my gray hair in sorrow to the grave.’ ³⁰Now I can’t return to my father without the boy, for my father loves him very much. If he sees that the boy is not there, ³¹he will die, and we will have sent the gray hairs of our father in sorrow to the grave.

³² I, your servant, guaranteed the boy’s safety and said to my father: ‘If I do not bring him back, I will bear the blame before you all my life.’ ³³So now let me take the place of the boy and stay here as a slave and let the boy go with his brothers, ³⁴for I can’t return to my father without the boy. Do not let me see the misery that would be too much for my father.”

Joseph Reveals Himself

45 | ¹Now Joseph could no longer control his feelings in the presence of all those standing by, and he called out, “Leave my presence, everyone!” And only his brothers were with him when Joseph made himself known to them. ²He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard, and the news spread through Pharaoh’s house.

³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” And his brothers could not answer because they were terrified at seeing him. ⁴Joseph said, “Come closer,” and they drew nearer. “I am Joseph, your brother, yes, it’s me, the one you sold to the Egyptians. ⁵Now don’t grieve and reproach yourselves for selling me, because God has sent me before you to save your lives. ⁶It’s two years since famine has been in the land, and there will be another five years without tilling and harvest. ⁷God has sent me ahead of you to make our race survive there and to save many of you. ⁸So it was not you but God who sent me here, and made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his household, and ruler also of all the land of Egypt. ⁹Go back quickly to my father and say to him: ‘Joseph your son sends you this message: God has made me lord of all Egypt; so come down to me without delay; ¹⁰you shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and your herds, all that you have. ¹¹And there I will provide for you (for there will be five more years of famine) lest you and your household and all who belong to you, be in need. ¹²Now you can see for yourselves, and your broth­er Benjamin can see that it is I myself who speaks to you. ¹³You will tell my father of the glory I have in Egypt and of all that you have seen. Go quickly and bring my father down here.”

¹⁴Joseph then threw his arms around Benjamin and wept. ¹⁵Then weeping, he kissed and embraced his brothers, and they began to talk with him.

¹⁶The news spread through Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers are here,” and it pleased both Pharaoh and his officials.

¹⁷Pharaoh told Joseph, “Let your brothers load their beasts, return to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸and bring their father and their families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will enjoy the fat of the land! ¹⁹As for yourself, give them this order: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives; get your father and come! ²⁰Never mind the things you leave there, for the best in all Egypt is yours!”

²¹The sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had ordered, and provisions for the journey. ²²To each one, he gave a festal garment, but to Benjamin, he gave three hundred silver coins and five festal garments. ²³To his father, he sent ten asses loaded with all the best goods in Egypt and ten donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provisions for his father on the journey. ²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away and as they left he said, “Don’t quarrel on the way.”

²⁵They returned from Egypt and came back to Jacob, their father, in Canaan. ²⁶They told him, “Joseph is alive and the ruler of all Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, for he could not believe them. ²⁷But they told him all that Joseph had said and showed him the wagons that Joseph sent to carry him. Then Jacob’s spirit revived, and he said, ²⁸“It’s enough, my son Joseph is alive; I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob Goes Down to Egypt

46 | • ¹Israel left with all he owned and reached Beer-sheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²God spoke to Israel in visions that he had during the night, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he said. ³“I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. ⁴I will go with you to Egypt, and I will bring you back again, and Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.”

⁵Jacob left Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, with their little children and their wives in the wagons that Joseph had sent to fetch him. ⁶They also took their flocks and all they had acquired in Canaan. And so it was that Jacob came to Egypt and with him all his family, ⁷his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters, in short, all his children he took with him to Egypt.

⁸Here are the names of the descendants of Israel who came to Egypt:

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, ⁹and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, whose mother was a Canaanite. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel ¹⁵(these are the sons of Leah, Jacob’s wife, who were born in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three). ¹⁶The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli. ¹⁷The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, with Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and Jacob was their father —sixteen persons. ¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰And to Joseph in Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whose mother was Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of Heliopolis. ²¹And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard ²²(these are the sons of Rachel—fourteen). ²³The children of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem ²⁵(these are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and Jacob was their father—seven persons in all).

²⁶The total number of all the persons who came to Egypt with Jacob, all of his own blood, not counting the wives of his sons, was sixty-six. ²⁷With the two sons born to Joseph in Egypt, the total number of Jacob’s household that came to Egypt was seventy.

Jacob Meets Joseph

²⁸Jacob sent Judah ahead to let Joseph know he was coming and would soon arrive in the land of Goshen.

²⁹Joseph got his chariot ready to meet Israel, his father, in Go­shen. He presented himself, threw his arms around his father, and wept on his shoulder for a long time. ³⁰Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, for I have seen your face and know you are alive.”

³¹After that, Joseph said to his brothers and all his father’s family, “I will go and give the news to Pharaoh and tell him that my brothers and my father’s family who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. ³²I will also tell him that you are shepherds, keeping livestock, bringing your flocks, cattle, and all your belongings. ³³So when Pharaoh summons you and says: ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴you will say: ‘Your servants keep flocks and herds; it has been so since our youth and for our fathers before us.’ Then you will settle in the land of Goshen, for the Egyptians detest all shepherds.”

47 | ¹ Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers with their sheep and cattle and all their possessions have come from the land of Canaan to Goshen.” ²He then presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh. ³Pharaoh asked, “What are your occupations?” they replied, “Your servants are shepherds as were our fathers before us. ⁴We have come to settle in the land for there is no more pasture for our sheep, so severe is the famine in the land of Canaan. And now we pray you, may we stay in the land of Goshen?” ⁵Pharaoh then spoke to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶The land of Egypt is before you; let your father and brothers settle in the best part; let them settle in Goshen, and if among them there are capable men, put them in charge of my cattle.”

The Sons of Jacob in Egypt

⁷Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and presented him to Pharaoh, ⁸ who then asked him, “How old are you?” ⁹Jacob replied, “The years of my wanderings are one hundred and thirty. Brief and difficult have been the years of my life, and not as many as those of my fathers.” ¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and withdrew from his presence.

¹¹So Joseph settled his father and brothers, giving them property in the best part of Egypt, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and his father’s entire household with food according to the number of their dependents.

•  ¹³Now so severe was the famine that no bread would be had in all the land. Both Egypt and Canaan were exhausted because of the famine. ¹⁴Joseph then collected all the money given to buy bread in the lands of Egypt and Canaan. All this money Joseph took to Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵When all the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph saying, “Give us bread! Why must we die before your eyes for want of money?” ¹⁶Joseph told them, “Give me your cattle to pay for bread since you have no money.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for their horses, sheep, cattle, and even their donkeys. In that way, he supplied them with food for that year.

¹⁸The following year, they came to him again and said, “We will not hide from our lord that all our money is gone and that our cattle now belong to you. All that is left to us are our persons and our land. ¹⁹Why should we die while you look on, ourselves and our land? So, buy us and our land for bread; we shall be in bondage to you and Pharaoh. Give us grain that we may live and not die, and our land remain desolate.”

²⁰So Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; all the Egyptians sold their fields, so cruelly hard-pressed were they by the famine. Pharaoh became the owner of the land, ²¹and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy because, by a decree of Pharaoh, they lived on what had been given to them by Pharaoh. For that reason, they did not sell the land that belonged to them.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is a seed for you to sow the land. ²⁴At harvest time you will give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours for seed for sowing, for food for yourselves and your families.” ²⁵They said, “You have saved our lives. If it pleases my lord, we shall be Pharaoh’s serfs.” ²⁶So Joseph introduced a statute that remains to this day, whereby a fifth of the produce goes to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷So Israel lived in Egypt in the land of Goshen. They became owners of this land; they had many children and greatly increased in number.

²⁸Jacob lived for one hundred and forty-seven years, seventeen of them in the land of Egypt.

²⁹When his life was drawing to a close, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If you wish to be faithful and kind to me, place your hand under my thigh and promise me that you will not bury me in Egypt! ³⁰But when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.” Joseph said, “I will do as you say.” ³¹Jacob insisted, “Swear to it!” He swore to him, and Israel fell back on his pillow.

Jacob Adopts Joseph’s Children

48 | • ¹Sometime later, when Joseph was told that his father was ill, he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²So they told Jacob that Joseph, his son, had come. Then Israel, mustering his strength, sat up in bed.

³And he said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me ⁴saying, ‘I will make you fruitful and increase your number, and I will make of you a group of nations, and I will give this land to you and your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ ⁵From now on, your two sons who were born in Egypt, before I came to you here, are mine! Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶Only the children born after them will be yours and the land they inherit shall be known by the names of Ephraim and Manasseh. ⁷When I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died on the journey at some distance from Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.”

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons he said, “Who are these?” ⁹Joseph told his father, “They are the sons that God has given me here.” Jacob said, “Bring them to me that I may bless them.” ¹⁰As Israel’s eyes were dim with age, he could no longer see. When Jacob brought them near, he kissed and embraced them, ¹¹and said to Joseph, “I didn’t expect to see you again and now God is letting me see your children as well!” ¹²Joseph lifted them from Israel’s knees and he himself bowed low, his face to the ground.

¹³Joseph then took them both, Ephraim by his right hand to Israel’s left, and Manasseh by his left hand to Israel’s right. ¹⁴Israel raised his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger, and placed his left hand on Manasseh’s head even though Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God in whose presence my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day, ¹⁶the angel who has saved me from every evil, bless these boys. And in them may my name live on and that of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. And may they increase greatly on the earth!”

¹⁷Joseph was displeased when he saw his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head. So he took his father’s hand from Ephraim’s head to place it on Manasseh ¹⁸and said, “Not like that father, for this one is the elder. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he too will be great and become a nation. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”

²⁰He blessed them that day with the words, “Through you, Israel will bestow this blessing: May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!”

So he placed Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am going to die. God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²²And to you, over and above what goes to your brothers, I give a mountain slope that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

The Blessing of Jacob

49 | • ¹Jacob then called his sons and said,

²“Gather around, sons of Jacob. And listen to your father, Israel!

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, and the first fruits of my manhood! Excelling in honor and excelling in power.

⁴Restless as flowing water, you will excel no more, for you went to your fa­ther’s wife, onto my bed, and defiled it.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. ⁶Let me not share their counsel! Let my heart keep far from their company, for in anger, they killed men and hamstrung oxen at their pleasure. ⁷A curse on their anger for it is fierce: A curse on their fury, so cruel! I will divide them among Jacob and scatter them among Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers will praise you!

You shall seize your enemies by the neck!

Your father’s sons shall bow before you.

⁹Judah, a young lion!

You return from the prey, my son!

Like a lion, he stoops and crouches,

and like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?

¹⁰The scepter shall not be taken from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until he comes to whom it belongs,

and who has the obedience of the nations.

¹¹He ties his foal to a vine,

and his ass’ colt to the choicest branch.

He washes his garments in wine

and his robe in the juice of grapes.

¹²His eyes shall be red with wine,

and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³Zebulun lives by the seashore; he is a haven for the ships, and his flank stretches to Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a sturdy ass, lolling beside the sheepfolds.

¹⁵He saw that a resting place was good and the land was pleasant. He bends his back to the burden and submits to forced labor.

¹⁶Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper on the path that bites the horse’s heels, making the rider fall backward!

¹⁸In your salvation, I hope, O Lord!

¹⁹Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.

²⁰Asher’s food will be rich, and he will provide delicacies fit for a king!

²¹Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.

²²Joseph is a fruitful vine,

a fruitful vine near a spring,

whose branches climb over a wall.

²³Archers attacked him fiercely

and sorely provoked him;

²⁴but his bow remained steady,

and his arms nimble,

because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob;

because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel;

²⁵because of the God of your father, your Helper!

because of God Almighty, who blesses you

with blessings from heaven above,

with blessings from the deep below!

With blessings of the breast and the womb!

²⁶The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, the bounty of the everlasting hills! May they all rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the one who is a prince among his brothers!

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf!

In the morning, he devours his prey,

and in the evening, he divides the spoil!”

The Death and uneral of Jacob

²⁸These are all the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what his father said when he blessed them, giving each one a special and appropriate blessing. ²⁹He then gave them these instructions: “I am soon to be gathered to my people; bury me near my fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron, the Hittite; ³⁰in the cave in the field of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre in Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. ³¹It was there that Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. There, they buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave were purchased from the Hittites.”

³³When Jacob had given these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed; he breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

50 | ¹Joseph threw himself on his father, wept over him, and kissed him. ² Then, as Joseph had instructed them, his physicians embalmed Israel, his father. ³This took a full forty days, the time required for embalming. The Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.

⁴When the days of mourning were over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s house­hold, “If you wish to show me kindness, please let Pharaoh know ⁵that when my father was dying, he made me swear that I would bury him in the tomb he had made ready for himself in Canaan. Ask him to let me go up and bury my father. I will come back again.” ⁶Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father as he made you swear to do.”

⁷Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went all Pharaoh’s officials, the elders of his household, and all the elders of Egypt, ⁸ as well as all belonging to the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, flocks, and herds were left in the land of Go­shen. ⁹With the chariots and horsemen that went up with him, it was a very imposing caravan. ¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Goren-ha-atad, near the Jordan, they carried out a solemn and long lamentation and there Joseph mourned his father for seven days. ¹¹When the Canaanites witnessed this mourning they said, “This is a solemn mourning ceremony of the Egyptians.” That is why this place east of the Jordan was called Abel-mizraim.

¹²Jacob’s sons did as he had ordered them. ¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre that Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial place.

¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all those who had gone up with him for the burial.

The Last Years of Joseph

•  ¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers realized that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph turns against us in hate because of the evil we did him?” ¹⁶So they sent word to Joseph saying, “Before he died, your father told us to say this to you: ¹⁷Please forgive the crime and the sin of your brothers in doing evil to you. Forgive the crime of the servants of your father’s God.” When he was given the message, Joseph wept. ¹⁸His brothers went and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. ¹⁹But Joseph reassured them, “Don’t be afraid! Am I in the place of God? ²⁰You intended to do me harm, but God intended to turn it to good to bring about what is happening today—the survival of many people. ²¹So have no fear! I will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way, he touched their hearts and consoled them.

²²Joseph remained in Egypt together with all his father’s family. He lived for a hundred and ten years, ²³long enough to see Ephraim’s great-grandchildren and also to have the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, placed on his knees after their birth.

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am going to die, but God will surely remember you and take you from this country to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ²⁵Joseph then made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “When God comes to bring you out from here, carry my bones with you.” ²⁶Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten; they embalmed him and laid him in a coffin in Egypt.