Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then Jacob set out on his journey, and went to the land of the people of the east.

²He looked, and saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, because they watered the flocks from that well. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.

³When all the flocks were gathered there, they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.

⁴Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.”

⁵So he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

⁶And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is his daughter Rachel coming with the sheep.”

⁷Then he said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.”

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

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of his mother’s brother Laban.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and raised his voice and wept.

¹²Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.

¹³So when Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things.

¹⁴And Laban said to him, “You certainly are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in figure and appearance.

¹⁸Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”

²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him like only a few days because of his love for her.

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may have relations with her.”

²²So Laban gathered all the people of the place and held a feast.

²³Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob had relations with her.

²⁴Laban also gave his female slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a slave.

²⁵So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this that you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?”

²⁶But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn.

²⁷Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me, for another seven years.”

²⁸Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

²⁹Laban also gave his female slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.

³⁰So Jacob had relations with Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

³¹Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was unable to have children.

³²Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the LORD has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”

³³Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi.

³⁵And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

¹Now when Rachel saw that she had not borne Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I am going to die.”

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

³Then she said, “Here is my female slave Bilhah: have relations with her that she may give birth on my knees, so that by her I too may obtain a child.”

⁴So she gave him her slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her.

⁵Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestling I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

¹²And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

¹³Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrake fruits in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must have relations with me, for I have indeed hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; finally my husband will acknowledge me as his wife, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

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

²²Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

²³So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”

²⁴And she named him Joseph, saying, “May the LORD give me another son.”

²⁵Now it came about, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, so that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.”

²⁷But Laban said to him, “If it pleases you at all, stay with me; I have determined by divination that the LORD has blessed me on your account.”

²⁸He continued, “Name me your wages, and I will give them.”

²⁹But Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me.

³⁰For you had little before I came, and it has increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”

³¹So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:

³²let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled or spotted sheep and every black sheep among the lambs, and the spotted or speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages.

³³So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”

³⁴Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.”

³⁵So he removed on that day the striped or spotted male goats, and all the speckled or spotted female goats, every one with white on it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and put them in the care of his sons.

³⁶And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white that was in the rods.

³⁸He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the drinking troughs, that is, in the watering channels where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink.

³⁹So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks delivered striped, speckled, and spotted offspring.

⁴⁰Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

⁴¹Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the drinking troughs, so that they would mate by the rods;

⁴²but when the flock was sickly, he did not put them in; so the sickly were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s.

⁴³So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

¹Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.”

²And Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before.

³Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field,

⁵and said to them, “I see your father’s attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.

⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength.

⁷Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to do me harm.

⁸If he said this: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered speckled; and if he said this: ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered striped.

⁹So God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

¹⁰And it came about at the time when the flock was breeding that I raised my eyes and saw in a dream—and behold—the male goats that were mating were striped, speckled, or mottled.

¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’

¹²He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you.

¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ”

¹⁴Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house?

¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price.

¹⁶Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels;

¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he possessed which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

¹⁹Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.

²⁰And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.

²¹So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set out for the hill country of Gilead.

²²When Laban was informed on the third day that Jacob had fled,

²³he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁴However, God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

²⁷Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with tambourine and with lyre;

²⁸and did not allow me to kiss my grandchildren and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.

²⁹It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’

³⁰Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?”

³¹Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

³²The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives point out what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. So Laban searched through all the tent, but did not find them.

³⁵And she said to her father, “May my lord not be angry that I cannot stand in your presence, because the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?

³⁷Though you have searched through all my property, what have you found of all your household property? Set it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide between the two of us.

³⁸For these twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.

³⁹I did not even bring to you that which was torn by wild animals; I took the loss myself. You demanded it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

⁴⁰This is how I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹For these twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night.”

⁴³Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my grandchildren, the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth?

⁴⁴So now come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it shall be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone.

⁴⁶Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

⁴⁷Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed,

⁴⁹and Mizpah, for he said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.

⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between you and me.

⁵²This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this memorial stone to me, for harm.

⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

⁵⁵Then early in the morning Laban got up, and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

¹Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him.

²And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

³Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

⁴He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and stayed until now;

⁵and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

⁸for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’

¹⁰I am unworthy of all the favor and of all the faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.

¹¹Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.

¹²For You said, ‘I will assuredly make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’ ”

¹³So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a gift for his brother Esau:

¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

¹⁶Then he placed them in the care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.”

¹⁷And he commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’

¹⁸then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ ”

¹⁹Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

²⁰and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²²Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the Jabbok.

²³He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

²⁴Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

²⁸Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

²⁹And Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

³¹Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his hip.

³²Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the tendon of the hip.

¹Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women.

²He put the slave women and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

³But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

⁵He raised his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the slave women came forward with their children, and they bowed down.

⁷And Leah likewise came forward with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed down.

⁸And he said, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” And he said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”

¹⁰Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

¹¹Please accept my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.” So he urged him, and he accepted it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let’s journey on and go, and I will go ahead of you.”

¹³But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds that are nursing are a matter of concern to me. And if they are driven hard just one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴Please let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, at the pace of the cattle that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

¹⁵Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

¹⁸Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city.

¹⁹He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.

²⁰Then he erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

¹Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

²When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her.

³But he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.

⁴So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”

⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob said nothing until they came in.

⁶Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.

⁷Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

⁸But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage.

⁹And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰So you will live with us, and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.”

¹¹Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give whatever you tell me.

¹²Demand of me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give whatever you tell me; but give me the girl in marriage.”

¹³But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

¹⁴They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised,

¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.

¹⁷But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

¹⁹The young man did not delay to do this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying,

²¹“These men are friendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. We will take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them.

²²Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

²³Will their livestock and their property and all their animals not be ours? Let’s just consent to them, and they will live with us.”

²⁴All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons—Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers—each took his sword and came upon the city undetected, and killed every male.

²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left.

²⁷Jacob’s sons came upon those killed and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.

²⁸They took their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field;

²⁹and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even everything that was in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!”

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

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Remove the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments;

³and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me on the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.

⁵As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

⁶So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

⁷Then he built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.

⁸Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named Allon-bacuth.

⁹Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.

¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” So He called him Israel.

¹¹God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a multitude of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come from you.

¹²And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

¹³Then God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴So Jacob set up a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

¹⁵And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.

¹⁶Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor.

¹⁷And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son!”

¹⁸And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

²⁰And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²²And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—

²³the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

²⁴the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin;

²⁵and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, were Dan and Naphtali;

²⁶and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s female slave, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided.

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.

²⁹Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹Now these are the records of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).

²Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;

³also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath gave birth to Reuel,

⁵and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all his household, and his livestock and all his cattle, and all his property which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land away from his brother Jacob.

⁷For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they resided could not support them because of their livestock.

⁸So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.

⁹These then are the records of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

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

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

¹²Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah.

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

¹⁴And these were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,

¹⁶chief Korah, chief Gatam, and chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.

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

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

¹⁹These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

²²And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

²³And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.

²⁵And these are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

²⁶And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These are the chiefs descended from the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,

³⁰chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir.

³¹Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.

³²Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

³³Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place.

³⁴Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place.

³⁵Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith.

³⁶Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place.

³⁷Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates River became king in his place.

³⁸Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place.

³⁹Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar became king in his place; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰Now these are the names of the chiefs descended from Esau, according to their families and their localities, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,

⁴¹chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,

⁴²chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,

⁴³chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of the Edomites), according to their settlements in the land of their possession.

¹Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

²These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a multicolored tunic.

⁴And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.

⁵Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

⁶He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had;

⁷for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?”

¹¹And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

¹²Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.

¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.”

¹⁴Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

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

¹⁷Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.

¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer!

²⁰Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands by saying, “Let’s not take his life.”

²²Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father.

²³So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the multicolored tunic that was on him;

²⁴and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying labdanum resin, balsam, and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.

²⁶And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?

²⁷Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.

²⁸Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. So they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments.

³⁰He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood;

³²and they sent the multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”

³³Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A vicious animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

³⁴So Jacob tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.

¹And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

²Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her as a wife and had relations with her.

³And she conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.

⁴Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.

⁵She gave birth to yet another son and named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD took his life.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Have relations with your brother’s wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a child for your brother.”

⁹Now Onan knew that the child would not be his; so when he had relations with his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground so that he would not give a child to his brother.

¹⁰But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; so He took his life also.

¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

¹²Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

¹³And Tamar was told, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”

¹⁴So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

¹⁶So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “Here now, let me have relations with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may have relations with me?”

¹⁷He said, therefore, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She then said, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?”

¹⁸He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had relations with her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹Then she got up and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments.

²⁰When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her.

²¹He asked the people of her place, saying, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no temple prostitute here.”

²²So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the people of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’ ”

²³Then Judah said, “Let her keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”

²⁴Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and behold, she is also pregnant by prostitution.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned!”

²⁵It was while she was being brought out that she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, “I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” She also said, “Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?”

²⁶And Judah recognized them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.

²⁷It came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were twins in her womb.

²⁸Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, that one baby put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”

²⁹But it came about as he drew back his hand that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez.

³⁰Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.

¹Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.

²And the LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

³Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all that he did prosper in his hand.

⁴So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and put him in charge of all that he owned.

⁵It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; so the LORD’S blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.

⁶So he left Joseph in charge of everything that he owned; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

⁷And it came about after these events that his master’s wife had her eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Sleep with me.”

⁸But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put me in charge of all that he owns.

⁹There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?”

¹⁰Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her.

¹¹Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the people of the household was there inside.

¹²So she grabbed him by his garment, saying, “Sleep with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.

¹³When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside,

¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make fun of us; he came in to me to sleep with me, and I screamed.

¹⁵When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”

¹⁶So she left his garment beside her until his master came home.

¹⁷Then she spoke to him with these words: “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make fun of me;

¹⁸but when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

¹⁹Now when his master heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned.

²⁰So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the prison.

²¹But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison.

²²And the warden of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.

²³The warden of the prison did not supervise anything under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and, the LORD made whatever he did prosper.

¹Then it came about after these things, that the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

²And Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

³So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the prison, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.

⁴And the captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were in confinement for some time.

⁵Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, behold, they were dejected.

⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”

⁸And they said to him, “We have had a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do interpretations not belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, saying to him, “In my dream, behold, there was a vine in front of me;

¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.

¹¹Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹²Then Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days;

¹³within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand as in your former practice when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴Only keep me in mind when it goes well for you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.

¹⁵For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

¹⁷and in the top basket there were some of all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days;

¹⁹within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a wooden post, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

²⁰So it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he held a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand;

²²but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.

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

¹Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.

²And behold, from the Nile seven cows came up, fine-looking and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass.

³Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and thin, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

⁴Then the ugly and thin cows ate the seven fine-looking and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

⁵But he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good.

⁶Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.

⁷And the thin ears swallowed the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

⁸Now in the morning his spirit was troubled, so he sent messengers and called for all the soothsayer priests of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I would make mention today of my own offenses.

¹⁰Pharaoh was furious with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker.

¹¹Then we had a dream one night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.

¹²Now a Hebrew youth was there with us, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard, and we told him the dreams, and he interpreted our dreams for us. For each man he interpreted according to his own dream.

¹³And just as he interpreted for us, so it happened; Pharaoh restored me in my office, but he hanged the chief baker.”

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent word and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.

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

¹⁶Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It has nothing to do with me; God will give Pharaoh an answer for his own good.”

¹⁷So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, there I was, standing on the bank of the Nile;

¹⁸and behold, seven cows, fat and fine-looking came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass.

¹⁹Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen for ugliness in all the land of Egypt;

²⁰and the thin and ugly cows ate the first seven fat cows.

²¹Yet when they had devoured them, it could not be detected that they had devoured them, for they were just as ugly as before. Then I awoke.

²²I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears of grain, full and good, came up on a single stalk;

²³and behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind sprouted up after them;

²⁴and the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. Then I told it to the soothsayer priests, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same; God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁶The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one and the same.

²⁷The seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine.

²⁸It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁹Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt;

³⁰and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land.

³¹So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.

³²Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is confirmed by God, and God will quickly bring it about.

³³So now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and appoint him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him take a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt as a tax in the seven years of abundance.

³⁵Then have them collect all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and have them guard it.

³⁶Let the food be used as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”

³⁷Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

³⁸Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom there is a divine spirit?”

³⁹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.

⁴⁰You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people shall be obedient to you; only regarding the throne will I be greater than you.”

⁴¹Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I have placed you over all the land of Egypt.”

⁴²Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put the gold necklace around his neck.

⁴³And he had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed ahead of him, “Bow the knee!” And he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

⁴⁵Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷During the seven years of plenty the land produced abundantly.

⁴⁸So he collected all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and put the food in the cities; he put in every city the food from its own surrounding fields.

⁴⁹Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

⁵⁰Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh; “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all of my father’s household.”

⁵²And he named the second Ephraim; “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³When the seven years of plenty which had taken place in the land of Egypt came to an end,

⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵So when all the land of Egypt suffered famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.”

⁵⁶When the famine was spread over the entire face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷Then the people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

¹Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”

²Then he said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die.”

³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm may happen to him.”

⁵So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, because the famine was also in the land of Canaan.

⁶Now Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

⁷When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

⁸But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.

⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them, and he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land.”

¹⁰And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.

¹¹We are all sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies.”

¹²Yet he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land!”

¹³But they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive.”

¹⁴Yet Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, you are spies;

¹⁵by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here!

¹⁶Send one of you and have him get your brother, while you remain confined, so that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, you are certainly spies!”

¹⁷So he put them all together in prison for three days.

¹⁸Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God:

¹⁹if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households,

²⁰and bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so.

²¹Then they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; for that reason this distress has happened to us.”

²²Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Now justice for his blood is required.”

²³They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them.

²⁴Then he turned away from them and wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, but also to return every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And that is what was done for them.

²⁶So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there.

²⁷But when one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the overnight campsite, he saw his money; and behold, it was in the opening of his sack!

²⁸So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and look, it is right in my sack!” Then their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying,

³⁰“The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country.

³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies.

³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

³³But the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go.

³⁴But bring your youngest brother to me so that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵Now it came about, as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, every man’s bag of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid.

³⁶And their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons: Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.”

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

³⁸But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”