Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then Jacob went on his way and came to the land of the people of the East [near Haran].

²As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying there [resting] beside it because the flocks were watered from that well. Now the stone on the mouth of the well [that covered and protected it] was large,

³and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, water the sheep, and [afterward] replace the stone 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 grandson of Nahor [Abraham's brother]?" And they replied, "We know him."

⁶And he asked them, " Is it well with him?" And they said, "He is doing well; look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep!"

⁷Jacob said, "Look, the sun is still high [overhead]; it is a long time before the flocks need to be gathered [in their folds for the night]. Water the sheep, and go, and return them to their pasture."

⁸But they said, "We cannot [leave] until all the flocks are gathered together, and the shepherds roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we will 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 [his cousin] Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he came up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban, his uncle.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel [in greeting], and he raised his voice and wept.

¹²Jacob told Rachel he was her father's relative, Rebekah's son; and she ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard of the arrival of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him, and embraced and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things.

¹⁴Then Laban said to him, "You are my bone and my flesh." And Jacob stayed with him a month.

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, "Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?"

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

¹⁷Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.

¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, "I will serve you [as a hired workman] for seven years [in return] for [the privilege of marrying] Rachel your younger daughter."

¹⁹Laban said, "It is better that I give her [in marriage] to you than give her to another man. Stay and work with me."

²⁰So Jacob served [Laban] for seven years for [the right to marry] Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

²¹Finally, Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time [of service] is completed, so that I may take her to me [as my wife]."

²²So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and prepared a [wedding] feast [with wine].

²³But in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob went in to [consummate the marriage with] her.

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

²⁵But in the morning [when Jacob awoke], it was Leah [who was with him]! And he said to Laban, "What is this that you have done to me? Did I not work for you [for seven years] for Rachel? Why have you deceived and betrayed me [like this]?"

²⁶But Laban only said, "It is not the tradition here to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the older.

²⁷Finish the week [of the wedding feast] for Leah; then we will give you Rachel also, and in return you shall work for me for seven more years."

²⁸So Jacob complied and fulfilled Leah's week [of celebration]; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his [second] wife.

²⁹Laban also gave Bilhah his maid to his daughter Rachel as a maid.

³⁰So Jacob consummated his marriage and lived with Rachel [as his wife], and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

³¹Now when the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren.

³²Leah conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben (See, a son!), for she said, "Because the LORD has seen my humiliation and suffering; now my husband will love me [since I have given him a son]."

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

³⁴She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, "Now this time my husband will become attached to me [as a companion], for I have given him three sons." Therefore he was named Levi.

³⁵Again she conceived and gave birth to a [fourth] son, and she said, "Now I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah; then [for a time] she stopped bearing [children].

¹When Rachel saw that she conceived no children for Jacob, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

²Then Jacob became furious with Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has denied you children?"

³She said, "Here, take my maid Bilhah and go in to her; and [when the baby comes] she shall deliver it [while sitting] on my knees, so that by her I may also have children [to count as my own]."

⁴So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [ secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob.

⁶Then Rachel said, "God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid]." So she named him Dan (He judged).

⁷Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob.

⁸So Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed." So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [ secondary] wife.

¹⁰Zilpah, Leah's maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob.

¹¹Then Leah said, "How fortunate!" So she named him Gad (good fortune).

¹²Zilpah, Leah's maid, gave birth to a second son for Jacob.

¹³Then Leah said, "I am happy! For women will call me happy." So she named him Asher (happy).

¹⁴Now at the time of wheat harvest Reuben [the eldest child] went and found some mandrakes 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 Leah answered, "Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" So Rachel said, "Jacob shall sleep with you tonight in exchange 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 sleep with me [tonight], for I have in fact hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷God listened and answered [the prayer of] Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.

¹⁸Then Leah said, "God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband." So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob.

²⁰Then Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good [marriage] gift [for my husband]; now he will live with me [regarding me with honor as his wife], because I have given birth to six sons." So she named him Zebulun.

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

²²Then God remembered [the prayers of] Rachel, and God thought of her and opened her womb [so that she would conceive].

²³So she conceived and gave birth to a son; and she said, "God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation."

²⁴She named him Joseph (may He add) and said, "May the LORD add to me another son."

²⁵Now when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go back 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 know the work which I have done for you."

²⁷But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the LORD has blessed me because of you."

²⁸He said, "Name your wages, and I will give it [to you]."

²⁹Jacob answered him, "You know how I have served you and how your possessions, your cattle and sheep and goats, have fared with me.

³⁰For you had little before I came and it has increased and multiplied abundantly, and the LORD has favored you with blessings wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household?"

³¹Laban asked, "What shall I give you?" Jacob replied, "You shall not give me anything. But if you will do this one thing for me [which I now propose], I will again pasture and keep your flock:

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

³³So my honesty will be evident for me later, when you come [for an accounting] concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark among the young lambs, if found with me, shall be considered stolen."

³⁴And Laban said, "Good! Let it be done as you say."

³⁵So on that same day Laban [secretly] removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one with white on it, and all the dark 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 was then left in care of the rest of Laban's flock.

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

³⁸Then he set the branches which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated and conceived when they came to drink.

³⁹So the flocks mated and conceived by the branches, and the flocks gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring.

⁴⁰Jacob separated the lambs, and [as he had done with the peeled branches] he made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the dark or black in the [new] flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart by themselves and did not put them [where they could breed] with Laban's flock.

⁴¹Furthermore, whenever the stronger [animals] of the flocks were breeding, Jacob would place the branches in the sight of the flock in the watering troughs, so that they would mate and conceive among the branches;

⁴²but when the flock was sickly, he did not put the branches there; so the sicker [animals] were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's.

⁴³So Jacob became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks [of sheep and goats], and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

¹Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying: "Jacob has taken away everything that was our father's, and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this wealth and honor."

²Jacob noticed [a change in] the attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before.

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

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

⁵and he said to them, "I see [a change in] your father's attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me.

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

⁷Yet your father has cheated me [as often as possible] and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me.

⁸If he said, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then the entire flock gave birth to speckled [young]; and if he said, 'The streaked shall be your wages,' then the entire flock gave birth to streaked [young].

⁹Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰And it happened at the time when the flock conceived that I looked up and saw in a dream that the rams which mated [with the female goats] were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

¹¹And the Angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' And I said, 'Here I am.'

¹²He said, 'Look up and see, all the rams which are mating [with the flock] are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

¹⁴Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

¹⁵Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price.

¹⁶Surely all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has told you to do, do it."

¹⁷Then Jacob stood [and took action] and put his children and his wives on camels;

¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock and [took along] all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

¹⁹When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel [went inside the house and] stole her father's household gods.

²⁰And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean (Syrian) by not telling him that he intended to leave and he slipped away secretly.

²¹So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].

²²On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

²³So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

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

²⁵Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban with his relatives camped on the same hill of Gilead.

²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, "What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword?

²⁷Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre?

²⁸And why did you not allow me to kiss my grandchildren and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have done a foolish thing [in behaving like this].

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

³⁰Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you were homesick for your father's house and family; but why did you steal my [household] gods?"

³¹Jacob answered Laban, "[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.

³²The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [search my possessions and] point out whatever you find that belongs to you and take it." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came 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 sat on them. Laban searched through all her tent, but did not find them.

³⁵So Rachel said to her father, "Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell." He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. And he said to Laban, "What is my fault? What is my sin that you pursued me like this?

³⁷Although you have searched through all my possessions, what have you found of your household goods? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide [who has done right] between the two of us.

³⁸These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not lost their young, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.

³⁹I did not bring you the torn carcasses [of the animals attacked by predators]; I [personally] took the loss. You required of me [to make good] everything that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or night.

⁴⁰This was my situation: by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and I could not sleep.

⁴¹These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for [my share of] your flocks, and you have changed my wages ten times.

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and [the Feared One] of Isaac, had not been with me, most certainly you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [exhausting] labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment and rebuked you last night."

⁴³Laban answered Jacob, "These women [that you married] are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, these flocks are [from] my flocks, and all that you see [here] is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children to whom they have given birth?

⁴⁴So come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me."

⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a [memorial] pillar.

⁴⁶Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a mound [of stones], and they ate [a ceremonial meal together] there on the mound [of stones].

⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha (stone monument of testimony in Aramaic), but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Laban said, "This mound [of stones] is a witness [a reminder of the oath taken] today between you and me." Therefore he [also] called the name Galeed,

⁴⁹and Mizpah ( watchtower), for Laban said, "May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent from one another.

⁵⁰If you should mistreat (humiliate, oppress) my daughters, or if you should take other wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us [as a witness], see and remember, God is witness between you and me."

⁵¹Laban said to Jacob, "Look at this mound [of stones] and look at this pillar which I have set up between you and me.

⁵²This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this mound to harm you, and that you will not pass by this mound and this pillar to harm me.

⁵³The God of Abraham [your father] and the God of Nahor [my father], and the god [the image of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolater], judge between us." But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Fear of his father Isaac.

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

⁵⁵Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God's favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.

¹Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him].

²When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp." So he named that place Mahanaim ( double camps).

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

⁴He commanded them, saying, "This is what to say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says this, "I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now;

⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants; and I have sent [this message] to tell my lord, so that I may find grace and kindness in your sight."'"

⁶The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him."

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

⁸and he said, "If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape."

⁹Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,'

¹⁰I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With only my staff [long ago] I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become [blessed and increased into these] two groups [of people].

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.

¹²And You [LORD] said, 'I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.'"

¹³So Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired:

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

¹⁵thirty milking camels with their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten [donkey] colts.

¹⁶He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds."

¹⁷Then he commanded the one in front, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks to whom you belong, and where you are going, and whose are the animals in front of you?

¹⁸then you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.'"

¹⁹And so Jacob commanded the second and the third as well, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is what you shall say to Esau when you meet him;

²⁰and you shall say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he said [to himself], "I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me."

²¹So the gift [of the herds of livestock] went on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night back in the camp.

²²But he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and waded over the ford of the Jabbok.

²³Then he took them and sent them across the brook. And he also sent across whatever he had.

²⁴So Jacob was left alone, and a Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob's hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him.

²⁶Then He said, "Let Me go, for day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me."

²⁷So He asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

²⁸And He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

²⁹Then Jacob asked Him, "Please tell me Your name." But He said, "Why is it that you ask My name?" And He declared a blessing [of the covenant promises] on Jacob there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, "For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away."

³¹Now the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip.

³²Therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob's thigh by the tendon of the hip.

¹Then Jacob looked up, and saw Esau coming with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.

²He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

³Then Jacob crossed over [the stream] ahead of them and bowed himself to the ground seven times [bowing and moving forward each time], until he approached his brother.

⁴But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy].

⁵Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So Jacob replied, "They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant."

⁶Then the maids approached with their children, and they bowed down.

⁷Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down.

⁸Esau asked, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he answered, "[These are] to find favor in the sight of my lord."

⁹But Esau said, "I have plenty, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."

¹⁰Jacob replied, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift [as a blessing] from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

¹¹Please accept my blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything [that I could possibly want]." So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

¹²Then Esau said, "Let us get started on our journey and I will go in front of you [to lead the way]."

¹³But Jacob replied, "You know, my lord, that the children are frail and need gentle care, and the nursing flocks and herds [with young] are of concern to me; for if the men should drive them hard for a single day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴Please let my lord go on ahead of his servant, and I will move on slowly, governed by the pace of the livestock that are in front of me and according to the endurance of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir [in Edom]."

¹⁵Then Esau said, "Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But Jacob said, " What need is there [for it]? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."

¹⁶So Esau turned back [toward the south] that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷But Jacob journeyed [north] to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; so the name of the place is Succoth (huts, shelters).

¹⁸When Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely and in peace at the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and camped in front of the [walled] city.

¹⁹Then he bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tents from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money.

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

¹Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out [unescorted] to visit the girls of the land.

²When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her].

³But his soul longed for and clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke comfortingly to her young heart's wishes.

⁴So Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this young woman as a wife."

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

⁶But Shechem's father Hamor went to Jacob to talk with him.

⁷Now when Jacob's sons heard of it they came in from the field; they were deeply grieved, and they were very angry, for Shechem had done a disgraceful thing to Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing is not to be done.

⁸But Hamor conferred with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem [deeply] longs for your daughter [and sister]. Please give her to him as his wife.

⁹And [beyond that] intermarry with us; give your daughters to us [as wives] and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰In this way you shall live with us; the country will be open to you; live and do business in it and acquire property and possessions in it."

¹¹Shechem also said to Dinah's father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give you whatever you ask of me.

¹²Demand of me a very large bridal payment and gift [as compensation for giving up your daughter and sister], and I will give you whatever you tell me; only give me the girl to be my wife."

¹³Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled and disgraced their sister Dinah.

¹⁴They said to them, "We cannot do this thing and give our sister [in marriage] to one who is not circumcised, because that would be a disgrace to us.

¹⁵But we will consent to you only on this condition: if you will become like us, in that every male among you consents to be circumcised,

¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you [in marriage], 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 and refuse to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter [Dinah] and go."

¹⁸Their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and his son Shechem,

¹⁹and the young man did not hesitate to do the [required] thing, for he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was more respected and honored than all [others] in the household of his father.

²⁰Then Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their [walled] city [where the leading men would meet] and spoke with the men of the city, saying,

²¹"These men are peaceful and friendly with us; so let them live in the land and do business in it, for the land is large enough [for us and] for them; let us take their daughters for wives and let us give them our daughters [in marriage].

²²But only on this condition will the men consent to our request that they live among us and become one people: that every male among us become circumcised just as they are circumcised.

²³Will not their cattle and their possessions and all their animals be ours [if we do this]? Let us consent [to do as they ask], and they will live here with us."

²⁴And every [Canaanite] man who went out of the city gate listened and considered what Hamor and Shechem said; and every male who was a resident of that city was circumcised.

²⁵Now on the third day [after the circumcision], when all the men were [terribly] sore and in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without anyone suspecting them of evil intent], and they killed every male.

²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house [where she was staying], and left.

²⁷Then Jacob's [other] sons came upon those who were killed and looted the town, because their sister had been defiled and disgraced.

²⁸They took the Canaanites' flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field;

²⁹they looted all their wealth, and [took captive] all their children and their wives, even everything that was in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have ruined me, making me a stench to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! My men are few in number, and the men of the land will band together against me and attack me; I shall be destroyed, I and my household."

³¹But they said, "Should he [be permitted to] treat our sister as a prostitute?"

¹Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you [in a distinct manifestation] when you fled [years ago] from Esau your brother."

²Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the [idols and images of] foreign gods that are among you, and ceremonially purify yourselves and change [into fresh] clothes;

³then let us get up and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."

⁴So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

⁵As they journeyed, there was a great [supernatural] terror [sent from God] on the cities around them, and [for that reason] the Canaanites 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.

⁷There he built an altar [to worship the LORD], and called the place El-bethel (God of the House of God), because there God had revealed Himself to him when he escaped from his brother.

⁸Now Deborah, [who once was] Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (Oak of Weeping).

⁹Then God [in a visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.

¹⁰Again God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name." So he was called Israel.

¹¹And God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall be born of your loins.

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

¹³Then God ascended from Jacob in the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴Jacob set up a pillar (memorial, monument) in the place where he had talked with God, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering [of wine] on it; he also poured oil on it [to declare it sacred for God's purpose].

¹⁵So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (the House of God).

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had difficulty and suffered severely.

¹⁷When she was in hard labor the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid; you now have another son."

¹⁸And as her soul was departing, (for she died), she named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow); but his father called him Benjamin ( son of the right hand).

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

²⁰Jacob set a pillar (memorial, monument) on her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

²¹Then Israel (Jacob) journeyed on and pitched his tent on the other side of the tower of Eder [the lookout point used by shepherds].

²²While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it. Now Jacob had twelve sons—

²³The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

²⁴and the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

²⁵and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid: Dan and Naphtali;

²⁶and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob born to him in Paddan-aram.

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

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

²⁹Isaac's spirit departed and he died and was gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death], an old man full of days (satisfied, fulfilled); his sons Esau and Jacob buried him [in the cave of Machpelah with his parents Abraham and Sarah].

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

²Esau took his [three] wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite,

³and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth.

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

⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau born to him in Canaan.

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

⁷For their [great flocks and herds and] possessions made it impossible for them to live together [in the same region]; the land in which they lived temporarily could not support them because of their livestock.

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

⁹These 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 Adah, Esau's wife, and Reuel, the son of Basemath, Esau's wife.

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

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

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

¹⁴And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife, the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon. She bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the tribal chiefs of the sons of Esau: The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Adah.

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

¹⁸These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the chiefs born of Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.

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 of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

²²The sons of Lotan are Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister is Timna.

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

²⁴These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

²⁵The children of Anah are these: Dishon and Oholibamah [Esau's wife], the daughter of Anah.

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

²⁷Ezer's sons are these: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸The sons of Dishan are these: Uz and Aran.

²⁹The Horite chiefs are these: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

³⁰Dishon, Ezer, Dishan. These are the Horite chiefs, according to their various clans in the land of Seir.

³¹And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:

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

³³Now Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned as his successor.

³⁴Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned as his successor.

³⁵And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned as his successor. The name of his [walled] city was Avith.

³⁶Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him.

³⁷Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the river [Euphrates] reigned as his successor.

³⁸And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned as his successor.

³⁹Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and then Hadar reigned [as his successor]. His [walled] city was Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰And these are the names of the tribal chiefs of Esau, according to their families and places of residence, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

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

¹So Jacob (Israel) lived in the land where his father [Isaac] had been a stranger (sojourner, resident alien), in the land of Canaan.

²These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers [Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher]; the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's [ secondary] wives; and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.

³Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a [distinctive] multicolored tunic.

⁴His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; so they hated him and could not [find it within themselves to] speak to him on friendly terms.

⁵Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.

⁶He said to them, "Please listen to [the details of] this dream which I have dreamed;

⁷we [brothers] were binding sheaves [of grain stalks] in the field, and lo, my sheaf [suddenly] got up and stood upright and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves stood all around my sheaf and bowed down [in respect]."

⁸His brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Are you really going to rule and govern us as your subjects?" So they hated him even more for [telling them about] his dreams and for his [arrogant] words.

⁹But Joseph dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers [as well]. He said, "See here, I have again dreamed a dream, and lo, [this time I saw] eleven stars and the sun and the moon bowed down [in respect] to me!"

¹⁰He told it to his father as well as to his brothers; but his father rebuked him and said to him [in disbelief], "What is [the meaning of] this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow down to the ground [in respect] before you?"

¹¹Joseph's brothers were envious and jealous of him, but his father kept the words [of Joseph] in mind [wondering about their meaning].

¹²Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.

¹³Israel (Jacob) said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing [the flock] at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." And he said, "Here I am [ready to obey you]."

¹⁴Then Jacob said to him, "Please go and see whether everything is all right with your brothers and all right with the flock; then bring word [back] to me." So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵Now a certain man found Joseph, and saw that he was wandering around and had lost his way in the field; so the man asked him, "What are you looking for?"

¹⁶He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing our flocks."

¹⁷Then the man said, "[They were here, but] they have moved on from this place. I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸And when they saw him from a distance, even before he came close to them, they plotted to kill him.

¹⁹They said to one another, "Look, here comes this dreamer.

²⁰Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits (cisterns, underground water storage); then we will say [to our father], 'A wild animal killed and devoured him'; and we shall see what will become of his dreams!"

²¹Now Reuben [the eldest] heard this and rescued him from their hands and said, "Let us not take his life."

²²Reuben said to them, "Do not shed his blood, but [instead] throw him [alive] into the pit that is here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him [to kill him]"—[he said this so] that he could rescue him from them and return him [safely] to his father.

²³Now when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the [distinctive] multicolored tunic which he was wearing;

²⁴then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat their meal. When they looked up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead [east of the Jordan], with their camels bearing ladanum resin [for perfume] and balm and myrrh, going on their way to carry the cargo down to Egypt.

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood (murder)?

²⁷Come, let us [instead] sell him to these Ishmaelites [and Midianites] and not lay our hands on him, because he is our brother and our flesh." So his brothers listened to him and agreed.

²⁸Then as the Midianite [and Ishmaelite] traders were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And so they took Joseph [as a captive] into Egypt.

²⁹Now Reuben [unaware of what had happened] returned to the pit, and [to his great alarm found that] Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his clothes [in deep sorrow].

³⁰He rejoined his brothers and said, "The boy is not there; as for me, where shall I go [to hide from my father]?"

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

³²and they brought the multicolored tunic to their father, saying, "We have found this; please examine it and decide whether or not it is your son's tunic."

³³He recognized it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces!"

³⁴So Jacob tore his clothes [in grief], put on sackcloth and mourned many days for his son.

³⁵Then all his sons and daughters attempted to console him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "I will go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in mourning for my son." And his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph [as a slave] to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the [royal] guard.

¹Now at that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to [stay with] a certain Adullamite named Hirah.

²There Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite, and he took her [as his wife] and lived with her.

³So she conceived and gave birth to a son and Judah named him Er.

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

⁵Again she conceived and gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

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

⁷But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD killed him [in judgment].

⁸Then Judah told Onan, "Go in to your brother's widow, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law [under the levirate marriage custom]; [be her husband and] raise children for [the name of] your brother."

⁹Onan knew that the child (heir) would not be his [but his dead brother's]; so whenever he lay with his brother's widow, he spilled his seed on the ground [to prevent conception], so that he would not give a child to his brother.

¹⁰But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; therefore He killed him also [in judgment].

¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow at your father's house until Shelah my [youngest] son is grown"; [but he was deceiving her] for he thought that [if Shelah should marry her] he too might die like his brothers did. So Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

¹²But quite a while later, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah with his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

¹³Tamar was told, "Listen, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

¹⁴So she removed her widow's clothes and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself up [in disguise], 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 [as Judah had promised].

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a [temple] prostitute, for she had covered her face [as such women did].

¹⁶He turned to her by the road, and said, "Please come, let me lie 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 lie with me?"

¹⁷He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." And she said, "Will you give me a pledge [as a deposit] until you send it?"

¹⁸He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She said, "Your seal and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and was intimate with her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹Then she got up and left, and removed her veil and put on her widow's clothing.

²⁰When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to get his pledge [back] from the woman, he was unable to find her.

²¹He asked the men of that place, "Where is the temple prostitute who was by the roadside at Enaim?" They said, "There was no prostitute here."

²²So he returned to Judah, and said, "I cannot find her; also the local men said, 'There was no prostitute around here.'"

²³Then Judah said, "Let her keep the things (pledge articles) for herself, otherwise we will be a laughingstock [searching everywhere for her]. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her."

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the [role of a] prostitute, and she is with child because of her immorality." So Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned [to death as punishment]!"

²⁵While she was being brought out, she [took the things Judah had given her and] sent [them along with a message] to her father-in-law, saying, "I am with child by the man to whom these articles belong." And she added, "Please examine [them carefully] and see [clearly] to whom these things belong, the seal and the cord and staff."

²⁶Judah recognized the articles, and said, "She has been more righteous [in this matter] than I, because I did not give her to my son Shelah [as I had promised]." And Judah did not have [intimate] relations with her again.

²⁷Now when the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

²⁸And when she was in labor, one [baby] put out his hand, and the midwife took his hand and tied a scarlet thread on it, saying, "This one was born first."

²⁹But he pulled back his hand, and his brother was born first. And she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself [to be the firstborn]!" So he was named Perez (breach, break forth).

³⁰Afterward his brother who had the scarlet [thread] on his hand was born and was named Zerah (brightness).

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

²The LORD was with Joseph, and he [even though a slave] became a successful and prosperous 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 caused all that he did to prosper (succeed) in his hand.

⁴So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight and he served him as his personal servant. He made Joseph overseer over his house, and he put all that he owned in Joseph's charge.

⁵It happened that from the time that he made Joseph overseer in his house and [put him in charge] over all that he owned, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph; so the Lord's blessing was on everything that Potiphar owned, in the house and in the field.

⁶So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph's charge; and with Joseph there he did not [need to] pay attention to anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and attractive in form and appearance.

⁷Then after a time his master's wife looked at Joseph with desire, and she said, "Lie with me."

⁸But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, with me in the house, my master does not concern himself with anything; he has put everything that he owns in my charge.

⁹He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God [and your husband]?"

¹⁰And so it was that she spoke to Joseph [persistently] day after day, but he did not listen to her [plea] to lie beside her or be with her.

¹¹Then it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the household was there in the house.

¹²She caught Joseph by his [outer] robe, saying, "Lie with me!" But he left his robe in her hand and ran, and got outside [the house].

¹³When she saw that he had left his robe in her hand and had run outside,

¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, "Look at this, your master has brought a Hebrew [into the household] to mock and insult us; he came to me to lie with me, and I screamed.

¹⁵When he heard me screaming, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house]."

¹⁶So she left Joseph's [outer] robe beside her until his master came home.

¹⁷Then she told her husband the same story, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you brought among us, came to me to mock and insult me;

¹⁸then as soon as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house]."

¹⁹And when Joseph's master heard the words of his wife, saying, "This is the way your servant treated me," his anger burned.

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

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

²²The warden committed to Joseph's care (management) all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was in charge of it.

²³The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's care because the LORD was with him; whatever Joseph did, the LORD made to prosper.

¹Now some time later, the cupbearer (butler) and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, Egypt's king.

²Pharaoh ( Sesostris II) was extremely angry with his two officials, the chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers.

³He put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.

⁴The captain of the guard put Joseph in charge of them, and he served them; and they continued to be in custody for some time.

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

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning and looked at them, [he saw that] they were sad and depressed.

⁷So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in confinement with him in his master's house, "Why do you look so down-hearted today?"

⁸And they said to him, "We have [each] dreamed [distinct] dreams and there is no one to interpret them." So Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell me [your dreams]."

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me;

¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. Then as soon as it budded, its blossoms burst open, and its clusters produced ripe grapes [in rapid succession].

¹¹Now Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup; then I placed the cup into Pharaoh's hand."

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

¹³within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head (present you in public) and restore you to your position; and you will [again] put Pharaoh's cup into his hand just as [you did] when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴Only think of me when it goes well with you, and please show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.

¹⁵For in fact I was taken (stolen) from the land of the Hebrews by [unlawful] force, and even here I have done nothing for which they should put me in the dungeon."

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation [of the dream] was good, he said to Joseph, "I also dreamed, and [in my dream] there were three cake baskets on my head;

¹⁷and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds [of prey] were eating [these foods] out of the basket on my head."

¹⁸Joseph answered, "This is the interpretation of it: the three baskets represent three days;

¹⁹within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and will hang you on a tree (gallows, pole), and [you will not so much as be given a burial, but] the birds will eat your flesh."

²⁰Now on the third day, [which was] the Pharaoh's birthday, he [released the two men from prison and] made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker [that is, presented them in public] among his servants.

²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and the cupbearer [once again] put the cup into Pharaoh's hand;

²²but Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted [the meaning of the dreams] to them.

²³Yet [even after all that] the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot [all about] him.

¹Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.

²And lo, there came up out of the Nile seven [healthy] cows, sleek and handsome and fat; and they grazed in the reed grass [in a marshy pasture].

³Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the Nile, ugly and gaunt and raw-boned, and stood by the fat cows on the bank of the Nile.

⁴Then the ugly and gaunt and raw-boned cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

⁵Then 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 [of grain], thin and dried up by the east wind, sprouted after them.

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

⁸So when morning came his spirit was troubled and disturbed and he sent and called for all the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them to him.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I would mention my faults today.

¹⁰[Two years ago] Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker.

¹¹We dreamed a dream on the same night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to [the significance of] the interpretation of his own dream.

¹²Now there was with us [in the prison] a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us, to each man according to the significance of his own dream.

¹³And just as he interpreted [the dreams] for us, so it happened; I was restored to my office [as chief cupbearer], and the baker was hanged."

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

¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard it said about you that you can understand a dream and interpret it."

¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, "It is not in me [to interpret the dream]; God [not I] will give Pharaoh a favorable answer [through me]."

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

¹⁸and seven fat, sleek and handsome cows came up out of the river, and they grazed in the reed grass [of a marshy pasture].

¹⁹Lo, seven other cows came up after them, very ugly and gaunt [just skin and bones]; such emaciated animals as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt.

²⁰And the lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows.

²¹Yet when they had devoured them, it could not be detected that they had eaten them, because they were still as thin and emaciated as before. Then I awoke [but again I fell asleep and dreamed].

²²I saw in my [second] dream, seven ears [of grain], plump and good, growing on a single stalk;

²³and lo, seven [other] ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them;

²⁴and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. Now I told this to the magicians and soothsayers, but there was no one who could explain it [to me]."

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The [two] dreams are one [and the same and have one interpretation]; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the [two] dreams are one [and the same].

²⁷The seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years; and also the seven thin ears, dried up and scorched by the east wind, they are seven years of famine and hunger.

²⁸This is the message just as I have told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁹Listen very carefully: seven years of great abundance will come throughout all the land of Egypt;

³⁰but afterward seven years of famine and hunger will come, and [there will be such desperate need that] all the great abundance [of the previous years] will be forgotten in the land of Egypt [as if it never happened], and famine and destitution will ravage and destroy the land.

³¹So the great abundance will become forgotten in the land because of that subsequent famine, for it will be very severe.

³²That the dream was repeated twice to Pharaoh [and in two different ways] indicates that this matter is fully determined and established by God, and God will bring it to pass very quickly.

³³So now let Pharaoh [prepare ahead and] look for a man discerning and clear-headed and wise, and set him [in charge] over the land of Egypt [as governor under Pharaoh].

³⁴Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers and officials over the land, and set aside one-fifth [of the produce] of the [entire] land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance.

³⁵Let them gather [as a tax] all [of the fifth of] the food of these good years that are coming, and store up grain under the direction and authority of Pharaoh, and let them guard the food [in fortified granaries] in the cities.

³⁶That food shall be put [in storage] as a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine and hunger which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land (people) will not be ravaged during the famine."

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

³⁸So Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this [a man equal to Joseph], in whom is the divine spirit [of God]?"

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since [your] God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and clear-headed and wise as you are.

⁴⁰You shall have charge over my house, and all my people shall be governed according to your word and pay respect [to you with reverence, submission, and obedience]; only in [matters of] the throne will I be greater than you [in Egypt]."

⁴¹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you [in charge] over all the land of Egypt."

⁴²Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and dressed him in [official] vestments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³He had him ride in his second chariot; and runners proclaimed before him, "[Attention,] bow the knee!" And he set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission shall no man raise his hand [to do anything] or set his foot [to go anywhere] in all the land of Egypt [all classes of people shall submit to your authority]."

⁴⁵Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On (Heliopolis in Egypt), as his wife. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt [to inspect and govern it].

⁴⁶Now Joseph [had been in Egypt thirteen years and] was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph departed from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt [performing his duties].

⁴⁷In the seven abundant years the earth produced handfuls [for each seed planted].

⁴⁸And Joseph gathered all the [surplus] food of the seven [good] years in the land of Egypt and stored [enormous quantities of] the food in the cities. He stored away in every city the food [collected] from its own surrounding fields.

⁴⁹Thus Joseph gathered and stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting it, for it could not be measured.

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

⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh (causing to forget), for he said, "God has made me forget all my trouble and hardship and all [the sorrow of the loss of] my father's household."

⁵²He named the second [son] Ephraim (fruitfulness), for "God has caused me to be fruitful and very successful in the land of my suffering."

⁵³When the seven years of plenty came to an end in the land of Egypt,

⁵⁴the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said [they would]; the famine was in all the [surrounding] lands, but in the land of Egypt there was bread (food).

⁵⁵So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; do whatever he says to you."

⁵⁶When the famine was spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold [surplus grain] to the Egyptians; and the famine grew [extremely] severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷And [the people of] all countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the [known] earth.

¹Now when Jacob (Israel) learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you staring at one another [in bewilderment and not taking action]?"

²He said, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy [some] grain for us, so that we may live and not die [of starvation]."

³So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.

⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's [younger] brother, with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that some harm or injury may come to him."

⁵So the sons of Israel came [to Egypt] to buy grain along with the others who were coming, for famine was in the land of Canaan also.

⁶Now Joseph was the ruler over the land, and he was the one who sold [grain] to all the people of the land; and Joseph's [half] brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

⁷When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but [hiding his identity] he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food."

⁸Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

⁹Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies; you have come [with a malicious purpose] to observe the undefended parts of our land."

¹⁰But they said to him, "No, my lord, for your servants have [only] come to buy food.

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

¹²Yet he said to them, "No, you have come to see 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; please listen: the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive."

¹⁴Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you, you are spies.

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

¹⁶Send one of you [back home], and let him bring your brother [here], while [the rest of] you remain confined, so that your words may be tested, [to see] whether there is any truth in you [and your story]; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, certainly you are spies."

¹⁷Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

¹⁸Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and [you may] live, for I fear God:

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

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

²¹And they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty regarding our brother [Joseph], because we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us [to let him go], yet we would not listen [to his cry]; so this distress and anguish has come on us."

²²Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy'; and you would not listen? Now the accounting for his blood is required [of us for we are guilty of his death]."

²³They did not know that Joseph understood [their conversation], because he spoke to them through an interpreter.

²⁴He turned away from his brothers and [left the room and] wept; then he returned and talked with them, and took Simeon from them and bound him in front of them [to be kept as a hostage in Egypt].

²⁵Then Joseph gave orders [privately] that their bags be filled with grain, and that every man's money [used to pay for the grain] be put back in his sack, and that provisions be given to them for the journey. And so this was done for them.

²⁶They loaded their donkeys with grain and left from there.

²⁷And at the lodging place, as one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey, he saw his money in the opening of his sack.

²⁸And he said to his brothers, "My money has been returned! Here it is in my sack!" And their hearts sank, and they were afraid and turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"

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

³⁰"The man who is the lord of the land spoke harshly to us, and took us for spies of the land.

³¹But we told 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.'

³³And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, 'By this [test] I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers here with me and take grain for your starving households and go.

³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me; then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will return your [imprisoned] brother [back] to you, and you may trade and do business in the land.'"

³⁵Now when they emptied their sacks, every man's bundle of money [paid to buy grain] was in his sack. When they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

³⁶Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me [by causing the loss] of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin [from me]. All these things are [working] against me."

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

³⁸But Jacob said, "My son shall not go down [to Egypt] with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left [of Rachel's children]. If any harm or accident should happen to him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in sorrow."