Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country.

²He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. But a large stone covered the opening of the well.

³The shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when all the flocks were gathered there. Then they would return the stone to its place over the well’s opening.

⁴Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?” “We’re from Haran,” they answered.

⁵“Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked them. They answered, “We know him.”

⁶“Is he well?” Jacob asked. “Yes,” they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep.”

⁷Then Jacob said, “Look, it is still broad daylight. It’s not time for the animals to be gathered. Water the flock, then go out and let them graze.”

⁸But they replied, “We can’t until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well’s opening. 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.

¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.

¹²He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

¹⁴Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.

¹⁷Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.”

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

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Since my time is complete, give me my wife, so I can sleep with her.”

²²So Laban invited all the men of the place and sponsored a feast.

²³That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

²⁴And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban answered, “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.

²⁷Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.”

²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

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

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive.

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

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

³⁴She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him.” Therefore he was named Levi.

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

¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld offspring from you?”

³Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.”

⁴So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

⁵Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan.

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

⁸Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” 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.

¹⁰Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad.

¹²When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

¹³Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?” “Well then,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

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

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

¹⁸Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun.

²¹Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

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

²³She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”

²⁴She named him Joseph and said, “May the LORD add another son to me.”

²⁵After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

²⁶Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor with you, stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

²⁸Then Laban said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

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

³⁰For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The LORD has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?”

³¹Laban asked, “What should I give you?” And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.

³²Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. Such will be my wages.

³³In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen.”

³⁴“Good,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

³⁵That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats — every one that had any white on it — and every dark-colored one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.

³⁶He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled the bark, exposing white stripes on the branches.

³⁸He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep — in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

³⁹The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.

⁴⁰Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked sheep and the completely dark sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn’t put them with Laban’s sheep.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches.

⁴²As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

⁴³And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, female and male slaves, and camels and donkeys.

¹Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.”

²And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same as before.

³The LORD said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

⁴Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were.

⁵He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same as before, but the God of my father has been with me.

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

⁷and that he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not let him harm me.

⁸If he said, ‘The spotted sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, ‘The streaked sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born streaked.

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

¹⁰“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.

¹¹In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

¹²And he said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’”

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we have any portion or inheritance in our father’s family?

¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has certainly spent our purchase price.

¹⁶In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

¹⁷So Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels.

¹⁸He took all the livestock and possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, and he drove his herds to go to the land of Canaan, to his father Isaac.

¹⁹When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

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

²¹He fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

²²On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

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

²⁴But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his relatives also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁶Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war!

²⁷Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres,

²⁸but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly.

²⁹I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself! Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

³⁰Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s family — but why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

³²If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two concubines, but he found nothing. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent.

³⁴Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

³⁵She said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me?

³⁷You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us.

³⁸I’ve been with you these twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock.

³⁹I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night.

⁴⁰There I was — the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹For twenty years in your household I served you — fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks  — and you have changed my wages ten times!

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and he issued his verdict last night.”

⁴³Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

⁴⁴Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.”

⁴⁵So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker.

⁴⁶Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound.

⁴⁷Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.

⁴⁸Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed

⁴⁹and also Mizpah, for he said, “May the LORD watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.

⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me.

⁵²This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm.

⁵³The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor — the gods of their father  — will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

⁵⁵Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.

¹Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him.

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

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

⁴He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’”

⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you — and he has four hundred men with him.”

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

⁸He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.”

⁹Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’

¹⁰I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. Indeed, I crossed over the Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps.

¹¹Please rescue me from my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children.

¹²You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to be counted.’”

¹³He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau:

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

¹⁵thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys.

¹⁶He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.”

¹⁷And he told the first one: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you?’

¹⁸then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.’”

¹⁹He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.

²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

²¹So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two slave women, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok.

²³He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

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

²⁵When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.

²⁶Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.

²⁸“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

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

³¹The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel  — limping because of his hip.

³²That is why, still today, the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because he struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle.

¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave women.

²He put the slaves and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

³He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother.

⁴But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept.

⁵When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the slaves and their children approached him and bowed down.

⁷Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

⁸So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?” “To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered.

⁹“I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.”

¹⁰But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from me. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me.

¹¹Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

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

¹³Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing flocks and herds. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.

¹⁴Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

¹⁵Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.” But he replied, “Why do that? Please indulge me, my lord.”

¹⁶That day Esau started on his way back to Seir,

¹⁷but Jacob went to Succoth. He built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

¹⁸After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at Shechem in the land of Canaan and camped in front of the city.

¹⁹He purchased a section of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.

²⁰And he set up an altar there and called it God, the God of Israel.

¹Leah’s daughter Dinah, whom Leah bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area.

²When Shechem — son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the region’s chieftain — saw her, he took her and raped her.

³He became infatuated with Jacob’s daughter Dinah. He loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her.

⁴“Get me this girl as a wife,” he told his father.

⁵Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent until they returned.

⁶Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.

⁷Jacob’s sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident and were deeply grieved and very angry. For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by raping Jacob’s daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

⁸Hamor said to Jacob’s sons, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

⁹Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰Live with us. The land is before you. Settle here, move about, and acquire property in it.”

¹¹Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I’ll give you whatever you say.

¹²Demand of me a high compensation and gift; I’ll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife!”

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

¹⁴“We cannot do this thing,” they said to them. “Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us.

¹⁵We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are.

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

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

¹⁸Their words seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.

¹⁹The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father’s family.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city.

²¹“These men are peaceful toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them.

²²But the men will agree to live with us and be one people only on this condition: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

²³Won’t their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us.”

²⁴All the men who had come to the city gates listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all those men were circumcised.

²⁵On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away.

²⁷Jacob’s sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled.

²⁸They took their flocks, herds, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.

²⁹They captured all their possessions, dependents, and wives and plundered everything in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

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

¹God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

³We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

⁴Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem.

⁵When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

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

⁷Jacob built an altar there and called the place El-bethel because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah, died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.

⁹God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.

¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

¹¹God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.

¹²I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.”

¹³Then God withdrew from him at the place where he had spoken to him.

¹⁴Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him — a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

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

¹⁶They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.

¹⁷During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.”

¹⁸With her last breath — for she was dying — 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 ).

²⁰Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave still today.

²¹Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.

²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

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

²⁴Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

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

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

²⁸Isaac lived 180 years.

²⁹He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹These are the family records of Esau (that is, Edom ).

²Esau took his wives from the Canaanite women: Adah daughter of Elon the Hethite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,

³and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel,

⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau’s sons, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Esau took his wives, sons, daughters, and all the people of his household, as well as his herds, all his livestock, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan; he went to a land away from his brother Jacob.

⁷For their possessions were too many for them to live together, and because of their herds, the land where they stayed could not support them.

⁸So Esau (that is, Edom) lived in the mountains of Seir.

⁹These are the family records of Esau, father of the Edomites in the mountains of Seir.

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

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

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

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

¹⁴These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon: She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom.

¹⁵These are the chiefs among Esau’s sons: the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn: 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.

¹⁷These 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.

¹⁸These 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 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 among the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

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

²³These are Shobal’s sons: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴These are Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.

²⁵These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

²⁶These are Dishon’s sons: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷These are Ezer’s sons: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸These are Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran.

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

³⁰chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan. These are the chiefs among the Horites, clan by clan, in the land of Seir.

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

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

³³When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.

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

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad reigned in his place. He defeated Midian in the field of Moab; the name of his city was Avith.

³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.

³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates River reigned in his place.

³⁸When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

³⁹When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar reigned in his place. His city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

⁴⁰These are the names of Esau’s chiefs, 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 Edom’s chiefs, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was father of the Edomites.

¹Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

²These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

⁴When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

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

⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

⁷There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”

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

¹²His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

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

¹⁶“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

¹⁹They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!

²⁰So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”

²²Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him” — intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

²³When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

²⁴Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

²⁵They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.

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

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

²⁸When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

³⁰He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

³²They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”

³³His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.

¹At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah.

²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.

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

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

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

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

⁷Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD put him to death.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

¹⁰What he did was evil in the LORD’s sight, so he put him to death 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, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers.

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

¹⁴So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

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

¹⁶He went over to her and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with me?”

¹⁷“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied. But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”

¹⁸“What should I give you?” he asked. She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

¹⁹She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

²⁰When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

²¹He asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “There has been no cult prostitute here,” they answered.

²²So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and besides, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”

²³Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out,” Judah said, “and let her be burned to death!”

²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?”

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

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

²⁸As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, “This one came out first.”

²⁹But then he pulled his hand back, out came his brother, and she said, “What a breakout you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez.

³⁰Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.

¹Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

²The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

³When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did successful,

⁴Joseph found favor with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.

⁵From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The LORD’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.

⁶He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

⁷After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

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

⁹No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”

¹⁰Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.

¹¹Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.

¹²She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

¹³When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,

¹⁴she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.

¹⁵When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside.”

¹⁶She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home.

¹⁷Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me,

¹⁸but when I screamed for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside.”

¹⁹When his master heard the story his wife told him — “These are the things your slave did to me” — he was furious

²⁰and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

²¹But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor with the prison warden.

²²The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there.

²³The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him, and the LORD made everything that he did successful.

¹After this, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.

²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

³and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guards in the prison where Joseph was confined.

⁴The captain of the guards assigned Joseph to them as their personal attendant, and they were in custody for some time.

⁵The king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught.

⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸“We had dreams,” they said to him, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me.

¹⁰On the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and its clusters ripened into grapes.

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

¹²“This is its interpretation,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days.

¹³In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand the way you used to when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.

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

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head.

¹⁷In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸“This is its interpretation,” Joseph replied. “The three baskets are three days.

¹⁹In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head — from off you — and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh from your body.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants. He elevated the chief cupbearer and the chief baker among his servants.

²¹Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

²²But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them.

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

¹At the end of two years Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,

²when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds.

³After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside those cows along the bank of the Nile.

⁴The sickly, thin cows ate the healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and good, came up on one stalk.

⁶After them, seven heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up.

⁷The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, full ones. Then Pharaoh woke up, and it was only a dream.

⁸When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults.

¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guards.

¹¹He and I had dreams on the same night; each dream had its own meaning.

¹²Now a young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams for us, and each had its own interpretation.

¹³It turned out just the way he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to Pharaoh.

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

¹⁶“I am not able to,” Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

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

¹⁸when seven well-fed, healthy-looking cows came up from the Nile and grazed among the reeds.

¹⁹After them, seven other cows — weak, very sickly, and thin — came up. I’ve never seen such sickly ones as these in all the land of Egypt.

²⁰Then the thin, sickly cows ate the first seven well-fed cows.

²¹When they had devoured them, you could not tell that they had devoured them; their appearance was as bad as it had been before. Then I woke up.

²²In my dream I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stalk.

²³After them, seven heads of grain — withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind — sprouted up.

²⁴The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good ones. I told this to the magicians, but no one can tell me what it means.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years. The dreams mean the same thing.

²⁷The seven thin, sickly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven worthless, scorched heads of grain are seven years of famine.

²⁸“It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁹Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt.

³⁰After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land.

³¹The abundance in the land will not be remembered because of the famine that follows it, for the famine will be very severe.

³²Since the dream was given twice to Pharaoh, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.

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

³⁴Let Pharaoh do this: Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

³⁵Let them gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. Under Pharaoh’s authority, store the grain in the cities, so they may preserve it as food.

³⁶The food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt. Then the country will not be wiped out by the famine.”

³⁷The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants,

³⁸and he said to them, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?”

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

⁴⁰You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I, as king, will be greater than you.”

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

⁴²Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and servants called out before him, “Make way!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh and no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission.”

⁴⁵Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷During the seven years of abundance the land produced outstanding harvests.

⁴⁸Joseph gathered all the excess food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and put it in the cities. He put the food in every city from the fields around it.

⁴⁹So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance — like the sand of the sea — that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure.

⁵⁰Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him.

⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and my whole family.”

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

⁵³Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.

⁵⁵When the whole land of Egypt was stricken with famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

⁵⁶Now the famine had spread across the whole region, so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷Every land came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, for the famine was severe in every land.

¹When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other?

²Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will 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 thought, “Something might happen to him.”

⁵The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

⁷When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

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

⁹Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

¹⁰“No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said.

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

¹²“No,” he said to them. “You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

¹³But they replied, “We, your servants, were twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living.”

¹⁴Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken: ‘You are spies!’

¹⁵This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

¹⁶Send one from among you to get your brother. The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true. If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

¹⁷So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God  — do this and you will live.

¹⁹If you are honest, let one of you be confined to the guardhouse, while the rest of you go and take grain to relieve the hunger of your households.

²⁰Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won’t die.” And they consented to this.

²¹Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.”

²²But Reuben replied: “Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn’t listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

²³They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.

²⁴He turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.

²⁵Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man’s silver to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out.

²⁶They loaded the grain on their donkeys and left there.

²⁷At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver there at the top of his bag.

²⁸He said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned! It’s here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them:

³⁰“The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

³¹But we told him: We are honest and not spies.

³²We were twelve brothers, sons of the same father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³The man who is the lord of the country said to us, ‘This is how I will know if you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go.

³⁴Bring back your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will then give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the country.’”

³⁵As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! When they and their father saw their bags of silver, they were afraid.

³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, “It’s me that you make childless. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you.”

³⁸But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.”