Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the land of the east.

²He saw a well in the distance. Three flocks of sheep and goats lay in an open field beside it, waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone covered the mouth of the well.

³It was the custom there to wait for all the flocks to arrive before removing the stone and watering the animals. Afterward the stone would be placed back over the mouth of the well.

⁴Jacob went over to the shepherds and asked, “Where are you from, my friends?” “We are from Haran,” they answered.

⁵“Do you know a man there named Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” he asked. “Yes, we do,” they replied.

⁶“Is he doing well?” Jacob asked. “Yes, he’s well,” they answered. “Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock now.”

⁷Jacob said, “Look, it’s still broad daylight — too early to round up the animals. Why don’t you water the sheep and goats so they can get back out to pasture?”

⁸“We can’t water the animals until all the flocks have arrived,” they replied. “Then the shepherds move the stone from the mouth of the well, and we water all the sheep and goats.”

⁹Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd.

¹⁰And because Rachel was his cousin — the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother — and because the sheep and goats belonged to his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the well and moved the stone from its mouth and watered his uncle’s flock.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud.

¹²He explained to Rachel that he was her cousin on her father’s side — the son of her aunt Rebekah. So Rachel quickly ran and told her father, Laban.

¹³As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story,

¹⁴Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!” Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month,

¹⁵Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.”

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

¹⁷There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face.

¹⁸Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”

¹⁹“Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.”

²⁰So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

²¹Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.”

²²So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast.

²³But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her.

²⁴(Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)

²⁵But when Jacob woke up in the morning — it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”

²⁶“It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied.

²⁷“But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too — provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”

²⁸So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too.

²⁹(Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.)

³⁰So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive.

³²So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.”

³³She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, “The LORD heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.”

³⁴Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. He was named Levi, for she said, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!”

³⁵Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the LORD!” And then she stopped having children.

¹When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

²Then Jacob became furious with Rachel. “Am I God?” he asked. “He’s the one who has kept you from having children!”

³Then Rachel told him, “Take my maid, Bilhah, and sleep with her. She will bear children for me, and through her I can have a family, too.”

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

⁵Bilhah became pregnant and presented him with a son.

⁶Rachel named him Dan, for she said, “God has vindicated me! He has heard my request and given me a son.”

⁷Then Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son.

⁸Rachel named him Naphtali, for she said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I’m winning!”

⁹Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰Soon Zilpah presented him with a son.

¹¹Leah named him Gad, for she said, “How fortunate I am!”

¹²Then Zilpah gave Jacob a second son.

¹³And Leah named him Asher, for she said, “What joy is mine! Now the other women will celebrate with me.”

¹⁴One day during the wheat harvest, Reuben found some mandrakes growing in a field and brought them to his mother, Leah. Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But Leah angrily replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you stole my husband? Now will you steal my son’s mandrakes, too?” Rachel answered, “I will let Jacob sleep with you tonight if you give me some of the mandrakes.”

¹⁶So that evening, as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. “You must come and sleep with me tonight!” she said. “I have paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found.” So that night he slept with Leah.

¹⁷And God answered Leah’s prayers. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.

¹⁸She named him Issachar, for she said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife.”

¹⁹Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob.

²⁰She named him Zebulun, for she said, “God has given me a good reward. Now my husband will treat me with respect, for I have given him six sons.”

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

²²Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children.

²³She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. “God has removed my disgrace,” she said.

²⁴And she named him Joseph, for she said, “May the LORD add yet another son to my family.”

²⁵Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Please release me so I can go home to my own country.

²⁶Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them by serving you, and let me be on my way. You certainly know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷“Please listen to me,” Laban replied. “I have become wealthy, for the LORD has blessed me because of you.

²⁸Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”

²⁹Jacob replied, “You know how hard I’ve worked for you, and how your flocks and herds have grown under my care.

³⁰You had little indeed before I came, but your wealth has increased enormously. The LORD has blessed you through everything I’ve done. But now, what about me? When can I start providing for my own family?”

³¹“What wages do you want?” Laban asked again. Jacob replied, “Don’t give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I’ll continue to tend and watch over your flocks.

³²Let me inspect your flocks today and remove all the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the black sheep. Give these to me as my wages.

³³In the future, when you check on the animals you have given me as my wages, you’ll see that I have been honest. If you find in my flock any goats without speckles or spots, or any sheep that are not black, you will know that I have stolen them from you.”

³⁴“All right,” Laban replied. “It will be as you say.”

³⁵But that very day Laban went out and removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted or had white patches, and all the black sheep. He placed them in the care of his own sons,

³⁶who took them a three-days’ journey from where Jacob was. Meanwhile, Jacob stayed and cared for the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks on them.

³⁸Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated.

³⁹And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰Jacob separated those lambs from Laban’s flock. And at mating time he turned the flock to face Laban’s animals that were streaked or black. This is how he built his own flock instead of increasing Laban’s.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger females were ready to mate, Jacob would place the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of them. Then they would mate in front of the branches.

⁴²But he didn’t do this with the weaker ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob’s.

⁴³As a result, Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants, and many camels and donkeys.

¹But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.”

²And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.

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

⁴So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching his flock.

⁵He said to them, “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But the God of my father has been with me.

⁶You know how hard I have worked for your father,

⁷but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm.

⁸For if he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the whole flock began to produce speckled young. And when he changed his mind and said, ‘The striped animals will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped young.

⁹In this way, God has taken your father’s animals and given them to me.

¹⁰“One time during the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

¹¹Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’

¹²“The angel said, ‘Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you.

¹³I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’”

¹⁴Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway.

¹⁵He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.

¹⁶All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷So Jacob put his wives and children on camels,

¹⁸and he drove all his livestock in front of him. He packed all the belongings he had acquired in Paddan-aram and set out for the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived.

¹⁹At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her.

²⁰Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.

²¹So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the hill country of Gilead.

²²Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

²³So he gathered a group of his relatives and set out in hot pursuit. He caught up with Jacob seven days later in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁴But the previous night God had appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you — leave Jacob alone!”

²⁵Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead, and he set up his camp not far from Jacob’s.

²⁶“What do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war?

²⁷Why did you slip away secretly? Why did you deceive me? And why didn’t you say you wanted to leave? I would have given you a farewell feast, with singing and music, accompanied by tambourines and harps.

²⁸Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly!

²⁹I could destroy you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’

³⁰I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹“I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

³²But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols.

³³Laban went first into Jacob’s tent to search there, then into Leah’s, and then the tents of the two servant wives — but he found nothing. Finally, he went into Rachel’s tent.

³⁴But Rachel had taken the household idols and hidden them in her camel saddle, and now she was sitting on them. When Laban had thoroughly searched her tent without finding them,

³⁵she said to her father, “Please, sir, forgive me if I don’t get up for you. I’m having my monthly period.” So Laban continued his search, but he could not find the household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became very angry, and he challenged Laban. “What’s my crime?” he demanded. “What have I done wrong to make you chase after me as though I were a criminal?

³⁷You have rummaged through everything I own. Now show me what you found that belongs to you! Set it out here in front of us, before our relatives, for all to see. Let them judge between us!

³⁸“For twenty years I have been with you, caring for your flocks. In all that time your sheep and goats never miscarried. In all those years I never used a single ram of yours for food.

³⁹If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, I never showed you the carcass and asked you to reduce the count of your flock. No, I took the loss myself! You made me pay for every stolen animal, whether it was taken in broad daylight or in the dark of night.

⁴⁰“I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights.

⁴¹Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for fourteen years earning your two daughters, and then six more years for your flock. And you changed my wages ten times!

⁴²In fact, if the God of my father had not been on my side — the God of Abraham and the fearsome God of Isaac — you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen your abuse and my hard work. That is why he appeared to you last night and rebuked you!”

⁴³Then Laban replied to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks — in fact, everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and their children?

⁴⁴So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it will be a witness to our commitment.”

⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument.

⁴⁶Then he told his family members, “Gather some stones.” So they gathered stones and piled them in a heap. Then Jacob and Laban sat down beside the pile of stones to eat a covenant meal.

⁴⁷To commemorate the event, Laban called the place Jegar-sahadutha (which means “witness pile” in Aramaic), and Jacob called it Galeed (which means “witness pile” in Hebrew).

⁴⁸Then Laban declared, “This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of the covenant we have made today.” This explains why it was called Galeed — “Witness Pile.”

⁴⁹But it was also called Mizpah (which means “watchtower”), for Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between us to make sure that we keep this covenant when we are out of each other’s sight.

⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other wives, God will see it even if no one else does. He is a witness to this covenant between us.

⁵¹“See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I have set between us.

⁵²They stand between us as witnesses of our vows. I will never pass this pile of stones to harm you, and you must never pass these stones or this monument to harm me.

⁵³I call on the God of our ancestors — the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Nahor — to serve as a judge between us.” So Jacob took an oath before the fearsome God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice to God there on the mountain and invited everyone to a covenant feast. After they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

⁵⁵Laban got up early the next morning, and he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.

¹As Jacob started on his way again, angels of God came to meet him.

²When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, “This is God’s camp!” So he named the place Mahanaim.

³Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom.

⁴He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob. Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban,

⁵and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’”

⁶After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you — with an army of 400 men!”

⁷Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups.

⁸He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”

⁹Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac — O LORD, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’

¹⁰I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps!

¹¹O LORD, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children.

¹²But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore — too many to count.’”

¹³Jacob stayed where he was for the night. Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother, Esau:

¹⁴200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,

¹⁵30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.

¹⁶He divided these animals into herds and assigned each to different servants. Then he told his servants, “Go ahead of me with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds.”

¹⁷He gave these instructions to the men leading the first group: “When my brother, Esau, meets you, he will ask, ‘Whose servants are you? Where are you going? Who owns these animals?’

¹⁸You must reply, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, but they are a gift for his master Esau. Look, he is coming right behind us.’”

¹⁹Jacob gave the same instructions to the second and third herdsmen and to all who followed behind the herds: “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.

²⁰And be sure to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.”

²¹So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp.

²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them.

²³After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

²⁴This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.

²⁵When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.

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

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

²⁸“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

²⁹“Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

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

³¹The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.

³²(Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)

¹Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and his two servant wives.

²He put the servant wives and their children at the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

³Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother, he bowed to the ground seven times before him.

⁴Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

⁵Then Esau looked at the women and children and asked, “Who are these people with you?” “These are the children God has graciously given to me, your servant,” Jacob replied.

⁶Then the servant wives came forward with their children and bowed before him.

⁷Next came Leah with her children, and they bowed before him. Finally, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed before him.

⁸“And what were all the flocks and herds I met as I came?” Esau asked. Jacob replied, “They are a gift, my lord, to ensure your friendship.”

⁹“My brother, I have plenty,” Esau answered. “Keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰But Jacob insisted, “No, if I have found favor with you, please accept this gift from me. And what a relief to see your friendly smile. It is like seeing the face of God!

¹¹Please take this gift I have brought you, for God has been very gracious to me. I have more than enough.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau finally accepted the gift.

¹²“Well,” Esau said, “let’s be going. I will lead the way.”

¹³But Jacob replied, “You can see, my lord, that some of the children are very young, and the flocks and herds have their young, too. If they are driven too hard, even for one day, all the animals could die.

¹⁴Please, my lord, go ahead of your servant. We will follow slowly, at a pace that is comfortable for the livestock and the children. I will meet you at Seir.”

¹⁵“All right,” Esau said, “but at least let me assign some of my men to guide and protect you.” Jacob responded, “That’s not necessary. It’s enough that you’ve received me warmly, my lord!”

¹⁶So Esau turned around and started back to Seir that same day.

¹⁷Jacob, on the other hand, traveled on to Succoth. There he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Succoth (which means “shelters”).

¹⁸Later, having traveled all the way from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the town of Shechem, in the land of Canaan. There he set up camp outside the town.

¹⁹Jacob bought the plot of land where he camped from the family of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver.

²⁰And there he built an altar and named it El-Elohe-Israel.

¹One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area.

²But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her.

³But then he fell in love with her, and he tried to win her affection with tender words.

⁴He said to his father, Hamor, “Get me this young girl. I want to marry her.”

⁵Soon Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter, Dinah. But since his sons were out in the fields herding his livestock, he said nothing until they returned.

⁶Hamor, Shechem’s father, came to discuss the matter with Jacob.

⁷Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the field as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious that their sister had been raped. Shechem had done a disgraceful thing against Jacob’s family, something that should never be done.

⁸Hamor tried to speak with Jacob and his sons. “My son Shechem is truly in love with your daughter,” he said. “Please let him marry her.

⁹In fact, let’s arrange other marriages, too. You give us your daughters for our sons, and we will give you our daughters for your sons.

¹⁰And you may live among us; the land is open to you! Settle here and trade with us. And feel free to buy property in the area.”

¹¹Then Shechem himself spoke to Dinah’s father and brothers. “Please be kind to me, and let me marry her,” he begged. “I will give you whatever you ask.

¹²No matter what dowry or gift you demand, I will gladly pay it — just give me the girl as my wife.”

¹³But since Shechem had defiled their sister, Dinah, Jacob’s sons responded deceitfully to Shechem and his father, Hamor.

¹⁴They said to them, “We couldn’t possibly allow this, because you’re not circumcised. It would be a disgrace for our sister to marry a man like you!

¹⁵But here is a solution. If every man among you will be circumcised like we are,

¹⁶then we will give you our daughters, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves. We will live among you and become one people.

¹⁷But if you don’t agree to be circumcised, we will take her and be on our way.”

¹⁸Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to their proposal.

¹⁹Shechem wasted no time in acting on this request, for he wanted Jacob’s daughter desperately. Shechem was a highly respected member of his family,

²⁰and he went with his father, Hamor, to present this proposal to the leaders at the town gate.

²¹“These men are our friends,” they said. “Let’s invite them to live here among us and trade freely. Look, the land is large enough to hold them. We can take their daughters as wives and let them marry ours.

²²But they will consider staying here and becoming one people with us only if all of our men are circumcised, just as they are.

²³But if we do this, all their livestock and possessions will eventually be ours. Come, let’s agree to their terms and let them settle here among us.”

²⁴So all the men in the town council agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every male in the town was circumcised.

²⁵But three days later, when their wounds were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s full brothers, took their swords and entered the town without opposition. Then they slaughtered every male there,

²⁶including Hamor and his son Shechem. They killed them with their swords, then took Dinah from Shechem’s house and returned to their camp.

²⁷Meanwhile, the rest of Jacob’s sons arrived. Finding the men slaughtered, they plundered the town because their sister had been defiled there.

²⁸They seized all the flocks and herds and donkeys — everything they could lay their hands on, both inside the town and outside in the fields.

²⁹They looted all their wealth and plundered their houses. They also took all their little children and wives and led them away as captives.

³⁰Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve made me stink among all the people of this land — among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!”

³¹“But why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Get ready and move 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 told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing.

³We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem.

⁵As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family.

⁶Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in Canaan.

⁷Jacob built an altar there and named the place El-bethel (which means “God of Bethel”), because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau.

⁸Soon after this, Rebekah’s old nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried beneath the oak tree in the valley below Bethel. Ever since, the tree has been called Allon-bacuth (which means “oak of weeping”).

⁹Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel. God blessed him,

¹⁰saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel.” So God renamed him Israel.

¹¹Then God said, “I am El-Shaddai — ‘God Almighty.’ Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants!

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

¹³Then God went up from the place where he had spoken to Jacob.

¹⁴Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark the place where God had spoken to him. Then he poured wine over it as an offering to God and anointed the pillar with olive oil.

¹⁵And Jacob named the place Bethel (which means “house of God”), because God had spoken to him there.

¹⁶Leaving Bethel, Jacob and his clan moved on toward Ephrath. But Rachel went into labor while they were still some distance away. Her labor pains were intense.

¹⁷After a very hard delivery, the midwife finally exclaimed, “Don’t be afraid — you have another son!”

¹⁸Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”). The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”).

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

²⁰Jacob set up a stone monument over Rachel’s grave, and it can be seen there to this day.

²¹Then Jacob traveled on and camped beyond Migdal-eder.

²²While he was living there, Reuben had intercourse with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Jacob soon heard about it. These are the names of the twelve sons of Jacob:

²³The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

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

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

²⁷So Jacob returned to his father, Isaac, in Mamre, which is near Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had both lived as foreigners.

²⁸Isaac lived for 180 years.

²⁹Then he breathed his last and died at a ripe old age, joining his ancestors in death. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.

¹This is the account of the descendants of Esau (also known as Edom).

²Esau married two young women from Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite.

³He also married his cousin Basemath, who was the daughter of Ishmael and the sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah gave birth to a son named Eliphaz for Esau. Basemath gave birth to a son named Reuel.

⁵Oholibamah gave birth to sons named Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. All these sons were born to Esau in the land of Canaan.

⁶Esau took his wives, his children, and his entire household, along with his livestock and cattle — all the wealth he had acquired in the land of Canaan — and moved away from his brother, Jacob.

⁷There was not enough land to support them both because of all the livestock and possessions they had acquired.

⁸So Esau (also known as Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.

⁹This is the account of Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, who lived in the hill country of Seir.

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

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

¹²Timna, the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to a son named Amalek. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹³The descendants of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁴Esau also had sons through Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon. Their names were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the descendants of Esau who became the leaders of various clans: The descendants of Esau’s oldest son, Eliphaz, became the leaders of the clans of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the clan leaders in the land of Edom who descended from Eliphaz. All these were descendants of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹⁷The descendants of Esau’s son Reuel became the leaders of the clans of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the clan leaders in the land of Edom who descended from Reuel. All these were descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸The descendants of Esau and his wife Oholibamah became the leaders of the clans of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the clan leaders who descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

¹⁹These are the clans descended from Esau (also known as Edom), identified by their clan leaders.

²⁰These are the names of the tribes that descended from Seir the Horite. They lived in the land of Edom: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Horite clan leaders, the descendants of Seir, who lived in the land of Edom.

²²The descendants of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Lotan’s sister was named Timna.

²³The descendants of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴The descendants of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the wilderness while he was grazing his father’s donkeys.)

²⁵The descendants of Anah were his son, Dishon, and his daughter, Oholibamah.

²⁶The descendants of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

²⁷The descendants of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸The descendants of Dishan were Uz and Aran.

²⁹So these were the leaders of the Horite clans: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

³⁰Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. The Horite clans are named after their clan leaders, who lived in the land of Seir.

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

³²Bela son of Beor, who ruled in Edom from his city of Dinhabah.

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

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

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad became king in his place and ruled from the city of Avith. He was the one who defeated the Midianites in the land of Moab.

³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah from the city of Masrekah became king in his place.

³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul from the city of Rehoboth-on-the-River became king in his place.

³⁸When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Acbor became king in his place.

³⁹When Baal-hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad became king in his place and ruled from the city of Pau. His wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Me-zahab.

⁴⁰These are the names of the leaders of the clans descended from Esau, who lived in the places named for them: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. These are the leaders of the clans of Edom, listed according to their settlements in the land they occupied. They all descended from Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.

¹So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner.

²This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.

³Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph — a beautiful robe.

⁴But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.

⁵One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever.

⁶“Listen to this dream,” he said.

⁷“We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”

⁸His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.

⁹Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”

¹⁰This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?”

¹¹But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

¹²Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

¹³When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.” “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴“Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.

¹⁵When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

¹⁶“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”

¹⁷“Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.

¹⁸When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him.

¹⁹“Here comes the dreamer!” they said.

²⁰“Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said.

²²“Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.

²³So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing.

²⁴Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime.

²⁷Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother — our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed.

²⁸So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

²⁹Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief.

³⁰Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”

³¹Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood.

³²They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

³³Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!”

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time.

³⁵His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

¹About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he stayed with a man named Hirah.

²There he saw a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he slept with her,

³she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and he named the boy Er.

⁴Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Onan.

⁵And when she gave birth to a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah’s birth, they were living at Kezib.

⁶In the course of time, Judah arranged for his firstborn son, Er, to marry a young woman named Tamar.

⁷But Er was a wicked man in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD took his life.

⁸Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and marry Tamar, as our law requires of the brother of a man who has died. You must produce an heir for your brother.”

⁹But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled the semen on the ground. This prevented her from having a child who would belong to his brother.

¹⁰But the LORD considered it evil for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the LORD took Onan’s life, too.

¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Go back to your parents’ home and remain a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to marry you.” (But Judah didn’t really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went back to live in her father’s home.

¹²Some years later Judah’s wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep.

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

¹⁴Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but no arrangements had been made for her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow’s clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah.

¹⁵Judah noticed her and thought she was a prostitute, since she had covered her face.

¹⁶So he stopped and propositioned her. “Let me have sex with you,” he said, not realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law. “How much will you pay to have sex with me?” Tamar asked.

¹⁷“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah promised. “But what will you give me to guarantee that you will send the goat?” she asked.

¹⁸“What kind of guarantee do you want?” he replied. She answered, “Leave me your identification seal and its cord and the walking stick you are carrying.” So Judah gave them to her. Then he had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant.

¹⁹Afterward she went back home, took off her veil, and put on her widow’s clothing as usual.

²⁰Later Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat to the woman and to pick up the things he had given her as his guarantee. But Hirah couldn’t find her.

²¹So he asked the men who lived there, “Where can I find the shrine prostitute who was sitting beside the road at the entrance to Enaim?” “We’ve never had a shrine prostitute here,” they replied.

²²So Hirah returned to Judah and told him, “I couldn’t find her anywhere, and the men of the village claim they’ve never had a shrine prostitute there.”

²³“Then let her keep the things I gave her,” Judah said. “I sent the young goat as we agreed, but you couldn’t find her. We’d be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again to look for her.”

²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has acted like a prostitute. And now, because of this, she’s pregnant.” “Bring her out, and let her be burned!” Judah demanded.

²⁵But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The man who owns these things made me pregnant. Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking stick are these?”

²⁶Judah recognized them immediately and said, “She is more righteous than I am, because I didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.” And Judah never slept with Tamar again.

²⁷When the time came for Tamar to give birth, it was discovered that she was carrying twins.

²⁸While she was in labor, one of the babies reached out his hand. The midwife grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the child’s wrist, announcing, “This one came out first.”

²⁹But then he pulled back his hand, and out came his brother! “What!” the midwife exclaimed. “How did you break out first?” So he was named Perez.

³⁰Then the baby with the scarlet string on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.

¹When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

²The LORD was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.

³Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.

⁴This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned.

⁵From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the LORD began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished.

⁶So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing — except what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man,

⁷and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.

⁸But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household.

⁹No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”

¹⁰She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.

¹¹One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work.

¹²She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.

¹³When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled,

¹⁴she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed.

¹⁵When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”

¹⁶She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home.

¹⁷Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me,” she said.

¹⁸“But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!”

¹⁹Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her.

²⁰So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained.

²¹But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the LORD made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.

²²Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.

²³The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The LORD was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

¹Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer and chief baker offended their royal master.

²Pharaoh became angry with these two officials,

³and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the guard.

⁴They remained in prison for quite some time, and the captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, who looked after them.

⁵While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker each had a dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset.

⁷“Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them.

⁸And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.” “Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a grapevine in front of me.

¹⁰The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes.

¹¹I was holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹²“This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days.

¹³Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer.

¹⁴And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place.

¹⁵For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too. In my dream there were three baskets of white pastries stacked on my head.

¹⁷The top basket contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head.”

¹⁸“This is what the dream means,” Joseph told him. “The three baskets also represent three days.

¹⁹Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh.”

²⁰Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned his chief cup-bearer and chief baker to join the other officials.

²¹He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh his cup.

²²But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted his dream.

²³Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

¹Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River.

²In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass.

³Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank.

⁴Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up.

⁵But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk.

⁶Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind.

⁷And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream.

⁸The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.

⁹Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh.

¹⁰“Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard.

¹¹One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning.

¹²There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant.

¹³And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole.”

¹⁴Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh.

¹⁵Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶“It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.”

¹⁷So Pharaoh told Joseph his dream. “In my dream,” he said, “I was standing on the bank of the Nile River,

¹⁸and I saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass.

¹⁹But then I saw seven sick-looking cows, scrawny and thin, come up after them. I’ve never seen such sorry-looking animals in all the land of Egypt.

²⁰These thin, scrawny cows ate the seven fat cows.

²¹But afterward you wouldn’t have known it, for they were still as thin and scrawny as before! Then I woke up.

²²“In my dream I also saw seven heads of grain, full and beautiful, growing on a single stalk.

²³Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were blighted, shriveled, and withered by the east wind.

²⁴And the shriveled heads swallowed the seven healthy heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but no one could tell me what they mean.”

²⁵Joseph responded, “Both of Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do.

²⁶The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity.

²⁷The seven thin, scrawny cows that came up later and the seven thin heads of grain, withered by the east wind, represent seven years of famine.

²⁸“This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do.

²⁹The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt.

³⁰But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land.

³¹This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased.

³²As for having two similar dreams, it means that these events have been decreed by God, and he will soon make them happen.

³³“Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt.

³⁴Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years.

³⁵Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh’s storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities.

³⁶That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land.”

³⁷Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials.

³⁸So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?”

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are.

⁴⁰You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.”

⁴¹Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.”

⁴²Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second-in-command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, “Kneel down!” So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt.

⁴⁴And Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval.”

⁴⁵Then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah. He also gave him a wife, whose name was Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. So Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt.

⁴⁶He was thirty years old when he began serving in the court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence, he inspected the entire land of Egypt.

⁴⁷As predicted, for seven years the land produced bumper crops.

⁴⁸During those years, Joseph gathered all the crops grown in Egypt and stored the grain from the surrounding fields in the cities.

⁴⁹He piled up huge amounts of grain like sand on the seashore. Finally, he stopped keeping records because there was too much to measure.

⁵⁰During this time, before the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On.

⁵¹Joseph named his older son Manasseh, for he said, “God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s family.”

⁵²Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.”

⁵³At last the seven years of bumper crops throughout the land of Egypt came to an end.

⁵⁴Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. The famine also struck all the surrounding countries, but throughout Egypt there was plenty of food.

⁵⁵Eventually, however, the famine spread throughout the land of Egypt as well. And when the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told them, “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.”

⁵⁶So with severe famine everywhere, Joseph opened up the storehouses and distributed grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷And people from all around came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe throughout the world.

¹When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at one another?

²I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy enough grain to keep us alive. Otherwise we’ll die.”

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

⁴But Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him.

⁵So Jacob’s sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well.

⁶Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all the people, it was to him that his brothers came. When they arrived, they bowed before him with their faces to the ground.

⁷Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where are you from?” he demanded. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We have come to buy food.”

⁸Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him.

⁹And he remembered the dreams he’d had about them many years before. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.”

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

¹¹We are all brothers — members of the same family. We are honest men, sir! We are not spies!”

¹²“Yes, you are!” Joseph insisted. “You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.”

¹³“Sir,” they said, “there are actually twelve of us. We, your servants, are all brothers, sons of a man living in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is back there with our father right now, and one of our brothers is no longer with us.”

¹⁴But Joseph insisted, “As I said, you are spies!

¹⁵This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will never leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here!

¹⁶One of you must go and get your brother. I’ll keep the rest of you here in prison. Then we’ll find out whether or not your story is true. By the life of Pharaoh, if it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies.”

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

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live.

¹⁹If you really are honest men, choose one of your brothers to remain in prison. The rest of you may go home with grain for your starving families.

²⁰But you must bring your youngest brother back to me. This will prove that you are telling the truth, and you will not die.” To this they agreed.

²¹Speaking among themselves, they said, “Clearly we are being punished because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his anguish when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why we’re in this trouble.”

²²“Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy?” Reuben asked. “But you wouldn’t listen. And now we have to answer for his blood!”

²³Of course, they didn’t know that Joseph understood them, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter.

²⁴Now he turned away from them and began to weep. When he regained his composure, he spoke to them again. Then he chose Simeon from among them and had him tied up right before their eyes.

²⁵Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave secret instructions to return each brother’s payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them supplies for their journey home.

²⁶So the brothers loaded their donkeys with the grain and headed for home.

²⁷But when they stopped for the night and one of them opened his sack to get grain for his donkey, he found his money in the top of his sack.

²⁸“Look!” he exclaimed to his brothers. “My money has been returned; it’s here in my sack!” Then their hearts sank. Trembling, they said to each other, “What has God done to us?”

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

³⁰“The man who is governor of the land spoke very harshly to us,” they told him. “He accused us of being spies scouting the land.

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

³²We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One brother is no longer with us, and the youngest is at home with our father in the land of Canaan.’

³³“Then the man who is governor of the land told us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take grain for your starving families and go on home.

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

³⁵As they emptied out their sacks, there in each man’s sack was the bag of money he had paid for the grain! The brothers and their father were terrified when they saw the bags of money.

³⁶Jacob exclaimed, “You are robbing me of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. I’ll be responsible for him, and I promise to bring him back.”

³⁸But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down with you. His brother Joseph is dead, and he is all I have left. If anything should happen to him on your journey, you would send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave. ”