diff --git "a/english-web.txt" "b/english-web.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/english-web.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,3694 @@ +In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. +Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface +of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface +of the waters. +God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. +God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided +the light from the darkness. +God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. +There was evening and there was morning, one day. +God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, +and let it divide the waters from the waters." +God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under +the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; +and it was so. +God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there +was morning, a second day. +God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together +to one place, and let the dry land appear;" and it was so. +God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together +of the waters he called Seas. God saw that it was good. +God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, +and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed +in it, on the earth;" and it was so. +The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, +and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; +and God saw that it was good. +There was evening and there was morning, a third day. +God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to +divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, +and for seasons, and for days and years; +and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light +on the earth;" and it was so. +God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule +the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. +He also made the stars. +God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, +and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide +the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. +There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. +God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, +and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky." +God created the large sea creatures, and every living +creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, +after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. +God saw that it was good. +God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill +the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." +There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. +God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after +their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth +after their kind;" and it was so. +God made the animals of the earth after their kind, +and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps +on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. +God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: +and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, +and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, +and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that +creeps on the earth." +God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; +male and female he created them. +God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, +fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish +of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living +thing that moves on the earth." +God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, +which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, +which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. +To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, +and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, +I have given every green herb for food;" and it was so. +God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. +There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. +The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array. +On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; +and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which +he had made. +God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested +in it from all his work which he had created and made. +This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of +the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God +made the earth and the heavens. +No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of +the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it +to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, +but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole +surface of the ground. +Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, +and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man +became a living soul. +Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put +the man whom he had formed. +Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is +pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life +also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge +of good and evil. +A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there +it was parted, and became four heads. +The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows +through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; +and the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin +and the onyx stone. +The name of the second river is Gihon: the same river that flows +through the whole land of Cush. +The name of the third river is Hiddekel: this is the one which +flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. +Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden +to dress it and to keep it. +Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden +you may freely eat; +but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall +not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you +will surely die." +Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; +I will make him a helper suitable for him." +Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, +and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see +what he would call them. Whatever the man called every +living creature, that was its name. +The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, +and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not +found a helper suitable for him. +Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; +and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh +in its place. +He made the rib, which Yahweh God had taken from the man, +into a woman, and brought her to the man. +The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. +She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." +Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, +and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. +They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. +Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field +which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God +really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'" +The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees +of the garden we may eat, +but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, +God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you +touch it, lest you die.'" +The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die, +for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, +and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." +When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it +was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired +to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; +and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. +The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew +that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, +and made themselves aprons. +They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in +the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves +from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. +Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" +The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, +because I was naked; and I hid myself." +God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten +from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" +The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, +she gave me of the tree, and I ate." +Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" +The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." +Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, +cursed are you above all livestock, and above every animal +of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat +dust all the days of your life. +I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your +offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, +and you will bruise his heel." +To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain +in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. +Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." +To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, +and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, +'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. +In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. +Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; +and you will eat the herb of the field. +By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you +return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. +For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." +The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother +of all living. +Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, +and clothed them. +Yahweh God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, +knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, +and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever..." +Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, +to till the ground from which he was taken. +So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east +of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned +every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. +The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, +and said, "I have gotten a man with Yahweh's help." +Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper +of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. +As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering +to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. +Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of +the fat of it. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, +but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, +and the expression on his face fell. +Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has the expression +of your face fallen? +If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, +sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you +are to rule over it." +Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let's go into the field." +It happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up +against Abel, his brother, and killed him. +Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" +He said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" +Yahweh said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's +blood cries to me from the ground. +Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened +its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. +From now on, when you till the ground, it won't yield its +strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer +in the earth." +Cain said to Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. +Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface +of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, +and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. +It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me." +Yahweh said to him, "Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will +be taken on him sevenfold." Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, +lest any finding him should strike him. +Cain went out from Yahweh's presence, and lived in the land +of Nod, east of Eden. +Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. +He built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name +of his son, Enoch. +To Enoch was born Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. +Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became +the father of Lamech. +Lamech took two wives: the name of the one was Adah, +and the name of the other Zillah. +Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell +in tents and have livestock. +His brother's name was Jubal, who was the father of all who +handle the harp and pipe. +Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting +instrument of brass and iron. Tubal Cain's sister was Naamah. +Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. +You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain +a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me. +If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech +seventy-seven times." +Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named +him Seth, "for God has appointed me another child instead +of Abel, for Cain killed him." +There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. +Then men began to call on Yahweh's name. +This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day +that God created man, he made him in God's likeness. +He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called +their name Adam, in the day when they were created. +Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a +son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. +The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight +hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, +then he died. +Seth lived one hundred five years, and became the father of Enosh. +Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred +seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years, +then he died. +Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. +Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan, eight hundred +fifteen years, and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years, then he died. +Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel. +Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred +forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters +and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred ten years, +then he died. +Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared. +Mahalalel lived after he became the father of Jared eight hundred +thirty years, and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred ninety-five years, +then he died. +Jared lived one hundred sixty-two years, and became +the father of Enoch. +Jared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight hundred years, +and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years, +then he died. +Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. +Enoch walked with God after he became the father of Methuselah +three hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. +Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. +Methuselah lived one hundred eighty-seven years, and became +the father of Lamech. +Methuselah lived after he became the father of Lamech seven hundred +eighty-two years, and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, +then he died. +Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, and became the father +of a son, +and he named him Noah, saying, "This same will comfort us +in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground +which Yahweh has cursed." +Lamech lived after he became the father of Noah five hundred +ninety-five years, and became the father of sons and daughters. +All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, +then he died. +Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father +of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. +It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface +of the ground, and daughters were born to them, +that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, +and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose. +Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, +because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one +hundred twenty years." +The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also +after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. +They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men +who were of old, men of renown. +Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, +and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was +only evil continually. +Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it +grieved him in his heart. +Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created +from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, +creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I +have made them." +But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes. +This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was +a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. +Noah walked with God. +Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. +The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was +filled with violence. +God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh +had corrupted their way on the earth. +God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, +for the earth is filled with violence through them. +Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. +Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, +and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. +This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will +be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, +and the height of it thirty cubits. +You shall make a roof in the ship, and to a cubit shall you finish +it upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. +You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels. +I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy +all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. +Everything that is in the earth will die. +But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come +into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' +wives with you. +Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two +of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. +They shall be male and female. +Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, +of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, +two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. +Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to you; +and it will be for food for you, and for them." +Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, +so he did. +Yahweh said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into +the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me +in this generation. +You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, +the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, +take two, the male and his female. +Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, +to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth. +In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty +days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, +I will destroy from the surface of the ground." +Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him. +Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came +on the earth. +Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons' +wives, because of the waters of the flood. +Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything +that creeps on the ground +went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, +as God commanded Noah. +It happened after the seven days, that the waters of the flood +came on the earth. +In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, +on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all +the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the sky's +windows were opened. +The rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. +In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, +and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, +entered into the ship; +they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after +their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth +after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird +of every sort. +They went to Noah into the ship, by pairs of all flesh with +the breath of life in them. +Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, +as God commanded him; and Yahweh shut him in. +The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, +and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. +The waters prevailed, and increased greatly on the earth; +and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. +The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth. All the high +mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. +The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the +mountains were covered. +All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, +livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, +and every man. +All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, +of all that was on the dry land, died. +Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface +of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, +and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. +Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship. +The waters prevailed on the earth one hundred fifty days. +God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were +with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. +The waters subsided. +The deep's fountains and the sky's windows were also stopped, +and the rain from the sky was restrained. +The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end +of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased. +The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day +of the month, on Ararat's mountains. +The waters receded continually until the tenth month. +In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops +of the mountains were seen. +It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window +of the ship which he had made, +and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, +until the waters were dried up from the earth. +He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated +from the surface of the ground, +but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned +to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface +of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, +and brought her to him into the ship. +He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth +the dove out of the ship. +The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth +was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters +were abated from the earth. +He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; +and she didn't return to him any more. +It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, +the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. +Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. +He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. +In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, +the earth was dry. +God spoke to Noah, saying, +"Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, +and your sons' wives with you. +Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you +of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping +thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly +in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth." +Noah went forth, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' +wives with him. +Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves +on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship. +Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, +and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings +on the altar. +Yahweh smelled the sweet savor. Yahweh said in his heart, +"I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, +because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; +neither will I ever again strike everything living, +as I have done. +While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, +and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." +God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, +and multiply, and replenish the earth. +The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every +animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. +Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish +of the sea are delivered into your hand. +Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. +As the green herb, I have given everything to you. +But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat. +I will surely require your blood of your lives. +At the hand of every animal I will require it. +At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, +I will require the life of man. +Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, +for God made man in his own image. +Be fruitful and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, +and multiply in it." +God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, +"As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, +and with your offspring after you, +and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, +the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, +of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth. +I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut +off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there +ever again be a flood to destroy the earth." +God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make +between me and you and every living creature that is with you, +for perpetual generations: +I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign +of a covenant between me and the earth. +It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, +that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, +and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you +and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will +no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. +The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I +may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every +living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." +God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I +have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." +The sons of Noah who went forth from the ship were Shem, Ham, +and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan. +These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the whole +earth was populated. +Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard. +He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered +within his tent. +Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, +and told his two brothers outside. +Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, +went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. +Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see +their father's nakedness. +Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had +done to him. +He said, "Canaan is cursed. He will be servant of servants +to his brothers." +He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem. Let Canaan +be his servant. +May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. +Let Canaan be his servant." +Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood. +All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, then he died. +Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah +and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them +after the flood. +The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, +and Tiras. +The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. +The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. +Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, +everyone after his language, after their families, +in their nations. +The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. +The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. +The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. +Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty +one in the earth. +He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, +"Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh." +The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, +in the land of Shinar. +Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and built +Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, +and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city). +Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, +Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), +and Caphtorim. +Canaan became the father of Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, +the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, +the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, +the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. +Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. +The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you go +toward Gerar, to Gaza; as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, +and Zeboiim, to Lasha. +These are the sons of Ham, after their families, +after their languages, in their lands, in their nations. +To Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder +brother of Japheth, to him also were children born. +The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. +The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. +Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became +the father of Eber. +To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, +for in his days the earth was divided. His brother's +name was Joktan. +Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, +Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, +Obal, Abimael, Sheba, +Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. +Their dwelling was from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, +the mountain of the east. +These are the sons of Shem, after their families, +after their languages, in their lands, after their nations. +These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, +in their nations. Of these were the nations divided in the earth +after the flood. +The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. +It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain +in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. +They said one to another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn +them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used +tar for mortar. +They said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower +whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, +lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth." +Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children +of men built. +Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have +all one language, and this is what they begin to do. +Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. +Come, let's go down, and there confuse their language, +that they may not understand one another's speech." +So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface +of all the earth. They stopped building the city. +Therefore the name of it was called Babel, because there +Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, +Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth. +This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was +one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad +two years after the flood. +Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father +of Arpachshad, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah. +Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father +of Shelah, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber: +and Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became +the father of Eber, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg. +Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father +of Peleg, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu. +Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father +of Reu, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug. +Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father +of Serug, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor. +Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, +and became the father of sons and daughters. +Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah. +Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father +of Terah, and became the father of sons and daughters. +Terah lived seventy years, and became the father +of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. +Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. +Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. +Haran became the father of Lot. +Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, +in Ur of the Chaldees. +Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, +and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran +who was also the father of Iscah. +Sarai was barren. She had no child. +Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, +and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went +forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. +They came to Haran and lived there. +The days of Terah were two hundred five years. +Terah died in Haran. +Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, +and from your relatives, and from your father's house, +to the land that I will show you. +I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make +your name great. You will be a blessing. +I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him +who curses you. In you will all of the families of the +earth be blessed." +So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. +Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. +Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance +that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten +in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. +Into the land of Canaan they came. +Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, +to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land. +Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to +your seed." He built an altar there to Yahweh, +who appeared to him. +He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, +and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai +on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called +on the name of Yahweh. +Abram traveled, going on still toward the South. +There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt +to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe +in the land. +It happened, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said +to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful +woman to look at. +It will happen, when the Egyptians will see you, that they +will say, 'This is his wife.' They will kill me, but they +will save you alive. +Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me +for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you." +It happened that when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians +saw that the woman was very beautiful. +The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; +and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. +He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, +oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, +female donkeys, and camels. +Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues +because of Sarai, Abram's wife. +Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this that you have done +to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? +Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her +to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, +and go your way." +Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him, and they brought him +on the way with his wife and all that he had. +Abram went up out of Egypt: he, his wife, all that he had, +and Lot with him, into the South. +Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. +He went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, +to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, +between Bethel and Ai, +to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. +There Abram called on the name of Yahweh. +Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. +The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: +for their substance was great, so that they could not live together. +There was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock +and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock: and the Canaanite +and the Perizzite lived in the land at that time. +Abram said to Lot, "Please, let there be no strife between +me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; +for we are relatives. +Isn't the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. +If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. +Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left." +Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, +that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed +Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land +of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. +So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. +Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves the one +from the other. +Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities +of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. +Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners +against Yahweh. +Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, "Now, +lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, +northward and southward and eastward and westward, +for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to +your offspring forever. +I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that +if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed +may also be numbered. +Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth +of it; for I will give it to you." +Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, +which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh. +It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, +king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, +king of Goiim, +that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, +king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, +king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar). +All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same +is the Salt Sea). +Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth +year, they rebelled. +In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who +were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, +and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, +and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is +by the wilderness. +They returned, and came to En Mishpat (the same is Kadesh), +and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, +that lived in Hazazon Tamar. +The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king +of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela +(the same is Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array +against them in the valley of Siddim; +against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, +and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; +four kings against the five. +Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings +of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those +who remained fled to the hills. +They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, +and went their way. +They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who lived in Sodom, +and his goods, and departed. +One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. +Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, +and brother of Aner; and these were allies of Abram. +When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led forth +his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, +and pursued as far as Dan. +He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, +and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left +hand of Damascus. +He brought back all the goods, and also brought back +his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, +and the people. +The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from +the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, +at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). +Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: +and he was priest of God Most High. +He blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, +possessor of heaven and earth: +and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies +into your hand." Abram gave him a tenth of all. +The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, +and take the goods to yourself." +Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand +to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, +that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything +that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.' +I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men +have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: +Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion." +After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in +a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, +your exceedingly great reward." +Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, seeing I +go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is +Eliezer of Damascus?" +Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: +and, behold, one born in my house is my heir." +Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will +not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own +body will be your heir." +Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, +and count the stars, if you are able to count them." +He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be." +He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. +He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur +of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it." +He said, "Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?" +He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female +goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, +and a young pigeon." +He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, +and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't +divide the birds. +The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram +drove them away. +When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. +Now terror and great darkness fell on him. +He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as +foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. +They will afflict them four hundred years. +I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. +Afterward they will come out with great wealth, +but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried +in a good old age. +In the fourth generation they will come here again, +for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full." +It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it +was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch +passed between these pieces. +In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your +seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to +the great river, the river Euphrates: +the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, +the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, +the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites." +Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, +an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. +Sarai said to Abram, "See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. +Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain +children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. +Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, +after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, +and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. +He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she +had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. +Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong is your fault. +I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw +that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. +Yahweh judge between me and you." +But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your hand. +Do to her whatever is good in your eyes." Sarai dealt harshly +with her, and she fled from her face. +The angel of Yahweh found her by a fountain of water in +the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. +He said, "Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, where did you come from? +Where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from the face +of my mistress Sarai." +The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Return to your mistress, +and submit yourself under her hands." +The angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply +your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude." +The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Behold, you are with child, +and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, +because Yahweh has heard your affliction. +He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will +be against every man, and every man's hand against him. +He will live opposite all of his brothers." +She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, "You are +a God who sees," for she said, "Have I even stayed alive +after seeing him?" +Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, +it is between Kadesh and Bered. +Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, +whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. +Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. +When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, +and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me, +and be blameless. +I will make my covenant between me and you, and will +multiply you exceedingly." +Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, +"As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be +the father of a multitude of nations. +Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your +name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a +multitude of nations. +I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. +Kings will come out of you. +I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed +after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, +to be a God to you and to your seed after you. +I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land +where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an +everlasting possession. I will be their God." +God said to Abraham, "As for you, you will keep my covenant, +you and your seed after you throughout their generations. +This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me +and you and your seed after you. Every male among you +shall be circumcised. +You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. +It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. +He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, +every male throughout your generations, he who is born +in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is +not of your seed. +He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, +must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh +for an everlasting covenant. +The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh +of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. +He has broken my covenant." +God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not +call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. +I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. +Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. +Kings of peoples will come from her." +Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, +"Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? +Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?" +Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" +God said, "No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. +You shall call his name Isaac. I +will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant +for his seed after him. +As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, +and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. +He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make +him a great nation. +But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear +to you at this set time next year." +When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. +Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, +and all who were bought with his money; every male among +the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their +foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him. +Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised +in the flesh of his foreskin. +Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised +in the flesh of his foreskin. +In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. +All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those +bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him. +Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat +in the tent door in the heat of the day. +He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men +stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them +from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, +and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, +please don't go away from your servant. +Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest +yourselves under the tree. +I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. +After that you may go your way, now that you have come to +your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said." +Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make +ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." +Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, +and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. +He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, +and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, +and they ate. +They said to him, "Where is Sarah, your wife? +He said, "See, in the tent." +He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season +comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." +Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. +Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. +It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. +Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old +will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" +Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I +really bear a child, yet I am old?' +Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return +to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son." +Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid. +He said, "No, but you did laugh." +The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. +Abraham went with them to see them on their way. +Yahweh said, "Will I hide from Abraham what I do, +seeing that Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, +and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? +For I have known him, to the end that he may command his +children and his household after him, that they may keep +the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; +to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has +spoken of him." +Yahweh said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, +and because their sin is very grievous, +I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad +as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know." +The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham +stood yet before Yahweh. +Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous +with the wicked? +What if there are fifty righteous within the city? +Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty +righteous who are in it? +Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous +with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. +May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all +the earth do right?" +Yahweh said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, +then I will spare all the place for their sake." +Abraham answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak +to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. +What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? +Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, +"I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there." +He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty +found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake." +He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. +What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not +do it, if I find thirty there." +He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. +What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not +destroy it for the twenty's sake." +He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will +speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" +He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake." +Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing +with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. +The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate +of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. +He bowed himself with his face to the earth, +and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into +your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, +and you will rise up early, and go on your way." +They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night." +He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered +into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, +and they ate. +But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, +surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people +from every quarter. +They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men +who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, +that we may have sex with them." +Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. +He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly. +See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them +out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. +Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come +under the shadow of my roof." +They said, "Stand back!" They said, "This one fellow came +in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. +Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" +They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door. +But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house +to them, and shut the door. +They struck the men who were at the door of the house +with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied +themselves to find the door. +The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? +Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you +have in the city, bring them out of the place: +for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against +them has grown great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us +to destroy it." +Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were +pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! +Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." +But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. +When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! +Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, +lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city." +But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, +and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; +and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. +It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, +"Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't +stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, +lest you be consumed!" +Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord. +See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you +have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown +to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, +lest evil overtake me, and I die. +See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. +Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my +soul will live." +He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning +this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which +you have spoken. +Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." +Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. +The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. +Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire +from Yahweh out of the sky. +He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants +of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. +But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became +a pillar of salt. +Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had +stood before Yahweh. +He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land +of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land +went up as the smoke of a furnace. +It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, +that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle +of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. +Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his +two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. +He lived in a cave with his two daughters. +The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, +and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after +the manner of all the earth. +Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, +that we may preserve our father's seed." +They made their father drink wine that night: +and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. +He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. +It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said +to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. +Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, +and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." +They made their father drink wine that night also. +The younger went and lay with him. He didn't know when she +lay down, nor when she got up. +Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father. +The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father +of the Moabites to this day. +The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. +He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day. +Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived +between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar. +Abraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." +Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. +But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said +to him, "Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman +whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife." +Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you +kill even a righteous nation? +Didn't he tell me, 'She is my sister?' She, even she herself, +said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart +and the innocence of my hands have I done this." +God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity +of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you +from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you +to touch her. +Now therefore, restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, +and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don't +restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all +who are yours." +Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all +his servants, and told all these things in their ear. +The men were very scared. +Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, +"What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, +that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? +You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!" +Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you have +done this thing?" +Abraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely the fear of God is +not in this place. They will kill me for my wife's sake.' +Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, +but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. +It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, +that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show +to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'" +Abimelech took sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants, +and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah, his wife, to him. +Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you. +Dwell where it pleases you." +To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand +pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes +to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated." +Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, +and his female servants, and they bore children. +For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house +of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. +Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah +as he had spoken. +Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, +at the set time of which God had spoken to him. +Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore +to him, Isaac. +Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, +as God had commanded him. +Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, +was born to him. +Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will +laugh with me." +She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would +nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age." +The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast +on the day that Isaac was weaned. +Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne +to Abraham, mocking. +Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! +For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac." +The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account +of his son. +God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your +sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. +In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. +For from Isaac will your seed be called. +I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, +because he is your seed." +Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle +of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; +and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, +and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. +The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child +under one of the shrubs. +She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow +shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." +She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. +God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called +to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails +you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice +of the boy where he is. +Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. +For I will make him a great nation." +God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, +filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. +God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, +and became, as he grew up, an archer. +He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife +for him out of the land of Egypt. +It happened at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain +of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all +that you do. +Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal +falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. +But according to the kindness that I have done to you, +you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived +as a foreigner." +Abraham said, "I will swear." +Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, +which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. +Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this thing. +Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today." +Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech. +Those two made a covenant. +Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. +Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs +which you have set by themselves mean?" +He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, +that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well." +Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they +both swore there. +So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up +with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned +into the land of the Philistines. +Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there +on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. +Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines +many days. +It happened after these things, that God tested Abraham, +and said to him, "Abraham!" He said, "Here I am." +He said, "Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, +even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there +for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will +tell you of." +Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, +and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. +He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, +and went to the place of which God had told him. +On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw +the place far off. +Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. +The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come +back to you." +Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on +Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. +They both went together. +Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" +He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire +and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" +Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, +my son." So they both went together. +They came to the place which God had told him of. +Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, +bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. +Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to +kill his son. +The angel of Yahweh called to him out of the sky, and said, +"Abraham, Abraham!" He said, "Here I am." +He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. +For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld +your son, your only son, from me." +Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind +him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. +Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt +offering instead of his son. +Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. +As it is said to this day, +"On Yahweh's mountain, it will be provided." +The angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time out +of the sky, +and said, "I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you +have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, +your only son, +that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed +greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand +which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate +of his enemies. +In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, +because you have obeyed my voice." +So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went +together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba. +It happened after these things, that it was told Abraham, +saying, "Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to +your brother Nahor: +Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, +Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." +Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore +to Nahor, Abraham's brother. +His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore +Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah. +Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length +of Sarah's life. +Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron), in the land +of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. +Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the children +of Heth, saying, +"I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. +Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I +may bury my dead out of my sight." +The children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, +"Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. +Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will +withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead." +Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, +even to the children of Heth. +He talked with them, saying, "If it be your mind that I should +bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me +to Ephron the son of Zohar, +that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, +which is in the end of his field. For the full price let him +give it to me among you for a possession of a burying-place." +Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Heth. +Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of +the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate +of his city, saying, +"No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you +the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children +of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead." +Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. +He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of +the land, saying, "But if you will, please hear me. +I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, +and I will bury my dead there." +Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, +"My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth +four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? +Therefore bury your dead." +Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron +the silver which he had named in the audience of the children +of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the +current merchants' standard. +So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was +before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, +and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all +of its borders, were deeded +to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children +of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. +After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave +of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), +in the land of Canaan. +The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham +for a possession of a burying place by the children of Heth. +Abraham was old, and well stricken in age. Yahweh had blessed +Abraham in all things. +Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled +over all that he had, "Please put your hand under my thigh. +I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God +of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son +of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. +But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take +a wife for my son Isaac." +The servant said to him, "What if the woman isn't willing +to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again +to the land you came from?" +Abraham said to him, "Beware that you don't bring my +son there again. +Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, +and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore +to me, saying, 'I will give this land to your seed.' +He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife +for my son from there. +If the woman isn't willing to follow you, then you shall +be clear from this my oath. Only you shall not bring my +son there again." +The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, +and swore to him concerning this matter. +The servant took ten camels, of his master's camels, and departed, +having a variety of good things of his master's with him. +He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. +He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well +of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out +to draw water. +He said, "Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me +success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. +Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters +of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. +Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, +'Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,' and she +will say, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,'-- +let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. +By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." +It happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, +Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, +the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher +on her shoulder. +The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, +neither had any man known her. She went down to the spring, +filled her pitcher, and came up. +The servant ran to meet her, and said, "Please give me a drink, +a little water from your pitcher." +She said, "Drink, my lord." She hurried, and let down her +pitcher on her hand, and gave him drink. +When she had done giving him drink, she said, "I will also draw +for your camels, until they have done drinking." +She hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran +again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. +The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know +whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not. +It happened, as the camels had done drinking, that the man +took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets +for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, +and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. +Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in?" +She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, +whom she bore to Nahor." +She said moreover to him, "We have both straw and provender enough, +and room to lodge in." +The man bowed his head, and worshiped Yahweh. +He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has +not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. +As for me, Yahweh has led me in the way to the house of +my master's relatives." +The young lady ran, and told her mother's house about these words. +Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran +out to the man, to the spring. +It happened, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his +sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah +his sister, saying, "This is what the man said to me," +that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels +at the spring. +He said, "Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? +For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels." +The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. +He gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash +his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. +Food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat +until I have told my message." He said, "Speak on." +He said, "I am Abraham's servant. +Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. +He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, +male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. +Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. +He has given all that he has to him. +My master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife +for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose +land I live, +but you shall go to my father's house, and to my relatives, +and take a wife for my son.' +I said to my master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?' +He said to me, 'Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his +angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife +for my son of my relatives, and of my father's house. +Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. +If they don't give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.' +I came this day to the spring, and said, 'Yahweh, the God +of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go-- +behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, +that the maiden who comes forth to draw, to whom I will say, +"Give me, I pray you, a little water from your pitcher to drink," +and she will tell me, "Drink, and I will also draw for +your camels,"--let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed +for my master's son.' +Before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth +with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, +and drew. I said to her, 'Please let me drink.' +She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, +and said, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.' +So I drank, and she made the camels drink also. +I asked her, and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, +'The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.' +I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. +I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, +the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way +to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. +Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. +If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, +or to the left." +Then Laban and Bethuel answered, "The thing proceeds from Yahweh. +We can't speak to you bad or good. +Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let +her be your master's son's wife, as Yahweh has spoken." +It happened that when Abraham's servant heard their words, +he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. +The servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, +and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious +things to her brother and her mother. +They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, +and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, +"Send me away to my master." +Her brother and her mother said, "Let the young lady stay +with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go." +He said to them, "Don't hinder me, seeing Yahweh has prospered +my way. Send me away that I may go to my master." +They said, "We will call the young lady, and ask her." +They called Rebekah, and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" +She said, "I will go." +They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, +Abraham's servant, and his men. +They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "Our sister, may you +be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed +possess the gate of those who hate them." +Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, +and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way. +Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived +in the land of the South. +Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. +He lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there +were camels coming. +Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, +she dismounted from the camel. +She said to the servant, "Who is the man who is walking in +the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." +She took her veil, and covered herself. +The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. +Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, +and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. +Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. +Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. +She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. +Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons +of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. +The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. +All these were the children of Keturah. +Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, +but to the sons of Abraham's concubines, Abraham gave gifts. +He sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, +eastward, to the east country. +These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: +one hundred seventy-five years. +Abraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age, +an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. +Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, +in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, +which is before Mamre, +the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth. +Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. +It happened after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac, +his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi. +Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, +whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham. +These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, +according to the order of their birth: the firstborn +of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, +Mishma, Dumah, Massa, +Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. +These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, +by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, +according to their nations. +These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred +thirty-seven years. He gave up the spirit and died, +and was gathered to his people. +They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you +go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives. +This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. +Abraham became the father of Isaac. +Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter +of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban +the Syrian, to be his wife. +Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. +Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. +The children struggled together within her. She said, +"If it be so, why do I live?" She went to inquire of Yahweh. +Yahweh said to her, Two nations are in your womb. +Two peoples will be separated from your body. +The one people will be stronger than the other people. +The elder will serve the younger. +When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were +twins in her womb. +The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. +They named him Esau. +After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on +Esau's heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old +when she bore them. +The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. +Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. +Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. +Rebekah loved Jacob. +Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, +and he was famished. +Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, +for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom. +Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright." +Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die. What good is the +birthright to me?" +Jacob said, "Swear to me first." He swore to him. +He sold his birthright to Jacob. +Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, +rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright. +There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine +that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech +king of the Philistines, to Gerar. +Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. +Live in the land I will tell you about. +Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. +For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I +will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. +I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will +give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all +the nations of the earth be blessed, +because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, +my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." +Isaac lived in Gerar. +The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, +"She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," +lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, +because she is beautiful to look at." +It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech +king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, +and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. +Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. +Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, +"Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'" +Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? +One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, +and you would have brought guilt on us!" +Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "He who touches this +man or his wife will surely be put to death." +Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one +hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. +The man grew great, and grew more and more until he +became very great. +He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, +and a great household. The Philistines envied him. +Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in +the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, +and filled with earth. +Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much +mightier than we." +Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, +and lived there. +Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days +of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them +after the death of Abraham. He called their names after +the names by which his father had called them. +Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well +of springing water. +The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, +"The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, +because they contended with him. +They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. +He called the name of it Sitnah. +He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't +argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, +"For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful +in the land." +He went up from there to Beersheba. +Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am +the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am +with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my +servant Abraham's sake." +He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, +and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well. +Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, +and Phicol the captain of his army. +Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, +and have sent me away from you?" +They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. +We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us +and you, and let us make a covenant with you, +that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, +and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent +you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh." +He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. +They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. +Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. +It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told +him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, +"We have found water." +He called it Shibah. Therefore +the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. +When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, +the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter +of Elon the Hittite. +They grieved Isaac's and Rebekah's spirits. +It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, +so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, +and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am." +He said, "See now, I am old. I don't know the day of my death. +Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, +and go out to the field, and take me venison. +Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, +that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die." +Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. +Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. +Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard +your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, +'Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, +and bless you before Yahweh before my death.' +Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which +I command you. +Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good kids +of the goats. I will make them savory food for your father, +such as he loves. +You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that +he may bless you before his death." +Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother +is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. +What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, +and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing." +His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. +Only obey my voice, and go get them for me." +He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. +His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. +Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, +which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, +her younger son. +She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, +and on the smooth of his neck. +She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, +into the hand of her son Jacob. +He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. +Who are you, my son?" +Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. +I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat +of my venison, that your soul may bless me." +Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, +my son?" He said, "Because Yahweh your God gave me success." +Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, +my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not." +Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, +"The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." +He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, +like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him. +He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am." +He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, +that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. +He brought him wine, and he drank. +His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son." +He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, +and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son +is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed. +God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, +and plenty of grain and new wine. +Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. +Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons +bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. +Blessed be everyone who blesses you." +It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, +and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, +that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. +He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. +He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his +son's venison, that your soul may bless me." +Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, +"I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." +Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has +taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before +you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed." +When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an +exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, +"Bless me, even me also, my father." +He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken +away your blessing." +He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has +supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. +See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you +reserved a blessing for me?" +Isaac answered Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, +and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. +With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then +will I do for you, my son?" +Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? +Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up +his voice, and wept. +Isaac his father answered him, "Behold, of the fatness of the earth +will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above. +By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. +It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall +shake his yoke from off your neck." +Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father +blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning +for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob." +The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. +She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said +to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you +by planning to kill you. +Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, +my brother, in Haran. +Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away; +until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what +you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. +Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" +Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of +the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters +of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, +what good will my life do me?" +Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall +not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. +Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your +mother's father. Take a wife from there from the daughters +of Laban, your mother's brother. +May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, +that you may be a company of peoples, +and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed +with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, +which God gave to Abraham." +Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of +Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother. +Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away +to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as +he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, "You shall not +take a wife of the daughters of Canaan," +and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone +to Paddan Aram. +Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn't please Isaac, +his father. +Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, +Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister +of Nebaioth, to be his wife. +Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. +He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, +because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, +and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. +He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and the top +of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending +and descending on it. +Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, "I am Yahweh, +the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. +The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. +Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread +abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, +and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families +of the earth be blessed. +Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, +and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, +until I have done that which I have spoken of to you." +Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely Yahweh +is in this place, and I didn't know it." +He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! +This is none other than God's house, and this is the +gate of heaven." +Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone +that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, +and poured oil on the top of it. +He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city +was Luz at the first. +Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will +keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, +and clothing to put on, +so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Yahweh +will be my God, +then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be +God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give +the tenth to you." +Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of +the children of the east. +He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks +of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered +the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was large. +There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone +from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone +again on the well's mouth in its place. +Jacob said to them, "My relatives, where are you from?" +They said, "We are from Haran." +He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, +"We know him." +He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well. +See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep." +He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, +not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, +and go and feed them." +They said, "We can't, until all the flocks are gathered +together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. +Then we water the sheep." +While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her +father's sheep, for she kept them. +It happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, +his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, +that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, +and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. +Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. +Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that +he was Rebekah's son. She ran and told her father. +It happened, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister's son, +that he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, +and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. +Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. +He lived with him for a month. +Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you +therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will +your wages be?" +Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, +and the name of the younger was Rachel. +Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in +form and attractive. +Jacob loved Rachel. He said, "I will serve you seven years +for Rachel, your younger daughter." +Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I +should give her to another man. Stay with me." +Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him +but a few days, for the love he had for her. +Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, +that I may go in to her." +Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. +It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, +and brought her to him. He went in to her. +Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. +It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. +He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? +Didn't I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have +you deceived me?" +Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger +before the firstborn. +Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other +also for the service which you will serve with me yet +seven other years." +Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel +his daughter as wife. +Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, +to be her handmaid. +He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, +and served with him yet seven other years. +Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, +but Rachel was barren. +Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. +For she said, "Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction. +For now my husband will love me." +She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, "Because Yahweh has +heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also." +She named him Simeon. +She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, "Now this time will my +husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." +Therefore was his name called Levi. +She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, "This time +will I praise Yahweh." Therefore she named him Judah. +Then she stopped bearing. +When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied +her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else +I will die." +Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, +"Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit +of the womb?" +She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she +may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her." +She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went +in to her. +Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. +Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, +and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan. +Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob +a second son. +Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, +and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali. +When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, +her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. +Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son. +Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad. +Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son. +Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." +She named him Asher. +Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes +in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel +said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." +She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away +my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" +Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for +your son's mandrakes." +Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went +out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; +for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." +He lay with her that night. +God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob +a fifth son. +Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid +to my husband." She named him Issachar. +Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. +Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my +husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." +She named him Zebulun. +Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah. +God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. +She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken +away my reproach." +She named him Joseph, saying, +"May Yahweh add another son to me." +It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said +to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, +and to my country. +Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, +and let me go; for you know my service with which I +have served you." +Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, +stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me +for your sake." +He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it." +He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your +livestock have fared with me. +For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased +to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. +Now when will I provide for my own house also?" +He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall +not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, +I will again feed your flock and keep it. +I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there +every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among +the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. +This will be my hire. +So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, +when you come concerning my hire that is before you. +Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, +and black among the sheep, that might be with me, +will be counted stolen." +Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word." +That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, +and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, +every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among +the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. +He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, +and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. +Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, +peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear +which was in the rods. +He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the +gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. +They conceived when they came to drink. +The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought +forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. +Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks +toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: +and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them +into Laban's flock. +It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, +that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock +in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; +but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. +So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. +The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, +female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys. +He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away +all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, +has he gotten all this wealth." +Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was +not toward him as before. +Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, +and to your relatives, and I will be with you." +Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, +and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, +that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father +has been with me. +You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. +Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, +but God didn't allow him to hurt me. +If he said this, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all +the flock bore speckled. If he said this, 'The streaked +will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked. +Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given +them to me. +It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, +and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped +on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. +The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, +'Here I am.' +He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats +which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, +for I have seen all that Laban does to you. +I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you +vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, +and return to the land of your birth.'" +Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there yet any portion +or inheritance for us in our father's house? +Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, +and has also quite devoured our money. +For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, +that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has +said to you, do." +Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, +and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions +which he had gathered, including the livestock which +he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, +to the land of Canaan. +Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole +the teraphim that were her father's. +Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him +that he was running away. +So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, +and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. +Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. +He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him +seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. +God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, +and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you don't speak +to Jacob either good or bad." +Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent +in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped +in the mountain of Gilead. +Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, +and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? +Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, +that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, +with tambourine and with harp; +and didn't allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? +Now have you done foolishly. +It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your +father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself +that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad.' +Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your +father's house, but why have you stolen my gods?" +Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, +'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.' +Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. +Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it." +For Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them. +Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into +the tent of the two female servants; but he didn't find them. +He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. +Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's +saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, +but didn't find them. +She said to her father, "Don't let my lord be angry that I +can't rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me." +He searched, but didn't find the teraphim. +Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered +Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have +hotly pursued after me? +Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found +of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives +and your relatives, that they may judge between us two. +These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your +female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten +the rams of your flocks. +That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to you. +I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, +whether stolen by day or stolen by night. +This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, +and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. +These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen +years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, +and you have changed my wages ten times. +Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear +of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me +away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, +and rebuked you last night." +Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, +the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, +and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to +these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? +Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be +for a witness between me and you." +Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. +Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, +and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. +Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. +Laban said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." +Therefore it was named Galeed +and Mizpah, for he said, "Yahweh watch between me and you, +when we are absent one from another. +If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides +my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness +between me and you." +Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, +which I have set between me and you. +May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, +that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you +will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. +The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, +judge between us." Then Jacob swore by the fear of +his father, Isaac. +Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his +relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night +in the mountain. +Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and +his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned +to his place. +Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. +When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's army." +He called the name of that place Mahanaim. +Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, +to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. +He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell +my lord, Esau: 'This is what your servant, Jacob, says. +I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. +I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. +I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'" +The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your +brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, +and four hundred men with him." +Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. +He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, +and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; +and he said, "If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, +then the company which is left will escape." +Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my +father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country, +and to your relatives, and I will do you good,' +I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, +and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; +for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I +have become two companies. +Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: +for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers +with the children. +You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed +as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there +are so many.'" +He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had +with him, a present for Esau, his brother: +two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred +ewes and twenty rams, +thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, +twenty female donkeys and ten foals. +He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd +by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, +and put a space between herd and herd." +He commanded the foremost, saying, "When Esau, my brother, meets you, +and asks you, saying, 'Whose are you? Where are you going? +Whose are these before you?' +Then you shall say, 'They are your servant, Jacob's. It is a +present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.'" +He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed +the herds, saying, "This is how you shall speak to Esau, +when you find him. +You shall say, 'Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, +is behind us.'" For, he said, "I will appease him with the present +that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. +Perhaps he will accept me." +So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged +that night in the camp. +He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, +and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. +He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over +that which he had. +Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until +the breaking of the day. +When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched +the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh +was strained, as he wrestled. +The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Jacob said, +"I won't let you go, unless you bless me." +He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." +He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; +for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed." +Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." +He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" +He blessed him there. +Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: +for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, +and my life is preserved." +The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped +because of his thigh. +Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the sinew of +the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, +because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew +of the hip. +Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, +and with him four hundred men. He divided the children +between Leah, Rachel, and the two handmaids. +He put the handmaids and their children in front, Leah and her +children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. +He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself +to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. +Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, +and they wept. +He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; +and said, "Who are these with you?" He said, "The children +whom God has graciously given your servant." +Then the handmaids came near with their children, +and they bowed themselves. +Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. +After them, Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed themselves. +Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" +Jacob said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." +Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; let that which you +have be yours." +Jacob said, "Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, +then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, +as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. +Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has +dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." +He urged him, and he took it. +Esau said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I +will go before you." +Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender, +and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, +and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. +Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I +will lead on gently, according to the pace of the livestock +that are before me and according to the pace of the children, +until I come to my lord to Seir." +Esau said, "Let me now leave with you some of the folk who are +with me." He said, "Why? Let me find favor in the sight +of my lord." +So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. +Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made +shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place +is called Succoth. +Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is +in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; +and encamped before the city. +He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, +at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, +for one hundred pieces of money. +He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel. +Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out +to see the daughters of the land. +Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. +He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. +His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved +the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. +Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young +lady as a wife." +Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; +and his sons were with his livestock in the field. +Jacob held his peace until they came. +Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him. +The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. +The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he +had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; +a which thing ought not to be done. +Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, +longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. +Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take +our daughters for yourselves. +You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. +Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it." +Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find +favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. +Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever +you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife." +The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, +and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, +and said to them, "We can't do this thing, to give our sister +to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us. +Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will +be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised; +then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take +your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we +will become one people. +But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we +will take our sister, and we will be gone." +Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son. +The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight +in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house +of his father. +Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, +and talked with the men of their city, saying, +"These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land +and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. +Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give +them our daughters. +Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, +to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, +as they are circumcised. +Won't their livestock and their possessions and all their +animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, +and they will dwell with us." +All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, +and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, +all who went out of the gate of his city. +It happened on the third day, when they were sore, +that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, +each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, +and killed all the males. +They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, +and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away. +Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, +because they had defiled their sister. +They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which +was in the city, that which was in the field, +and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones +and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was +in the house. +Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, +to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, +among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. +They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, +and I will be destroyed, I and my house." +They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?" +God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. +Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled +from the face of Esau your brother." +Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, +"Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, +change your garments. +Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there +an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, +and was with me in the way which I went." +They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, +and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them +under the oak which was by Shechem. +They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were +around them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob. +So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land +of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. +He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; +because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from +the face of his brother. +Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel +under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon Bacuth. +God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, +and blessed him. +God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall +not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." +He named him Israel. +God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. +A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings +will come out of your body. +The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, +and to your seed after you will I give the land." +God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. +Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, +a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, +and poured oil on it. +Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him "Bethel." +They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance +to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor. +When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, +"Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son." +It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), +that she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin. +Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath +(the same is Bethlehem). +Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar +of Rachel's grave to this day. +Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. +It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and +lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. +Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. +The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), +Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. +The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. +The sons of Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid): Dan and Naphtali. +The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. +These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram. +Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba +(which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. +The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. +Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, +old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him. +Now this is the history of the generations of Esau +(that is, Edom). +Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter +of Elon, the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, +the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite; +and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. +Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz. Basemath bore Reuel. +Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons +of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. +Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members +of his household, with his livestock, all his animals, and all +his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, +and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. +For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, +and the land of their travels couldn't bear them because +of their livestock. +Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom. +This is the history of the generations of Esau the father +of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir: +these are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, the son +of Adah, the wife of Esau; and Reuel, the son of Basemath, +the wife of Esau. +The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. +Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son; and she bore +to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. +These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. +These were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. +These were the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, +the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to +Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. +These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of +Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, +chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, +chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs +who came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the +sons of Adah. +These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: +chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: +these are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom; +these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. +These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, +chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs who came +of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. +These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these +are their chiefs. +These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: +Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, +Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs who came +of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. +The children of Lotan were Hori and Heman. Lotan's sister was Timna. +These are the children of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, +and Onam. +These are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. +This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, +as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father. +These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, +the daughter of Anah. +These are the children of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, +and Cheran. +These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. +These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran. +These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: chief Lotan, +chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, +chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan: these are +the chiefs who came of the Horites, according to their chiefs +in the land of Seir. +These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, +before any king reigned over the children of Israel. +Bela, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom. The name of his +city was Dinhabah. +Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, +reigned in his place. +Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned +in his place. +Husham died, and Hadad, the son of Bedad, who struck +Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. +The name of his city was Avith. +Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. +Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river, +reigned in his place. +Shaul died, and Baal Hanan, the son of Achbor reigned +in his place. +Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place. +The name of his city was Pau. His wife's name was Mehetabel, +the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. +These are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, according to +their families, after their places, and by their names: +chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, +chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, +chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, +chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, +according to their habitations in the land of their possession. +This is Esau, the father of the Edomites. +Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the +land of Canaan. +This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being +seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. +He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. +Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. +Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, +because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat +of many colors. +His brothers saw that their father loved him more than +all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak +peaceably to him. +Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, +and they hated him all the more. +He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: +for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, +my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves +came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." +His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? +Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him +all the more for his dreams and for his words. +He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, +and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: +and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed +down to me." +He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, +and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? +Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow +ourselves down to you to the earth?" +His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind. +His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. +Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding +the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." +He said to him, "Here I am." +He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, +and well with the flock; and bring me word again." +So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. +A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. +The man asked him, "What are you looking for?" +He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, +where they are feeding the flock." +The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, +'Let us go to Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers, +and found them in Dothan. +They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, +they conspired against him to kill him. +They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes. +Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one +of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' +We will see what will become of his dreams." +Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, +"Let's not take his life." +Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this +pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"-- +that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him +to his father. +It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped +Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; +and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. +There was no water in it. +They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, +and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, +with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, +going to carry it down to Egypt. +Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill +our brother and conceal his blood? +Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let +our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." +His brothers listened to him. +Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted +up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites +for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt. +Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn't in the pit; +and he tore his clothes. +He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; +and I, where will I go?" +They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped +the coat in the blood. +They took the coat of many colors, and they brought +it to their father, and said, "We have found this. +Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not." +He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. +An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt +torn in pieces." +Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, +and mourned for his son many days. +All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, +but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down +to Sheol to my son mourning." +His father wept for him. +The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer +of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard. +It happened at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, +and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. +Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name +was Shua. He took her, and went in to her. +She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. +She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. +She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: +and he was at Chezib, when she bore him. +Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. +Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. +Yahweh killed him. +Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform +the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed +to your brother." +Onan knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, +when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it +on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. +The thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, +and he killed him also. +Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow +in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;" +for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." +Tamar went and lived in her father's house. +After many days, Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. +Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, +he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. +It was told Tamar, saying, "Behold, your father-in-law is going +up to Timnah to shear his sheep." +She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, +and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, +and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; +for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given +to him as a wife. +When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, +for she had covered her face. +He turned to her by the way, and said, "Please come, +let me come in to you," for he didn't know that she was +his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, +that you may come in to me?" +He said, "I will send you a kid of the goats from the flock." +She said, "Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?" +He said, "What pledge will I give you?" She said, "Your signet +and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." +He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. +She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, +and put on the garments of her widowhood. +Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend, +the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, +but he didn't find her. +Then he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is +the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?" They said, +"There has been no prostitute here." +He returned to Judah, and said, "I haven't found her; +and also the men of the place said, 'There has been +no prostitute here.'" +Judah said, "Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent +this kid, and you haven't found her." +It happened about three months later, that it was told Judah, +saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute; +and moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution." +Judah said, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." +When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, +saying, "By the man, whose these are, I am with child." +She also said, "Please discern whose are these--the signet, +and the cords, and the staff." +Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous +than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son." +He knew her again no more. +It happened in the time of her travail, that behold, +twins were in her womb. +When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied +a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This came out first." +It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother +came out, and she said, "Why have you made a breach for yourself?" +Therefore his name was called Perez. +Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet +thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. +Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer +of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, +bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought +him down there. +Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. +He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. +His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made +all that he did prosper in his hand. +Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, +and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had +he put into his hand. +It happened from the time that he made him overseer in his house, +and over all that he had, that Yahweh blessed the Egyptian's +house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Yahweh was on +all that he had, in the house and in the field. +He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He didn't concern +himself with anything, except for the food which he ate. +Joseph was well-built and handsome. +It happened after these things, that his master's wife cast +her eyes on Joseph; and she said, "Lie with me." +But he refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master +doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put +all that he has into my hand. +He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept +back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. +How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" +As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn't listen to her, +to lie by her, or to be with her. +About this time, he went into the house to do his work, +and there were none of the men of the house inside. +She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" +He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside. +When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, +and had run outside, +she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, +saying, "Behold, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us. +He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. +It happened, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, +that he left his garment by me, and ran outside." +She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. +She spoke to him according to these words, saying, "The Hebrew +servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me, +and it happened, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left +his garment by me, and ran outside." +It happened, when his master heard the words of his wife, +which she spoke to him, saying, "This is what your servant +did to me," that his wrath was kindled. +Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, +the place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was +there in custody. +But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, +and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. +The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all +the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, +he was responsible for it. +The keeper of the prison didn't look after anything that was under +his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, +Yahweh made it prosper. +It happened after these things, that the butler of the king +of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. +Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer +and the chief baker. +He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, +into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. +The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took +care of them. They stayed in prison many days. +They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, +each man according to the interpretation of his dream, +the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were +bound in the prison. +Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw +that they were sad. +He asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his +master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?" +They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there +is no one who can interpret it." Joseph said to them, +"Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me." +The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, +"In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, +and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, +its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought +forth ripe grapes. +Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, +and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup +into Pharaoh's hand." +Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: +the three branches are three days. +Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, +and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh's cup +into his hand, the way you did when you were his cupbearer. +But remember me when it will be well with you, and show +kindness, please, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, +and bring me out of this house. +For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, +and here also have I done nothing that they should put me +into the dungeon." +When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, +he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and behold, +three baskets of white bread were on my head. +In the uppermost basket there was all kinds of baked food +for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket +on my head." +Joseph answered, "This is the interpretation of it. +The three baskets are three days. +Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from +off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat +your flesh from off you." +It happened the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, +that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up +the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief +baker among his servants. +He restored the chief cupbearer to his position again, +and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; +but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. +Yet the chief cupbearer didn't remember Joseph, but forgot him. +It happened at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: +and behold, he stood by the river. +Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, sleek and fat, +and they fed in the marsh grass. +Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, +ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink +of the river. +The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. +So Pharaoh awoke. +He slept and dreamed a second time: and behold, seven heads +of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. +Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, +sprung up after them. +The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. +Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. +It happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, +and he sent and called for all of Egypt's magicians and wise men. +Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could +interpret them to Pharaoh. +Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember +my faults today. +Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in +the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. +We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man +according to the interpretation of his dream. +There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain +of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. +To each man according to his dream he interpreted. +It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: +he restored me to my office, and he hanged him." +Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily +out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, +and came in to Pharaoh. +Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there +is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, +that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." +Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It isn't in me. +God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." +Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood on +the brink of the river: +and behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, +fat and sleek. They fed in the marsh grass, +and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and +very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land +of Egypt for ugliness. +The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle, +and when they had eaten them up, it couldn't be known that they +had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. +So I awoke. +I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up +on one stalk, full and good: +and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted +with the east wind, sprung up after them. +The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. +I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could +explain it to me." +Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one. +What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. +The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads +of grain are seven years. The dream is one. +The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are +seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted +with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. +That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about +to do he has shown to Pharaoh. +Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout +all the land of Egypt. +There will arise after them seven years of famine, +and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. +The famine will consume the land, +and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that +famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. +The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established +by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. +"Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, +and set him over the land of Egypt. +Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, +and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt's produce +in the seven plenteous years. +Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, +and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, +and let them keep it. +The food will be for a store to the land against the seven +years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; +that the land not perish through the famine." +The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes +of all his servants. +Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, +a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" +Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has shown you all of this, +there is none so discreet and wise as you. +You shall be over my house, and according to your word +will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be +greater than you." +Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all +the land of Egypt." +Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it +on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, +and put a gold chain about his neck, +and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. +They cried before him, "Bow the knee!" He set him over all +the land of Egypt. +Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall +no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." +Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave +him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. +Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. +Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king +of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, +and went throughout all the land of Egypt. +In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly. +He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were +in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: +the food of the field, which was round about every city, +he laid up in the same. +Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, +until he stopped counting, for it was without number. +To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, +whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, +bore to him. +Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has +made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." +The name of the second, he called Ephraim: "For God has +made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." +The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, +came to an end. +The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. +There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt +there was bread. +When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh +for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. +What he says to you, do." +The famine was over all the surface of the earth. +Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. +The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. +All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, +because the famine was severe in all the earth. +Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said +to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" +He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. +Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, +and not die." +Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. +But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; +for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him." +The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, +for the famine was in the land of Canaan. +Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold +to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, +and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. +Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted +like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. +He said to them, "Where did you come from?" They said, +"From the land of Canaan to buy food." +Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him. +Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, +and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see +the nakedness of the land." +They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come +to buy food. +We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants +are not spies." +He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness +of the land." +They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons +of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest +is this day with our father, and one is no more." +Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies.' +By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, +you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest +brother comes here. +Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, +that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, +or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies." +He put them all together into custody for three days. +Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, +for I fear God. +If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound +in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine +of your houses. +Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, +and you won't die." They did so. +They said one to another, "We are certainly guilty concerning +our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, +when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this +distress has come upon us." +Reuben answered them, saying, "Didn't I tell you, saying, +'Don't sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? +Therefore also, behold, his blood is required." +They didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was +an interpreter between them. +He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned +to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, +and bound him before their eyes. +Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, +and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give +them food for the way. So it was done to them. +They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. +As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the +lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth +of his sack. +He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is +in my sack!" Their hearts failed them, and they turned +trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God has +done to us?" +They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, +and told him all that had happened to them, saying, +"The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, +and took us for spies of the country. +We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies. +We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, +and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' +The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know +that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, +and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way. +Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know +that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. +So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade +in the land.'" +It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's +bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father +saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. +Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me +of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, +and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things +are against me." +Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, +if I don't bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, +and I will bring him to you again." +He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother +is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along +the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray +hairs with sorrow to Sheol." +The famine was severe in the land. +It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had +brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, +buy us a little more food." +Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, +'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.' +If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food, +but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man +said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother +is with you.'" +Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man +that you had another brother?" +They said, "The man asked directly concerning ourselves, +and concerning our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? +Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. +Is there any way we could know that he would say, +'Bring your brother down?'" +Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, +and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, +both we, and you, and also our little ones. +I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. +If I don't bring him to you, and set him before you, +then let me bear the blame forever, +for if we hadn't delayed, surely we would have returned a second +time by now." +Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. +Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry +down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, +spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds; +and take double money in your hand, and take back +the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. +Perhaps it was an oversight. +Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man. +May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, +that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. +If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." +The men took that present, and they took double money in +their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, +and stood before Joseph. +When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of +his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, +and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon." +The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men +to Joseph's house. +The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; +and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our +sacks at the first time, we're brought in; that he may seek +occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, +along with our donkeys." +They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they +spoke to him at the door of the house, +and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time +to buy food. +When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, +and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, +our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand. +We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. +We don't know who put our money in our sacks." +He said, "Peace be to you. Don't be afraid. Your God, +and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. +I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them. +The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, +and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. +They made ready the present for Joseph's coming at noon, +for they heard that they should eat bread there. +When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was +in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him +to the earth. +He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, +the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?" +They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." +They bowed the head, and did homage. +He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, +his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, +of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious +to you, my son." +Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; +and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, +and wept there. +He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, +and said, "Serve the meal." +They served him by himself, and them by themselves, +and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, +because the Egyptians don't eat bread with the Hebrews, +for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. +They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, +and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled +one with another. +He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's +portion was five times as much as any of theirs. +They drank, and were merry with him. +He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's +sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every +man's money in his sack's mouth. +Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, +with his grain money." He did according to the word that +Joseph had spoken. +As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, +they and their donkeys. +When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, +Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. +When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded +evil for good? +Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which +he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'" +He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them. +They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? +Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! +Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought +again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we +steal silver or gold out of your lord's house? +With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, +and we also will be my lord's bondservants." +He said, "Now also let it be according to your words: +he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you +will be blameless." +Then they hurried, and every man took his sack down to the ground, +and every man opened his sack. +He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. +The cup was found in Benjamin's sack. +Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, +and returned to the city. +Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was +still there. They fell on the ground before him. +Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? +Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?" +Judah said, "What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? +Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity +of your servants. Behold, we are my lord's bondservants, +both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found." +He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man +in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; +but as for you, go up in peace to your father." +Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, +please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, +and don't let your anger burn against your servant; +for you are even as Pharaoh. +My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, +or a brother?' +We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child +of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, +and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.' +You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may +set my eyes on him.' +We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: +for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' +You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes +down with you, you will see my face no more.' +It happened when we came up to your servant my father, +we told him the words of my lord. +Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.' +We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, +then we will go down: for we may not see the man's face, +unless our youngest brother is with us.' +Your servant, my father, said to us, 'You know that my wife +bore me two sons: +and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn +in pieces;" and I haven't seen him since. +If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, +you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.' +Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, +and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up +in the boy's life; +it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, +that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray +hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. +For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, +saying, 'If I don't bring him to you, then I will bear +the blame to my father forever.' +Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, +a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers. +For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn't with me?-- +lest I see the evil that will come on my father." +Then Joseph couldn't control himself before all those who stood +before him, and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" +No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known +to his brothers. +He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. +Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father +still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they +were terrified at his presence. +Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." +They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, +whom you sold into Egypt. +Now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold +me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. +For these two years the famine has been in the land, +and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither +plowing nor harvest. +God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, +and to save you alive by a great deliverance. +So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has +made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler +over all the land of Egypt. +Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what +your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. +Come down to me. Don't wait. +You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near +to me, you, your children, your children's children, your flocks, +your herds, and all that you have. +There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; +lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all +that you have."' +Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, +that it is my mouth that speaks to you. +You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, +and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring +my father down here." +He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin +wept on his neck. +He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his +brothers talked with him. +The report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, +"Joseph's brothers have come." It pleased Pharaoh well, +and his servants. +Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this. +Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. +Take your father and your households, and come to me, +and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you +will eat the fat of the land.' +Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land +of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring +your father, and come. +Also, don't concern yourselves about your belongings, +for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours." +The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, +according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them +provision for the way. +He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave +three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. +To his father, he sent after this manner: ten donkeys loaded +with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded +with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. +So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. +He said to them, "See that you don't quarrel on the way." +They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, +to Jacob their father. +They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is +ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, +for he didn't believe them. +They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. +When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, +the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. +Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. +I will go and see him before I die." +Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, +and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. +God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, +"Jacob, Jacob!" He said, "Here I am." +He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go +down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. +I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring +you up again. Joseph will close your eyes." +Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, +their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons +which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. +They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten +in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt--Jacob, and all +his seed with him, +his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, +and his sons' daughters, and he brought all his seed with +him into Egypt. +These are the names of the children of Israel, who came +into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. +The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. +The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul +the son of a Canaanite woman. +The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. +The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; +but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez +were Hezron and Hamul. +The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. +The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. +These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, +with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his +daughters were thirty-three. +The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, +and Areli. +The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah +their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. +These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, +his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. +The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin. +To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, +whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, +bore to him. +The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, +Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. +These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: +all the souls were fourteen. +The son of Dan: Hushim. +The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. +These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, +and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven. +All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his +direct descendants, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the +souls were sixty-six. +The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. +All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, +were seventy. +He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him +to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. +Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, +his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, +and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. +Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen +your face, that you are still alive." +Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's house, +"I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, +'My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land +of Canaan, have come to me. +These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, +and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, +and all that they have.' +It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, +'What is your occupation?' +that you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock +from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:' +that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd +is an abomination to the Egyptians." +Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father +and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that +they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, +they are in the land of Goshen." +From among his brothers he took five men, and presented +them to Pharaoh. +Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" +They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we, +and our fathers." +They said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as foreigners in +the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. +For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, +please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen." +Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers +have come to you. +The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your +brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell +in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, +then put them in charge of my livestock." +Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, +and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. +Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years +of your life?" +Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage +are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been +the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained +to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days +of their pilgrimage." +Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. +Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them +a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, +in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. +Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his +father's household, with bread, according to their families. +There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, +so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted +by reason of the famine. +Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, +and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: +and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. +When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in +the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, +"Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? +For our money fails." +Joseph said, "Give me your livestock; and I will give you food +for your livestock, if your money is gone." +They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave +them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, +and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them +with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year. +When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, +and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money +is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There +is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, +and our lands. +Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? +Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will +be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, +and not die, and that the land won't be desolate." +So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, +for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine +was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's. +As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end +of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it. +Only he didn't buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a +portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. +That is why they didn't sell their land. +Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you +and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, +and you shall sow the land. +It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth +to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed +of the field, for your food, for them of your households, +and for food for your little ones." +They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor +in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants." +Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt +to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. +Only the land of the priests alone didn't become Pharaoh's. +Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; +and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, +and multiplied exceedingly. +Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. +So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one +hundred forty-seven years. +The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, +and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put +your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. +Please don't bury me in Egypt, +but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me +out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." +He said, "I will do as you have said." +He said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Israel bowed +himself on the bed's head. +It happened after these things, that someone said to Joseph, "Behold, +your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, +Manasseh and Ephraim. +Someone told Jacob, and said, "Behold, your son Joseph comes to you," +and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. +Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz +in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, +and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, +and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this +land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.' +Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt +before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, +even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. +Your issue, who you become the father of after them, will be yours. +They will be called after the name of their brothers +in their inheritance. +As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land +of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come +to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath +(the same is Bethlehem)." +Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?" +Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God +has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, +and I will bless them." +Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn't see. +He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, +and embraced them. +Israel said to Joseph, "I didn't think I would see your face, +and behold, God has let me see your seed also." +Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed +himself with his face to the earth. +Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's +left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's +right hand, and brought them near to him. +Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, +who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, +guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. +He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers +Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has fed me all my life +long to this day, +the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, +and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers +Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst +of the earth." +When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head +of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, +to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. +Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is +the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." +His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. +He also will become a people, and he also will be great. +However, his younger brother will be greater than he, +and his seed will become a multitude of nations." +He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Israel bless, +saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set +Ephraim before Manasseh. +Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be +with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. +Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, +which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword +and with my bow." +Jacob called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, +that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the +days to come. +Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. +Listen to Israel, your father. +"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning +of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power. +Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you +went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. +He went up to my couch. +"Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence. +My soul, don't come into their council. My glory, don't be +united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. +In their self-will they hamstrung oxen. +Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, +for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter +them in Israel. +"Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be +on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow +down before you. +Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. +He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. +Who will rouse him up? +The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff +from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. +To him will the obedience of the peoples be. +Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; +he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the +blood of grapes. +His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk. +"Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for +a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon. +"Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags. +He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, +that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, +and becomes a servant doing forced labor. +"Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. +Dan will be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, +That bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward. +I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh. +"A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel. +"Asher's food will be rich. He will yield royal dainties. +"Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns. +"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. +His branches run over the wall. +The archers have sorely grieved him, shot at him, +and persecute him: +But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were +made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, +(from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), +even by the God of your father, who will help you; by the Almighty, +who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, +blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, +and of the womb. +The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings +of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. +They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head +of him who is separated from his brothers. +"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour +the prey. At evening he will divide the spoil." +All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this +is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. +He blessed everyone according to his blessing. +He charged them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. +Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field +of Ephron the Hittite, +in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, +in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field +from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. +There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they +buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah: +the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased +from the children of Heth." +When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered +up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, +and was gathered to his people. +Joseph fell on his father's face, wept on him, and kissed him. +Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; +and the physicians embalmed Israel. +Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many +the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him +for seventy days. +When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke +to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor +in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, +'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am dying. Bury me +in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan." +Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, +and I will come again.'" +Pharaoh said, "Go up, and bury your father, just like he +made you swear." +Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up +all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, +all the elders of the land of Egypt, +all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's house. +Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, +they left in the land of Goshen. +There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. +It was a very great company. +They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, +and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. +He mourned for his father seven days. +When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning +in the floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning +by the Egyptians." Therefore, the name of it was called +Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. +His sons did to him just as he commanded them, +for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried +him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham +bought with the field, for a possession of a burial site, +from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. +Joseph returned into Egypt--he, and his brothers, and all +that went up with him to bury his father, after he had +buried his father. +When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, +"It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us +back for all of the evil which we did to him." +They sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father commanded +before he died, saying, +'You shall tell Joseph, "Now please forgive the disobedience +of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you."' +Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God +of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. +His brothers also went and fell down before his face; +and they said, "Behold, we are your servants." +Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid, for am I in the place of God? +As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, +to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. +Now therefore don't be afraid. I will nourish you and your +little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them. +Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father's house. +Joseph lived one hundred ten years. +Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. +The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born +on Joseph's knees. +Joseph said to his brothers, "I am dying, but God will surely +visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land +which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." +Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, "God will +surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." +So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they +embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.