Genesis 30-37

New American Standard Bible

The Sons of Jacob

30 Now when Rachel saw that ^(A)she had not borne Jacob any children, ^[a]she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “^(B)Give me children, or else I am going to die.” ² Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has ^(C)withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” ³ Then she said, “^(D)Here is my female slave Bilhah: have relations with her that she may ^(E)give birth ^[b]on my knees, so that ^[c](F)by her I too may obtain a child.” ⁴ So ^(G)she gave him her slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has ^[d](H)vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him ^[e]Dan. ⁷ And Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ So Rachel said, “With ^[f]mighty wrestling I have ^[g]wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Then Leah said, “^[h]How fortunate!” So she named him ^[i]Gad. ¹² And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ Then Leah said, “^[j]Happy am I! For women ^(I)will call me happy.” So she named him ^[k]Asher.

¹⁴ Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found ^(J)mandrake fruits in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵ But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must have relations with me, for I have indeed hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷ God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Then Leah said, “God has given me my ^[l]reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ¹⁹ And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰ Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; finally my husband ^[m]will acknowledge me as his wife, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. ²¹ Afterward she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Dinah.

²² Then ^(K)God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and ^(L)opened her womb. ²³ So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “God has ^(M)taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴ And she named him Joseph, saying, “^(N)May the Lord ^[n]give me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

²⁵ Now it came about, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “^(O)Send me away, so that I may go to my own place and to my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children ^(P)for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have ^[o]rendered you.” ²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If ^[p]it pleases you at all, stay with me; I have determined by divination ^(Q)that the Lord has blessed me on your account.” ²⁸ He ^[q]continued, “^(R)Name me your wages, and I will give them.” ²⁹ But Jacob said to him, “^(S)You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have ^[r]fared with me. ³⁰ For you had little before ^[s]I came, and it has ^[t]increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you ^[u]wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” ³¹ So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: ³² let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every ^(T)speckled or spotted sheep and every black sheep among the lambs, and the spotted or speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages. ³³ So my ^[v]honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my ^[w]wages. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” ³⁴ Laban said, “^[x]Good, let it be according to your word.” ³⁵ So he removed on that day the striped or spotted male goats, and all the speckled or spotted female goats, every one with white on it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and put them in the ^[y]care of his sons. ³⁶ And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Then Jacob ^[z]took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white that was ^[aa]in the rods. ³⁸ He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the drinking troughs, that is, in the watering channels where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks delivered striped, speckled, and spotted offspring. ⁴⁰ Then Jacob separated the lambs, and ^[ab]made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the drinking troughs, so that they would mate by the rods; ⁴² but when the flock was sickly, he did not put them in; so the sickly were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s. ⁴³ So ^(U)the man ^[ac]became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Now ^[ad]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ^[ae]wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^[af]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “^(V)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and ^(W)I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and said to them, “^(X)I see your father’s ^[ag]attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but ^(Y)the God of my father has been with me. ^6 (Z)You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has ^(AA)cheated me and ^(AB)changed my wages ten times; however, ^(AC)God did not allow him to do me harm. ⁸ If ^(AD)he said this: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered speckled; and if he said this: ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered striped. ⁹ So God has ^(AE)taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ And it came about at the time when the flock was breeding that I raised my eyes and saw in a dream—and behold—the male goats that were ^[ah]mating were striped, speckled, or mottled. ¹¹ Then ^(AF)the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are ^[ai]mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for ^(AG)I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am ^(AH)the God of Bethel, where you ^(AI)anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ^[aj]leave this land, and ^(AJ)return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(AK)he has sold us, and has also ^[ak]entirely consumed our ^[al]purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he possessed which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, ^(AL)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the ^[am](AM)household idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[an]deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set ^[ao]out for the hill country of ^(AN)Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² When Laban was informed on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ However, ^(AO)God came to Laban the Aramean in a ^(AP)dream of the night and said to him, “^[ap](AQ)Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done ^[aq]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly and ^[ar]deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with ^(AR)tambourine and with ^(AS)lyre; ²⁸ and did not allow me ^(AT)to kiss my ^[as]grandchildren and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is in ^[at]my power to do you harm, but ^(AU)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘^[au](AV)Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ ³⁰ Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal ^(AW)my gods?” ³¹ Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (AX)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives ^[av]point out what is yours ^[aw]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the ^[ax]household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. So Laban searched through all the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “May my lord not be angry that I cannot ^(AY)stand in your presence, because the ^[ay]way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the ^[az](AZ)household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ Though you have searched through all my property, what have you found of all your household property? Set it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide between the two of us. ³⁸ For these twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ I did not even bring to you that which was torn by wild animals; I took the loss myself. You demanded it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ This is how I was: by day the ^[ba]heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ For these twenty years I have been in your house; ^(BA)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you ^(BB)changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If ^(BC)the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(BD)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, so He ^(BE)rendered judgment last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

⁴³ Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the ^[bb]children are my ^[bc]grandchildren, ^(BF)the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ So now come, let’s ^(BG)make a covenant, ^[bd]you and I, and ^(BH)it shall be a witness between ^[be]you and me.” ⁴⁵ Then Jacob took ^(BI)a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Now Laban ^(BJ)called it ^[bf]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[bg]Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “^(BK)This heap is a witness between ^[bh]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, ⁴⁹ and ^[bi](BL)Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord keep watch between ^[bj]you and me when we are ^[bk]absent one from the other. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(BM)God is witness between ^[bl]you and me.” ⁵¹ Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between ^[bm]you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this memorial stone to me, for harm. ^53 (BN)The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, ^(BO)judge between us.” So Jacob swore by ^(BP)the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob ^(BQ)offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to ^[bn]the meal; and they ate ^[bo]the meal and spent the night on the mountain. ^55 [bp]Then early in the morning Laban got up, and ^(BR)kissed his ^[bq]grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32 Now as Jacob went on his way, ^(BS)the angels of God met him. ² And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s ^[br]camp.” So he named that place ^[bs](BT)Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob ^(BU)sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of ^(BV)Seir, the ^[bt]country of ^(BW)Edom. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and ^(BX)stayed until now; ⁵ and ^(BY)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, ^(BZ)so that I may find favor in your sight.”’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ^(CA)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(CB)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[bu]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob said, “^(CC)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘^(CD)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^[bv]make you prosper,’ ^10 [bw]I am unworthy ^(CE)of all the ^[bx]favor and of all the ^[by]faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (CF)Save me, please, ^(CG)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^[bz]attack me and the ^(CH)mothers with the children. ¹² For You said, ‘^(CI)I will assuredly ^[ca]make you prosper and ^(CJ)make your ^[cb]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”

¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he ^[cc]selected from what ^[cd]he had with him a ^(CK)gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ Then he placed them in the ^[ce]care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.” ¹⁷ And he commanded the ^[cf]one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the ^(CL)Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^(CM)wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of ^[cg]Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “^(CN)I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then ^(CO)he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[ch]Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ And ^(CP)Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place ^[ci]Peniel, for he said, “^(CQ)I have seen God face to face, yet my ^[cj]life has been ^[ck]spared.” ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^(CR)Penuel, and he was limping on his hip. ³² Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the tendon of the hip.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(CS)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ^[cl]among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women. ² He put the slave women and their children ^[cm]in front, and Leah and her children ^[cn]next, and Rachel and Joseph ^[co]last. ³ But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^(CT)bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and ^(CU)fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ He raised his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “^[cp]Who are these with you?” So he said, “^(CV)The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the slave women came forward ^[cq]with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ And Leah likewise came forward with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed down. ⁸ And he said, “What do you mean by ^(CW)all this company which I have met?” And he said, “^(CX)To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “^(CY)I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, ^[cr]for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my ^[cs](CZ)gift which has been brought to you, ^(DA)because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ^[ct]plenty.” So he urged him, and he accepted it.

¹² Then ^[cu]Esau said, “Let’s journey on and go, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³ But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds that are nursing are ^[cv]a matter of concern to me. And if they are driven hard just one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, at the pace of the cattle that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^(DB)Seir.”

¹⁵ Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “^[cw]What need is there? ^(DC)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^[cx](DD)Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^(DE)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(DF)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ^19 (DG)He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ^[cy]pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ^[cz]El-Elohe-Israel.

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

34 Now ^(DH)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to ^[da]visit the daughters of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor ^(DI)the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her. ³ But ^[db]he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and ^[dc]spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem ^(DJ)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” ⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob said nothing until they came in. ⁶ Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a ^[dd](DK)disgraceful thing in Israel by ^[de]sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him ^[df]in marriage. ⁹ And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ So you will live with us, and ^(DL)the land shall be ^[dg]open to you; live and ^(DM)trade in it and ^(DN)acquire property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give whatever you tell me. ¹² Demand of me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give whatever you tell me; but give me the girl ^[dh]in marriage.”

¹³ But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a ^(DO)man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸ Now their words seemed ^[di]reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay to do ^[dj]this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the ^(DP)gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are ^[dk]friendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is ^[dl]large enough for them. We will take their daughters ^[dm]in marriage, and give our daughters to them. ²² Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised. ²³ Will their livestock and their property and all their animals not be ours? Let’s just consent to them, and they will live with us.” ^24 (DQ)All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵ Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons—^(DR)Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers—each took his sword and came upon the city undetected, and killed every male. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. ²⁷ Jacob’s sons came upon those killed and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; ²⁹ and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even everything that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ^(DS)brought trouble on me by ^(DT)making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among ^(DU)the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and ^[dn](DV)since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and ^[do]attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!” ³¹ But they said, “Should he ^[dp]treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Jacob Moves to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(DW)Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to ^(DX)God, who appeared to you ^(DY)when you fled ^[dq]from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(DZ)household and to all who were with him, “Remove ^(EA)the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(EB)purify yourselves and change your garments; ³ and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^(EC)an altar there to God, ^(ED)who answered me on the day of my distress and ^(EE)has been with me ^[dr]wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which ^[ds]they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ^[dt]oak which was near Shechem.

⁵ As they journeyed, there was ^[du](EF)a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ So Jacob came to ^(EG)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ Then ^(EH)he built an altar there, and called the place ^[dv]El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ^[dw]from his brother. ⁸ Now ^(EI)Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named ^[dx]Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹ Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^(EJ)blessed him. ^10 (EK)God said to him,

So He called ^[dz]him Israel. ¹¹ God also said to him,

¹³ Then ^(EQ)God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴ So Jacob set up ^(ER)a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^[ef](ES)Bethel.

¹⁶ Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to ^(ET)Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor. ¹⁷ And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for ^(EU)you have another son!” ¹⁸ And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ^[eg]Ben-oni; but his father called him ^[eh]Benjamin. ¹⁹ So ^(EV)Rachel died and was buried on the way to ^(EW)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the ^(EX)memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹ Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the ^[ei](EY)tower of ^[ej]Eder.

The Sons of Israel

²² And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that ^(EZ)Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob— ^23 (FA)the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ^24 (FB)the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵ and ^(FC)the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, were Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶ and ^(FD)the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s female slave, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

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

²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were ^(FG)180 years. ²⁹ Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was ^(FH)gathered to his people, an ^(FI)old man ^[ek]of ripe age; and ^(FJ)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Esau Moves

36 Now these are the records of the generations of ^(FK)Esau (that is, Edom).

² Esau ^(FL)took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and ^(FM)Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the ^[el](FN)granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ³ also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Adah bore ^(FO)Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath gave birth to Reuel, ⁵ and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

^6 (FP)Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all ^[em]his household, and his livestock and all his cattle, and all his property which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land away from his brother Jacob. ^7 (FQ)For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the ^(FR)land where they ^(FS)resided could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau lived in the hill country of ^(FT)Seir; Esau is ^(FU)Edom.

Descendants of Esau

⁹ These then are the records of the generations of Esau the father of ^[en]the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. ¹⁰ These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, ^[eo]Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹² Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore ^(FV)Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah. ¹³ And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁴ And these were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the ^[ep]granddaughter of Zibeon: ^[eq]she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵ These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, ¹⁶ chief Korah, chief Gatam, and chief Amalek. These are the chiefs ^[er]descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷ And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, and chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs ^[es]descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁸ And these are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, and chief Korah. These are the chiefs ^[et]descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

²⁰ These are the sons of Seir ^(FW)the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs ^[eu]descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²² And the sons of Lotan were Hori and ^[ev]Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. ²³ And these are the sons of Shobal: ^[ew]Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, ^[ex]Shepho, and Onam. ²⁴ And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. ²⁵ And these are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ²⁶ And these are the sons of ^[ey](FX)Dishon: ^[ez]Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ²⁷ These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and ^[fa]Akan. ²⁸ These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹ These are the chiefs ^[fb]descended from the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, ³⁰ chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan. These are the chiefs ^[fc]descended from the Horites, according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir.

³¹ Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any ^(FY)king reigned over the sons of Israel. ^32 [fd](FZ)Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³ Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place. ³⁴ Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place. ³⁵ Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who ^[fe]defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶ Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place. ³⁷ Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates River became king in his place. ³⁸ Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place. ³⁹ Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and ^[ff]Hadar became king in his place; and the name of his city was ^[fg]Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ Now these are the names of the chiefs ^[fh]descended from Esau, according to their families and their localities, by their names: chief Timna, chief ^[fi]Alvah, chief Jetheth, ⁴¹ chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, ⁴² chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, ⁴³ chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of ^[fj]the Edomites), according to their settlements in the land of their possession.

Joseph’s Dreams

37 Now Jacob lived in ^(GA)the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan. ² These are the records of the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, when he was ^(GB)seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, while he was still a youth, along with ^(GC)the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a ^(GD)bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was ^(GE)the son of his old age; and he made him a ^[fk](GF)multicolored tunic. ⁴ And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they ^(GG)hated him and could not speak to him ^[fl]on friendly terms.

⁵ Then Joseph ^[fm](GH)had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have ^[fn]had; ⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and ^(GI)bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ Then his brothers said to him, “^(GJ)Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he ^[fo]had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have ^[fp]had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have ^[fq]had? Am I and your mother and ^(GK)your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ And ^(GL)his brothers were jealous of him, but his father ^(GM)kept the matter in mind.

¹² Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not pasturing the flock in ^(GN)Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “^[fr]I will go.” ¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of ^(GO)Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “^[fs]What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷ Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to ^(GP)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

The Plot against Joseph

^18 [ft]When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they ^(GQ)plotted against him to put him to death. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “^[fu]Here comes this dreamer! ²⁰ Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and ^(GR)we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹ But ^(GS)Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands ^[fv]by saying, “Let’s not ^[fw]take his life.” ²² Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father. ²³ So it came about, when Joseph ^[fx]reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the ^[fy]multicolored tunic that was on him; ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat ^[fz]a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of ^(GT)Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying ^(GU)labdanum resin, ^(GV)balsam, and ^[ga]myrrh, ^[gb]on their way to bring them down to Egypt. ²⁶ And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and ^(GW)cover up his blood? ^27 (GX)Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then some ^(GY)Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and ^(GZ)sold ^[gc]him to the Ishmaelites for ^[gd]twenty shekels of silver. So ^(HA)they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^(HB)tore his garments. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “^(HC)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” ³¹ So ^(HD)they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³² and they sent the ^[ge]multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please ^[gf]examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” ³³ Then he ^[gg]examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. ^(HE)A vicious animal has devoured him; ^(HF)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ So Jacob ^(HG)tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will ^(HH)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the ^[gh]Midianites ^(HI)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.