Bible (Basic English)/Genesis

At the first God made the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and God made a division between the light and the dark,

Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.

And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.

And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so.

And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.

And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.

And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and God saw that it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:

And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.

And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.

And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth;

To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.

And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.

And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.

And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.

And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.

And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.

And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth.

And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food:

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.

And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

And the heaven and the earth and all things in them were complete.

And on the seventh day God came to the end of all his work; and on the seventh day he took his rest from all the work which he had done.

And God gave his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy: because on that day he took his rest from all the work which he had made and done.

These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were made.

In the day when the Lord God made earth and heaven there were no plants of the field on the earth, and no grass had come up: for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to do work on the land.

But a mist went up from the earth, watering all the face of the land.

And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul.

And the Lord God made a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had made.

And out of the earth the Lord made every tree to come, delighting the eye and good for food; and in the middle of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And a river went out of Eden giving water to the garden; and from there it was parted and became four streams.

The name of the first is Pishon, which goes round about all the land of Havilah where there is gold.

And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

And the name of the second river is Gihon: this river goes round all the land of Cush.

And the name of the third river is Tigris, which goes to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do work in it and take care of it.

And the Lord God gave the man orders, saying, You may freely take of the fruit of every tree of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take; for on the day when you take of it, death will certainly come to you.

And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be by himself: I will make one like himself as a help to him

And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them: and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.

And the man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field; but Adam had no one like himself as a help.

And the Lord God sent a deep sleep on the man, and took one of the bones from his side while he was sleeping, joining up the flesh again in its place:

And the bone which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and took her to the man.

And the man said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man.

For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.

And the man and his wife were without clothing, and they had no sense of shame.

Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?

And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.

And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:

For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.

And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.

And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening wind: and the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God.

And the voice of the Lord God came to the man, saying, Where are you?

And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes.

And he said, Who gave you the knowledge that you were without clothing? Have you taken of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take?

And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it.

And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.

And the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle and every beast of the field; you will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life:

And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.

To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.

And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life.

Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food;

With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.

And the man gave his wife the name of Eve because she was the mother of all who have life.

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins for their clothing.

And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.

So the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from which he was taken.

So he sent the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden he put winged ones and a flaming sword turning every way to keep the way to the tree of life.

And the man had connection with Eve his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have got a man from the Lord.

Then again she became with child and gave birth to Abel, his brother. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a farmer.

And after a time, Cain gave to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth.

And Abel gave an offering of the young lambs of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering;

But in Cain and his offering he had no pleasure. And Cain was angry and his face became sad.

And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your face sad?

If you do well, will you not have honour? and if you do wrong, sin is waiting at the door, desiring to have you, but do not let it be your master.

And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

And the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I have no idea: am I my brother's keeper?

And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the earth.

And now you are cursed from the earth, whose mouth is open to take your brother's blood from your hand;

No longer will the earth give you her fruit as the reward of your work; you will be a wanderer in flight over the earth.

And Cain said, My punishment is greater than my strength.

You have sent me out this day from the face of the earth and from before your face; I will be a wanderer in flight over the earth, and whoever sees me will put me to death.

And the Lord said, Truly, if Cain is put to death, seven lives will be taken for his. And the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one might put him to death.

And Cain went away from before the face of the Lord, and made his living-place in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.

And Cain had connection with his wife and she became with child and gave birth to Enoch: and he made a town, and gave the town the name of Enoch after his son.

And Enoch had a son Irad: and Irad became the father of Mehujael: and Mehujael became the father of Methushael: and Methushael became the father of Lamech.

And Lamech had two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

And Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was the father of such as are living in tents and keep cattle.

And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all players on instruments of music.

And Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, who is the father of every maker of cutting instruments of brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, give ear to my voice; you wives of Lamech, give attention to my words, for I would put a man to death for a wound, and a young man for a blow;

If seven lives are to be taken as punishment for Cain's death, seventy-seven will be taken for Lamech's.

And Adam had connection with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name of Seth: for she said, God has given me another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain put to death.

And Seth had a son, and he gave him the name of Enosh: at this time men first made use of the name of the Lord in worship.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God made man, he made him in the image of God;

Male and female he made them, naming them Man, and giving them his blessing on the day when they were made.

Adam had been living for a hundred and thirty years when he had a son like himself, after his image, and gave him the name of Seth:

And after the birth of Seth, Adam went on living for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Adam's life were nine hundred and thirty: and he came to his end.

And Seth was a hundred and five years old when he became the father of Enosh:

And he went on living after the birth of Enosh for eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Seth's life were nine hundred and twelve: and he came to his end.

And Enosh was ninety years old when he became the father of Kenan:

And after the birth of Kenan, Enosh went on living for eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Enosh were nine hundred and five: and he came to his end.

And Kenan was seventy years old when he became the father of Mahalalel:

And after the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan went on living for eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Kenan's life were nine hundred and ten; and he came to his end.

And Mahalalel was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Jared:

And after the birth of Jared, Mahalalel went on living for eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Mahalalel's life were eight hundred and ninety-five: and he came to his end.

And Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old when he became the father of Enoch:

And Jared went on living after the birth of Enoch for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Jared's life were nine hundred and sixty-two: and he came to his end.

And Enoch was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Methuselah:

And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch went on in God's ways for three hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Enoch's life were three hundred and sixty-five:

And Enoch went on in God's ways: and he was not seen again, for God took him.

And Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old when he became the father of Lamech:

And after the birth of Lamech, Methuselah went on living for seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Methuselah's life were nine hundred and sixty-nine: and he came to his end.

And Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old when he had a son:

And he gave him the name of Noah, saying, Truly, he will give us rest from our trouble and the hard work of our hands, because of the earth which was cursed by God.

And after the birth of Noah, Lamech went on living for five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters:

And all the years of Lamech's life were seven hundred and seventy-seven: and he came to his end.

And when Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And after a time, when men were increasing on the earth, and had daughters,

The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them.

And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.

There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.

And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.

And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart.

And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.

But Noah had grace in the eyes of God.

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was an upright man and without sin in his generation: he went in the ways of God.

And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And the earth was evil in God's eyes and full of violent ways.

And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.

And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.

Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.

And this is the way you are to make it: it is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

You are to put a window in the ark, a cubit from the roof, and a door in the side of it, and you are to make it with a lower and second and third floors.

For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.

But with you I will make an agreement; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you; they will be male and female.

Two of every sort of bird and cattle and of every sort of living thing which goes on the earth will you take with you to keep them from destruction.

And make a store of every sort of food for yourself and them.

And all these things Noah did; as God said, so he did.

And the Lord said to Noah, Take all your family and go into the ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright.

Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female;

And of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth.

For after seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, for the destruction of every living thing which I have made on the face of the earth.

And Noah did everything which the Lord said he was to do.

And Noah was six hundred years old when the waters came flowing over all the earth.

And Noah, with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the flowing of the waters.

Of clean beasts, and of beasts which are not clean, and of birds, and of everything which goes on the earth,

In twos, male and female, they went into the ark with Noah, as God had said.

And after the seven days, the waters came over all the earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep came bursting through, and the windows of heaven were open;

And rain came down on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

On the same day Noah, with Shem, Ham, and Japheth, his sons, and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark;

And with them, every sort of beast and cattle, and every sort of thing which goes on the earth, and every sort of bird.

They went with Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life.

Male and female of all flesh went in, as God had said, and the ark was shut by the Lord.

And for forty days the waters were over all the earth; and the waters were increased so that the ark was lifted up high over the earth.

And the waters overcame everything and were increased greatly on the earth, and the ark was resting on the face of the waters.

And the waters overcame everything on the earth; and all the mountains under heaven were covered.

The waters went fifteen cubits higher, till all the mountains were covered.

And destruction came on every living thing moving on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and everything which went on the earth, and every man.

Everything on the dry land, in which was the breath of life, came to its end.

Every living thing on the face of all the earth, man and cattle and things moving on the face of the earth, and birds of the air, came to destruction: only Noah and those who were with him in the ark, were kept from death.

And the waters were over the earth a hundred and fifty days.

And God kept Noah in mind, and all the living things and the cattle which were with him in the ark: and God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters went down.

And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were shut, and the rain from heaven was stopped.

And the waters went slowly back from the earth, and at the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters were lower.

And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

And still the waters went on falling, till on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

Then, after forty days, through the open window of the ark which he had made,

Noah sent out a raven, which went this way and that till the waters were gone from the earth.

And he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had gone from the face of the earth;

But the dove saw no resting-place for her foot, and came back to the ark, for the waters were still over all the earth; and he put out his hand, and took her into the ark.

And after waiting another seven days, he sent the dove out again;

And the dove came back at evening, and in her mouth was an olive-leaf broken off: so Noah was certain that the waters had gone down on the earth.

And after seven days more, he sent the dove out again, but she did not come back to him.

And in the six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters were dry on the earth: and Noah took the cover off the ark and saw that the face of the earth was dry.

And on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was dry.

And God said to Noah,

Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives.

Take out with you every living thing which is with you, birds and cattle and everything which goes on the earth, so that they may have offspring and be fertile and be increased on the earth.

And Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives;

And every beast and bird and every living thing of every sort which goes on the earth, went out of the ark.

And Noah made an altar to the Lord, and from every clean beast and bird he made burned offerings on the altar.

And when the sweet smell came up to the Lord, he said in his heart, I will not again put a curse on the earth because of man, for the thoughts of man's heart are evil from his earliest days; never again will I send destruction on all living things as I have done.

While the earth goes on, seed time and the getting in of the grain, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not come to an end.

And God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons, and said, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full.

And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.

Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things.

But flesh with the life-blood in it you may not take for food.

And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man.

Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken; because God made man in his image.

And now, be fertile and have increase; have offspring on the earth and become great in number.

And God said to Noah and to his sons,

Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you,

And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you.

And I will make my agreement with you; never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters; never again will the waters come over all the earth for its destruction.

And God said, This is the sign of the agreement which I make between me and you and every living thing with you, for all future generations:

I will put my bow in the cloud and it will be for a sign of the agreement between me and the earth.

And whenever I make a cloud come over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud,

And I will keep in mind the agreement between me and you and every living thing; and never again will there be a great flow of waters causing destruction to all flesh.

And the bow will be in the cloud, and looking on it, I will keep in mind the eternal agreement between God and every living thing on the earth.

And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the agreement which I have made between me and all flesh on the earth.

And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan.

These three were the sons of Noah and from them all the earth was peopled.

In those days Noah became a farmer, and he made a vine-garden.

And he took of the wine of it and was overcome by drink; and he was uncovered in his tent.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father unclothed, and gave news of it to his two brothers outside.

And Shem and Japheth took a robe, and putting it on their backs went in with their faces turned away, and put it over their father so that they might not see him unclothed.

And, awaking from his wine, Noah saw what his youngest son had done to him, and he said,

Cursed be Canaan; let him be a servant of servants to his brothers.

And he said, Praise to the Lord, the God of Shem; let Canaan be his servant.

May God make Japheth great, and let his living-place be in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

And Noah went on living three hundred and fifty years after the great flow of waters;

all the years of his life were nine hundred and fifty: and he came to his end.

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: these are the sons which they had after the great flow of waters

The sons of Japheth: Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras.

And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah.

And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim.

From these came the nations of the sea-lands, with their different families and languages.

And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first of the great men of the earth.

He was a very great bowman, so that there is a saying, Like Nimrod, a very great bowman.

And at the first, his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

From that land he went out into Assyria, building Nineveh with its wide streets and Calah,

And Resen between Nineveh and Calah, which is a very great town.

And Mizraim was the father of the Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim;

And Pathrusim and Casluhim and Caphtorim, from whom came the Philistines.

And Canaan was the father of Zidon, who was his oldest son, and Heth,

And the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite,

And the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite,

And the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; after that the families of the Canaanites went far and wide in all directions;

Their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza, in the direction of Gerar; and to Lasha, in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim.

All these, with their different families, languages, lands, and nations, are the offspring of Ham.

And Shem, the older brother of Japheth, the father of the children of Eber, had other sons in addition.

These are the sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram.

And the sons of Aram: Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash.

And Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.

And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his time the peoples of the earth became separate; and his brother's name was Joktan.

And Joktan was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah

And Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah

And Obal and Abimael and Sheba

And Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

And their country was from Mesha, in the direction of Sephar, the mountain of the east.

These, with their families and their languages and their lands and their nations, are the offspring of Shem.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, in the order of their generations and their nations: from these came all the nations of the earth after the great flow of waters.

And all the earth had one language and one tongue.

And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.

And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.

And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.

And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.

And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.

Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.

So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.

So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.

These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters;

And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah:

And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:

And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg:

And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:

And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu:

And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters:

And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug:

And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:

And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor:

And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:

And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters:

And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

These are the generations of Terah: Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.

And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees.

And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.

And Sarai had no child.

And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram and they went out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and were there for some time.

And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five: and Terah came to his end in Haran.

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide:

And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:

To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran.

And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.

And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.

And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.

And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord.

And he went on, journeying still to the South.

And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.

Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye;

And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.

Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.

And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair.

And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.

And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.

And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife?

Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.

And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.

And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.

Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.

And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;

To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.

And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;

So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.

And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.

Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.

Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.

And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.

So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.

Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.

Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.

And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:

For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.

And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.

Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.

And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.

Now in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,

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 (which is Zoar).

All these came together in the valley of Siddim (which is the Salt Sea).

For twelve years they were under the rule of Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they put off his control.

And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were on his side, overcame the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

And the Horites in their mountain Seir, driving them as far as El-paran, which is near the waste land.

Then they came back to En-mishpat (which is Kadesh), making waste all the country of the Amalekites and of the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.

And the king of Sodom with the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is Zoar), went out, and put their forces in position 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 holes of sticky earth; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were put to flight and came to their end there, but the rest got away to the mountain.

And the four kings took all the goods and food from Sodom and Gomorrah and went on their way.

And in addition they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, and all his goods.

And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.

And Abram, hearing that his brother's son had been made a prisoner, took a band of his trained men, three hundred and eighteen of them, sons of his house, and went after them as far as Dan.

And separating his forces by night, he overcame them, putting them to flight and going after them as far as Hobah, which is on the north side of Damascus.

And he got back all the goods, and Lot, his brother's son, with his goods and the women and the people.

And when he was coming back after putting to flight Chedorlaomer and the other kings, he had a meeting with the king of Sodom in the valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley.

And Melchizedek, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine,

And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:

And let the Most High God be praised, who has given into your hands those who were against you. Then Abram gave him a tenth of all the goods he had taken.

And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the prisoners and take the goods for yourself.

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth,

That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:

Give me nothing but the food which the fighting-men who went with me have had; but let Aner and Eshcol and Mamre have their part of the goods.

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Have no fear, Abram: I will keep you safe, and great will be your reward.

And Abram said, What will you give me? for I have no child and this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me.

And Abram said, You have given me no child, and a servant in my house will get the heritage.

Then said the Lord, This man will not get the heritage, but a son of your body will have your property after you.

And he took him out into the open air, and said to him, Let your eyes be lifted to heaven, and see if the stars may be numbered; even so will your seed be.

And he had faith in the Lord, and it was put to his account as righteousness.

And he said to him, I am the Lord, who took you from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land for your heritage.

And he said, O Lord God, how may I be certain that it will be mine?

And he said, Take a young cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a sheep of three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon.

All these he took, cutting them in two and putting one half opposite the other, but not cutting the birds in two.

And evil birds came down on the bodies, but Abram sent them away.

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep came on Abram, and a dark cloud of fear.

And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years;

But I will be the judge of that nation whose servants they are, and they will come out from among them with great wealth.

As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; at the end of a long life you will be put in your last resting-place.

And in the fourth generation they will come back here; for at present the sin of the Amorite is not full.

Then when the sun went down and it was dark, he saw a smoking fire and a flaming light which went between the parts of the bodies.

In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram, and said, To your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

The Kenite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had given him no children; and she had a servant, a woman of Egypt whose name was Hagar.

And Sarai said to Abram, See, the Lord has not let me have children; go in to my servant, for I may get a family through her. And Abram did as Sarai said.

So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, and gave her to Abram for his wife.

And he went in to Hagar and she became with child, and when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for her master's wife.

And Sarai said to Abram, May my wrong be on you: I gave you my servant for your wife and when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for me: may the Lord be judge between you and me.

And Abram said, The woman is in your power; do with her whatever seems good to you. And Sarai was cruel to her, so that she went running away from her.

And an angel of the Lord came to her by a fountain of water in the waste land, by the fountain on the way to Shur.

And he said, Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from and where are you going? And she said, I am running away from Sarai, my master's wife.

And the angel said to her, Go back, and put yourself under her authority.

And the angel of the Lord said, Your seed will be greatly increased so that it may not be numbered.

And the angel of the Lord said, See, you are with child and will give birth to a son, to whom you will give the name Ishmael, because the ears of the Lord were open to your sorrow.

And he will be like a mountain ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him, and he will keep his place against all his brothers.

And to the Lord who was talking with her she gave this name, You are a God who is seen; for she said, Have I not even here in the waste land had a vision of God and am still living?

So that fountain was named, Fountain of Life and Vision: it is between Kadesh and Bered.

And Hagar gave birth to a child, the son of Abram, to whom Abram gave the name of Ishmael.

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him, and said, I am God, Ruler of all; go in my ways and be upright in all things,

And I will make an agreement between you and me, and your offspring will be greatly increased.

And Abram went down on his face on the earth, and the Lord God went on talking with him, and said,

As for me, my agreement is made with you, and you will be the father of nations without end.

No longer will your name be Abram, but Abraham, for I have made you the father of a number of nations.

I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you and kings will be your offspring.

And I will make between me and you and your seed after you through all generations, an eternal agreement to be a God to you and to your seed after you.

And to you and to your seed after you, I will give the land in which you are living, all the land of Canaan for an eternal heritage; and I will be their God.

And God said to Abraham, On your side, you are to keep the agreement, you and your seed after you through all generations.

And this is the agreement which you are to keep with me, you and your seed after you: every male among you is to undergo circumcision.

In the flesh of your private parts you are to undergo it, as a mark of the agreement between me and you.

Every male among you, from one generation to another, is to undergo circumcision when he is eight days old, with every servant whose birth takes place in your house, or for whom you gave money to someone of another country, and not of your seed.

He who comes to birth in your house and he who is made yours for a price, all are to undergo circumcision; so that my agreement may be marked in your flesh, an agreement for all time.

And any male who does not undergo circumcision will be cut off from his people: my agreement has been broken by him.

And God said, As for Sarai, your wife, from now her name will be not Sarai, but Sarah.

And I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her: truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations: kings of peoples will be her offspring.

Then Abraham went down on his face, and laughing, said in his heart, May a man a hundred years old have a child? will Sarah, at ninety years old, give birth?

And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael's life might be your care!

And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him.

As for Ishmael, I have given ear to your prayer: truly I have given him my blessing and I will make him fertile and give him great increase; he will be the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.

But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time.

And having said these words, God went up from Abraham.

And Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all whose birth had taken place in his house, and all his servants whom he had made his for a price, every male of his house, and on that very day he gave them circumcision in the flesh of their private parts as God had said to him.

Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he underwent circumcision.

And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he underwent circumcision.

Abraham and Ishmael, his son, underwent circumcision on that very day.

And all the men of his house, those whose birth had taken place in the house and those whom he had got for money from men of other lands, underwent circumcision with him.

Now the Lord came to him by the holy tree of Mamre, when he was seated in the doorway of his tent in the middle of the day;

And lifting up his eyes, he saw three men before him; and seeing them, he went quickly to them from the door of the tent, and went down on his face to the earth;

And said, My Lord, if now I have grace in your eyes, do not go away from your servant:

Let me get water for washing your feet, and take your rest under the tree:

And let me get a bit of bread to keep up your strength, and after that you may go on your way: for this is why you have come to your servant. And they said, Let it be so.

Then Abraham went quickly into the tent, and said to Sarah, Get three measures of meal straight away and make cakes.

And running to the herd, he took a young ox, soft and fat, and gave it to the servant and he quickly made it ready;

And he took butter and milk and the young ox which he had made ready and put it before them, waiting by them under the tree while they took food.

And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, She is in the tent.

And he said, I will certainly come back to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife will have a son. And his words came to the ears of Sarah who was at the back of the tent-door.

Now Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was past the time for giving birth.

And Sarah, laughing to herself, said, Now that I am used up am I still to have pleasure, my husband himself being old?

And the Lord said, Why was Sarah laughing and saying, Is it possible for me, being old, to give birth to a child?

Is there any wonder which the Lord is not able to do? At the time I said, in the spring, I will come back to you, and Sarah will have a child.

Then Sarah said, I was not laughing; for she was full of fear. And he said, No, but you were laughing.

And the men went on from there in the direction of Sodom; and Abraham went with them on their way.

And the Lord said, Am I to keep back from Abraham the knowledge of what I do;

Seeing that Abraham will certainly become a great and strong nation, and his name will be used by all the nations of the earth as a blessing?

For I have made him mine so that he may give orders to his children and those of his line after him, to keep the ways of the Lord, to do what is good and right: so that the Lord may do to Abraham as he has said.

And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is very great, and their sin is very evil,

I will go down now, and see if their acts are as bad as they seem from the outcry which has come to me; and if they are not, I will see.

And the men, turning from that place, went on to Sodom: but Abraham was still waiting before the Lord.

And Abraham came near, and said, Will you let destruction come on the upright with the sinners?

If by chance there are fifty upright men in the town, will you give the place to destruction and not have mercy on it because of the fifty upright men?

Let such a thing be far from you, to put the upright to death with the sinner: will not the judge of all the earth do right?

And the Lord said, If there are fifty upright men in the town, I will have mercy on it because of them.

And Abraham answering said, Truly, I who am only dust, have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord:

If by chance there are five less than fifty upright men, will you give up all the town to destruction because of these five? And he said, I will not give it to destruction if there are forty-five.

And again he said to him, By chance there may be forty there. And he said, I will not do it if there are forty.

And he said, Let not the Lord be angry with me if I say, What if there are thirty there? And he said, I will not do it if there are thirty.

And he said, See now, I have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord: what if there are twenty there? And he said, I will have mercy because of the twenty.

And he said, O let not the Lord be angry and I will say only one word more: by chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten.

And the Lord went on his way when his talk with Abraham was ended, and Abraham went back to his place.

And at nightfall the two angels came to Sodom; and Lot was seated at the way into the town: and when he saw them he got up and came before them, falling down on his face to the earth.

And he said, My masters, come now into your servant's house and take your rest there for the night, and let your feet be washed; and early in the morning you may go on your way. And they said, Not so, but we will take our night's rest in the street.

But he made his request more strongly, so they went with him into his house; and he got food ready for them, and made unleavened bread, of which they took.

But before they had gone to bed, the men of the town, all the men of Sodom, came round the house, young and old, from every part of the town;

And crying out to Lot, they said, Where are the men who came to your house this night? Send them out to us, so that we may take our pleasure with them.

And Lot went out to them in the doorway, shutting the door after him.

And he said, My brothers, do not this evil.

See now, I have two unmarried daughters; I will send them out to you so that you may do to them whatever seems good to you: only do nothing to these men, for this is why they have come under the shade of my roof.

And they said, Give way there. This one man, they said, came here from a strange country, and will he now be our judge? now we will do worse to you than to them; and pushing violently against Lot, they came near to get the door broken in.

But the men put out their hands and took Lot into the house to them, shutting the door again.

But the men who were outside the door they made blind, all of them, small and great, so that they were tired out with looking for the door.

Then the men said to Lot, Are there any others of your family here? sons-in-law or sons or daughters, take them all out of this place;

For we are about to send destruction on this place, because a great outcry against them has come to the ears of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to put an end to the town.

And Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were married to his daughters, Come, let us go out of this place, for the Lord is about to send destruction on the town. But his sons-in-law did not take him seriously.

And when morning came, the angels did all in their power to make Lot go, saying, Get up quickly and take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go, for fear that you come to destruction in the punishment of the town.

But while he was waiting, the men took him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, for the Lord had mercy on them, and put them outside the town.

And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in the lowland; go quickly to the mountain or you will come to destruction.

And Lot said to them, Not so, O my Lord;

See now, your servant has had grace in your eyes and great is your mercy in keeping my life from destruction, but I am not able to get as far as the mountain before evil overtakes me and death;

This town, now, is near, and it is a little one: O, let me go there (is it not a little one?) so that my life may be safe.

And he said, See, I have given you your request in this one thing more: I will not send destruction on this town.

Go there quickly, for I am not able to do anything till you have come there. For this reason, the town was named Zoar.

The sun was up when Lot came to Zoar.

Then the Lord sent fire and flaming smoke raining down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah.

And he sent destruction on those towns, with all the lowland and all the people of those towns and every green thing in the land.

But Lot's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt.

And Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had been talking with the Lord:

And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven.

So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of the lowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living.

Then Lot went up out of Zoar to the mountain, and was living there with his two daughters, for fear kept him from living in Zoar: and he and his daughters made their living-place in a hole in the rock.

And the older daughter said to her sister, Our father is old, and there is no man to be a husband to us in the natural way:

Come, let us give our father much wine, and we will go into his bed, so that we may have offspring by our father,

And that night they made their father take much wine; and the older daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away.

And on the day after, the older daughter said to the younger, Last night I was with my father; let us make him take much wine this night again, and do you go to him, so that we may have offspring by our father.

And that night again they made their father take much wine; and the younger daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away.

And so the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

And the older daughter had a son, and she gave him the name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites to this day.

And the younger had a son and gave him the name Ben-ammi: from him come the children of Ammon to this day.

And Abraham went on his way from there to the land of the South, and was living between Kadesh and Shur, in Gerar.

And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream in the night, and said to him, Truly 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; and he said, Lord, will you put to death an upright nation?

Did he not say to me himself, She is my sister? and she herself said, He is my brother: with an upright heart and clean hands have I done this.

And God said to him in the dream, I see that you have done this with an upright heart, and I have kept you from sinning against me: for this reason I did not let you come near her.

So now, give the man back his wife, for he is a prophet, and let him say a prayer for you, so your life may be safe: but if you do not give her back, be certain that death will come to you and all your house.

So Abimelech got up early in the morning and sent for all his servants and gave them word of these things, and they were full of fear.

Then Abimelech sent for Abraham, and said, What have you done to us? what wrong have I done you that you have put on me and on my kingdom so great a sin? You have done to me things which are not to be done.

And Abimelech said to Abraham, Why did you do this thing?

And Abraham said, Because it seemed to me that there was no fear of God in this place, and that they might put me to death because of my wife.

And, in fact, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife:

And when God sent me wandering from my father's house, I said to her, Let this be the sign of your love for me; wherever we go, say of me, He is my brother.

Then Abimelech gave to Abraham sheep and oxen and men-servants and women-servants, and gave him back his wife Sarah.

And Abimelech said, See, all my land is before you; take whatever place seems good to you.

And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of silver so that your wrong may be put right; now your honour is clear in the eyes of all.

Then Abraham made prayer to God, and God made Abimelech well again, and his wife and his women-servants, so that they had children.

For the Lord had kept all the women of the house of Abimelech from having children, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

And the Lord came to Sarah as he had said and did to her as he had undertaken.

And Sarah became with child, and gave Abraham a son when he was old, at the time named by God.

And Abraham gave to his son, to whom Sarah had given birth, the name Isaac.

And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham made him undergo circumcision, as God had said to him.

Now Abraham was a hundred years old when the birth of Isaac took place.

And Sarah said, God has given me cause for laughing, and everyone who has news of it will be laughing with me.

And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would have a child at her breast? for see, I have given him a son now when he is old.

And when the child was old enough to be taken from the breast, Abraham made a great feast.

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with Isaac.

So she said to Abraham, Send away that woman and her son: for the son of that woman is not to have a part in the heritage with my son Isaac.

And this was a great grief to Abraham because of his son.

But God said, Let it not be a grief to you because of the boy and Hagar his mother; give ear to whatever Sarah says to you, because it is from Isaac that your seed will take its name.

And I will make a nation of the son of your servant-woman, because he is your seed.

And early in the morning Abraham got up, and gave Hagar some bread and a water-skin, and put the boy on her back, and sent her away: and she went, wandering in the waste land of Beer-sheba.

And when all the water in the skin was used up, she put the child down under a tree.

And she went some distance away, about an arrow flight, and seating herself on the earth, she gave way to bitter weeping, saying, Let me not see the death of my child.

And the boy's cry came to the ears of God; and the angel of God said to Hagar from heaven, Hagar, why are you weeping? have no fear, for the child's cry has come to the ears of God.

Come, take your child in your arms, for I will make of him a great nation.

Then God made her eyes open, and she saw a water-spring, and she got water in the skin and gave the boy a drink.

And God was with the boy, and he became tall and strong, and he became a bowman, living in the waste land.

And while he was in the waste land of Paran, his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt.

Now at that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, said to Abraham, I see that God is with you in all you do.

Now, then, give me your oath, in the name of God, that you will not be false to me or to my sons after me, but that as I have been good to you, so you will be to me and to this land where you have been living.

And Abraham said, I will give you my oath.

But Abraham made a protest to Abimelech because of a water-hole which Abimelech's servants had taken by force.

But Abimelech said, I have no idea who has done this thing; you never gave me word of it, and I had no knowledge of it till this day.

And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement together.

And Abraham put seven young lambs of the flock on one side by themselves.

Then Abimelech said, What are these seven lambs which you have put on one side?

And he said, Take these seven lambs from me as a witness that I have made this water-hole.

So he gave that place the name Beer-sheba, because there the two of them had given their oaths.

So they made an agreement at Beer-sheba, and Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.

And Abraham, after planting a holy tree in Beer-sheba, gave worship to the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.

And Abraham went on living in the land of the Philistines as in a strange country.

Now after these things, God put Abraham to the test, and said to him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I.

And he said to him, Take your son, your dearly loved only son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and give him as a burned offering on one of the mountains of which I will give you knowledge.

And Abraham got up early in the morning, and made ready his ass, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac, his son, and after the wood for the burned offering had been cut, he went on his way to the place of which God had given him word.

And on the third day, Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw the place a long way off.

Then he said to his young men, Keep here with the ass; and I and the boy will go on and give worship and come back again to you.

And Abraham put the wood for the burned offering on his son's back, and he himself took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them went on together.

Then Isaac said to Abraham, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, We have wood and fire here, but where is the lamb for the burned offering?

And Abraham said, God himself will give the lamb for the burned offering: so they went on together.

And they came to the place of which God had given him knowledge; and there Abraham made the altar and put the wood in place on it, and having made tight the bands round Isaac his son, he put him on the wood on the altar.

And stretching out his hand, Abraham took the knife to put his son to death.

But the voice of the angel of the Lord came from heaven, saying, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.

And lifting up his eyes, Abraham saw a sheep fixed by its horns in the brushwood: and Abraham took the sheep and made a burned offering of it in place of his son.

And Abraham gave that place the name Yahweh-yireh: as it is said to this day, In the mountain the Lord is seen.

And the voice of the angel of the Lord came to Abraham a second time from heaven,

Saying, I have taken an oath by my name, says the Lord, because you have done this and have not kept back from me your dearly loved only son,

That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them;

And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.

Then Abraham went back to his young men and they went together to Beer-sheba, the place where Abraham was living.

After these things, Abraham had news that Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, had given birth to children;

Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram,

And Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.

Bethuel was the father of Rebekah: these eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.

And his servant Reumah gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Now the years of Sarah's life were a hundred and twenty-seven.

And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan: and Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah.

And Abraham came from his dead and said to the children of Heth,

I am living among you as one from a strange country: give me some land here as my property, so that I may put my dead to rest.

And in answer the children of Heth said to Abraham,

My lord, truly you are a great chief among us; take the best of our resting-places for your dead; not one of us will keep back from you a place where you may put your dead to rest.

And Abraham got up and gave honour to the children of Heth, the people of that land.

And he said to them, If you will let me put my dead to rest here, make a request for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar,

That he will give me the hollow in the rock named Machpelah, which is his property at the end of his field; let him give it to me for its full price as a resting-place for my dead among you.

Now Ephron was seated among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite gave Abraham his answer in the hearing of the children of Heth, and of all those who came into his town, saying,

No, my lord, I will give you the field with the hollow in the rock; before all the children of my people will I give it to you for a resting-place for your dead.

And Abraham went down on his face before the people of the land.

And Abraham said to Ephron, in the hearing of the people of the land, If only you will give ear to me, I will give you the price of the field; take it, and let me put my dead to rest there.

So Ephron said to Abraham,

My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there.

And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.

So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, with the hollow in the rock and all the trees in the field and round it,

Became the property of Abraham before the eyes of the children of Heth and of all who came into the town.

Then Abraham put Sarah his wife to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, that is, Hebron in the land of Canaan.

And the field and the hollow rock were handed over to Abraham as his property by the children of Heth.

Now Abraham was old and far on in years: and the Lord had given him everything in full measure.

And Abraham said to his chief servant, the manager of all his property, Come now, put your hand under my leg:

And take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

But that you will go into my country and to my relations and get a wife there for my son Isaac.

And the servant said, If by chance the woman will not come with me into this land, am I to take your son back again to the land from which you came?

And Abraham said, Take care that you do not let my son go back to that land.

The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and made an oath to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land: he will send his angel before you and give you a wife for my son in that land.

And if the woman will not come with you, then you are free from this oath; only do not take my son back there.

And the servant put his hand under Abraham's leg, and gave him his oath about this thing.

And the servant took ten of his master's camels, and all sorts of good things of his master's, and went to Mesopotamia, to the town of Nahor.

And he made the camels take their rest outside the town by the water-spring in the evening, at the time when the women came to get water.

And he said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, let me do well in what I have undertaken this day, and give your mercy to my master Abraham.

See, I am waiting here by the water-spring; and the daughters of the town are coming out to get water:

Now, may the girl to whom I say, Let down your vessel and give me a drink, and who says in answer, Here is a drink for you and let me give water to your camels: may she be the one marked out by you for your servant Isaac: so may I be certain that you have been good to my master Abraham.

And even before his words were ended, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water-vessel on her arm.

She was a very beautiful girl, a virgin, who had never been touched by a man: and she went down to the spring to get water in her vessel.

And the servant came running to her and said, Give me a little water from your vessel.

And she said, Take a drink, my lord: and quickly letting down her vessel onto her hand, she gave him a drink.

And having done so, she said, I will get water for your camels till they have had enough.

And after putting the water from her vessel into the animals' drinking-place, she went quickly back to the spring and got water for all the camels.

And the man, looking at her, said nothing, waiting to see if the Lord had given his journey a good outcome.

And when the camels had had enough, the man took a gold nose-ring, half a shekel in weight, and two ornaments for her arms of ten shekels weight of gold;

And said to her, Whose daughter are you? is there room in your father's house for us?

And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, Nahor's wife.

And she said, We have a great store of dry grass and cattle-food, and there is room for you.

And with bent head the man gave worship to the Lord;

And said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has given a sign that he is good and true to my master, by guiding me straight to the house of my master's family.

So the girl went running and took the news of these things to her mother's house

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he came out quickly to the man at the water-spring.

And when he saw the nose-ring and the ornaments on his sister's hands, and when she gave him word of what the man had said to her, then he went out to the man who was waiting with the camels by the water-spring.

And he said to him, Come in, you on whom is the blessing of the Lord; why are you waiting outside? for I have made the house ready for you, and a place for the camels.

Then the man came into the house, and Laban took their cords off the camels and gave them dry grass and food, and he gave to him and the men who were with him water for washing their feet.

And meat was put before him, but he said, I will not take food till I have made my business clear to you. And they said, Do so.

And he said, I am Abraham's servant.

The Lord has given my master every blessing, and he has become great: he has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold, and men-servants and women-servants and camels and asses.

And when Sarah, my master's wife, was old, she gave birth to a son, to whom he has given all he has.

And my master made me take an oath, saying, Do not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

But go to my father's house and to my relations for a wife for my son.

And I said to my master, What if the woman will not come with me?

And he said, The Lord, whom I have ever kept before me, will send his angel with you, who will make it possible for you to get a wife for my son from my relations and my father's house;

And you will be free from your oath to me when you come to my people; and if they will not give her to you, you will be free from your oath.

And I came today to the water-spring, and I said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if it is your purpose to give a good outcome to my journey,

Let it come about that, while I am waiting here by the water-spring, if a girl comes to get water and I say to her, Give me a little water from your vessel, and she says,

Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels; let her be the woman marked out by the Lord for my master's son.

And even while I was saying this to myself, Rebekah came out with her vessel on her arm; and she went down to the spring to get water; and I said to her, Give me a drink.

And straight away she took down her vessel from her arm, and said, Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels.

And questioning her, I said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, and Milcah his wife. Then I put the ring on her nose and the ornaments on her hands.

And with bent head I gave worship and praise to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, by whom I had been guided in the right way, to get the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

And now, say if you will do what is good and right for my master or not, in order that it may be clear to me what I have to do.

Then Laban and Bethuel said in answer, This is the Lord's doing: it is not for us to say Yes or No to you.

See, here is Rebekah: take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has said.

And at these words, Abraham's servant went down on his face and gave praise to the Lord.

Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.

Then he and the men who were with him had food and drink, and took their rest there that night; and in the morning he got up, and said, Let me now go back to my master.

But her brother and her mother said, Let the girl be with us a week or ten days, and then she may go.

And he said, Do not keep me; the Lord has given a good outcome to my journey; let me now go back to my master.

And they said, We will send for the girl, and let her make the decision.

And they sent for Rebekah and said to her, Are you ready to go with this man? And she said, I am ready.

So they sent their sister Rebekah and her servant with Abraham's servant and his men.

And they gave Rebekah their blessing, saying, O sister, may you be the mother of thousands and ten thousands; and may your seed overcome all those who make war against them.

So Rebekah and her servant-women went with the man, seated on the camels; and so the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

Now Isaac had come through the waste land to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the South.

And when the evening was near, he went wandering out into the fields, and lifting up his eyes he saw camels coming.

And when Rebekah, looking up, saw Isaac, she got down from her camel,

And said to the servant, Who is that man coming to us through the field? And the servant said, It is my master: then she took her veil, covering her face with it.

Then the servant gave Isaac the story of all he had done.

And Isaac took Rebekah into his tent and she became his wife; and in his love for her, Isaac was comforted after his father's death.

And Abraham took another wife named Keturah.

She became the mother of Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

And from Midian came Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the offspring of Keturah.

Now Abraham gave all his property to Isaac;

But to the sons of his other women he gave offerings, and sent them away, while he was still living, into the east country.

Now the years of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five.

And Abraham came to his death, an old man, full of years; and he was put to rest with his people.

And Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, put him to rest in the hollow rock of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, near Mamre;

The same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth: there Abraham was put to rest with Sarah, his wife.

Now after the death of Abraham, the blessing of God was with Isaac, his son.

Now these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian, the servant of Sarah:

These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their generations: Ishmael's first son was Nebaioth; then Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam

And Mishma and Dumah and Massa,

Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names in their towns and their tent-circles; twelve chiefs with their peoples.

And the years of Ishmael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven: and he came to his end, and was put to rest with his people.

And their country was from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt: they took their place to the east of all their brothers.

Now these are the generations of Abraham's son Isaac:

Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramaean, to be his wife.

Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.

And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this? So she went to put her question to the Lord.

And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger.

And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body.

And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau.

And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste: but Rebekah had more love for Jacob.

And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food;

And Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food: for this reason he was named Edom.

And Jacob said, First of all give me your birthright.

And Esau said, Truly, I am at the point of death: what profit is the birthright to me?

And Jacob said, First of all give me your oath; and he gave him his oath, handing over his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave him bread and soup; and he took food and drink and went away, caring little for his birthright.

Then came a time of great need in the land, like that which had been before in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

And the Lord came to him in a vision and said, Do not go down to Egypt; keep in the land of which I will give you knowledge:

Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing; for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham;

I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;

Because Abraham gave ear to my voice and kept my words, my rules, my orders, and my laws.

So Isaac went on living in Gerar;

And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.

And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife.

And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife: why then did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her.

Then Abimelech said, What have you done to us? one of the people might well have had connection with your wife, and the sin would have been ours.

And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.

Now Isaac, planting seed in that land, got in the same year fruit a hundred times as much, for the blessing of the Lord was on him.

And his wealth became very great, increasing more and more;

For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.

Now all the water-holes, which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham, had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines.

And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are.

So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.

And he made again the water-holes which had been made in the days of Abraham his father, and which had been stopped up by the Philistines; and he gave them the names which his father had given them.

Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water.

But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.

Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.

Then he went away from there, and made another water-hole, about which there was no fighting: so he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land.

And from there he went on to Beer-sheba.

That night the Lord came to him in a vision, and said, I am the God of your father Abraham: have no fear for I am with you, blessing you, and your seed will be increased because of my servant Abraham.

Then he made an altar there, and gave worship to the name of the Lord, and he put up his tents there, and there his servants made a water-hole.

And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the captain of his army.

And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you?

And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with you: so we said, Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make an agreement with you;

That you will do us no damage, even as we put no hand on you, and did you nothing but good, and sent you away in peace: and now the blessing of the Lord is on you.

Then he made a feast for them, and they all had food and drink.

And early in the morning they took an oath one to the other: then Isaac sent them away and they went on their way in peace.

And that day Isaac's servants came to him and gave him word of the water-hole which they had made, and said to him, We have come to water.

And he gave it the name of Shibah: so the name of that town is Beer-sheba to this day.

And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.

Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time:

So take your arrows and your bow and go out to the field and get meat for me;

And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me.

Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat.

And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing,

Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death.

Now, my son, do what I say.

Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste:

And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death.

And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth:

If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing.

And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me.

So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste.

And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son:

And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck:

And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready.

And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son?

And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way.

And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not.

And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.

And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am.

And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink.

And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss.

And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come:

May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure:

Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.

And when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field.

And he made ready a meal, good to the taste, and took it to his father, and said to him, Let my father get up and take of his son's meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your oldest son, Esau.

And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be?

And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father!

And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing.

And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me?

And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son?

And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping.

Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be:

By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.

So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death.

Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death.

So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban;

And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away;

Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day?

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?

Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples.

And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage.

So Isaac sent Jacob away: and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan-aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram;

It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan,

So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

And coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head he went to sleep in that place.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them.

And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping.

Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land; and I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you.

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it.

And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven.

And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it.

And he gave that place the name of Beth-el, but before that time the town was named Luz.

Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on,

So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God,

And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.

Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East.

And there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep: and on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone.

And all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away, they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole.

Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran.

And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have.

And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.

Then Jacob said, The sun is still high and it is not time to get the cattle together: get water for the sheep and go and give them their food.

And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the water-hole; then we will get water for the sheep.

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them.

Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.

And weeping for joy, Jacob gave Rachel a kiss.

And Rachel, hearing from Jacob that he was her father's relation and that he was the son of Rebekah, went running to give her father news of it.

And Laban, hearing news of Jacob, his sister's son, came running, and took Jacob in his arms, and kissing him, made him come into his house. And Jacob gave him news of everything.

And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.

Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother are you to be my servant for nothing? say now, what is your payment to be?

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

And Leah's eyes were clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form.

And Jacob was in love with Rachel; and he said, I will be your servant seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.

And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man: go on living here with me.

And Jacob did seven years' work for Rachel; and because of his love for her it seemed to him only a very little time.

Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife so that I may have her, for the days are ended.

And Laban got together all the men of the place and gave a feast.

And in the evening he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him, and he went in to her.

And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah, to be her waiting-woman.

And in the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? was I not working for you so that I might have Rachel? why have you been false to me?

And Laban said, In our country we do not let the younger daughter be married before the older.

Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years.

And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife.

And Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman.

Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah; and he went on working for Laban for another seven years.

Now the Lord, seeing that Leah was not loved, gave her a child; while Rachel had no children.

And Leah was with child, and gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Reuben: for she said, The Lord has seen my sorrow; now my husband will have love for me.

Then she became with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Because it has come to the Lord's ears that I am not loved, he has given me this son in addition: and she gave him the name Simeon.

And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Now at last my husband will be united to me, because I have given him three sons: so he was named Levi.

And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son: and she said, This time I will give praise to the Lord: so he was named Judah; after this she had no more children for a time.

Now Rachel, because she had no children, was full of envy of her sister; and she said to Jacob, If you do not give me children I will not go on living.

But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit?

Then she said, Here is my servant Bilhah, go in to her, so that she may have a child on my knees, and I may have a family by her.

So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

And Bilhah became with child, and gave birth to a son.

Then Rachel said, God has been my judge, and has given ear to my voice, and has given me a son; so he was named Dan.

And again Bilhah, Rachel's servant, was with child, and gave birth to a second son.

And Rachel said, I have had a great fight with my sister, and I have overcome her: and she gave the child the name Naphtali.

When it was clear to Leah that she would have no more children for a time, she gave Zilpah, her servant, to Jacob as a wife.

And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a son.

And Leah said, It has gone well for me: and she gave him the name Gad.

And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a second son.

And Leah said, Happy am I! and all women will give witness to my joy: and she gave him the name Asher.

Now at the time of the grain-cutting, Reuben saw some love-fruits in the field, and took them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to her, Let me have some of your son's love-fruits.

But Leah said to her, Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband from me? and now would you take my son's love-fruits? Then Rachel said, You may have him tonight in exchange for your son's love-fruits.

In the evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to him and said, Tonight you are to come to me, for I have given my son's love-fruits as a price for you. And he went in to her that night.

And God gave ear to her and she became with child, and gave Jacob a fifth son.

Then Leah said, God has made payment to me for giving my servant-girl to my husband: so she gave her son the name Issachar.

And again Leah became with child, and she gave Jacob a sixth son.

And she said, God has given me a good bride-price; now at last will I have my husband living with me, for I have given him six sons: and she gave him the name Zebulun.

After that she had a daughter, to whom she gave the name Dinah.

Then God gave thought to Rachel, and hearing her prayer he made her fertile.

And she was with child, and gave birth to a son: and she said, God has taken away my shame.

And she gave him the name Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son.

Now after the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go away to my place and my country.

Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have been your servant, and let me go: for you have knowledge of all the work I have done for you.

And Laban said, If you will let me say so, do not go away; for I have seen by the signs that the Lord has been good to me because of you.

Say then what your payment is to be and I will give it.

Then Jacob said, You have seen what I have done for you, and how your cattle have done well under my care.

For before I came you had little, and it has been greatly increased; and the Lord has given you a blessing in everything I have done; but when am I to do something for my family?

And Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything; but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me:

Let me go through all your flock today, taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or coloured or black, and all the marked or coloured goats: these will be my payment.

And so you will be able to put my honour to the test in time to come; if you see among my flocks any goats which are not marked or coloured, or any sheep which is not black, you may take me for a thief.

And Laban said, Let it be as you say.

So that day he took all the he-goats which were banded or coloured, and all the she-goats which were marked or coloured or had white marks, and all the black sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons;

And sent them three days' journey away: and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flock.

Then Jacob took young branches of trees, cutting off the skin so that the white wood was seen in bands.

And he put the banded sticks in the drinking-places where the flock came to get water; and they became with young when they came to the water.

And because of this, the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of colour.

These lambs Jacob kept separate; and he put his flock in a place by themselves and not with Laban's flock.

And whenever the stronger ones of the flock became with young, Jacob put the sticks in front of them in the drinking-places, so that they might become with young when they saw the sticks.

But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put the sticks before them; so that the feebler flocks were Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's.

So Jacob's wealth was greatly increased; he had great flocks and women-servants and men-servants and camels and asses.

Now it came to the ears of Jacob that Laban's sons were saying, Jacob has taken away all our father's property, and in this way he has got all this wealth.

And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before.

Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers, and to your relations, and I will be with you.

And Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him in the field among his flock.

And he said to them, It is clear to me that your father's feeling is no longer what it was to me; but the God of my father has been with me

And you have seen how I have done all in my power for your father,

But your father has not kept faith with me, and ten times he has made changes in my payment; but God has kept him from doing me damage.

If he said, All those in the flock which have marks are to be yours, then all the flock gave birth to marked young; and if he said, All the banded ones are to be yours, then all the flock had banded young.

So God has taken away your father's cattle and has given them to me.

And at the time when the flock were with young, I saw in a dream that all the he-goats which were joined with the she-goats were banded and marked and coloured.

And in my dream the angel of the Lord said to me, Jacob: and I said, Here am I.

And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and coloured: for I have seen what Laban has done to you.

I am the God of Beth-el, where you put oil on the pillar and took an oath to me: now then, come out of this land and go back to the country of your birth.

Then Rachel and Leah said to him in answer, What part or heritage is there for us in our father's house?

Are we not as people from a strange country to him? for he took a price for us and now it is all used up.

For the wealth which God has taken from him is ours and our children's; so now, whatever God has said to you, do.

Then Jacob put his wives and his sons on camels;

And sending on before him all his cattle and his property which he had got together in Paddan-aram, he made ready to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

Now Laban had gone to see to the cutting of the wool of his sheep; so Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house.

And Jacob went away secretly, without giving news of his flight to Laban the Aramaean.

So he went away with all he had, and went across the River in the direction of the hill-country of Gilead.

And on the third day Laban had news of Jacob's flight.

And taking the men of his family with him, he went after him for seven days and overtook him in the hill-country of Gilead.

Then God came to Laban in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.

Now when Laban overtook him, Jacob had put up his tent in the hill-country; and Laban and his brothers put up their tents in the hill-country of Gilead.

And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war?

Why did you make a secret of your flight, not giving me word of it, so that I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with melody and music?

You did not even let me give a kiss to my sons and my daughters. This was a foolish thing to do.

It is in my power to do you damage: but the God of your father came to me this night, saying, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.

And now, it seems, you are going because your heart's desire is for your father's house; but why have you taken my gods?

And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force.

As for your gods, if anyone of us has them, let him be put to death: make search before us all for what is yours, and take it. For Jacob had no knowledge that Rachel had taken them.

So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there; and he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's.

Now Rachel had taken the images, and had put them in the camels' basket, and was seated on them. And Laban, searching through all the tent, did not come across them.

And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry because I do not get up before you, for I am in the common condition of women. And with all his searching, he did not come across the images.

Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion?

Now that you have made search through all my goods, what have you seen which is yours? Make it clear now before my people and your people, so that they may be judges between us.

These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your goats have had young without loss, not one of your he-goats have I taken for food.

Anything which was wounded by beasts I did not take to you, but myself made up for the loss of it; you made me responsible for whatever was taken by thieves, by day or by night.

This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes.

These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed.

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back.

Then Laban, answering, said, These women are my daughters and these children my children, the flocks and all you see are mine: what now may I do for my daughters and for their children?

Come, let us make an agreement, you and I; and let it be for a witness between us.

Then Jacob took a stone and put it up as a pillar.

And Jacob said to his people, Get stones together; and they did so; and they had a meal there by the stones.

And the name Laban gave it was Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob gave it the name of Galeed.

And Laban said, These stones are a witness between you and me today. For this reason its name was Galeed,

And Mizpah, for he said, May the Lord keep watch on us when we are unable to see one another's doings.

If you are cruel to my daughters, or if you take other wives in addition to my daughters, then though no man is there to see, God will be the witness between us.

And Laban said, See these stones and this pillar which I have put between you and me;

They will be witness that I will not go over these stones to you, and you will not go over these stones or this pillar to me, for any evil purpose.

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, be our judge. Then Jacob took an oath by the Fear of his father Isaac.

And Jacob made an offering on the mountain, and gave orders to his people to take food: so they had a meal and took their rest that night on the mountain.

And early in the morning Laban, after kissing and blessing his daughters, went on his way back to his country.

And on his way Jacob came face to face with the angels of God.

And when he saw them he said, This is the army of God: so he gave that place the name of Mahanaim.

Now Jacob sent servants before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom;

And he gave them orders to say these words to Esau: Your servant Jacob says, Till now I have been living with Laban:

And I have oxen and asses and flocks and men-servants and women-servants: and I have sent to give my lord news of these things so that I may have grace in his eyes.

When the servants came back they said, We have seen your brother Esau and he is coming out to you, and four hundred men with him.

Then Jacob was in great fear and trouble of mind: and he put all the people and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups;

And said, If Esau, meeting one group, makes an attack on them, the others will get away safely.

Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, Go back to your country and your family and I will be good to you:

I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies.

Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child.

And you said, Truly, I will be good to you, and make your seed like the sand of the sea which may not be numbered.

Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau,

Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep,

Thirty camels with their young ones, forty cows, ten oxen, twenty asses, and ten young asses.

These he gave to his servants, every herd by itself, and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and let there be a space between one herd and another.

And he gave orders to the first, saying, When my brother Esau comes to you and says, Whose servant are you, and where are you going, and whose are these herds?

Then say to him, These are your servant Jacob's; they are an offering for my lord, for Esau; and he himself is coming after us.

And he gave the same orders to the second and the third and to all those who were with the herds, saying, This is what you are to say to Esau when you see him;

And you are to say further, Jacob, your servant, is coming after us. For he said to himself, I will take away his wrath by the offering which I have sent on, and then I will come before him: it may be that I will have grace in his eyes.

So the servants with the offerings went on in front, and he himself took his rest that night in the tents with his people.

And in the night he got up, and taking with him his two wives and the two servant-women and his eleven children, he went over the river Jabbok.

He took them and sent them over the stream with all he had.

Then Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn.

But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged.

And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.

Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.

And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.

Then Jacob said, What is your name? And he said, What is my name to you? Then he gave him a blessing.

And Jacob gave that place the name of Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and still I am living.

And while he was going past Peniel, the sun came up. And he went with unequal steps because of his damaged leg.

For this reason the children of Israel, even today, never take that muscle in the hollow of the leg as food, because the hollow of Jacob's leg was touched.

Then Jacob, lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. So he made a division of the children between Leah and Rachel and the two women-servants.

He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph at the back.

And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother.

Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss: and the two of them were overcome with weeping.

Then Esau, lifting up his eyes, saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God in his mercy has given to your servant.

Then the servants and their children came near, and went down on their faces.

And Leah came near with her children, and then Joseph and Rachel, and they did the same.

And he said, What were all those herds which I saw on the way? And Jacob said, They were an offering so that I might have grace in my lord's eyes.

But Esau said, I have enough; keep what is yours, my brother, for yourself.

And Jacob said, Not so; but if I have grace in your eyes, take them as a sign of my love, for I have seen your face as one may see the face of God, and you have been pleased with me.

Take my offering then, with my blessing; for God has been very good to me and I have enough: so at his strong request, he took it.

And he said, Let us go on our journey together, and I will go in front.

But Jacob said, My lord may see that the children are only small, and there are young ones in my flocks and herds: one day's over-driving will be the destruction of all the flock.

Do you, my lord, go on before your servant; I will come on slowly, at the rate at which the cattle and the children are able to go, till I come to my lord at Seir.

And Esau said, Then keep some of my men with you. And he said, What need is there for that, if my lord is pleased with me?

So Esau, turning back that day, went on his way to Seir.

And Jacob went on to Succoth, where he made a house for himself and put up tents for his cattle: for this reason the place was named Succoth.

So Jacob came safely from Paddan-aram to the town of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and put up his tents near the town.

And for a hundred bits of money he got from the children of Hamor, the builder of Shechem, the field in which he had put up his tents.

And there he put up an altar, naming it El, the God of Israel.

34:1 Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country.

34:2 And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her.

34:3 Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.

34:4 And Shechem said to Hamor, his father, Get me this girl for my wife.

34:5 Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.

34:6 Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, came out to have a talk with Jacob.

34:7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.

34:8 But Hamor said to them, Shechem, my son, is full of desire for your daughter: will you then give her to him for a wife?

34:9 And let our two peoples be joined together; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

34:10 Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you; do trade and get property there.

34:11 And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, If you will give ear to my request, whatever you say I will give to you.

34:12 However great you make the bride-price and payment, I will give it; only let me have the girl for my wife.

34:13 But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister.

34:14 And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us:

34:15 But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you: if every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision;

34:16 Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to us and go on living with you as one people.

34:17 But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go.

34:18 And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem.

34:19 And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.

34:20 Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town,

34:21 It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters.

34:22 But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done.

34:23 Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.

34:24 Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision.

34:25 But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death.

34:26 And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.

34:27 And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister;

34:28 They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields,

34:29 And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste.

34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.

34:31 But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?

35:1 And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.

35:2 Then Jacob said to all his people, Put away the strange gods which are among you, and make yourselves clean, and put on a change of clothing:

35:3 And let us go up to Beth-el: and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went.

35:4 Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.

35:5 So they went on their journey: and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.

35:6 And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (which is the same as Beth-el), he and all his people.

35:7 And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.

35:8 And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Beth-el, under the holy tree: and they gave it the name of Allon-bacuth.

35:9 Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan-aram, God came to him again and, blessing him, said,

35:10 Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer; from now your name will be Israel; so he was named Israel.

35:11 And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring;

35:12 And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you; and to your seed after you I will give the land.

35:13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had been talking with him.

35:14 And Jacob put up a pillar in the place where he had been talking with God, and put a drink offering on it, and oil.

35:15 And he gave to the place where God had been talking with him, the name of Beth-el.

35:16 So they went on from Beth-el; and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, the pains of birth came on Rachel and she had a hard time.

35:17 And when her pain was very great, the woman who was helping her said, Have no fear; for now you will have another son.

35:18 And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.

35:19 So Rachel came to her end and was put to rest on the road to Ephrath (which is Beth-lehem).

35:20 And Jacob put up a pillar on her resting-place; which is named, The Pillar of the resting-place of Rachel, to this day.

35:21 And Israel went journeying on and put up his tents on the other side of the tower of the flock.

35:22 Now while they were living in that country, Reuben had connection with Bilhah, his father's servant-woman: and Israel had news of it.

35:23 Now Jacob had twelve sons: the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first son, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

35:24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

35:25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali;

35:26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher; these are the sons whom Jacob had in Paddan-aram.

35:27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.

35:28 And Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old.

35:29 Then Isaac came to his end and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life: and Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting-place.

36:1 Now these are the generations of Esau, that is to say, Edom.

36:2 Esau's wives were women of Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,

36:3 And Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

36:4 Adah had a son Eliphaz; and Basemath was the mother of Reuel;

36:5 Oholibamah was the mother of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the sons of Esau, whose birth took place in the land of Canaan.

36:6 Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the people of his house, and his beasts and his cattle and all his goods which he had got together in the land of Canaan, and went into the land of Seir, away from his brother Jacob.

36:7 For their wealth was so great that the land was not wide enough for the two of them and all their cattle.

36:8 So Esau made his living-place in the hill-country of Seir (Esau is Edom).

36:9 And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill-country of Seir:

36:10 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.

36:11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

36:12 And Eliphaz, the son of Esau, had connection with a woman named Timna, who gave birth to Amalek: all these were the children of Esau's wife Adah.

36:13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: they were the children of Esau's wife Basemath.

36:14 And these are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon: she was the mother of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

36:15 These were the chiefs among the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz, Esau's first son: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

36:16 Korah, Gatam, Amalek: all these were chiefs in the land of Edom, the offspring of Eliphaz, the seed of Adah.

36:17 And these are the sons of Esau's son Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah: these were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom, the children of Esau's wife Basemath.

36:18 And these are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah: these were the chiefs who came from Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.

36:19 These were the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these were their chiefs.

36:20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite who were living in that country; Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

36:21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan: these are the chiefs of the Horites, offspring of Seir in the land of Edom.

36:22 The children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; Lotan's sister was Timna.

36:23 And these are the children of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

36:24 And these are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; that same Anah who made the discovery of the water-springs in the waste land, when he was looking after the asses of his father Zibeon.

36:25 And these are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah his daughter.

36:26 These are the children of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

36:27 These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

36:28 These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

36:29 These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

36:30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. Such were the Horite chiefs in their order in the land of Seir.

36:31 And these are the kings who were ruling in the land of Edom before there was any king over the children of Israel.

36:32 Bela, son of Beor, was king in Edom, and the name of his chief town was Dinhabah.

36:33 At his death, Jobab, son of Zerah of Bozrah, became king in his place.

36:34 And at the death of Jobab, Husham, from the country of the Temanites, became king in his place.

36:35 And at the death of Husham, Hadad, son of Bedad, who overcame the Midianites in the field of Moab, became king; his chief town was named Avith.

36:36 And at the death of Hadad, Samlah of Masrekah became king.

36:37 And at the death of Samlah, Shaul of Rehoboth by the River became king in his place.

36:38 And at the death of Shaul, Baal-hanan, son of Achbor, became king.

36:39 And at the death of Baal-hanan, Hadar became king in his place; his chief town was named Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel; she was the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

36:40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau in the order of their families and their places: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

36:41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

36:42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

36:43 Magdiel, Iram; these are the Edomite chiefs, in their places in their heritage; this is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

37:1 Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan.

37:2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph gave their father a bad account of them.

37:3 Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man: and he had a long coat made for him.

37:4 And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.

37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he gave his brothers an account of it, which made their hate greater than ever.

37:6 And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream.

37:7 We were in the field, getting the grain stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine.

37:8 And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever.

37:9 Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me.

37:10 And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers; but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this? am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you?

37:11 And his brothers were full of envy; but his father kept his words in mind.

37:12 Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem.

37:13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I.

37:14 And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well and how the flock is; then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

37:15 And a man saw him wandering in the country, and said to him, What are you looking for?

37:16 And he said, I am looking for my brothers; please give me word of where they are keeping their flock.

37:17 And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan.

37:18 But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death;

37:19 Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer.

37:20 Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams.

37:21 But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life.

37:22 Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.

37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on;

37:24 And they took him and put him in the hole: now the hole had no water in it.

37:25 Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels.

37:26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood?

37:27 Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.

37:28 And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.

37:29 Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief,

37:30 He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do?

37:31 Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,

37:32 And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not?

37:33 And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end.

37:34 Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.

37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.

37:36 And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.

38:1 Now at that time, Judah went away from his brothers and became the friend of a man of Adullam named Hirah.

38:2 And there he saw the daughter of a certain man of Canaan named Shua, and took her as his wife.

38:3 And she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Er.

38:4 And again she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Onan.

38:5 Then she had another son, to whom she gave the name Shelah; she was at Chezib when the birth took place.

38:6 And Judah took a wife for his first son Er, and her name was Tamar.

38:7 Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death.

38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.

38:9 But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother.

38:10 And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death, like his brother.

38:11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to your father's house and keep yourself as a widow till my son Shelah becomes a man: for he had in his mind the thought that death might come to him as it had come to his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father's house.

38:12 And after a time, Bath-shua, Judah's wife, came to her end; and after Judah was comforted for her loss, he went to Timnah, where they were cutting the wool of his sheep, and his friend Hirah of Adullam went with him.

38:13 And when Tamar had news that her father-in-law was going up to Timnah to the wool-cutting,

38:14 She took off her widow's clothing, and covering herself with her veil, she took her seat near Enaim on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was now a man, but she had not been made his wife.

38:15 When Judah saw her he took her to be a loose woman of the town, because her face was covered.

38:16 And turning to her by the roadside, he said to her, Let me come in to you; for he had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me as my price?

38:17 And he said, I will give you a young goat from the flock. And she said, What will you give me as a sign till you send it?

38:18 And he said, What would you have? And she said, Your ring and its cord and the stick in your hand. So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she became with child by him.

38:19 Then she got up and went away and took off her veil and put on her widow's clothing.

38:20 Then Judah sent his friend Hirah with the young goat, to get back the things which he had given as a sign to the woman: but she was not there.

38:21 And he put questions to the men of the place, saying, Where is the loose woman who was in Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There was no such woman there.

38:22 So he went back to Judah, and said, I have not seen her, and the men of the place say that there is no such woman there.

38:23 And Judah said, Let her keep the things, so that we may not be shamed; I sent the young goat, but you did not see the woman.

38:24 Now about three months after this, word came to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had been acting like a loose woman and was with child. And Judah said, Take her out and let her be burned.

38:25 And while she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, The man whose property these things are, is the father of my child: say then, whose are this ring and this cord and this stick?

38:26 Then Judah said openly that they were his, and said, She is more upright than I am, for I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he had no more connection with her.

38:27 And when the time came for her to give birth, it was clear that there were two children in her body.

38:28 And while she was in the act of giving birth, one of them put out his hand; and the woman who was with her put a red thread round his hand, saying, This one came out first.

38:29 But then he took his hand back again, and his brother came first to birth: and the woman said, What an opening you have made for yourself! So he was named Perez.

38:30 And then his brother came out, with the red thread round his hand, and he was named Zerah.

39:1 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

39:2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well; and he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian.

39:3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well.

39:4 And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house and gave him control over all he had.

39:5 And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field.

39:6 And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face.

39:7 And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover.

39:8 But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control;

39:9 So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?

39:10 And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her.

39:11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside.

39:12 And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away.

39:13 And when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat,

39:14 She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry;

39:15 And hearing it he went running out without his coat.

39:16 And she kept his coat by her, till his master came back.

39:17 Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me;

39:18 And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat.

39:19 And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry.

39:20 And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house.

39:21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend.

39:22 And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there.

39:23 And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.

40:1 Now after these things the chief servant who had the care of the wine, and the chief bread-maker in Pharaoh's house, did something against Pharaoh's orders;

40:2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two servants, with the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker;

40:3 And he put them in prison under the care of the captain of the army, in the same prison where Joseph himself was shut up.

40:4 And the captain put them in Joseph's care, and he did what was needed for them; and they were kept in prison for some time.

40:5 And these two had a dream on the same night; the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, the two of them had dreams with a special sense.

40:6 And in the morning when Joseph came to them he saw that they were looking sad.

40:7 And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad?

40:8 Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream?

40:9 Then the chief wine-servant gave Joseph an account of his dream, and said, In my dream I saw a vine before me;

40:10 And on the vine were three branches; and it seemed as if it put out buds and flowers, and from them came grapes ready for cutting.

40:11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and crushing them into Pharaoh's cup, gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

40:12 Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three branches are three days;

40:13 After three days Pharaoh will give you honour, and put you back into your place, and you will give him his cup as you did before, when you were his wine-servant.

40:14 But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me and say a good word for me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison:

40:15 For truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews; and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison.

40:16 Now when the chief bread-maker saw that the first dream had a good sense, he said to Joseph, I had a dream; and in my dream there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

40:17 And in the top basket were all sorts of cooked meats for Pharaoh; and the birds were taking them out of the baskets on my head.

40:18 Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three baskets are three days;

40:19 After three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison, hanging you on a tree, so that your flesh will be food for birds.

40:20 Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his servants; and he gave honour to the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker among the others.

40:21 And he put the chief wine-servant back in his old place; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

40:22 But the chief bread-maker was put to death by hanging, as Joseph had said.

40:23 But the wine-servant did not keep Joseph in mind or give a thought to him.

41:1 Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;

41:2 And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.

41:3 And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows.

41:4 And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.

41:5 But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.

41:6 And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.

41:7 And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.

41:8 And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.

41:9 Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;

41:10 Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;

41:11 And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.

41:12 And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them.

41:13 And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.

41:14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh.

41:15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.

41:16 Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.

41:17 Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:

41:18 And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;

41:19 Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;

41:20 And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;

41:21 And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep.

41:22 And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:

41:23 And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:

41:24 And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.

41:25 Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

41:26 The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.

41:27 The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.

41:28 As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.

41:29 Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;

41:30 And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;

41:31 And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.

41:32 And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.

41:33 And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt.

41:34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.

41:35 And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it.

41:36 And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.

41:37 And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.

41:38 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

41:39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:

41:40 You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.

41:41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.

41:42 Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck;

41:43 And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

41:44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.

41:45 And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.

41:46 Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

41:47 Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses.

41:48 And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town.

41:49 So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured.

41:50 And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.

41:51 And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.

41:52 And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.

41:53 And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.

41:54 Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread.

41:55 And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.

41:56 And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt.

41:57 And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.

42:1 Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another?

42:2 And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours.

42:3 So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.

42:4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.

42:5 And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan.

42:6 Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.

42:7 And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.

42:8 Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was.

42:9 Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is.

42:10 And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food.

42:11 We are all one man's sons, we are true men; we have not come with any secret purpose.

42:12 And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is.

42:13 Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead.

42:14 And Joseph said, It is as I said; you have come with some secret purpose;

42:15 But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.

42:16 Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.

42:17 So he put them in prison for three days.

42:18 And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:

42:19 If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;

42:20 And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.

42:21 And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.

42:22 And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, Do the child no wrong? but you gave no attention; so now, punishment has come on us for his blood.

42:23 They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language.

42:24 And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping; then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes.

42:25 Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey: which was done.

42:26 Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away.

42:27 Now at their night's resting-place one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag.

42:28 And he said to his brothers, My money has been given back: it is in my bag; then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another they said, What is this which God has done to us?

42:29 So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying,

42:30 The man who is the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose.

42:31 And we said to him, We are true men, we have no evil designs;

42:32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.

42:33 And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men; let one of you be kept here with me, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;

42:34 And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land.

42:35 And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag; and when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear.

42:36 And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.

42:37 And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him; let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you.

42:38 And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.

43:1 Now the land was in bitter need of food.

43:2 And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.

43:3 And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.

43:4 If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:

43:5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.

43:6 And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?

43:7 And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?

43:8 Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.

43:9 Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

43:10 Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.

43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:

43:12 And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;

43:13 And take your brother and go back to the man:

43:14 And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

43:15 So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.

43:16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.

43:17 And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.

43:18 Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.

43:19 So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,

43:20 And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;

43:21 And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;

43:22 As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.

43:23 Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.

43:24 And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.

43:25 And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.

43:26 And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.

43:27 And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?

43:28 And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.

43:29 Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.

43:30 Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.

43:31 Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.

43:32 And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.

43:33 And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.

43:34 And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

44:1 Then he gave orders to the servant who was over his house, saying, Put as much food into the men's bags as will go into them, and put every man's money in the mouth of his bag;

44:2 And put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag, with his money. So he did as Joseph said.

44:3 And at dawn the men, with their asses, were sent away.

44:4 And when they had gone only a little way out of the town, Joseph said to the servant who was over his house, Go after them; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you done evil in reward for good?

44:5 Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.

44:6 So he overtook them and said these words to them.

44:7 And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? far be it from your servants to do such a thing:

44:8 See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan: how then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house?

44:9 If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants.

44:10 And he said, Let it be as you say: he in whose bag it is seen will become my servant; and you will not be responsible.

44:11 Then every man quickly got his bag down and undid it.

44:12 And he made a search, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was in Benjamin's bag.

44:13 Then in bitter grief they put the bags on the asses again and went back to the town.

44:14 So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house; and he was still there: and they went down on their faces before him.

44:15 And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret?

44:16 And Judah said, What are we to say to my lord? how may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants: now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen.

44:17 Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace.

44:18 Then Judah came near him, and said, Let your servant say a word in my lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant: for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us.

44:19 My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother?

44:20 And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father.

44:21 And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him.

44:22 And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death.

44:23 But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again.

44:24 And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words.

44:25 And our father said, Go again and get us a little food.

44:26 And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us.

44:27 And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons;

44:28 The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him,

44:29 If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld.

44:30 If then I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one,

44:31 When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death, and our father's grey head will go down in sorrow to the underworld.

44:32 For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

44:33 So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers.

44:34 For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?

45:1 Then Joseph, unable to keep back his feelings before those who were with him, gave orders for everyone to be sent away, and no one was present when he made clear to his brothers who he was.

45:2 And so loud was his weeping, that it came to the ears of the Egyptians and all Pharaoh's house.

45:3 And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph: is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to give him an answer for they were troubled before him.

45:4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me. And they came near, And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sent into Egypt.

45:5 Now do not be troubled or angry with yourselves for sending me away, because God sent me before you to be the saviour of your lives.

45:6 For these two years have been years of need, and there are still five more years to come in which there will be no ploughing or cutting of grain.

45:7 God sent me before you to keep you and yours living on earth so that you might become a great nation.

45:8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God: and he has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

45:9 Now go quickly to my father, and say to him, Your son Joseph says, God has made me ruler over all the land of Egypt: come down to me straight away:

45:10 The land of Goshen will be your living-place, and you will be near me; you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks and herds and all you have:

45:11 And there I will take care of you, so that you and your family may not be in need, for there are still five bad years to come.

45:12 Now truly, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which says these things to you.

45:13 Give my father word of all my glory in Egypt and of all you have seen; and come back quickly with my father.

45:14 Then, weeping, he took Benjamin in his arms, and Benjamin himself was weeping on Joseph's neck.

45:15 Then he gave a kiss to all his brothers, weeping over them; and after that his brothers had no fear of talking to him.

45:16 And news of these things went through Pharaoh's house, and it was said that Joseph's brothers were come; and it seemed good to Pharaoh and his servants.

45:17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan;

45:18 And get your father and your families and come back to me: and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, and the fat of the land will be your food.

45:19 And say to them, This you are to do: take carts from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come back.

45:20 And take no thought for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.

45:21 And the children of Israel did as he said; and Joseph gave them carts as had been ordered by Pharaoh, and food for their journey.

45:22 To every one of them he gave three changes of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred bits of silver and five changes of clothing.

45:23 And to his father he sent ten asses with good things from Egypt on their backs, and ten she-asses with grain and bread and food for his father on the journey.

45:24 And he sent his brothers on their way, and said to them, See that you have no argument on the road.

45:25 So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob.

45:26 And they said to him, Joseph is living, and is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And at this word Jacob was quite overcome, for he had no faith in it.

45:27 And they gave him an account of everything Joseph had said to them; and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent for them, his spirit came back to him:

45:28 And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is still living; I will go and see him before my death.

46:1 And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac.

46:2 And God said to Israel in a night-vision, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.

46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there:

46:4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.

46:5 Then Jacob went on from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them.

46:6 And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed:

46:7 His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his family he took with him into Egypt.

46:8 And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons: Reuben, Jacob's oldest son;

46:9 And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi;

46:10 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan;

46:11 And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari;

46:12 And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah: but Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

46:13 And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah and Job and Shimron;

46:14 And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel;

46:15 All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number.

46:16 And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli;

46:17 And the sons of Asher: Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Sarah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

46:18 These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her.

46:19 The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

46:20 And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.

46:21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard.

46:22 All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons.

46:23 And the son of Dan was Hushim.

46:24 And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem.

46:25 These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons.

46:26 All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons.

46:27 And the sons of Joseph whom he had in Egypt were two. Seventy persons of the family of Jacob came into Egypt.

46:28 Now he had sent Judah before him to Goshen, to get word from Joseph; and so they came to the land of Goshen.

46:29 And Joseph got his carriage ready and went to Goshen for the meeting with his father; and when he came before him, he put his arms round his neck, weeping.

46:30 And Israel said to Joseph, Now that I have seen you living again, I am ready for death.

46:31 And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's people, from the land of Canaan, have come to me;

46:32 And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have.

46:33 Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business?

46:34 You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers; in this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves; because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.

47:1 Then Joseph went to Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all they have, are come from Canaan, and are now in the land of Goshen.

47:2 And he took five of his brothers to Pharaoh.

47:3 And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us.

47:4 And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to make a living in this land, because we have no grass for our flocks in the land of Canaan; so now let your servants make a place for themselves in the land of Goshen.

47:5 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Let them have the land of Goshen; and if there are any able men among them, put them over my cattle.

47:6 And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you; all the land of Egypt is before you; let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting-place.

47:7 Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing.

47:8 And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you?

47:9 And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.

47:10 And Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him.

47:11 And Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers, and gave them a heritage in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had given orders.

47:12 And Joseph took care of his father and his brothers and all his father's people, giving them food for the needs of their families.

47:13 Now there was no food to be had in all the land, so that all Egypt and Canaan were wasted from need of food.

47:14 And all the money in Egypt and in the land of Canaan which had been given for grain, came into the hands of Joseph: and he put it in Pharaoh's house.

47:15 And when all the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread; would you have us come to destruction before your eyes? for we have no more money.

47:16 And Joseph said, Give me your cattle; I will give you grain in exchange for your cattle if your money is all gone.

47:17 So they took their cattle to Joseph and he gave them bread in exchange for their horses and flocks and herds and asses, so all that year he gave them food in exchange for their cattle.

47:18 And when that year was ended, they came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land;

47:19 Are we to come to destruction before your eyes, we and our land? take us and our land and give us bread; and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh; and give us seed so that we may have life and the land may not become waste.

47:20 So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food, because of their great need; so all the land became Pharaoh's.

47:21 And as for the people, he made servants of them, town by town, from one end of Egypt to the other.

47:22 Only he did not take the land of the priests, for the priests had their food given them by Pharaoh, and having what Pharaoh gave them, they had no need to give up their land.

47:23 Then Joseph said to the people, I have made you and your land this day the property of Pharaoh; here is seed for you to put in your fields.

47:24 And when the grain is cut, you are to give a fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts will be yours for seed and food, and for your families and your little ones.

47:25 And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death; may we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

47:26 Then Joseph made a law which is in force to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth part; only the land of the priests did not become his.

47:27 And so Israel was living among the Egyptians in the land of Goshen; and they got property there, and became very great in numbers and in wealth.

47:28 And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years; so the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.

47:29 And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt;

47:30 But when I go to my fathers, you are to take me out of Egypt and put me to rest in their last resting-place. And he said, I will do so.

47:31 And he said, Take an oath to me; and he took an oath to him: and Israel gave worship on the bed's head.

48:1 Now after these things, word came to Joseph that his father was ill: and he took with him his sons Manasseh and Ephraim.

48:2 And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you: then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed.

48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God, the Ruler of all, came to me in a vision at Luz in the land of Canaan, and gave me his blessing,

48:4 And said to me, Truly, I will make you fertile and give you increase and will make of you a great family of nations: and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage for ever.

48:5 And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are.

48:6 And any other offspring which you have after them, will be yours, and will be named after their brothers in their heritage.

48:7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, death overtook Rachel on the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath; and I put her to rest there on the road to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.

48:8 Then Israel, looking at Joseph's sons, said, Who are these?

48:9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Let them come near me, and I will give them a blessing.

48:10 Now because Israel was old, his eyes were no longer clear, and he was not able to see. So he made them come near to him, and he gave them a kiss, folding them in his arms.

48:11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had no hope of seeing your face again, but God in his mercy has let me see you and your children.

48:12 Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth.

48:13 Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him.

48:14 And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older.

48:15 And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day,

48:16 The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth.

48:17 Now when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him; and lifting his father's hand he would have put it on the head of Manasseh.

48:18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older; put your right hand on his head.

48:19 But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations.

48:20 So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, Now my death is near; but God will be with you, guiding you back to the land of your fathers.

48:22 And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.

49:1 And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times.

49:2 Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father.

49:3 Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power:

49:4 But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours; for you went up to your father's bed, even his bride-bed, and made it unclean.

49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs.

49:6 Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded.

49:7 A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel.

49:8 To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you.

49:9 Judah is a young lion; like a lion full of meat you have become great, my son; now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion; by whom will his sleep be broken?

49:10 The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule.

49:11 Knotting his ass's cord to the vine, and his young ass to the best vine; washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes:

49:12 His eyes will be dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

49:13 The resting-place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbour for ships; the edge of his land will be by Zidon.

49:14 Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks:

49:15 And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasing; so he let them put weights on his back and became a servant.

49:16 Dan will be the judge of his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

49:17 May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall.

49:18 I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord.

49:19 Gad, an army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight.

49:20 Asher's bread is fat; he gives delicate food for kings.

49:21 Naphtali is a roe let loose, giving fair young ones.

49:22 Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain;

49:23 He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him:

49:24 But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel:

49:25 Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body:

49:26 Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers.

49:27 Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat: in the morning he takes his food, and in the evening he makes division of what he has taken.

49:28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel: and these are the words their father said to them, blessing them; to every one he gave his blessing.

49:29 And he gave orders to them, saying, Put me to rest with my people and with my fathers, in the hollow of the rock in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

49:30 In the rock in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham got from Ephron the Hittite, to be his resting-place.

49:31 There Abraham and Sarah his wife were put to rest, and there they put Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I put Leah to rest.

49:32 In the rock in the field which was got for a price from the people of Heth.

49:33 And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.

50:1 And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him.

50:2 And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge, to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices, and they did so.

50:3 And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days.

50:4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh:

50:5 My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting-place, and I will come back again.

50:6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him.

50:7 So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt,

50:8 And all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people: only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen.

50:9 And carriages went up with him and horsemen, a great army.

50:10 And they came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan, and there they gave the last honours to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days.

50:11 And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan.

50:12 So his sons did as he had given them orders to do:

50:13 For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre.

50:14 And when his father had been put to rest, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone with him, went back to Egypt.

50:15 Now after the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said to themselves, It may be that Joseph's heart will be turned against us, and he will give us punishment for all the evil which we did to him.

50:16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, Your father, before his death, gave us orders, saying,

50:17 You are to say to Joseph, Let the wrongdoing of your brothers be overlooked, and the evil they did to you: now, if it is your pleasure, let the sin of the servants of your father's God have forgiveness. And at these words, Joseph was overcome with weeping.

50:18 Then his brothers went, and falling at his feet, said, Truly, we are your servants.

50:19 And Joseph said, Have no fear: am I in the place of God?

50:20 As for you, it was in your mind to do me evil, but God has given a happy outcome, the salvation of numbers of people, as you see today.

50:21 So now, have no fear: for I will take care of you and your little ones. So he gave them comfort with kind words.

50:22 Now Joseph and all his father's family went on living in Egypt: and the years of Joseph's life were a hundred and ten.

50:23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: and the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, came to birth on Joseph's knees.

50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come; but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

50:25 Then Joseph made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly give effect to his word, and you are to take my bones away from here.

50:26 So Joseph came to his death, being a hundred and ten years old: and they made his body ready, and he was put in a chest in Egypt.