Samaritan Targum Genesis

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was desolate and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the wind of God was blowing over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. 5 And God named the light Day, and the darkness he named Night. And there was evening and there was morning, day one. 6 And God said, "Let there be a firmament within the waters, and let it divide between water and water." 7 And God made the firmament and divided between the waters beneath the firmament and the waters above the firmament. And it was so. 8 And God named the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9 And God said, "Let the waters beneath the heavens gather to one place, and let the dry ground be seen." And it was so. 10 And God named the dry ground Earth, and the gathered waters he named Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, "Let the earth sprout green growth, plants that yield seed, and fruit trees that bear fruit after their kind, with their seed in them, upon the earth." And it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth green growth, plants bearing seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with their seed in them, after their kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to shine on the earth and to divide between day and night, and let them serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the firmament of heaven to shine on the earth." And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day and the small light to rule the night, and the stars. 17 And God placed them in the firmament of heaven to shine on the earth, 18 and to rule by day and by night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20 And God said, "Let the waters teem with teeming living souls, and let birds fly over the earth across the firmament of the sky." 21 And God created the great sea creatures and every living soul that crawls, which the waters brought forth in swarms after their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and increase and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase in the land." 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24 And God said, "Let the earth put forth living souls after their kind: cattle and crawling things and wild beasts of the earth after their kind." And it was so. 25 And God made the wild beasts of the earth after their kind and the cattle after their kind and every creeper of the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, "Let us make man in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the cattle and all the earth and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth." 27 And God created and fashioned man in his image; in the image of God he fashioned him; male and female he fashioned them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and increase, fill the earth and master it, and rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and all the beasts that crawl on the earth." 29 And God said, "See, I have given you every plant bearing seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is tree fruit bearing seed; it shall be food for you. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that crawls on the earth in which there is a living soul, every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

1 And the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their array. 2 And God completed on the sixth day the work he had made, and on the seventh day he ceased from all the work he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested, ceasing from all his work that God had created to make. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that Shema God made sky and earth. 5 And no shrub of the open country was yet in the land, and no plant of the field had come up yet, because Shema God had not sent rain on the land, and there was no one to work the ground. 6 But a cloud went up from the land and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And Shema God formed man of dust from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. 8 And Shema God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and set there the man he had formed. 9 And Shema God made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to look at and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowing good and evil. 10 And a river went out from the garden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches. 11 The name of the first is Pishon Qaduf; it is the one that winds around the whole land of Hawilah, where the gold is. 12 And the gold of that land is very good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Asqof; it is the one that winds around the whole land of Kufin. 14 And the name of the third river is Qaflosa; it is the one that flows toward the kingdom of Hatspu. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 And Shema God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. 16 And Shema God commanded the man, saying, "From every tree of the garden you may freely eat, 17 but from the tree of knowing good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day you eat from it you shall surely be destroyed." 18 And Shema God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper to match him." 19 And Shema God again formed from the ground every beast of the open country and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would name it; and whatever the man named each living soul, that was its name. 20 And the man gave names to every head of cattle, to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field, but for Adam no helper was found to match him. 21 And Shema God cast a deep sleep on the man, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh in its stead. 22 And Shema God built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said, "This one at last is limb of my limbs and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman, for from her man this one was taken." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and the two of them shall become one flesh. 25 And the two of them were naked, Adam and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

1 Now the serpent was craftier than every wild beast that Shema God had made. He said to the woman, "Is it so that God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but of the fruit of this tree in the midst of the garden God said, 'You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, or you will be destroyed.'" 4 And the serpent said to the woman, "You shall not surely be destroyed. 5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like the angels, knowing good and evil." 6 And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, that it was a pleasure for the eyes to look on, and that the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom; and she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband with her, and they ate. 7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they picked fig leaves and made themselves girdles. 8 And they heard the voice of Shema God moving about in the garden in the heat of the day, and Adam and his wife hid from before Shema God among the trees of the garden. 9 And Shema God called to Adam and said to him, "How are you?" 10 And he said, "Your voice I heard in the garden, and I was afraid, for I am naked, and [I hid]." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you are naked? Did you eat from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 And the man said, "The woman you placed with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 And Shema God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14 And Shema God said to the serpent, "Since you did this, you are cursed beyond all the cattle and every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will set enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall strike your head, and you shall strike his heel." 16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in your pregnancy, and in pain you shall bear children; and toward your husband shall be your return, and he shall rule over you." 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat from it all the days of your life. 18 Thorns and thistles it shall bring up for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat food until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; you are dust, and to your dust you will return." 20 And the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 And Shema God made garments of hide for Adam and for his wife, and dressed them. 22 And Shema God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, should he reach out his hand and take from the tree of life as well, and eat, and live forever—" 23 And Shema God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 And he drove out the man, and he stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flaming of the sword that turns, to guard the path to the tree of life.

1 And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and she said, "I have acquired a man from Shema." 2 And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a worker of the land. 3 And at the end of days Cain brought an offering to Shema from the fruit of the ground. 4 And Abel too brought from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat ones. And Shema accepted Abel and his offering, 5 but Cain and his offering he did not accept. And Cain grew very angry, and his face fell. 6 And Shema said to Cain, "Why are you angered, and why is your face downcast? 7 If you act well, you will be forgiven; but if you do not act well, sin lies crouching at the door. Its return is toward you, and you shall rule over it." 8 And Cain said to Abel his brother, "Let us go out to the open country." And when they were in the open country, Cain rose against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Shema said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's guardian?" 10 And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer give you its strength. You shall be a wanderer and a vagrant in the land." 13 And Cain said to Shema, "My guilt is too great to bear. 14 See, today you have driven me from the face of the ground, and from your presence I shall be hidden, and I shall be a wanderer and a vagrant in the land, and whoever finds me will kill me." 15 And Shema said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, it shall be avenged on him twice sevenfold." And Shema set a sign for Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 And Cain went out from before Shema and settled in the land, a wanderer, east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. 18 And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begot Mihael, and Mihael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. 19 And Lamech took for himself two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah. 20 And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and keep livestock. 21 And his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all who play the lyre and the harp, the cymbal and the pipe. 22 And Zillah also bore Tubal-cain, the smith who sharpened every tool of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Zalqifa. 23 And Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, give ear to my word. For I have killed a man for my wound, and a youth for my bruise. 24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech far more and beyond." 25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth, "for God has set for me another offspring in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." 26 And to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time he began to call on the name of Shema.

1 This is the record of the generations of Adam. On the day God created Adam, he made him in the likeness of the angels. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them, and called their name Man on the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot in his likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. 4 And the days of Adam after he begot his successor were eight hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters. 5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. 6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. 7 And Seth lived after he begot Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. 9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Kenan. 10 And Enosh lived after he begot Kenan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters. 11 And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died. 12 And Kenan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. 13 And Kenan lived after he begot Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters. 14 And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. 15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. 16 And Mahalalel lived after he begot Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. 17 And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. 18 And Jared lived sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19 And Jared lived after he begot Enoch seven hundred and eighty-five years, and begot sons and daughters. 20 And all the days of Jared were eight hundred and forty-seven years, and he died. 21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for the angels took him. 25 And Methuselah lived sixty-seven years, and begot Lamech. 26 And Methuselah lived after he begot Lamech six hundred and fifty-three years, and begot sons and daughters. 27 And all the days of Methuselah were seven hundred and twenty years, and he died. 28 And Lamech lived fifty-three years, and begot a son, 29 and he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us relief from our labour and from the toil of our hands, from the ground that Shema has cursed." 30 And Lamech lived after he begot Noah six hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 31 And all the days of Lamech were six hundred and fifty-three years, and he died. 32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and he begot Shem, Ham and Japheth.

1 And when humankind began to increase on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of the rulers saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose. 3 And Shema said, "My works shall not remain with humankind forever, since they too are flesh; their days shall be a hundred and twenty years." 4 The mighty ones were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of the rulers went in to the daughters of men and they bore them children. These were the mighty men of old, men of renown. 5 And Shema saw that the wickedness of humankind on the earth was great, and that every secret purpose of their thoughts was only evil all the day. 6 And Shema regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 7 And Shema said, "I will wipe out humankind, whom I created, from the face of the ground, from man to beast, to crawling thing, to bird of the sky, for I regret that I made them." 8 But Noah found mercy in the eyes of Shema. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generations; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was full of oppression. 12 And God looked at the earth, and it was corrupt, for all flesh had ruined its way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh is come before me, since through them the earth is full of oppression. See, I am about to destroy them from the earth. 14 Make yourself a ship of sisam wood; you shall make the ship in compartments, and coat it inside and out with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: three hundred cubits the length of the ship, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height. 16 A light you shall make for the ship, and finish it to a cubit above; and set the ark's door in its side. You shall make it with lower, second and third decks. 17 And I am bringing the flood of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh in which there is a living spirit beneath the heavens; everything on the earth shall perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing and of all flesh, two of each you shall bring into the ark to keep alive with you, male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, and of everything that crawls on the ground after their kinds, two of each shall come to you to be kept alive. 21 And you, take for yourself of every food that is eaten, and store it with you, to be food for you and for them." 22 And Noah did as God commanded him; so he did.

1 And God said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you I have seen to be righteous before me in this generation. 2 Of every clean animal you shall take seven by seven, male and female, and of the animals that are not clean, two by two, male and female. 3 And of the birds of the sky too, the clean ones, seven by seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven more days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out every being that I made from the face of the ground." 5 And Noah did as Shema commanded him. 6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came, waters on the earth. 7 And Noah went into the ark, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him, before the waters of the flood. 8 Of the clean animals and of the animals that are not clean, and of the birds and of all that crawls on the ground, 9 two by two they went in to Noah into the ark, male and female, as Shema commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days, the waters of the flood came on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the springs of the great deep split open, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On that very day Noah went into the ark, with Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, 14 they and every wild animal after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth after their kinds, and every bird after its kind, every fowl, every winged creature. 15 And they went in to Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh in which there is a living spirit. 16 And those that went in, male and female of all flesh, went in as God commanded him; and Shema sealed it behind him. 17 And the destruction lasted forty days on the earth, and the waters increased and lifted the ark, and it rose above the earth. 18 And the waters grew strong and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark moved on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters grew very strong on the earth, and covered all the high mountains under the heavens. 20 Fifteen cubits above them the waters rose, and covered the mountains. 21 And all flesh that moved on the earth perished: birds, cattle, wild animals, every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, and every human being. 22 Everything that had the breath of a living spirit in its nostrils, of all that was on the dry land, died. 23 And he wiped out every being that was on the face of the ground, from man to cattle, to crawling thing, to bird of the sky; they were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth a hundred and fifty days.

1 And God remembered Noah and every wild animal and all the cattle with him in the ark, and God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters sank. 2 And the springs of the deep and the windows of the heavens were shut, and the rain was held back from the heavens. 3 And the waters went back from the earth, going and receding, and the waters lessened at the end of a hundred and fifty days. 4 And the ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountain of Serendib. 5 And the waters went on lessening until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. 6 And at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made. 7 And he sent out the raven, and it went back and forth until the waters had dried from the earth. 8 And he sent the dove from him, to see whether the waters had grown less on the face of the ground. 9 And the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she came back to him, to the ark, for the waters were on the face of all the earth. And he stretched out his hand, caught her and brought her to himself inside the ark. 10 And he waited seven more days, and again sent the dove out from the ark. 11 And the dove came to him at evening time, and there in her beak was a plucked olive leaf. And Noah knew that the waters had grown less on the earth. 12 And he waited seven more days and sent the dove, and she did not come back to him again. 13 And in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the waters had drained from the earth. And Noah removed the cover of the ark and looked, and the face of the ground had dried. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 And God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Every living thing that is with you of all flesh, birds and cattle and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth, bring out with you, and let them swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and increase on the earth." 18 And Noah came out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every wild animal, every bird and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth came out of the ark by their families. 20 And Noah built an altar to Shema, and took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And Shema smelled the pleasing scent, and Shema said in his secret heart, "I will not again curse the ground because of humankind, for the secret thought of humankind is evil from its youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 For all the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease."

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase and fill the earth. 2 And fear and dread of you shall be on every wild animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky, on all that the ground brings forth to crawl and on all the fish of the sea; into your hands I have given them. 3 Every crawling thing that is alive shall be food for you; as with the green plants, I have given you all of it. 4 Only flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. 5 And for your blood, for your lives, I will make a reckoning: from every living thing I will require it, and from humankind, from each man and his brother I will require the life of a man. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of a man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of the angels he made humankind. 7 And you, be fruitful and increase; spread out over the earth and increase on it." 8 And God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 "See, I am setting up my covenant with you and with your offspring after you, 10 and with every living soul that is with you, the birds and the cattle and every wild animal of the earth with you, of all that came out of the ark, every living thing of the earth. 11 I will set up my covenant with you, and all flesh shall not again be cut off by flood waters, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for all generations to come: 13 my bow I have placed in the cloud, to be a covenant sign between me and the earth. 14 And when I gather clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the cloud, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh on the earth." 17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have set up between me and all flesh on the earth." 18 And the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and [from them spread] the whole earth. 20 And Noah, a man of the soil, began, and planted a vineyard. 21 And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 And Shem and Japheth took the cloak, laid it on the shoulders of both of them, walked backward and covered their father's nakedness; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah came to himself from his wine and learned what his young son had done to him. 25 And he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers." 26 And he said, "Blessed be Shema, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be their servant. 27 May God make Japheth fair, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be their servant." 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

1 And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer and Magog, Madai and Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. 4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Rodanim. 5 From these the islands of the nations spread out in their lands, each by his language, by their families, in their nations. 6 And the sons of Ham: Cush and Egypt, Put and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush: Seba and Hawilah, Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before Shema; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Shema." 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Kahlin, in the land of Zofa. 11 From that land Astun went out and built Nineveh and the city of Satkan and Laqsa, 12 and Aspa between Nineveh and Laqsa; that is the great city. 13 And Egypt begot the Ludim and the Anamim and the Lehabim and the Naphtuhim, 14 and the Pathrusim and the Casluhim, from whom the Philistines came, and the Caphtorim. 15 And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites and the Amorites and the Girgashites, 17 and the Hivites and the Arkites and the Sinites, 18 and the Arvadites and the Zemarites and the Hamathites. And afterward the families of the Canaanites were scattered. 19 And the border of the Canaanites ran from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, and to the western sea. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their families, by their languages, in their lands, by their nations. 21 And to Shem also sons were born; he was the father of all the sons of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram. 23 And the sons of Aram: Uz and Hul, Gether and Massa. 24 And Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. 25 And to Eber two sons were born. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Joktan. 26 And Joktan begot Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah, 27 and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah, 28 Obal and Abimael and Sheba, 29 and Ophir and Hawilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling place ran from Massbal as you go toward Sifra, the mountain of the east. 31 This is the division of the descendants of Shem, by their families, by their languages, in their lands, by their nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, in their nations; and from these the islands of the nations divided on the earth after the destruction.

1 And all the earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they set out from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us mould bricks and fire them well." And the brick served them as stone, and the bitumen served them as mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the sky, and make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered over the face of all the earth." 5 And Shema came down to look at the city and the tower that the sons of Adam had built. 6 And Shema said, "See, they are one people with one speech for them all, and this is the work they have started; from now on nothing they set out to do will be held back from them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their speech there, so that no one understands the speech of his companion." 8 And Shema scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city and its tower. 9 Therefore its name was called Liliq, for there Shema confused the speech of all the earth, and from there Shema scattered them over the face of all the earth. 10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old and begot Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad five hundred years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Shem were six hundred years, and he died. 12 And Arpachshad lived a hundred and thirty-five years and begot Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelah three hundred and three years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Arpachshad were four hundred and thirty-eight years, and he died. 14 And Shelah lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Eber. 15 And Shelah lived after he begot Eber three hundred and three years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Shelah were four hundred and thirty-three years, and he died. 16 And Eber lived a hundred and thirty-four years and begot Peleg. 17 And Eber lived after he begot Peleg two hundred and seventy years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Eber were four hundred and four years, and he died. 18 And Peleg lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Reu. 19 And Peleg lived after he begot Reu a hundred and nine years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Peleg were two hundred and thirty-nine years, and he died. 20 And Reu lived a hundred and thirty-two years and begot Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he begot Serug a hundred and seven years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Reu were two hundred and thirty-nine years, and he died. 22 And Serug lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Nahor. 23 And Serug lived after he begot Nahor a hundred years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Serug were two hundred and thirty years, and he died. 24 And Nahor lived seventy-nine years and begot Terah. 25 And Nahor lived after he begot Terah sixty-nine years and begot sons and daughters; and all the days of Nahor were a hundred and forty-eight years, and he died. 26 And Terah lived seventy years and begot Abram, Nahor and Haran. 27 These are the generations of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor and Haran, and Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died in the lifetime of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife Milcah, daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai and Milcah his daughters-in-law, the wives of his sons Abram and Nahor, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came as far as Haran and settled there. 32 And the days of Terah were a hundred and forty-five years, and Terah died in Haran.

1 And Shema said to Abram, "Go from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house to the land [that I will show you]. 2 And I will make you a great people, and I will bless you and enlarge your name, and you shall be a blessing. 3 And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram went, as Shema had spoken to him, and Lot went along with him; Abram was seventy-five years old at his departure from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son and all the possessions they had acquired and the persons they had gained in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan. 6 And Abram passed through the land as far as the city of Shechem, as far as the plain of Moreh; and the Canaanites were then in the land. 7 And Shema revealed himself to Abram and said to him, "To your sons I will give this land." And he built there an altar to Shema, who had revealed himself to him. 8 And he moved on from there to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east; and he built there an altar to Shema and called on the name of Shema. 9 And Abram set out, moving on and journeying toward the south. 10 And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there as a stranger, for the famine was heavy in the land. 11 And when he drew near to entering Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "See, I know that you are a woman beautiful to look at. 12 And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife,' and they will kill me and let you live. 13 Say, please, that you are my sister, so that it goes well with me because of you and my life is spared for your sake." 14 And when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And Pharaoh's officers saw her and praised her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And he treated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep and cattle, very great possessions, menservants and maidservants, he-asses and she-asses and camels. 17 And Shema struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 And Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife? 19 And why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and go." 20 And Pharaoh gave orders about him to escorts, and they sent him off with his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him.

1 And Abram went up from Egypt toward the south, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him. 2 And Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. 3 And he went on his journeys from the south as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beit Hila and Kafra, 4 to the place of the altar he had made there at the beginning; and Abram called there on the name of Shema. 5 And Lot too, who went with Abram, had flocks and cattle and tents. 6 And the land could not carry them to live together, for their possessions were many, and they could not live together. 7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Lot's livestock; and the Canaanites and the Perizzites were then living in the land. 8 And Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Part from me, please: if you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north." 10 And Lot raised his eyes and saw the whole valley of the Jordan, that all of it was watered, before Shema destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Shema, like the land of Egypt, as you go toward Zoar. 11 And Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan, and Lot set out eastward, and they parted, each from his brother. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled among the cities of the valley and spread his tents as far as Sodom. 13 And the men of Sodom were evil and gravely guilty before Shema. 14 And Shema said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Raise your eyes, please, and look from the place where you are, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. 15 For all the land that you see, to you I will give it, and to your offspring forever. 16 And I will make your sons like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your sons too will be counted. 17 Rise, walk about in the land through its length and its breadth, for to you I will give it." 18 And Abram moved his tent and came and settled in the plains of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and he built there an altar to Shema.

1 And in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. 3 All these joined forces in the plain of the fields, that is, the Salt Sea. 4 Twelve years they served Kedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 And in the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer came, and the kings with him, and struck the Sulafites in Afinit-qarnaya, the mighty ones in Lisha, and the Shiafites in Shaveh-medinta, 6 and the Horites in the mountains of Seir, as far as Perom-palsha, at the stream that is by the wilderness. 7 And they turned and came to Ein-din, that is, Kadesh, and struck all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Pelug-karo. 8 And the king of Sodom went out, and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar, and they drew up for battle against them in the plain of the fields: 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of the rulers of the Hamamites, Amraphel king of Babel and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. 10 And the plain of the fields was pit after pit of bitumen; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and those who were left fled to the mountain. 11 And they took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and went away. 12 And they took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, and all his possessions, and went; for he was living in Sodom. 13 And a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. And he was living in the plains of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, [and these were allies of] Abram. 14 And Abram heard [that] his brother [had been taken captive], and he released his young men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Banias. 15 And he divided against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them and pursued them to Fuh, which lies north of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back Lot his brother and his possessions, and also the women and the people. 17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he returned from killing Kedorlaomer and the kings with him, to the plain of Mafna, that is, the King's Valley. 18 And Melchizedek king of Shalem brought out bread and wine; and he was priest to God Most High. 19 And he blessed Abram and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, ruler of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who shielded you and delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of everything. 21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Hand over the persons to me, and keep the possessions." 22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to [Shema], God Most High, ruler of heaven and earth, 23 that from a thread to a sandal strap I will take nothing of yours, so that you will not say, 'I made Abram rich'; 24 only what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner and Eshcol and Mamre; let them take their share."

1 After these things, at that time, the word of Shema came to Abram in prophecy, saying, "Do not fear, Abram; I am a strength for you, and I will make your reward very great." 2 And he said, "My lord Shema, what will you give me, when I go on childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "To me you have given no offspring, and a son of my household will inherit from me." 4 And Shema spoke to him, saying, "This one will not inherit from you; only the one who comes from your own loins will inherit from you." 5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look up, please, at the sky and number the stars, if you can number them." And he said to him, "Like this your offspring shall be." 6 And he trusted in Shema, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And he said to him, "I am Shema, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit." 8 And he said, "My lord Shema, by what shall I know that I will inherit it?" 9 And he said, "Take for me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young bird." 10 And he took all these for him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite its fellow; but the birds he did not divide. 11 And birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them back. 12 And as the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and there, a great and heavy darkness fell upon him. 13 And Abram was told, "Be sure of this: your offspring will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will serve them, and they will oppress them four hundred years. 14 And the nation they serve I will judge, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be gathered in a good old age. 16 And the fourth generation shall come back here, for the guilt of the Amorite is not yet complete." 17 And the sun had set, and there was gloom, and there was a burning oven and a torch of fire that passed between these pieces. 18 On that day Shema made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your sons I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Shalmah: 19 the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites, 20 and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Hassites, 21 and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites."

1 And Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children; and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, "See now, Shema has held me back from bearing. Go in, please, to my maid; perhaps I will be built up through her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress became slight in her eyes. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, "The wrong done to me is on you. I put my maid in your embrace, and she saw that she had conceived, and I became slight in her eyes. May Shema judge between me and you." 6 And Abram said to Sarai, "See, your maid is in your hands; do to her whatever is good in your eyes." And Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her. 7 And the angel of Shema found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, alas for you! Where have you come from, and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from Sarai my mistress." 9 And the angel of Shema said to her, "Go back to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand." 10 And the angel of Shema said to her, "I will greatly increase your offspring, and it will not be counted for its multitude." 11 And the angel of Shema said to her, "See, you are pregnant and will bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, for Shema has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a fruitful man, his hand against all and the hand of all against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brothers." 13 And she called the name of Shema who spoke to her, "You are the Mighty One who sees," for she said, "Have I indeed seen here, after the vision?" 14 Therefore she called the well "Well of the Living One who sees"; it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

1 And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and Shema appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am the Mighty One who suffices; walk before me and be blameless. 2 And I will grant my covenant between me and you, and I will increase you exceedingly." 3 And Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, 4 "As for me, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a throng of nations. 5 And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you a throng of nations. 6 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will set up my covenant between me and you and your sons after you, for their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your sons after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your sons after you the land where you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding; and I will be their God." 9 And God said to Abraham, "And you, keep my covenant, you and your sons after you, for their generations. 10 This is my covenant that you shall keep between me and you and your sons after you: every male of you shall be circumcised. 11 And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and you. 12 And at eight days old every male of you shall be circumcised, for your generations, the one born in the house and the one bought with silver from any foreigner who is not of your sons. 13 He shall surely be circumcised, the one born in your house and the one bought with your silver; and my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 And an uncircumcised male who does not circumcise the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul shall be cut off from its people; he has broken my covenant." 15 And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, do not call her by the name Sarai, for Sarah is her name. 16 And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son from her; and I will bless her, and she shall become peoples, and kings of peoples shall come from her." 17 And Abraham fell on his face and was astonished, and said in his heart, "Shall a man of a hundred years beget? And shall Sarah, a woman of ninety years, bear?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live before you!" 19 And God said, "Truly, Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will set up my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant, and with his offspring after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. See, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and increase him exceedingly; he shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great people. 21 But my covenant I will set up with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season in the coming year." 22 And he finished speaking with him, and the angel of God went up from Abraham. 23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house and all those bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, as God had told him. 24 And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 On that very day Abraham and Ishmael his son were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

1 And Shema appeared to him in the plains of Mamre as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 And he raised his eyes and looked, and there were three men standing over him. And he saw them, and ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, and bowed to the ground, 3 and said, "My lords, if I have found favour in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, please, and wash your feet, and rest under the tree. 5 And I will bring a piece of bread, and refresh your hearts; after that you may pass on, since for this you have passed by your servant." And they said, "Do as you have said." 6 And Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quick, three measures of flour! Knead it and make round cakes." 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the young man, and he hurried to prepare it. 8 And he took curds and milk and the calf he had prepared, and set them before them; and he stood over them under the tree, and they ate. 9 And they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "There, in the tent." 10 And he said, "I will surely come back to you at the time of life, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, and it was behind him. 11 And Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in days; the way of women had ceased for Sarah. 12 And Sarah protested in her secret heart, saying, "After I am worn out, shall I have delight, and my lord is old?" 13 And Shema said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah marvel at this, saying, 'Shall I really bear, when I am old?' 14 Is anything hidden from Shema? At the set time I will come back to you, at the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 And Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not marvel," for she was afraid. And he said to her, "No, you did marvel." 16 And the men rose from there and looked down over Sodom, and Abraham walked with them to send them on their way. 17 And Shema said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 For Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty people, and all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed in him. 19 For I have known him, so that Abraham will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of Shema, to do what is right and just, so that Shema may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken to him." 20 And Shema said, "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grievous. 21 I will go down, please, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry that has come to me; and if not, I will know." 22 And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before Shema. 23 And Abraham came near and said, "Will you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty? 24 Suppose there are fifty innocent within the city: will you really sweep it away and not bear with the place for the sake of the fifty innocent in it? 25 Far be it from you to act in this way, to kill the innocent with the guilty, so that the innocent are treated like the guilty. Far be it from you, Judge of all the earth! Let no such verdict be carried out." 26 And Shema said, "If I find in Sodom fifty innocent within the city, I will bear with the whole place for their sake." 27 And Abraham answered and said, "See, I have ventured to speak with my lord, I who am dust and ashes. 28 Suppose the fifty innocent are five short: will you destroy the whole city because of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." 29 And he spoke to him once more and said, "Suppose forty are found there." And he said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the forty." 30 And he said, "Please let my lord not be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there." And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find thirty there." 31 And he said, "See, please, I have ventured to speak with my lord. Suppose twenty are found there." And he said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty." 32 And he said, "Please let my lord not be angry, and I will speak just this once more. Suppose ten are found there." And he said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten." 33 And the angel of Shema went up when he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham went back to his place.

1 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them and rose to meet them, and bowed with his face to the ground. 2 And he said, "Please, my lords, turn aside, please, to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet, and then you may set off early on your road." And they said, "No; we will lodge in the open square." 3 And he pressed them hard, and they turned aside to him and came into his house; and he made them a meal and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every corner. 5 And they shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Send them out to us, so that we may know them." 6 And Lot went out to them at the entrance, and shut the door behind him. 7 And he said, "Please, my brothers, do no wrong. 8 Look, please, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes. Only to these men do nothing, for that is why they came under the shelter of my roof." 9 And they said, "Get back!" And they said, "This one came in to live as a stranger, and now he plays the judge! Now we will treat you worse than them." And they pressed hard on the man, on Lot, and came close to break the door. 10 And the men put out their hands and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11 And the men at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, from small to great, and they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance. 12 And the angels said to Lot, "Who else do you have here? Sons-in-law, your sons and your daughters, and all that you have in the city, bring them out of this place. 13 For we are destroying this place, because the cry against them has grown great before Shema, and Shema has sent us to destroy it." 14 And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up, leave this place, for Shema is destroying the city." But in the eyes of his sons-in-law he seemed like one joking. 15 And as dawn came up, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the guilt of the city." 16 And he lingered; and the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, by the mercy of Shema upon him, and brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 And when they had brought them outside, he said, "Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stop anywhere in the plain; flee to the mountain, or you will be swept away." 18 And Lot said to them, "No, please, my lord. 19 See, please, your servant has found mercy in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the mountain, or disaster will overtake me and I will die. 20 See, please, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a small one; let me flee there, please. Is it not a small one? And my life will be spared." 21 And he said to him, "See, I have granted you this request too, not to overturn the city you have spoken of. 22 Hurry, flee there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came into Zoar. 24 And Shema rained sulphur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from Shema, out of the heavens. 25 And he overturned those cities and the whole plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew from the ground. 26 And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham rose early to pray in the morning, at the place where he had stood before Shema. 28 And he looked down over Sodom and Gomorrah and over all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that as God was destroying the cities of the plain, God called Abraham to mind, and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow as he overturned the cities Lot had lived in. 30 And Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to live in Zoar; and he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters with him. 31 And the elder said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us in the way of all the earth. 32 Come, let us give our father wine to drink, and we will lie with him, so that we may keep offspring alive from our father." 33 And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the elder went in and lay with her father, and he was not aware of her lying down or her rising. 34 And the next day the elder said to the younger, "See, I lay last night with my father. Let us give him wine to drink tonight as well, and you go in and lie with him, so that we may keep sons alive from our father." 35 And they gave their father wine to drink that night as well, and the younger rose and lay with him, and he was not aware of her lying down or her rising. 36 And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father. 37 And the elder bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of Moab to this day. 38 And the younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

1 And Abraham set out from there to the land of the south and settled between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Ascalon. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech, ruler of Ascalon, sent and took Sarah. 3 And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "You are finished because of the woman you have taken, for she is bound to a husband." 4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, "My lord, will you kill a people that is innocent? 5 Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the cleanness of my hands I have done this." 6 And God said to him in the dream, "I also know that you did this in the integrity of your heart, and I also held you back from sinning against me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 And now give back the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not give her back, know that you will surely die, you and all that is yours." 8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning and summoned all his servants and told all these things in their hearing, and the men were very afraid. 9 And Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you, that you should bring so great a sin upon me and my kingdom? Deeds that are not done you have done to me." 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you did this thing?" 11 And Abraham said, "Because I was afraid; for I said, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me on account of my wife.' 12 And besides, she truly is my sister, my father's daughter, though not my mother's; and she became my wife. 13 And when God made me wander from my father's house and from the land of my birth, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you shall do for me: in every place we come to, say of me, "He is my brother."'" 14 And Abimelech took a thousand pieces of silver, and sheep and cattle and menservants and maidservants, and gave them to Abraham, and gave back to him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, "See, my land is before you; settle wherever it is good in your eyes." 16 And to Sarah he said, "See, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is for you a covering of the eyes for all who are with you, and before everyone." 17 And Abraham prayed before God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, and they bore children. 18 For God had firmly shut every womb of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

1 And Shema visited Sarah as he had said, and Shema did for Sarah as he had spoken. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son at eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac his son was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, "God has made joy for me; everyone who hears will rejoice with me." 7 And she said, "Who would have brought Abraham the news that Sarah would nurse sons? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." 8 And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac his son was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 And she said to Abraham, "Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac." 11 And the matter was very bad in Abraham's eyes on account of his son. 12 And God said to Abraham, "Let it not be bad in your eyes on account of the boy and on account of your maid. Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac offspring shall be named for you. 13 And the son of this slave woman too I will make into a great people, for he is your offspring." 14 And Abraham rose early in the morning, took food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, setting them on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she went and wandered in the wasteland of Beersheba. 15 And the water in the flask ran out, and she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 And she went and sat down facing him at a distance, about a bowshot away, for she said, "Let me not look on the death of the child." And she sat facing him, and raised her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, "What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy in the place where he is. 18 Get up, lift the boy and hold him fast with your hands, for I will make him into a great people." 19 Then God enlightened her eyes, and she noticed a well of water; she went, filled the flask with water, and let the boy, the youth, drink. 20 And God was with the youth, and he grew; and he lived in the open country and became a bowman. 21 And he lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. 22 And at that time Abimelech and Pam, chief of all the commanders of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. 23 And now swear to me by God here that you will not deal falsely with me or with my children or my descendants. As I have dealt kindly with you, deal with me and with the land where you have lived as a stranger." 24 And Abraham said, "I will swear." 25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized. 26 And Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it except today." 27 And Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 And Abraham set apart these seven lambs by themselves. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What are these seven lambs that you have set apart?" 30 And Abraham said, "These seven lambs you shall take from my hand, so that they may be my witness that I dug this well." 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, for there the two of them swore an oath. 32 And they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech rose, with Mimar the chief of his army, and they went back to the land of the Philistines. 33 And Abraham planted an orchard in Beersheba, and called there on the name of Shema, the Mighty One on high. 34 And Abraham stayed as a stranger in the land of the Philistines for many days.

1 And after these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham." And he said, "Here I am." 2 And he said, "Take, please, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of vision, and offer him up there as an offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." 3 And Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the offering, and rose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from far off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go on over there, and we will bow down and come back to you." 6 And Abraham took the wood for the offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and took in his hand the fire and the knife; and the two of them walked on together. 7 And Isaac said to Abraham his father, "Father," and he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Here is the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for the offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "God will see to the lamb for the offering, my son." And the two of them walked on together. 9 When they reached the place God had named to him, Abraham built the altar there and set the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham put out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 And the angel of Shema called to him from the heavens and said, "Abraham, Abraham." And he said, "Here I am." 12 And he said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, and you have not held back your son, your beloved, from me." 13 And Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as an offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place "Shema will see," as it is said today, "On the mountain Shema will be seen." 15 And the angel of Shema called to Abraham a second time from the heavens, 16 and said, "By myself I swear, says Shema: because you have done this thing and have not held back your son, your beloved, from me, 17 I will surely bless you and greatly increase your offspring like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the cities of his enemies. 18 And through your offspring all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed, because you heard my voice." 19 And Abraham went back to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba. 20 And after these things it was told to Abraham, "See, Milcah too has borne sons to Nahor your brother: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel." 23 And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.

1 And the lifetime of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years, the years of Sarah's life. 2 And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba beside the valley, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose from before his dead and spoke with the Hittites, saying, 4 "I am a stranger and a settler among you; and let me bury my dead from before me." 5 And the Hittites answered Abraham, saying, 6 "No, listen to us, sir: a prince of God you are in our midst. Bury your dead in the best of our graves; none of us will keep his grave from you for burying your dead." 7 And Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, to the Hittites. 8 And he spoke with them, saying, "If you are willing that I bury my dead from before me, hear me and plead for me with Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 9 that he give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him, at the edge of his field; for its full price let him give it to me among you as a holding for a grave." 10 And Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, 11 "No, my lord, hear me: the field I give you, and the cave in it I give you; before the eyes of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead." 12 And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. 13 And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "But if you are willing, hear me: I will give the price of the field; take it from me, and let me bury my dead there." 14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying, 15 "No, hear me: land of four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? Bury your dead." 16 And Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver at the merchants' rate. 17 And the field of Ephron in Machpelah, facing Mamre, the field and the cave in it and all the trees in the field throughout its border all around, passed 18 to Abraham as his property, with the Hittites as witnesses, all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 And after that Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. 20 And the field and the cave in it passed to Abraham as a holding for a grave from the Hittites.

1 And Abraham was old, advanced in days, and Shema had blessed Abraham in everything. 2 And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all he had, "Put your hand, please, under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by Shema, God of the heavens and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live. 4 But to my land and my kindred you shall go, and take a wife for my son, for Isaac." 5 And the servant said to him, "What if the woman is not willing to come after me to this land? Must I take your son back to the land you came from?" 6 And Abraham said to him, "Take care that you do not take my son back there. 7 Shema, God of the heavens, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 And if the woman is not willing to come after you, you shall be free of this oath of mine; only you shall not take my son back there." 9 So the servant placed his hand beneath the thigh of his master Abraham and gave him his oath on this matter. 10 And the servant took ten camels from his master's camels and went, with all his master's valuables in his hand; and he rose and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made the camels kneel outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when the women go out to draw. 12 And he said, "Shema, God of my master Abraham, make it go well for me today, please, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the girl to whom I say, 'Lower your jar, please, and let me drink,' and who says, 'Drink, and I will water your camels too,' be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master Abraham." 15 And before he had finished speaking in his heart, there was Rebekah coming out, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her jar on her shoulder. 16 And the girl was very fair to look at, a virgin whom no man had known. And she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. 17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, "Let me drink a little water from your jar, please." 18 And she said, "Drink, my lord," and quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and gave him drink. 19 And when she had finished giving him drink, she said, "I will draw for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." 20 And she hurried and emptied her jar into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man was watching her in silence, to know whether Shema had made his journey prosper or not. 22 And when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel and put it on her nose, and two bracelets on her arms, ten shekels of gold in weight. 23 And he said, "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please: is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" 24 And she said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor." 25 And she said to him, "We have both straw and plenty of fodder, and room to spend the night." 26 And the man knelt and bowed down to Shema. 27 And he said, "Blessed be Shema, God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and his truth from my master Abraham. As for me, on the road Shema has led me to the house of my master's brother." 28 And the girl ran and told her mother's household of these things. 29 And Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. 30 And when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, "So the man spoke to me," he came to the man; and there he was, standing by the camels at the spring. 31 And he said, "Come in, blessed of Shema. Why do you stand outside? I have cleared the house and made room for the camels." 32 And the man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 And food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have spoken my words." And they said, "Speak." 34 And he said, "I am Abraham's servant. 35 And Shema has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah, my master's wife, bore my master a son after she was old, and he has given him all that he has. 37 And my master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38 but you shall go to my father's house and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son.' 39 And I said to my master, 'What if the woman will not come after me?' 40 And he said to me, 'Shema, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way, and you shall take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father's house. 41 Then you shall be free of my oath, when you come to my kindred; and if they do not give her to you, you shall be clear of my curse.' 42 And I came today to the spring and said, 'Shema, God of my master Abraham, if you are indeed prospering the way on which I am going, 43 see, I am standing by the spring of water; let the girl who comes out to draw, to whom I say, "Please give me a little water from your jar to drink," 44 and who says to me, "You drink, and I will draw for your camels too," be the woman Shema has appointed for my master's son.' 45 Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew; and I said to her, 'Please give me a little water from your jar to drink.' 46 And she hurried and lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I will water your camels too.' And I drank, and she watered the camels too. 47 And I asked her and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' And she said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' And I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms. 48 And I knelt and bowed down to Shema, and blessed Shema, God of my master Abraham, who led me on the true road to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son. 49 Now then, if you mean to act with kindness and faithfulness toward my master, say so; and if not, say so, so that I may turn to the right or to the left." 50 And Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The matter has come from Shema; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. 51 See, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as Shema has spoken." 52 And when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before Shema. 53 And the servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold and garments and gave them to Rebekah; and he gave costly gifts to her brothers and her mother. 54 And he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night. And they rose in the morning, and he said, "Send me off to my master." 55 And her brothers said, "Let the girl stay with us some days, or a month; after that she may go." 56 And he said to them, "Do not hold me back, since Shema has made my way prosper; send me off so that I may go to my master." 57 And they said, "We will call the girl and ask her own mouth." 58 And they called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." 59 And they sent off Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you become thousands of myriads, and may your offspring possess the cities of his enemies." 61 And Rebekah rose with her maids, and they mounted the camels and went after the man; and the servant took Rebekah and went. 62 And Isaac was coming from the wilderness of the Well of the Living One who sees, and he was living in the land of the south. 63 And Isaac went out to pray in the open country toward evening, and he raised his eyes and looked, and there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah raised her eyes and saw Isaac, and she got down from the camel. 65 And she said to the servant, "Who is that man walking in the open country to meet us?" And the servant said, "He is my master." And she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things he had done. 67 And Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, and he married Rebekah, and he loved her; and Isaac found comfort after his mother.

1 And Abraham again took a wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan; and the sons of Dedan were the Riturim, the Amshahim and the Amnim. 4 And the sons of Midian were Ainah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac his son. 6 And to the sons of Abraham's concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still alive he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the land of the east. 7 And these are the days of the years of the life of Abraham that he lived: a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 And Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, old and satisfied with days, and was gathered to his people. 9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, 10 the field Abraham bought from the Hittites; there Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. 11 And after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son; and Isaac lived by the Well of the Living One who sees. 12 And these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maid, bore to Abraham. 13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, by their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel and Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah and Massa, 15 Hadar and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 Such are Ishmael's sons, and such their names, in their settlements and their camps: twelve princes for their peoples. 17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael: a hundred and thirty-seven years. And he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 And they lived from Hawilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt as you go toward Assyria; he settled in the presence of all his brothers. 19 And these are the generations of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. 20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean, as his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to Shema on behalf of his wife, for she was barren; and Shema answered him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the sons struggled within her, and she said, "If it is so, why am I like this?" And she went to inquire of Shema. 23 And Shema said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from your body shall be divided; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger." 24 And her days to give birth were fulfilled, and there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red, all of him like a cloak of hair, and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that his brother came out with his hand gripping Esau's heel, and they called his name Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 And the boys grew up, and Esau became a man who hunted, skilled in the open country, and Jacob a blameless man, living in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau, because game was in his mouth; but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 And Jacob cooked a stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Feed me, please, some of that red, that red stuff, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called "Red." 31 And Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright today." 32 And Esau said, "See, I am going to die; what use to me is a birthright?" 33 And Jacob said, "Swear to me today." And he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew until he was full, and he ate and drank and rose and went; and Esau despised his birthright.

1 And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that had been in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech the Philistine, to Ascalon. 2 And Shema appeared to him and said, "Do not go down [to Egypt]; live in the land of which I tell you. 3 Stay as a stranger in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and to your sons I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will increase your sons and make them like the stars of the heavens, and I will give your sons all these lands, and through your sons all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham your father heard my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws." 6 And Isaac settled in Ascalon. 7 And the men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "She is my wife," lest the men of the place kill him on account of Rebekah, for she was fair to look at. 8 And when he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through the window and saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "So she is your wife! How could you say, 'She is my sister'?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die on account of her.'" 10 And Abimelech said, "What have you done to us? In a little while one of the people would have lain with your wife, and you would have laid guilt upon us." 11 And Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." 12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in that year a hundredfold, and Shema blessed him. 13 And the man grew great, and went on growing, until he was very great. 14 And he had flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and a large household, and the Philistines envied him. 15 And every well his father's servants had dug in Abraham's day, the Philistines had blocked and packed with dust. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you have grown much mightier than we." 17 And Isaac went from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that the servants of Abraham his father had dug and the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham, and he called them by the names his father had called them. 19 And Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of fresh water. 20 And the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." And he called the name of the well "Strife," because they had striven with him. 21 And they dug another well, and they quarrelled over that one too, and he called its name Ashra. 22 And he moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it, and he called its name Nefusha, and he said, "Now at last Shema has given us space, and we will flourish in the land." 23 And he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And Shema revealed himself to him that night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Have no fear; I am with you, and I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of Abraham my servant." 25 And he built an altar there and called on the name of Shema, and pitched his tent there; and Isaac's servants dug a well there. 26 And Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Mimar the chief of his army. 27 And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, when you hate me and sent me away from you?" 28 And they said, "We have plainly seen that Shema is with you, and we said, 'Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you, and as we have done you nothing but good and sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Shema.'" 30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 And they rose early in the morning and swore to one another, and Isaac sent them off, and they went from him in peace. 32 And that same day Isaac's servants came with news of the well they had been digging, and said to him, "We have struck water." 33 And he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. 34 And Esau was forty years old, and he took as wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hivite. 35 And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.

1 And when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called Esau his elder son and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am." 2 And he said, "See, please, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 And now, take up your weapons, please, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me savoury dishes such as I love, and bring them to me, and I will eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die." 5 And Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke with Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and bring it. 6 And Rebekah said to Jacob her son, "See, I heard your father speaking with Esau your brother, saying, 7 'Bring me game and make me savoury dishes, and I will eat and bless you before Shema before my death.' 8 And now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you. 9 Go, please, to the flock and take for me two good kids of the goats from there, and I will make them into savoury dishes for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring them to your father, and he will eat, so that he may bless you before his death." 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "See, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will seem in his eyes like a deceiver, and I will bring a curse on myself and not a blessing." 13 And his mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, fetch them for me." 14 And he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savoury dishes such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took the fine garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and dressed Jacob her younger son in them. 16 And the skins of the kids of the goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she put the savoury dishes and the bread she had made into the hand of Jacob her son, and he came in to his father. 18 And he said, "Father." And he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?" 19 And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, so that your soul may bless me." 20 And Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because Shema your God made it come to me." 21 And Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, please, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are my son Esau or not." 22 And Jacob came near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 And he did not recognise him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother; and he blessed him. 24 And he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am." 25 And he said, "Bring it near to me, and let me eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you." So he set it before him and he ate, and he fetched him wine and he drank. 26 And Isaac his father said to him, "Come near, please, and kiss me, my son." 27 And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him, and said, "See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a full field that Shema has blessed. 28 May God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you; be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you." 30 And as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had barely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 And he too made savoury dishes and brought them to his father, and said to his father, "Let my father rise and eat of his son's game, so that your soul may bless me." 32 And Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." 33 And Isaac trembled with a very great trembling and said, "Who then was it who hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of it all before you came, and I blessed him? And blessed he shall be." 34 And when Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a great and very bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me too, Father!" 35 And he said, "Your brother came with deceit and has taken your blessing." 36 And he said, "Rightly is he named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times: he took my birthright, and see, now he has taken my blessing." And he said, "Have you not kept back a blessing for me?" 37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, "See, I have made him your master, and all his brothers I have given him as servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him; and for you, then, what can I do, my son?" 38 And Esau said to his father, "Is this one blessing all you have, Father? Bless me too, Father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 And Isaac his father answered and said to him, "See, your dwelling shall be of the richness of the earth and of the dew from above. 40 And by your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve; and when you grow strong, you shall break his yoke from your neck." 41 And Esau bore hatred toward Jacob over the blessing his father had given him; and Esau said in his heart, "The time of mourning for my father draws near, and I will kill Jacob my brother." 42 And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "See, Esau your brother is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. 43 And now, my son, listen to my voice: rise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran, 44 and stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns back, 45 until your brother's rage subsides and he forgets what you did to him; then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" 46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am sick of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from the daughters of the land, what is life to me?"

1 And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, and said to him, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Rise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. 3 And may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase you, so that you become an assembly of peoples, 4 and give you the blessing of Abraham your father, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may inherit the land where you are a stranger, which Shema gave to Abraham." 5 And Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau. 6 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that in blessing him he had commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan," 7 and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing in the eyes of Isaac his father. 9 And Esau went and took Mahalath daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, the sister of Nebaioth, as his wife besides his wives. 10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba to go to Haran. 11 And he came upon a place and spent the night there, for the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it as his pillow, and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed, and there was a ladder standing on the earth with its top reaching the heavens, and there were angels of God going up and coming down on it. 13 And there was Shema standing over him, and he said, "I am Shema, God of Abraham your father and God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 And your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed, and in your offspring. 15 And see, I am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." 16 And Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely Shema is in this place, and I did not know." 17 And he was afraid, and said, "How fearsome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate of the heavens." 18 And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had put as his pillow, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on its top. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the city at first was Luzah. 20 And Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and guard me on this road that I am travelling, and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and bring me back in peace to my father's house, then Shema shall be my God, 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar shall be a house of God, and of all that you give me I will surely give you a tenth."

1 And Jacob took to the road and went to the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and there was a well in the open country, and three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for from that well the flocks were watered; and the stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3 And all the shepherds would gather there and roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. 4 And Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where are you from?" And they said, "We are from Haran." 5 And he said to them, "Do you know Laban son of Nahor?" And they said, "We know him." 6 And he said to them, "Is he well?" And they said, "He is well; and here comes Rachel his daughter with the sheep." 7 And he said, "See, it is still the middle of the day; it is not time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and go and graze them." 8 And they said, "We cannot, until all the shepherds are gathered and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep." 9 He was still speaking with them when Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 And when Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother's brother. 11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebekah's son; and she ran and told her father. 13 And when Laban heard the report of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him, embraced him and kissed him and brought him into his house; and he told Laban all these things. 14 And Laban said to him, "Truly you are my bone and my flesh." And he stayed with him a month of days. 15 And Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?" 16 Now Laban had two daughters: the elder was called Leah and the younger Rachel. 17 And Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was lovely in form and lovely to look at. 18 And Jacob loved Rachel, and Jacob said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter." 19 And Laban said, "Better that I give her to you than give her to another man; stay with me." 20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his eyes like a few days, because of his love for her. 21 And Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are completed, and let me go in to her." 22 And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. 23 And when evening came he took his daughter Leah and led her in to him, and Jacob lay with her. 24 And Laban gave Zilpah his maid to Leah his daughter as her maid. 25 And in the morning, there was Leah. And he said to Laban, "What have you done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why have you deceived me?" 26 And Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the elder. 27 Complete this one's week, and I will give you this one too, for the service you will do with me for seven more years." 28 And Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him Rachel his daughter as his wife. 29 And Laban gave Bilhah his maid to Rachel his daughter as her maid. 30 And he went in to Rachel too, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served with him seven more years. 31 And Shema saw that Leah was unloved, and he opened her womb, while Rachel stayed barren. 32 And Leah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Reuben, for she said, "Shema has seen my affliction; now my husband will love me." 33 And she conceived again and bore, and said, "Shema has heard that I am hated, and has given me this one too"; and she called his name Simeon. 34 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Now at last my husband will be joined to me, for I have borne him three sons"; therefore she called his name Levi. 35 Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, "Now I will give thanks to Shema"; so she named him Judah. And she stopped bearing.

1 And Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, and Rachel was jealous of her sister, and she said to Jacob, "Give me sons; and if not, I am dead." 2 And Jacob's anger burned against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has held back from you the fruit of the womb?" 3 And she said, "Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and let her bear on my knees, so that I too may be built up through her." 4 And she gave him Bilhah her maid as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 And Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son"; therefore she called his name Dan. 7 And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 And Rachel said, "With twistings of God I have twisted with my sister, and I have prevailed"; and she called his name Naphtali. 9 And Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, and she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, "Good news!" And she called his name Gad. 12 And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, "In my praise! For daughters will praise me." And she called his name Asher. 14 And Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, "Give me, please, some of your son's mandrakes." 15 And she said to her, "Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband, that you would take my son's mandrakes too?" And Rachel said, "Then he shall lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes." 16 And Jacob came in from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, "You will come in to me tonight, for I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night. 17 And God heard Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 And Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I gave my maid to my husband"; and she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 And Leah said, "God has granted me a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, for I have borne him six sons"; and she called his name Zebulun. 21 And afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah. 22 And God remembered Rachel, and God heard her and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has gathered away my disgrace." 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, "May Shema add another son for me." 25 And when Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me off, and let me go to my place and to my land. 26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the service I have given you." 27 And Laban said to him, "If I have found favour in your eyes, I have learned by divination that Shema has blessed me on your account." 28 And he said, "Name your wages to me, and I will pay them." 29 And he said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock fared with me. 30 For the little that you had before me has spread out into much, and Shema has blessed you through my help; and now, when shall I also provide for my own house?" 31 And he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall give me nothing. If you will do this thing for me, I will again graze your flock and keep it. 32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted lamb and every dark lamb among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and that shall be my wages. 33 And my honesty will answer for me on a day to come, when it comes to my wages before you: any that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, or dark among the sheep, shall be counted stolen if found with me." 34 And Laban said, "Very well; let it be as you say." 35 And that day he removed the striped and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, all that had white on it, and every dark one among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 And he put a journey of three days between them and Jacob, and Jacob grazed the rest of Laban's sheep. And the angel of God said to Jacob in the dream, "Jacob," and he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Raise your eyes, please, and see all the he-goats that mount the flock, striped, speckled and red; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the Mighty One of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me there. And now rise, leave this land and go back to the land of your father, and I will deal well with you." 37 And Jacob took fresh rods of poplar, almond and plane, and peeled white strips in them, laying bare the white on the rods. 38 And he set the rods he had peeled in the troughs, in the watering channels where the sheep came to drink, facing the sheep; and they mated when they came to drink. 39 And the sheep mated in front of the rods, and the sheep bore striped, speckled and spotted young. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flock toward the striped and all the dark in Laban's flock; and he put his own droves by themselves and did not put them with Laban's flock. 41 And whenever the stronger sheep were mating, Jacob would set the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the sheep. 42 But when the sheep were feeble he would not set them there; so the feeble went to Laban and the stronger to Jacob. 43 And the man spread out exceedingly, and he had many sheep, maidservants and menservants, camels and donkeys.

1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "He has taken all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth." 2 And Jacob saw Laban's face, and it was not toward him as it had been before. 3 And Shema said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you." 4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, 5 and he said to them, "I see your father's face, that it is not toward me as it was before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 And you know that with all my strength I have served your father. 7 And your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; but Shema did not allow him to do me harm. 8 If he said, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' all the sheep bore speckled; and if he said, 'The striped shall be your wages,' all the sheep bore striped. 9 And Shema has taken away your father's livestock and given it to me. 10 And at the time when the sheep were mating, I raised my eyes and saw in a dream, and there were the he-goats mounting the sheep, striped, speckled and red. 11 And the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' 12 And he said, 'Raise your eyes, please, and see all the he-goats mounting the sheep, striped, speckled and red; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the Mighty One of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me there. And now rise, leave this land and go back to the land of your birth.'" 14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? 15 Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us, and he has also eaten up our money. 16 All the wealth that Shema has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. And now, do whatever God has told you." 17 And Jacob rose and lifted his wives and his sons onto the camels. 18 And he drove off all his livestock and all the wealth he had gathered, the livestock he had acquired, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. 19 And Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the household images that belonged to her father. 20 And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he was fleeing. 21 And he fled, he and all that he had, and rose and crossed the river, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. 22 And on the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 And he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a journey of seven days, and overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. 24 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, "Take care that you say nothing to Jacob, either good or bad." 25 And Laban overtook Jacob. And Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain, and Laban pitched with his kinsmen on the mountain of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have stolen my heart and driven off my daughters like captives of the sword. 27 Why did you hurry to flee, and steal away from me, and not tell me, so that I could have sent you off with joy, with songs, with drum and with lyre? 28 And you did not let me kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have acted foolishly. 29 My hand has the power to harm you; yet last night your father's God told me, 'Take care that you say nothing to Jacob, either good or bad.' 30 And now, you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house; but why have you stolen my gods?" 31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid; for I said, lest you take your daughters away from me by force. 32 Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen, identify what of yours is with me and take it." And Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent and searched, and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maids, and did not find them; and he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's tent. 34 And Rachel had taken the household images and put them in the camel's saddlebag and sat on them; and Laban felt through the whole tent and did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, "Let my lord not be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me." And he searched and did not find the household images. 36 And Jacob grew angry and quarrelled with Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban, "What is my offence, and what is my sin, that you have come hunting after me? 37 Now that you have felt through all my things, what have you found of all the things of your house? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, and let them decide between the two of us. 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not miscarried, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten. 39 What was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I made it good myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 So I was: by day the drought consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 Twenty years now I have spent in your house, fourteen of them serving you for your two daughters and six for your flock, and ten times you altered my wages. 42 Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Redeemer of Isaac, been with me, you would now have sent me away empty. God has seen my toil and the labour of my hands, and he rebuked you last night." 43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the sons are my sons, the sheep are my sheep, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today to these daughters of mine, or to the sons they have borne? 44 And now come, let us make a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you." 45 And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. 47 And Laban called it Hotav-saduta, and Jacob called it Gal-sad. 48 And Laban said, "This heap is a witness between me and you today." Therefore its name was called Gal-sad, 49 and the pillar, of which he said, "May Shema keep watch between me and you when we are hidden from one another. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, though no one is with us, see, God is witness between me and you." 51 And Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is the pillar that I have set between me and you. 52 This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of Abraham." And Jacob swore by the Redeemer of his father Isaac. 54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his kinsmen to eat bread, and they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

1 Early in the morning Laban kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them; then Laban left and went back home. 2 And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him. 3 And Jacob said when he saw them, "This is the camp of God." And he called the name of that place "Camps." 4 And Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau his brother, to the land of Gebala, the country of Edom. 5 And he commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: 'Thus says your servant Jacob: I have lived as a stranger with Laban and stayed until now, 6 and I have oxen and donkeys and sheep and menservants and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, so as to find favour in your eyes.'" 7 And the messengers came back to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." 8 And Jacob was very afraid and distressed, and he divided the people with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two camps. 9 And he said, "If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, the camp that is left will escape." 10 And Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Shema, who said to me, 'Go back to your land and your kindred, and I will deal well with you': 11 I am too small for all the kindnesses and all the faithfulness you have shown your servant; for with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 12 Save me, please, from my brother's hand, from Esau's hand; I am afraid of him, that he will come and kill me, mother and children together. 13 And you said, 'I will surely deal well with you and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted for its abundance.'" 14 And he spent the night there that night; and he took from what came to hand a gift for Esau his brother: 15 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 16 thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. 17 And he put them in the hands of his servants, each drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove." 18 And he commanded the first, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, 'Whose are you, and where are you going, and whose are these ahead of you?' 19 you shall say, 'Your servant Jacob's. It is a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he himself is behind us.'" 20 And he commanded the second and the third too, and all who followed the droves, saying, "Speak to Esau in this way when you find him, 21 and say, 'Your servant Jacob too is coming behind us.'" For he said, "I will appease his face with the gift going ahead of me, and after that I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face." 22 And the gift passed on ahead of him, and he spent that night in the camp. 23 And he rose that night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 24 And he took them and sent them across the stream, and sent across all that he had. 25 And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn came up. 26 And he saw that he could not overcome him, and he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob's thigh was wrenched as he wrestled with him. 27 And he said, "Let me go, for the dawn has come up." And he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 28 And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 29 And he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed." 30 And Jacob asked and said, "Tell me, please, your name." And he said, "Why do you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. 31 And Jacob called the name of the place Penuel, "for I have seen God face to face, and my life has been rescued." 32 And the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. 33 Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip that is on the socket of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh at the sinew of the hip.

1 And Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and there was Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. And he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. 2 And he put the maids and their children first, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 And he himself passed on ahead of them, and bowed to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. 4 And Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, fell on his neck and kissed him, and he wept. 5 And looking up he saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these you have?" And he said, "The children with whom God has favoured your servant." 6 And the maids came near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 And Leah too came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed down. 8 And he said, "What is all this camp of yours that I met?" And he said, "To find favour in the eyes of my lord." 9 And Esau said, "I have plenty, my brother; let what is yours stay yours." 10 And Jacob said, "No, please; if I have found favour in your eyes, take my gift from my hand. For this is why I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you have received me kindly. 11 Take, please, my blessing that has been brought to you, for God has been gracious to me, and I have all I need." And he pressed him, and he took it. 12 And he said, "Let us set out and go, and I will go alongside you." 13 And he said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender, and the sheep and cattle with me are nursing; if they are driven hard for one day, all the sheep will die. 14 Let my lord pass on, please, ahead of his servant, and I will move along slowly at the pace of the livestock ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Gebala." 15 And Esau said, "Let me leave with you, please, some of the people who are with me." And he said, "Why this? Let me find favour in the eyes of my lord." 16 And that day Esau went back on his way to Gebala. 17 And Jacob set out to Sukkoth, and built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock; therefore the name of the place was called Sukkoth. 18 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and camped facing the city. 19 And he bought the piece of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred kesitahs. 20 And he set up an altar there and called it "God, the God of Israel."

1 And Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to be seen among the daughters of the land. 2 And Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her, and took her and lay with her and humbled her. 3 And his soul clung to Dinah, Jacob's daughter; he loved the girl and spoke to the girl's heart. 4 And Shechem spoke to his father, saying, "Take this girl for me as a wife." 5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, and Jacob kept silent until they came in. 6 And Hamor, Shechem's father, went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 And Jacob's sons came in from the field when they heard, and the men were pained and very angry, for a disgraceful thing had been done in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter, and such a thing should not be done. 8 And Hamor spoke with them, saying, "My son Shechem's soul longs for your daughter; give her to him, please, as a wife. 9 Intermarry with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 And live with us, and the land shall be open before you; settle, trade in it and acquire property in it." 11 And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, "Let me find favour in your eyes, and whatever you tell me I will give. 12 Set the bride-price and the gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you tell me; only give me the girl as a wife." 13 And Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and they spoke so because he had taken Dinah their sister. 14 And they said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you: if you become like us, every male of you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. 17 But if you do not listen to us and be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go." 18 And their words seemed good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem his son. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, for he delighted in Jacob's daughter; and he was the most honoured of all his father's house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to their city gate and addressed the men of their city: 21 "These men are at peace with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for see, the land is wide enough before them. Let us take their daughters as wives for ourselves and give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree with us to live with us and become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Their livestock and their property and all their beasts, will they not be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us." 24 And all who went out at the gate of his city listened to Hamor and Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out at the gate of his city. 25 And on the third day, when they were in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took each man his sword and came on the city unopposed, and killed every male. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem's house and went out. 27 Jacob's sons came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 Their sheep and their cattle and their donkeys, whatever was in the city and whatever was in the field, they took; 29 and all their wealth, their little ones and their wives they took captive, and they plundered everything in the houses. 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number; they will gather against me and kill me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house." 31 And they said, "Should our sister be treated like a harlot?"

1 And God said to Jacob, "Rise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to the Mighty One who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother." 2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Remove the foreign gods you have among you; make yourselves clean and put on fresh clothes. 3 And let us rise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to the Mighty One who answered me on the day of my distress and was with me on the road I travelled." 4 And they gave Jacob all the foreign gods in their hands and the rings in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem. 5 And they set out, and a terror of God was on the cities around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people who were with him. 7 And he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, for there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and was buried below Bethel at the foot of the plain; and he called its name the Plain of Weeping. 9 And God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and God blessed him. 10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." And he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and increase; a nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your loins. 12 And the land I gave to Abraham and to Isaac I will give to you, and to your offspring after you I will give the land." 13 And God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar at the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and poured a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. 16 And they set out from Bethel, and while there was still a stretch of land to go before Ephrath, Rachel gave birth, and she had a hard labour. 17 And while she was in hard labour, the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid, for this one too is a son for you." 18 And as her soul was departing, for she was dying, she called his name Bar-lebuti; but his father called him Benjamin. 19 And Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. 20 And Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. 21 And Israel set out and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder. 22 And while Israel was living in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine; and Israel heard. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. 24 And the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid: Dan and Naphtali. 26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre, the city of Arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived as strangers. 28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, aged and sated with days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

1 And these are the generations of Esau, that is, Edom. 2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah son of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Mahalath bore Reuel, 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 And Esau took his wives, his sons and his daughters and all the persons of his household, his livestock and all his beasts and all the property he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went away from the land of Canaan, from before Jacob his brother. 7 For their wealth was too great for them to live together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock. 8 And Esau lived in the mountain of Gebala; Esau is Edom. 9 And these are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom, in the mountain of Gebala. 10 And these are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz son of Adah, Esau's wife; Reuel son of Mahalath, Esau's wife. 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. 12 And Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz son of Esau, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Mahalath, Esau's wife. 14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah daughter of Anah son of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau's firstborn: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 16 chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 And these are the sons of Reuel son of Esau: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Mahalath, Esau's wife. 18 And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs of Oholibamah daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs; Esau is Edom. 20 And these are the sons of Gebala the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, 21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Gebala, in the land of Edom. 22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam, and Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 24 And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; this is the Anah who found the Emim in the wilderness as he grazed the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 And these are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah. 26 And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban, Ithran and Cheran. 27 And these are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. 28 And these are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, by their chiefs, in the land of Gebala. 31 And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel. 32 And Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 And Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 And Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the south reigned in his place. 35 And Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who struck the Midianites in the field of Moab, reigned in his place; and the name of his city was Avith. 36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Pethi-nahara reigned in his place. 38 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 And Baal-hanan died, and Hadar reigned in his place; and the name of his city was Pau, and the name of his wife Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 And these are the names of the chiefs of Esau, by their families, by their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, by their families, in the land of their holding; this is Esau, the father of Edom.

1 And Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, at seventeen years old, was shepherding with his brothers among the flock; he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was to him a son of wisdom; and he made him a striped coat. 4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his sons, and they hated him and could not speak to him peaceably. 5 And Joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 6 And he said to them, "Listen, please, to this dream I have had. 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field, and my sheaf rose up and stood upright, and your sheaves gathered round and bowed down to my sheaf." 8 And his brothers said to him, "Will you really be king over us? Or will you really rule over us?" And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 9 And he had yet another dream and recounted it to his brothers, and said, "See, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10 And he recounted it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream you have had? Shall we come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow to the ground before you?" 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. 12 And his brothers went to graze their father's sheep at Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers grazing at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." And he said to him, "Here I am." 14 And he said to him, "Go, please, see how your brothers are and how the flock is, and bring word back to me." And he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the open country, and the man asked him, "What are you looking for?" 16 And he said, "I am looking for my brothers; tell me, please, where they are grazing." 17 And the man said, "They have set out from here, for I heard them saying, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" And Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18 And they saw him from far off, and before he came near to them they plotted against him to kill him. 19 And they said to one another, "Here comes that master of dreams. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say a wild beast has eaten him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams." 21 And Reuben heard, and rescued him from their hands, and said, "Let us not take his life." 22 And Reuben said to them, "Do not shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him," so as to rescue him from their hands and bring him back to his father. 23 And when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat, the striped coat that he had on. 24 And they took him and threw him into the pit; and the pit was empty, with no water in it. 25 And they sat down to eat bread, and they raised their eyes and looked, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels carrying gum, balm and myrrh, on their way down to Egypt. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, "What gain is it if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let our hand not be on him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened. 28 And Midianite men, traders, passed by, and they hauled Joseph up from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and Joseph was taken to Egypt. 29 And Reuben returned to the pit, and Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he went back to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone, and I, where can I go?" 31 And they took Joseph's coat and slaughtered a goat and dipped the coat in the blood. 32 And they sent the striped coat and brought it to their father, and said, "We found this; please see whether it is your son's coat or not." 33 And he recognised it and said, "It is my son's coat; a wild beast has eaten him; Joseph is surely torn to pieces." 34 And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I will go down to my son in mourning, to Sheol." And his father wept for him. 36 And the Midianites sold Joseph into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, chief of the guard.

1 And at that time Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a man of Adullam whose name was Hirah. 2 And there Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man whose name was Shua, and he took her and went in to her. 3 And she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Er. 4 And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 And she bore yet another son and called his name Shelah; and she was in Kezib when she bore him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the eyes of Shema, and Shema put him to death. 8 And Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and do a brother-in-law's duty to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." 9 And Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, and whenever he went in to his brother's wife he spoiled it on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. 10 And what he did was evil in the eyes of Shema, and he put him to death too. 11 And Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Go back, return as a widow to your father's house until Shelah my son grows up"; for he said, "Lest he die too, like his brothers." And Tamar went and lived in her father's house. 12 And the days grew many, and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep-shearers at Timnah, he and Hirah his friend the Adullamite. 13 And Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." 14 And she took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat at the gate of Hazbim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. 15 And Judah saw her and took her for a harlot, for she had covered her face. 16 And he turned to her by the road and said, "Come now, let me lie with you," not knowing she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, "What will you pay me to lie with me?" 17 And he said, "I will send a kid of the goats from the flock." And she said, "If you will give a pledge until you send it." 18 And he said, "What pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord and the staff in your hand." And he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 And she rose and went, and took off her veil and put on her widow's garments. 20 And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his Adullamite friend to take the pledge from the woman's hand, and he did not find her. 21 And he asked the men of the place, saying, "Where is that consecrated woman who was at Hazbim by the road?" And they said, "There has been no consecrated woman here." 22 And he went back to Judah and said, "I did not find her; and the men of the place too said, 'There has been no consecrated woman here.'" 23 And Judah said, "Let her keep it, or we will become a laughingstock. See, I sent this kid, and you could not find her." 24 And about three months later Judah was told, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot, and see, she is pregnant by harlotry." And Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned." 25 As she was being brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man to whom these belong I am pregnant." And she said, "Recognise, please, whose these are: the seal and the cord and the staff." 26 And Judah recognised them and said, "She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to Shelah my son." And he did not know her again. 27 And at the time she gave birth, there were twins in her womb. 28 And as she gave birth, one put out a hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." 29 And as he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, "What a breach you have broken for yourself!" And she called his name Perez. 30 And afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and she called his name Zerah.

1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, chief of the guard, an Egyptian man, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 And Shema was with Joseph, and he was a man who prospered, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 And his master saw that Shema was with him, and that Shema made all he did prosper in his hand. 4 And Joseph found favour in his master's eyes, and he attended on him; and he put him in charge of his house, and all that he had he placed in his hand. 5 And from the time he put him in charge of his house and of all that he had, Shema blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Shema was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. 6 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and with him there he gave no thought to anything except the bread he ate. And Joseph was handsome in form and handsome in appearance. 7 And after these things his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." 8 And he refused, and said to his master's wife, "See, with me here my master gives no thought to anything in the house, and all that he has he has put in my hand. 9 There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has held nothing back from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wrong and sin against God?" 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 And one day it happened that Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were there in the house. 12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. 13 And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, 14 she called to the men of her house and said to them, "Look, he has brought us a Hebrew man to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And when he heard that I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment with me and fled and went outside." 16 And she kept his garment beside her until his master came home. 17 And she spoke to him in the same words, saying, "The Hebrew servant you brought us came in to me to make sport of me. 18 And when I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside." 19 And when his master heard the words his wife spoke to him, saying, "This is what your servant did to me," his anger burned. 20 And Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the prison. 21 And Shema was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favour in the eyes of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison put in Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The keeper of the prison looked into nothing in his hand, because Shema was with him, and whatever he did, Shema made it prosper.

1 And after these things the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers. 3 And he put them in custody in the house of the chief of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. 4 And the chief of the guard put Joseph in charge of them, and he attended them; and they were in custody for some time. 5 And the two of them dreamed a dream, each his own dream, on the same night, each dream with its own interpretation, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison. 6 And Joseph came to them in the morning and looked at them, and they were troubled. 7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why are your faces gloomy today?" 8 And they said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one to interpret it." And Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please." 9 And the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, "In my dream, there was a vine before me, 10 and on the vine three tendrils; and as it budded, its blossom burst out and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and put the cup in Pharaoh's hand." 12 And Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation: the three tendrils are three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your post, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. 14 Only remember me when things go well with you, and show me kindness, please, and mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. 15 For I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and here too I have done nothing for which they should put me in the pit." 16 And the chief baker saw that he had interpreted well, and said to Joseph, "I too in my dream: there were three baskets of white bread on my head, 17 and in the top basket every kind of food for Pharaoh, the work of a baker, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head." 18 And Joseph answered and said, "This is the interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you." 20 And on the third day, the day Pharaoh was born, he held a banquet for all his servants, and among them he raised the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 21 And he restored the chief cupbearer to his cupbearing, and he put the cup in Pharaoh's hand; 22 and the chief baker he hanged, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 And the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, and forgot him.

1 And at the end of two full years Pharaoh dreamed, and there he was, standing by the river. 2 And out of the river came up seven cows, fine to look at and fat of flesh, and they grazed in the reed grass. 3 And seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly to look at and thin of flesh, and stood beside the cows on the bank of the river. 4 And the cows that were ugly to look at and thin of flesh ate up the seven cows that were fine to look at and fat. And Pharaoh woke up. 5 And he slept and dreamed a second time, and there were seven ears of grain coming up on one stalk, fat and good. 6 And seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them. 7 And the thin ears swallowed the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh woke up, and it was a dream. 8 And in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent for every magician and sage in Egypt; Pharaoh recounted his dreams to them, but none could interpret them for Pharaoh. 9 And the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I call my faults to mind today. 10 Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the chief of the guard, me and the chief baker. 11 And we dreamed a dream on the same night, he and I, each dreaming a dream with its own interpretation. 12 And there with us was a Hebrew youth, a servant of the chief of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each he gave the interpretation of his dream. 13 And as he interpreted to us, so it came about: me he restored to my post, and him he hanged." 14 And Pharaoh sent and summoned Joseph, and they rushed him out of the pit; and he shaved and changed his clothes and came in to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream and there is no one to interpret it; and I have heard it said of you that you hear a dream and interpret it." 16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "Without God, Pharaoh's welfare will not be answered." 17 And Pharaoh spoke with Joseph: "In my dream, there I was, standing on the bank of the river. 18 And out of the river came up seven cows, fat of flesh and fine in form, and they grazed in the reed grass. 19 And seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly in form and thin of flesh; I have never seen any like them in all the land of Egypt for ugliness. 20 And the thin and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows. 21 And they went into their bellies, and no one could have known that they had gone into their bellies, for they looked as bad as at the beginning. And I woke up. 22 And I saw in my dream seven ears of grain coming up on one stalk, full and good. 23 And seven ears, withered, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them. 24 And the thin ears swallowed the seven good ears. And I told the magicians, and no one could explain it to me." 25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's dream is one; what God is doing he has told Pharaoh. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; it is one dream. 27 And the seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine. 28 This is the word I spoke to Pharaoh: what God is doing he has shown Pharaoh. 29 See, seven years are coming of great plenty in all the land of Egypt, 30 and after them will rise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will wear out the land. 31 And the plenty will not be known in the land because of that famine afterward, for it will be very severe. 32 And the dream came to Pharaoh twice because the thing is fixed by God, and God is hastening to do it. 33 And now let Pharaoh look out a man of understanding and wisdom and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh act and appoint officers over the land, and take a fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. 35 And let them gather all the food of these coming good years, and heap up grain under Pharaoh's hand, food in the cities, and let them keep it. 36 And the food shall be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine that will come on the land of Egypt, so that the land is not cut off by the famine." 37 And the plan seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find anyone like this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?" 39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as understanding and wise as you. 40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be governed by your word; only in the throne will I be greater than you." 41 And Pharaoh told Joseph, "See, I put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." 42 And Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, dressed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 And he had him ride in his second chariot, and appointed a herald before him; and he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you no one shall lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name "He revealed my secrets," and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera the priest as his wife. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. 46 Joseph was thirty when he took his place before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph left Pharaoh's presence and travelled through the whole land of Egypt. 47 And in the seven years of plenty the land produced by handfuls. 48 And he gathered all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and put food in the cities; the food of the fields around each city he put inside it. 49 And Joseph heaped up grain like the sand of the sea, a great deal, until he stopped counting, for it was beyond counting. 50 And before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera the priest bore him. 51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, "for God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim, "for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." 53 And the seven years of plenty that had been in the land of Egypt came to an end. 54 And the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said; and there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55 And all the land of Egypt was hungry, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he tells you, do." 56 And the famine was over the face of all the land; and Joseph opened all the stores that held grain and sold to the Egyptians, and the famine grew severe in the land of Egypt. 57 And all the lands came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, for the famine was severe in all the earth.

1 When Jacob saw there was grain to be had in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you afraid?" 2 And he said, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy for us from there, so that we may live and not die." 3 And ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, "Lest harm befall him." 5 And the sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. 6 And Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed to him with their faces to the ground. 7 And Joseph saw his brothers and recognised them, but he made himself a stranger to them and spoke harshly with them, and said to them, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food." 8 And Joseph recognised his brothers, but they did not recognise him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies; you have come to see the bareness of the land." 10 And they said to him, "No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants have never been spies." 12 And he said to them, "No, it is the bareness of the land you have come to see." 13 And they said, "We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and see, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more." 14 And Joseph said to them, "It is as I told you: you are spies. 15 By this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you to fetch your brother, while you are kept in bonds, so that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you; and if not, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies." And they said, "The boy cannot leave his father; if he left his father, he would die." 17 And he put them together in custody for three days. 18 And on the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and live; I fear God. 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be bound in your house of custody, and the rest of you go and carry grain for the needs of your households; 20 and bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be proved true, and you will not die." And they did so. 21 And they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty over our brother, for we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen; that is why all this distress has come upon us." 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy'? But you would not listen; and now his blood is being required." 23 And they did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 And he turned away from them and wept; then he came back to them and spoke with them, and took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. 25 And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to put each man's money back in his sack and to give them provisions for the road; and this was done for them. 26 And they loaded their grain on their donkeys and went from there. 27 And one of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his money, and there it was in the mouth of his bag. 28 And he said to his brothers, "My money has been put back; here it is in my bag!" And their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?" 29 When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they reported to him everything that had befallen them: 30 "The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and treated us as spies of the land. 31 And we said to him, 'We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.' 33 And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take what your households need, and go. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men; I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.'" 35 And as they were emptying their sacks, there was each man's bundle of money in his sack; and the sight of the money bundles filled them and their father with fear. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All these things have come upon me." 37 And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you." 38 And he said, "He shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If harm befalls him on the road you travel, you will bring down my grey hairs in sorrow to Sheol."

1 And the famine was heavy in the land. 2 And when they had finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy us a little food." 3 And Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.'" 6 And Israel said, "Why did you do me such harm by telling the man that you had another brother?" 7 And they said, "The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?' And we answered him according to these questions. Could we possibly have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?" 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy with me, and let us rise and go, so that we may live and not die, we and you and our little ones. 9 I will be surety for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will bear the guilt before you all my days. 10 For if we had not delayed, we would by now have returned twice." 11 And Israel their father said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice produce of the land in your bags, and carry down a gift to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. 12 And take double money in your hands, and the money that was returned in the mouths of your bags take back in your hands; perhaps it was an oversight. 13 And take your brother, and rise, go back to the man. 14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he releases to you your other brother and Benjamin. And I, as I am bereaved, I am bereaved." 15 And the men took this gift, and they took double money in their hands, and Benjamin, and rose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. 16 And Joseph saw them, and Benjamin, and said to the one over his house, "Bring the men into the house, slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon." 17 And the man did as Joseph said, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, "It is because of the money that was put back in our bags the first time that we are being brought in, so that he can make a pretext against us and fall upon us and take us as slaves, with our donkeys." 19 And they went up to the man who was over Joseph's house and spoke with him at the entrance of the house, 20 and said, "Please, my lord: we did come down the first time to buy food. 21 And when we came to the lodging place and opened our bags, there was each man's money in the mouth of his bag, our money in full weight; and we have brought it back in our hands. 22 And we have brought other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our bags." 23 And he said, "Peace to you; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your fathers put treasure in your bags for you; your money came to me." And he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave fodder to their donkeys. 25 And they made ready the gift for when Joseph came at noon, for they had heard that they would eat bread there. 26 And Joseph came into the house, and they brought him the gift in their hands into the house and bowed to him to the ground. 27 And he asked after their welfare and said, "Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?" 28 And they said, "Our father your servant is well and still living." And he said, "May that man be blessed by God." And they knelt and bowed down. 29 And he raised his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and said, "So this is the youngest brother you told me about?" And he said, "May God show you grace, my son." 30 And Joseph hurried, for his compassion was stirred for his brother, and he wanted to weep; and he went into the inner room and wept there. 31 And he washed his face and came out, and he controlled himself and said, "Serve the bread." 32 And they served him by himself and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, for the Egyptians may not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the eldest by his seniority and the youngest by his youth; and the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 And he had portions carried to them from before him, and Benjamin's portion was five times larger than all of theirs. And they drank and made merry with him.

1 And he commanded the one over his house, saying, "Fill the men's bags with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his bag. 2 And my goblet, the silver goblet, put in the mouth of the youngest one's bag, with his grain money." And he did as Joseph had said. 3 At first light the men were sent off, they and their donkeys. 4 They had gone out of the city and were not far off when Joseph said to the one over his house, "Up, pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Is this not the one my lord drinks from, and by which he surely divines? You have done wrong in what you have done.'" 6 And he overtook them and spoke these words to them. 7 And they said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. 8 See, the money we found in the mouths of our bags we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; how then would we steal silver or gold from your lord's house? 9 Whichever of your servants it is found with shall die, and we too will become my lord's slaves." 10 And he said, "Now, as you say, so be it: the one it is found with shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall go free." 11 And they hurried and lowered each man his bag to the ground, and each man opened his bag. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and finishing with the youngest, and the goblet was found in Benjamin's bag. 13 And they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and they went back to the city. 14 And Judah and his brothers came into Joseph's house, and he was still there, and they fell before him to the ground. 15 And Joseph said to them, "What is this deed you have done? Do you not know that a man like me surely divines?" 16 And Judah said, "What can we say to my lord? What can we speak, and how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Here we are, my lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose hand the goblet was found." 17 And he said, "Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose hand the goblet was found, he shall be my slave; and you, go up in peace to your father." 18 And Judah came near to him and said, "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord's hearing, and let your anger not burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Do you have a father or a brother?' 20 And we said to my lord, 'We have an old father, and a young son born in his old age; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.' 21 And you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.' 22 And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he left his father, he would die.' 23 And you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.' 24 And when we went up to your servant our father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And our father said, 'Go back and buy us a little food.' 26 And we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' 27 And your servant our father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 And one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he has been torn to pieces," and I have not seen him since. 29 And if you take this one too from me and harm befalls him, you will bring down my grey hairs in misery to Sheol.' 30 And now, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, since his soul is bound up with the boy's soul, 31 when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the grey hairs of your servant our father in sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the guilt before my father all my days.' 33 And now, please let your servant stay instead of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. 34 For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? I could not bear to see the misery that would come upon my father."

1 And Joseph could not control himself before all who stood by him, and he cried, "Have everyone go out from me!" And no one stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and Pharaoh's household heard. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" And his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed before him. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." And they came near, and he said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now, do not be distressed, and let it not burn in your eyes that you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6 For these two years there has been famine in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be no ploughing or harvest. 7 And God sent me ahead of you to set a hidden store for you in the land, and to keep you alive for a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh, master of his whole household and governor of all Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 And you shall live in the land of Goshen and be near me, you and your sons and your sons' sons, your sheep and your cattle and all that you have. 11 And I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine, so that you do not come to want, you and your household and all that you have.' 12 And see, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth speaking to you. 13 And tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and all that you have seen, and hurry and bring my father down here." 14 And he fell on the neck of Benjamin his brother and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him. 16 And the news was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, "Joseph's brothers have come," and it seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh and of his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: load your grain and go, and come to the land of Canaan, 18 fetch your father and your families and come to me; I will grant you Egypt's finest land, and you will feed on the richness of the country.' 19 And you are commanded: 'Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 And do not let your eyes grieve over your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.'" 21 And the sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons by Pharaoh's command, and gave them provisions for the road. 22 To each of them he gave changes of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 And to his father he sent the like: ten donkeys loaded with the best of the land of Egypt, and ten she-asses loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father for the road. 24 And he sent his brothers off, and they went, and he said to them, "Do not quarrel on the way." 25 And they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. 26 And they told him, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." And his heart went numb, for he did not believe them. 27 And they told him all the words Joseph had spoken to them, and he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28 And Israel said, "Enough! Joseph my son is still alive; I will go and see him before I die."

1 And Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, "Jacob, Jacob." And he said, "Here I am." 3 And he said, "I am the Mighty One, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you up again; and Joseph shall lay his hands on your eyes." 5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 And they took their livestock and the wealth they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him: 7 his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. 8 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Jacob's firstborn, Reuben. 9 And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. 10 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. 12 And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvah, Jashub and Shimron. 14 And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with Dinah his daughter; all the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three. 16 And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi and Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli. 17 And the sons of Asher: Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Serah their sister; and the sons of Beriah, Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob, sixteen persons. 19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera the priest bore to him. 21 And the sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; all the persons were fourteen. 23 And the sons of Dan: Hushim. 24 And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni, Jezer and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob, all the persons seven. 26 All the persons who came with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his loins, besides the wives of Jacob's sons, all the persons were sixty-six. 27 And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy. 28 And he sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29 And Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen; and he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long while. 30 And Israel said to Joseph, "Now I can die, after seeing your face, that you are still alive." 31 And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's house, "I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, 'My brothers and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds of flocks, for they have always kept livestock; and they have brought their sheep and their cattle and all that they have.' 33 And when Pharaoh summons you and says, 'What is your work?' 34 you shall say, 'Your servants have kept livestock from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,' so that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd of flocks is an abomination to Egypt."

1 And Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, with their sheep and their cattle and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and they are now in the land of Goshen." 2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them before Pharaoh. 3 And Pharaoh said to Joseph's brothers, "What is your work?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds of flocks, both we and our fathers." 4 And they said to Pharaoh, "We have come to stay as strangers in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, since the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan; and now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen." 5 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you: settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know any capable men among them, make them chiefs over my livestock." 7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "My years as a stranger come to a hundred and thirty; few and hard have they been, the years of my life, and they fall short of the years my fathers lived in their days as strangers." 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from Pharaoh's presence. 11 And Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a holding in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father's house with bread, according to the number of their little ones. 13 And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very heavy, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain they were buying, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 15 And when the money from the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was used up, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, "Give us bread; why should we die before you? For the money has run out." 16 And Joseph said, "Give me your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money has run out." 17 And they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread for the horses and the flocks of sheep and the herds of cattle and the donkeys; and he fed them with bread for all their livestock that year. 18 And that year came to an end, and they came to him in the second year and said to him, "We will not hide it from my lord: the money is all spent, and the herds of beasts belong to my lord; nothing is left before my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh; and give us seed so that we may live and not die, and the land not become desolate." 20 And Joseph bought all the land of the Egyptians for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians each sold his field, because the famine pressed hard on them; and the land became Pharaoh's. 21 And the people he made into slaves from one end of the border of Egypt to the other. 22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh and ate the portion Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. 23 And Joseph said to the people, "See, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be yours, for seed for the field and for your food and for those in your households and for food for your little ones." 25 And they said, "You have kept us alive; let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, and we will be slaves to Pharaoh." 26 And Joseph made it a statute to this day for the land of the Egyptians that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's. 27 And Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they acquired holdings in it and were fruitful and increased greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years. 29 And the days of Israel drew near to die, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favour in your eyes, put your hand, please, under my thigh, and deal with me in kindness and truth: do not bury me, please, in Egypt. 30 When I lie down with my fathers, carry me from Egypt and bury me in their burial place." And he said, "I will do as you say." 31 And he said, "Swear to me." And he swore to him, and Israel bowed on the head of the bed.

1 And after these things Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you." And Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed. 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, 'I will make you fruitful and increase you and make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your offspring after you as an everlasting holding.' 5 So now your two sons, born to you in Egypt before I joined you here, belong to me; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine like Reuben and Simeon. 6 And the children you beget after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan-aram, Rachel your mother died on me in the land of Canaan on the road, while there was still a stretch of land to go before Ephrath; and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem." 8 And Israel saw Joseph's sons and said, "Who are these of yours?" 9 Joseph told his father, "These are the sons God has given me in this place." And he said, "Bring them near me, please, so that I may bless them." 10 And Israel's eyes were heavy with age; he could not see. So Joseph brought them close, and he kissed and hugged them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face, and now God has let me see your offspring too." 12 And Joseph brought them out from his knees, and they bowed with their faces to the ground. 13 And Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right, and brought them near to him. 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has shepherded me from my birth to this day, 16 the king who has redeemed me from every evil, bless these boys; and may my name be called on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they spread out into a multitude in the midst of the land." 17 And Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, and it was displeasing in his eyes, and he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." 19 And his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a full measure of nations." 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will bless, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.'" And he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 And Israel said to Joseph, "See, I am dying; but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And I have given you one Shechem above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."

1 And Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather together, and I will tell you what will befall you in the end of days. 2 Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first of my vigour, excelling in rank and excelling in power. 4 You were unsteady as water; you shall not excel, for you went up to your father's bed; then you profaned my couch, where you went up. 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; they have brought falsehood to completion in their covenants. 6 In their council my soul takes no delight; in their assembly let my honour not be joined; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their wilfulness they uprooted an ox. 7 Praised be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fellowship, for it is harsh. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. 8 Judah, you, your brothers shall love you; your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down to you. 9 A lion's cub is Judah; from the slain, my son, you have gone up. He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness; who will rouse him? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him the peoples shall be drawn. 11 Binding his city to the vine, and the sons of his strength to the choice vine, he has washed his garment in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. 13 Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the seas; he shall be a harbour for ships, and his border shall reach to Sidon. 14 Issachar is the donkey of settlers, lying down among his foes. 15 And he saw that his resting place was good and the land rich, and he bent his shoulder to carry and became a tenant labourer. 16 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent going up by the road, lying in ambush on the path, biting the horse's heels so that its rider falls backward. 18 For your salvation I wait, Shema. 19 Gad: with good news he will bring news, and he will announce the end. 20 From Asher, his bread is rich, and he will yield delicacies for a king. 21 Naphtali is a letter sent out, delivering words of redemption. 22 Joseph is a son of fruitfulness, a son of fruitfulness on high; see, my son, he climbs the wall to the counsels. 23 And they spoke against him and quarrelled with him, and the masters of arrows bore him a grudge. 24 But his bow stayed firm in strength, and the arms of his hands were made quick, by the Mighty One of Jacob, from the name of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, the God of your father. 25 May God Almighty help you and bless you, with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts and the womb. 26 The blessings of your father and your mother have prevailed over the blessings of the mountains of witness, the delight of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the one crowned among his brothers. 27 Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and at evening he divides the spoil." 28 These are all the tribes of Israel, twelve in number, and these are the words their father spoke as he blessed them, giving each his own blessing. 29 And he commanded them and said to them, "I am being gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a holding for a grave. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah: 32 the field and the cave in it, bought from the Hittites." 33 And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and drew his feet up onto the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

1 And Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 And they completed forty days for him, for so the days of embalming are completed; and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. 4 And the days of weeping passed, and Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If I have found favour in your eyes, speak, please, in Pharaoh's hearing, saying, 5 'My father made me swear before his death, saying, "See, I am dying; in my grave that I cut for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me." And now, let me go up, please, and bury my father as he made me swear, and I will return.'" 6 And Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear." 7 And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all of Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 and all Joseph's household, and his brothers, and his father's household; only their little ones and their sheep and their cattle they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And chariots and horsemen too went up with him, and it was a very great company. 10 And they came as far as the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very heavy mourning; and he kept a mourning for his father seven days. 11 And the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanites saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, and said, "This is a heavy mourning for the Egyptians." Therefore its name was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12 And his sons did for him as he had commanded them. 13 And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, the field Abraham had bought as a holding for a grave from Ephron the Hittite, facing Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father, after they had buried his father. 15 And Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, and they said, "Perhaps Joseph will bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the evil we did him." 16 And they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave a command before his death, saying, 17 'Thus you shall say to Joseph: Forgive, please, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you evil.' So now, we beg you, pardon the wrongdoing of those who serve your father's God." And Joseph wept as they spoke to him. 18 And his brothers too went and fell before him and said, "Here we are, your slaves." 19 And Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid; am I in the place of God? 20 You planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, to bring about what is happening today, to keep many people alive. 21 And now, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke to their hearts. 22 And Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh too were born in Joseph's days. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am dying; but God will surely remember you and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob." 25 And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely remember you, and you shall carry my bones up from here with you." 26 And Joseph died, a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.