God made the earth and the sky

1 Long, long ago God created the heavens and the earth. 2 When he began to create the earth, it was shapeless and completely desolate/chaotic. Darkness covered the deep water that surrounded the earth. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the water. 3 God said, “I want light to shine!” And light shone. 4 God was pleased with the light. Then he made the light to shine in some places, and in other places there was still darkness. 5 He gave to the light the name ‘day’, and he gave to the darkness the name ‘night’. After that, there was an evening which was followed by a morning. He called that whole period of time ‘the first day’. 6 Then God said, “I command that there be an empty space like a huge dome to separate the water that is above it from the water on the earth that is below it!” 7 And that is what happened. God gave to the space the name ‘sky’. 8 Then there was another evening, which was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the second day’.

9 Then God said, “I want the water that is below the sky to come together, and dry ground to appear and rise above the water.” And that is what happened. 10 God gave to the ground the name ‘earth’, and he gave to the water that came together the name ‘oceans’. God was pleased with the earth and the oceans. 11 Then God said, “I want the earth to produce plants, including plants that will produce seeds and trees that will produce fruit. Each kind of tree will bear its own kind of fruit.” 12 Then plants grew on the earth; each kind of plant began to produce its own kind of seed. 13 Then there was another evening which was followed by another morning. God called that period of time ‘the third day’.

14 Then God said, “I want a sun, a moon, and many stars to shine in the sky. The sun will shine in the daytime and the moon and stars will shine during the nighttime. By the changes in their appearance they will indicate the various seasons (OR, the times for special celebrations), and will enable people to know when days and years begin. 15 I want them also to be like lights in the sky that will shine on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two of them that were like big lights. The bigger one, the sun, shines during the day and the smaller one, the moon, shines during the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set all of them in the sky to shine on the earth, 18 to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light of the daytime from the darkness of the nighttime. God was pleased with these things he had made. 19 Then there was another evening which was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the fourth day’. 20 Then God said, “I want many creatures to live in all the oceans, and I also want birds to fly in the sky above the earth.” 21 So God created huge sea creatures and every other kind of creature that moves in the water, and caused them to live in all the oceans. He also created many kinds of birds. God was pleased with all those creatures. 22 God blessed them. He said, “Produce offspring and become very numerous. I want the creatures in the water to live in all the oceans, and birds also to become very numerous.” And that is what happened. 23 Then there was another evening that was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the fifth day’. 24 Then God said, “I want various kinds of creatures to appear on the earth. There will be many kinds of ◄livestock/domestic animals►, creatures that scurry across the ground, and large wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all kinds of wild animals and ◄livestock/domestic animals► and all kinds of creatures that scurry across the ground. God was pleased with all these creatures.

26 Then God said, “Now we will make human beings that will be like us in many ways. I want them to rule over the fish in the sea, over the birds, over all the ◄livestock/domestic animals►, and over all the other creatures that scurry across the ground.” 27 So God created human beings that were like him in many ways. He made them to be like himself. He created some to be male and some to be female. 28 God blessed them, saying, “Produce many children, who will live all over the earth and rule over it. I want them to rule over the fish and the birds and over all creatures that scurry across the ground.” 29 God said to the humans, “Listen! I have given you all the plants that produce seeds, all over the earth, and all the trees that have seeds in their fruit. All these things are for you to eat. 30 I have given all the green plants to all the wild animals and to the birds and to all the creatures that scurry across the ground, to everything that breathes, for them to eat.” And that is what happened. 31 God was pleased with everything that he had made. Truly, it was all very good. Then there was another evening, that was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the sixth day’.

2 That is the way God created the heavens and the earth. 2 By the time it was the seventh day, God had finished the work of creating everything, so he did not work any more on that day. 3 God blessed each seventh day, and he set those days apart to be special days, because on the seventh day God did not work any more, after finishing all his work of creating everything. 4 That is how God created the heavens and the earth.

God made the garden of Eden

God, whose name is Yahweh, made the heavens and the earth. 5 At first there were no plants growing, because Yahweh God had not yet caused rain to fall on the ground. Furthermore, there was no one to till the ground for planting crops. 6 Instead, mist rose up from the ground, so that it watered the surface of the ground. 7 Then Yahweh God took some soil and formed a man. He breathed into the man’s nostrils his own breath that gives life, and as a result the man became a living person. 8 Yahweh God made a park/garden in a place named Eden, which was east of the land of Canaan, and he put there the man that he had created. 9 Yahweh God also put there every kind of tree that is beautiful to see and that produced fruit that was good to eat. He also placed in the middle of the park/garden a tree whose fruit would enable those who ate it to live forever. He also placed there another tree whose fruit would enable those who ate it to know what actions were good to do and what actions were evil to do.

10 A river flowed from Eden to provide water for the park/garden. Outside of Eden, the river divided into four rivers. 11 The name of the first river is Pishon. That river flows through all the land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 That gold ◄is very pure/has no impurities in it►. There is also a sweet-smelling gum called bdellium, and valuable stones called onyx. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon. That river flows through all the land of Cain. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows east of the city of Asshur. The name of the fourth river is Euphrates.

15 Yahweh God took the man and put him in Eden park/garden to till/cultivate it and take care of it. 16-17 16-17But Yahweh said to him, “You must not eat the fruit of the tree that will enable you to know what actions are good to do and what actions are evil to do. If you eat any fruit from that tree, on that day your relationship with me will end. But I will permit you to eat the fruit of any of the other trees in the park/garden.”

18 Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for this man to be alone. So I will make someone who will be a suitable partner for him.” 19 Yahweh God had taken some soil and had formed from it all kinds of animals and birds, and he brought them to the man to hear what names he would give them. 20 Then the man gave names to all the kinds of livestock and birds and wild animals, but none of these creatures was a partner that was suitable for the man. 21 So Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, Yahweh took out one of the man’s ribs. Then he immediately closed the opening in his body and healed it. 22 Yahweh then made a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man’s body, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man exclaimed, “Wow! This is truly ◄someone like me/what I was looking for!► She is truly from my bones and from my flesh. So I will call her woman, because she was taken from me, a man.”

24 The first woman was taken from the man’s body, so that is why when a man and a woman marry, they must leave their parents. The man will join very closely to his wife, so that the two of them will be as though they are one person.

25 Although the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about that.

Those first people sinned by disobeying God

3 The snake was more cunning than all the other wild animals that Yahweh God had made. One day Satan gave to the snake the ability to talk to the woman. The snake said to her, “Did God really say to you, ‘Do not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the park/garden’?” 2-3 2-3The woman replied, “What God said was, ‘Do not eat the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the park/garden or touch it. If you do that, you will die. But you can eat fruit from any of the other trees.’ ” 4 The snake said to the woman, “No, you will certainly not die. God said that 5 only because he knows that when you eat fruit from that tree, you will understand new things. It will be as though your eyes are opened [MET], and you will know what is good to do and what is evil to do, just as God does.” 6 The woman saw that the fruit on that tree was good to eat, and it was very beautiful, and she desired it because she thought it would make her wise. So she picked some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he ate it. 7 Immediately it was as though their eyes were opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they were ashamed. So they picked some fig leaves and fastened them together to make clothes for themselves.

8 Late that afternoon, when a cool breeze was blowing, they heard the sound/footsteps of Yahweh as he was walking in the park/garden. So the man and his wife hid themselves among the bushes in the park/garden, so that Yahweh God would not see them. 9 But Yahweh God called to the man, saying to him, “Why are you trying to hide from me?” 10 The man replied, “I heard the sound of your footsteps/walking in the garden, and I was naked, so I was afraid and I hid myself.” 11 God said, “How did you find out you were naked [RHQ]? It must be because you ate some of the fruit from the tree that I told you, ‘Do not eat its fruit.’ ” [RHQ] 12 The man said, “You gave me this woman to be with me. She is the one who gave me some of the fruit from that tree, and so I ate it.” 13 Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman replied, “I ate some of the fruit because the snake deceived me.” 14 Then Yahweh God said to the snake, “Because you did this, of all the livestock and the wild animals, I will curse/punish you alone. As a result, you and all other snakes will scurry across the ground on your bellies, and so what you eat will have dirt on it as long as you live. 15 And I will cause you and the woman to act in a hostile way toward each other, and I will cause your brood and her descendants to act hostilely toward each other. You will strike at the heel of one descendant of hers, but he will strike your head.” 16 Then Yahweh said to the woman, “You will have great pain when you give birth to children; you will suffer great pain as your children are being born [DOU]. You will greatly desire your husband to show affection for you, but he will rule over you.” 17 Then Yahweh said to the man, “You heeded what your wife said, and you ate some of the fruit of the tree concerning which I commanded you saying, ‘Do not eat it.’ So I will make it difficult to grow things in the ground because of what you did. You will have to work hard as long as you live to produce things from the ground to eat. 18 Thornbushes and thistle plants and other weeds will grow and prevent what you have planted from growing. And for food, you will have to eat things that just grow in your fields. 19 All your life you will sweat as you work hard to produce food to eat. Then you will die [EUP], and your body will be buried in the ground. I made you from soil, so when you die and are buried your body will decay and become soil again.”

20 The man, whose name was Adam, named his wife Eve, which means ‘living’, because she became the ancestor of all living people. 21 Then Yahweh God killed some animals and made clothes from their skins for Adam and his wife.

22 Then Yahweh said, “Look! Those two have become like us because they know what is good to do and what is evil to do. So now, it will not be good if they reach out and pick and eat some of the fruit from the tree which enables people who eat it to live forever!” 23 So Yahweh God expelled the man and his wife from the garden of Eden. Yahweh God had created Adam from the ground, but now he forced him to till that ground so that he could grow food to eat. 24 After Yahweh expelled them, on the east side of the garden he placed ◄cherubim/creatures with wings► and an angel holding a flaming sword which flashed back and forth. He did that in order to block the entrance to the garden, so that people could not go back to the tree that enables people who eat its fruit to live forever.

God punished Adam and Eve’s oldest son Cain for killing his younger brother Abel

4 Adam ◄had sex/slept► with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son whom she named Cain, which sounds like the word that means ‘produce’, because, she said, “By Yahweh’s help I have produced a son.” Some time later she gave birth to another son, and she named him Abel.

2 After those boys grew up, Abel ◄tended/took care of► sheep and goats, and Cain became a farmer. 3 One day Cain harvested some of the crops he had grown and brought them to Yahweh as a gift for him, 4 and Abel took from his flock some of the first lambs that had been born and killed them and, as a gift, gave to Yahweh the fatty parts, which were the best parts. Yahweh was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but he was not pleased with Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his face looked dejected. 6 Yahweh said to Cain, “◄You should not be angry!/Why are you angry?► [RHQ] ◄You should not scowl like that!/Why do you scowl like that?► [RHQ] 7 If you had done what was right (OR, if you do what is right) [RHQ], I would accept your offering. But if you do not do what is right, your desire to sin is ready to attack you like a wild animal that [PRS] crouches outside the doorway, ready to spring on its victim [MET]. Your desire to sin wants to control you, but you must ◄control/not obey► it.”

8 But one day, Cain said to his younger brother Abel, “Let’s go for a walk in the fields.” So they went together. And when they were in the countryside, suddenly Cain attacked Abel and killed him. 9 Later, even though Yahweh knew what Cain had done, he said to Cain, “Do you know where Abel, your younger brother, is?”

Cain replied, “No, I do not know. ◄My job is not to guard my younger brother!/Am I supposed to take care of my younger brother?►” [RHQ] 10 Yahweh said, “You have done a terrible thing [RHQ]! So now it is as though your younger brother’s voice is crying to me from the ground, demanding that his death must be avenged. 11 You have killed your younger brother, and the ground has soaked up his blood. So now I will expel you from this land and curse your efforts to produce crops. 12 You will till the ground to plant crops, but the ground will produce very few [HYP] crops. And you will continually wander around the earth, and not have any place to live permanently.” 13 Cain replied, “You are punishing me more then I can endure. 14 You are about to expel me from the ground that I have been cultivating, and I will no longer be able to come ◄into your presence/and talk with you►. Furthermore, I will be continually wandering around the earth with no place to live permanently, and anyone who sees me will kill me.” 15 But Yahweh said to him, “No, that will not happen. I will put a mark on you to warn anyone who sees you that I will punish him severely if he kills you. I will punish that person seven times as severely as I am punishing you.” Then Yahweh put a mark on Cain’s forehead. 16 So Cain left Yahweh and went to live in the land called Nod, which means ‘wandering’, which was east of Eden.

The descendants of Cain

17 Some time later, Cain ◄had sex/slept► with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she named Enoch. Then Cain started to build a city, and he named the city ‘Enoch’, the same name that his son had. 18 Enoch grew up and married and became the father of a son whom he named Irad. When Irad grew up he became the father of a son whom he named Mehujael. Mehujael grew up and became the father of a son whom he named Methuselah. Methuselah grew up and became the father of Lamech. 19 When Lamech grew up he married two women. The name of one was Adah and the other was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to a son she named Jabal. 21 Later, Jabal was the first person who lived in tents because he traveled from place to place to take care of livestock. His younger brother’s name was Jubal. He was the first person who made/played a ◄lyre/stringed instrument► and a flute. 22 Lamech’s other wife Zillah gave birth to a son whom she named Tubal-Cain. Later Tubal-Cain became a ◄blacksmith/one who made tools from bronze and iron►. Tubal-Cain had a younger sister whose name was Naamah.

23 One day Lamech said to his two wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen carefully to what I am saying. A young man struck me and wounded me, so I killed him. 24 Yahweh said long ago that he would avenge and punish anyone who killed Cain seven times as much as he punished Cain for killing his younger brother. So if anyone tries to kill me, I will punish him 77 times as much as Yahweh punished Cain.”

Adam and Eve had another son, Seth

25 Adam continued to ◄have sex/sleep► with [EUP] his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to another son, whom she named Seth, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘given’, because, she said, “God has given me another child to take the place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 When Seth grew up, he became the father of a son whom he named Enosh. About that time people began to worship Yahweh again.

The descendants of Adam

5 Here is a list of the descendants of Adam. When God created humans, he caused them to be like him in many ways. 2 He created one man and one woman. He blessed them, and on the day that he created them, he called them ‘human beings’. 3 When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who grew up to be just like him. That was the son he named Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 more years, and during those years he became the father of other sons and daughters. 5 Adam lived 930 years altogether, and then he died. 6 When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh. 7 After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 more years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 8 Seth lived 912 years altogether, and then he died. 9 When Enosh was 90 years old, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 11 Enosh lived 905 years altogether, and then he died. 12 When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After Mahalalel was born, Kenan lived 840 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 14 Kenan lived 910 years altogether, and then he died. 15 When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared. 16 After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 17 Mahalalel lived 895 years altogether, and then he died. 18 When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch. 19 Jared lived 800 years after Enoch was born, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 20 Jared lived 962 years altogether, and then he died. 21 When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for 300 years after Methuselah was born, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 23 Enoch lived 365 years altogether in close fellowship with God. 24 Then one day he disappeared, because God took him away to be with him in heaven. 25 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived 782 years after Lamech was born, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 27 Methuselah lived 969 years altogether, and then he died. 28 When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son, 29 whom he named Noah, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘relief’, because he said, “He will bring us relief from all the hard work we have been doing to produce food from the ground that Yahweh cursed.” 30 Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born and became the father of other sons and daughters. 31 Lamech lived 777 years altogether, and then he died. 32 When Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of a son whom he named Shem. Later he became the father of another son whom he named Ham, and later he became the father of another son whom he named Japheth.

People became very evil and did many evil things

6 When people began to become very numerous all over the earth, and many daughters were born to them, 2 some of the men who ◄belonged to/believed in► God saw that some of the women who did not ◄belong to/believe in► God were very beautiful. So they took whichever ones they chose to become their wives. 3 Then Yahweh said, “I will not allow my Spirit to keep people alive forever (OR, the breath of life will not remain in people forever). They will die eventually. They will live not more than 120 years before they die (OR, there will be only 120 more years before they die).”

4 There were giants called Nephils who lived on the earth at that time and later. During that time some of the Nephil men who ◄belonged to/believed in► God had sex [EUP] with women who did not ◄belong to/believe in► God, and they gave birth to children. The Nephils were considered to be heroic fighters, and they became famous.

5 Yahweh saw that people on the earth had become very wicked, and that everything they thought about evil things continually. 6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made people. 7 So he said, “I will completely destroy the people I made. I will also destroy all the animals and the creatures that scurry across the ground and the birds. None of them will remain on the earth, because I regret that I made them.”

Noah pleased God, so God planned to spare him

8 But Yahweh was pleased with Noah. 9 This is why: Noah was a man who always acted in a righteous way. No one who lived at that time could criticize him about anything. Noah lived in close fellowship with God. 10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 At that time God considered that everyone else on earth was very wicked, and everywhere on the earth, people [MTY] were acting cruelly and violently toward each other. 12 God was dismayed when he saw how evil people [MTY] were, because everyone (OR, all living creatures) had begun to behave in an evil way. 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy everyone, because all over the earth people are acting violently toward each other. So I am about to get rid of them as well as everything else on the earth. 14 I want you to make for yourself a large boat from cypress wood. Make rooms inside it. Cover the outside and the inside with tar to make it ◄waterproof/so that water cannot get in and sink the boat►. 15 This is the size you must make it: It shall be ◄150 yards/135 meters► long, ◄25 yards/22.5 meters► wide, and ◄15 yards/13.5 meters► high. 16 Make a roof for the boat. Leave a space of about ◄18 in./.5 meter► between the sides and the roof to let air and light enter (OR, the middle of the roof should be 18 inches higher than the sides). Build the boat with three decks inside, and put a door in one side. 17 Listen carefully! I am about to cause a flood to occur that will destroy every creature that lives beneath the sky. Everything on the earth will die. 18 But I will make an agreement with you(sg): You and your wife, your sons and their wives will enter the boat. 19 And I want to save some of all kinds of creatures. So you must also bring two of all living creatures, a male and a female, into the boat with you, so that their species also may remain alive. 20 Two of every kind of creature will come to youin order that by your putting them in the boat you will keep them alive. They will include two of each kind of bird and each kind of animal and each kind of creature that scurries across the ground. 21 You must also take some of every kind of food that you and all these animals will need, and store it in the boat.” 22 So Noah did everything that God told him to do.

God sent a flood to cover the earth

7 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “I have seen that out of everyone who is now living, you alone always act righteously. So you and all your family go into the boat. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of animal that I have said I will accept for sacrifices. Take seven males and seven females. Also take a male and a female from every kind of animal that I have said that I will not accept for sacrifices. 3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird from all over the earth to keep them alive. 4 Do this because seven days from now I will cause rain to fall on the earth. It will rain constantly for 40 days and nights. By doing that, I will destroy everything that I have made that is on the earth.”

5 Noah did everything that Yahweh told him to do. 6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7 Before it started to rain, Noah and his wife and his sons went into the boat to escape from the flood water. 8 Pairs of animals, those that God said that he would accept for sacrifices and those that he would not accept for sacrifices, and pairs of birds and pairs of all the kinds of creatures that move close to the ground, 9 males and females, came to Noah and then went into the boat, just as God told Noah that they would do. 10 Seven days later, it started to rain and a flood began to cover the earth. 11 When Noah was 600 years old, ◄on the 17th day of the second month of that year/late in October►, all the water that is under the surface of the earth burst forth, and it began to rain so hard that it was as though a dam [MET] in the sky burst open. 12 Rain fell on the earth constantly for 40 days and nights. 13 On the day that it started to rain, Noah went into the boat with his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives. 14 They had already put in the boat some of every kind of wild animal and every kind of livestock and every kind of bird and every other creature that has wings. 15 Pairs of all animals came to Noah and entered the boat. 16 There was a male and a female of each animal that came to Noah, just as God had said they would do. After they were all in the boat, God shut the door.

17 It rained for 40 days and nights, and the flood increased. It flooded until the water lifted the boat above the ground. 18 As he water rose higher and higher, the boat floated on the surface of the water. 19 The water rose all over the earth until it covered all the mountains. 20 Even the highest mountains were covered by more than ◄20 feet/6 meters► of water. 21 As a result, every living creature on the surface of the earth died. That included birds and livestock and wild animals and other creatures that scurry across the ground, and all the people. 22 On the land, ◄everything that breathed/every living thing► died. 23 God destroyed every living creature: People and animals and creatures that scurry across the ground and birds. Only Noah and those who were in the boat with him remained alive. 24 The flood remained like that on the earth for 150 days.

God caused the water to recede and then told Noah to leave the boat

8 But God ◄did not forget/thought► about Noah and all the wild animals and all the kinds of livestock that were with him in the boat. So one day God sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the wind caused the water to begin to recede. 2 God caused the water that was under the earth to stop bursting forth, and he caused the floodgates of water from the sky to close so that it stopped raining. 3 The water on the earth gradually receded. 150 days after the flood began, 4 ◄on the 17th day of the seventh month of that year/late in March►, the boat came to rest on one of the mountains in the Ararat region. 5 The water continued to recede until, on the first day of the tenth month of that year, the tops of other mountains became visible. 6 40 days later, Noah opened the window that he had made in the side of the boat, and sent out a raven. 7 The raven flew back and forth to and from the boat until the water was completely gone. 8 Then Noah sent out a dove to find out if the water had all receded on the ground. 9 But the dove did not find any place to perch, so it flew back to Noah in the boat, because there was still water all over the surface of the earth. So Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back inside the boat. 10 Noah waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out of the boat again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening and, surprisingly, in its beak there was a leaf from an olive tree that the dove had just plucked. Then Noah knew that the water had truly receded from the surface of the ground. 12 Noah waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

13 Noah was now 601 years old. By the first day of the first month of the Jewish year, the water had completely drained away from the ground. Noah removed the covering on top of the ark, and he was surprised to see that the surface of the ground was drying. 14 By the 27th day of the next month, the ground was completely dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Leave the boat, along with your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out with you all the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that scurry across the ground, in order that they can spread all over the earth and become very numerous.” 18 So Noah left the boat, along with his wife and his sons and their wives. 19 And every kind of creature, including all those that scurry across the ground, all the birds, every creature that moves on the earth, left the boat. They left the boat in groups of their own species.

God promised to never again destroy all the people with a flood

20 Then Noah built a ◄stone altar/place for offering sacrifices► to Yahweh. Then he took some of the animals that Yahweh had said were acceptable as sacrifices and killed them. Then he burned them whole on the altar. 21 When Yahweh smelled the pleasant odor, he was pleased with the sacrifice. Then he said to himself, “I will never again devastate everything on the earth because of the sinful things people do. Even though everything that people think is evil from the time they are young, I will not destroy all the living creatures again, as I did this time. 22 As long as the earth exists, each year there will be seasons for planting seeds and seasons for harvesting crops. Each year there will be times when it is cold and times when it is hot, summer and winter (OR, rainy season and dry season). Each day there will be daytime and nighttime.”

God made an agreement with Noah

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “I want you to have many children who will live all over the earth. 2 All the wild animals on the earth and all the birds, all the creatures that scurry across the ground, and all the fish, will be very afraid [DOU] of you. I have put them under your control. 3 Just as I previously said you could eat green plants for food, now I am saying you can eat everything that lives and moves. 4 It is blood that causes creatures to be alive, therefore you must not eat meat that still has blood in it after the animal is killed. After you have drained the blood out, you may cook it and eat it. 5 I insist that murderers must be executed. Animals that kill people must also be executed. The reason that everyone who murders someone else must be executed is that 6 I made people to be like myself in many ways. So someone who murders another human being must be executed by others, because he killed someone who is like me.

7 As for you, I want you to produce many children, in order that they and their descendants may live all over the earth.”

8 God also said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Listen carefully. I am now making a solemn promise to you and with your descendants, 10 and with all the living creatures that are with you—including the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals—every living creature on the earth that came out of the boat with you. 11 This is the promise that I am making to you: I will never again destroy all living creatures by a flood, or destroy everything else on the earth by a flood.” 12 Then God said to him, “This is the sign to guarantee that I will keep the promise that I am making to you and to all living creatures, a promise that I will keep forever: 13 From time to time I will put a rainbow in the sky. It will remind me of my promise that I have made to you and everything on the earth. 14 When I cause rain to fall from the clouds, and a rainbow appears in the sky, 15 it will remind me about the promise that I have made to you and all living creatures, my promise that there will never again be a flood that will destroy all living creatures. 16 Whenever there is a rainbow in the sky, I will see it, and I will think about the promise that I have made to every living creature that is upon the earth, a promise that I will keep forever.”

17 Then God said to Noah, “The rainbow will be the sign of the promise that I have made to all the creatures that live on the earth.”

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the boat were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham later became the father of Canaan. 19 All the people on the earth are descended from those three sons of Noah.

What happened after Noah got drunk

20 Noah was a farmer. He planted grapevines. 21 When they later produced grapes, he made wine from the grapes. One day, when he drank too much of the wine, he became drunk, and he lay naked in his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father lying naked in the tent. So he went outside and told his two older brothers what he had seen. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a large cloth and placed it across their backs, and walked backwards into the tent. They covered their father’s naked body with the cloth. Their faces were turned away from their father, so they did not see him naked. 24 When Noah woke up and was sober again, he found out how wrongfully Ham, his youngest son, had behaved toward him. 25 He said, “I am cursing Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, and his descendants. They will be like slaves to their uncles. 26 I will ask God to enlarge the territory that belongs to Japheth, and allow his descendants to live peacefully among the descendants of Shem [MTY]. 27 And I desire that Canaan’s descendants will be like slaves of Japheth’s descendants.”

28 Noah lived 350 more years after the flood. 29 He died when he was 950 years old.

The descendants of Noah’s sons

10 ◄This is/I will now give► a list of the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They had many children after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Askenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 Those sons and their families who were descended from Javan lived on the islands and on the land close to the Mediterranean Sea. Their descendants became tribes, each with its own language and clans and territory.

6 The descendants of Ham were Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

8 Another one of Cush’s descendants was Nimrod. Nimrod was the first person on earth who became a mighty warrior. 9 Yahweh saw that he had become (OR, caused him to become) a great hunter. That is why people say to a great hunter, “Yahweh ◄sees that you are/has caused you to be► a great hunter like Nimrod.” 10 Nimrod became a king who ruled in Babylonia. The first cities over which he ruled were Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh. 11 From there he went with others to Assyria and built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen. Resen was a large city between Nineveh and Calah. 13 Ham’s son, Egypt, became the ancestor of the Lud, Anam, Lehab and Naphtuh, 14 Pathrus, Casluh and Caphtor people-groups. The Philistine people were descended from Casluh.

15 Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, became the father of Sidon, who was his eldest son, and Heth, his younger son. 16 Canaan was also the ancestor of the Jebus, Amor, Girgash, 17 Hiv, Ark, Sin, 18 Arved, Zemar and Hamath people-groups. Later the descendants of Canaan dispersed over a large area. 19 Their land extended from Sidon city in the north as far south as Gaza town, and then to the east as far as Gerar town, and then farther east to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim towns, and even as far as Lasha town.

20 Those are the descendants of Ham. They became groups that had their own clans, their own languages, and their own land.

21 Shem, the older brother of Japheth, became the father of Eber, and the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arphaxad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. 25 Eber became the father of two sons. One of them was named Peleg, which means ‘division’, because during the time he lived, people on [MTY] the earth became divided and scattered everywhere. Peleg’s younger brother was Joktan. 26 Joktan became the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All those people were descended from Joktan. 30 The areas in which they lived extended from Mesha westward to Sephar, which is in the ◄hill country/area that has a lot of hills►. 31 They are descendants of Shem. They became groups that had their own clans, their own languages, and their own land.

32 All those groups descended from the sons of Noah. Each group had its own ◄genealogy/record of people’s ancestors► and each became a separate ethnic group. Those ethnic groups formed after the flood and spread all around the earth.

Yahweh caused people to speak many different languages after they started to build a tower at Babel

11 At first, all the people in [MTY] the world spoke the same language [DOU]. 2 As people moved further east, they arrived at a plain in Babylonia region and began to live there. 3 Then they said to each other, “◄Hey/Come on►, let’s form bricks and bake them to make them hard, for building!” So they used bricks instead of stones, and used tar instead of ◄mortar/a mixture of cement, sand and lime► to hold them together. 4 They said, “Hey, let’s build a city for ourselves! We also ought to build a very high tower that reaches up to the sky! In that way we will become famous! If we do not do this, we will be scattered all over the earth!”

5 So they began to build the city and the tower. Then Yahweh looked down and saw the city and the tower that those puny men were building. 6 Yahweh said, “These people are one group that all speak the same language. If they have begun to do this now, then ◄there is nothing that they will decide to do that will be impossible for them/they will be able to do whatever they decide to do► [LIT]! 7 So, okay/now, we will go down there and cause there to be many different languages, so that they will not be able to understand each other.”

8 So Yahweh did that. As a result, the people stopped building the city, and Yahweh caused them to disperse all over the earth. 9 The city was called Babel which means ‘confusion’, because there Yahweh caused the people to become confused because the people [MTY] spoke different languages that the others could not understand, not just one language. From there Yahweh caused them to disperse all over the earth.

Shem’s descendants

10 ◄This is a bigger list/I will now tell you more► of the descendants of Shem: Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arpachshad. 11 After Arpachshad was born, Shem lived 500 more years and had more sons and daughters. 12 When Arphachshad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. 13 After Shelah was born, Arpachshad lived 403 more years and became the father of more sons and daughters. 14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. 15 After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. 17 After Peleg was born, Eber lived 430 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. 19 After Reu was born, Peleg lived 209 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21 After Serug was born, Reu lived 207 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23 After Nahor was born, Serug lived 200 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25 After Terah was born, Nahor lived 119 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. 26 When Terah was 70 years old, his son Abram was born. Later, two other sons, Nahor and Haran were born.

Terah’s descendants

27 ◄This is/I will now give► a list of the descendants of Terah: Terah’s sons were Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran’s son was named Lot. 28 Haran died before his father died. He died in Ur city in Chaldea land, where he was born. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. Milcah and her younger sister Iscah were the daughters of Haran. 30 Sarai was unable to bear any children. 31 Terah decided to leave Ur and go to live in Canaan land. So he took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and Abram’s wife Sarai with him. But instead of going to Canaan, they stopped at Haran town and lived there. 32 When Terah was 205 years old, he died there in Haran.

Yahweh told Abram to go to Canaan and promised to bless him

12 Then Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave this country where you are now living. Leave your father’s clan and his family. Go to a land that I will show you. 2 I will cause your descendants to become a large nation. I will bless you and cause you to become ◄famous/highly esteemed►. What I do for you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who ◄bless/ask God to do good things for► you, and I will ◄curse/ask God to punish► those who do evil things to you. And because of what you do, groups of people all over the earth will receive blessings (OR, people will wish that God will bless others as much as he has blessed you).”

4 So Abram left Haran town, as Yahweh told him to do. Abram was 75 years old when he left there along with his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot. 5 Abram also took along all the possessions and slaves that they had accumulated/acquired in Haran town, and they left there and went to Canaan land. 6 In Canaan they traveled as far as Shechem town and camped by a huge tree called the tree of Moreh. The Canaan people-group were still living in that land.

7 Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Then Abram built a stone altar to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh because Yahweh had appeared to him. 8 From Shechem, Abram and his family traveled to the hills that were east of Bethel town. Bethel town was to the west of where they set up their tent, and Ai town was further to the east. There he built another stone altar and offered a sacrifice and worshiped Yahweh there. 9 Then they left there and started traveling south to the Negev Desert.

Abram and Sarai went to Egypt for a while

10 There was ◄a famine/very little food to eat► in Canaan, so they went south to live in Egypt for a while. 11 Just as they were about to enter Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “Listen, I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the people in Egypt see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife!’ and they will kill me in order to get you, but they will not kill you. 13 So I ask you to tell them that you are my sister, so that because of you telling them that, they will ◄spare my life/not kill me►.”

14 And as soon as they arrived in Egypt, the people in Egypt saw that his wife was indeed very beautiful. 15 When the king’s officials saw her, they told the king how beautiful she was. And they took her to the king’s palace. 16 The king treated Abram kindly because of Sarai, and he gave Abram many sheep and cattle and donkeys and male and female slaves and camels. 17 But because the king had taken Sarai, Abram’s wife, Yahweh caused the king and the others in his household to be inflicted with terrible diseases. 18 When the king realized why that was happening, he summoned Abram and said to him, “Why did you do this to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you lie, saying she is your sister, with the result that I took her to be my wife? You should not have done that! So now take your wife, leave here and go!” 20 Then the king told his officials/servants to take Abram and his wife and all his possessions out of Egypt.

Abram and Lot separated

13 So Abram and Sarai left Egypt, and they took along all his possessions, and Lot went with them to the Negev Desert. 2 Abram was very rich. He owned a lot of livestock, silver and gold. 3 They continued traveling from place to place from the Negev Desert toward Bethel town to the place between Bethel and Ai where they had previously set up their tents, 4 and where Abram had made a stone altar and worshiped Yahweh. 5 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle, and tents. 6 But they had so many animals that they could not all stay in the same area. There was not enough land to provide water and food for all their animals. 7 Furthermore, the descendants of Canaan and Perizzi were also living in that area, and the land really belonged to them. And the men who took care of Abram’s animals started quarreling with the men who took care of Lot’s animals. 8 So Abram said to Lot, “Since we are close relatives, it is not good for us two to quarrel, or for the men who take care of your animals to quarrel with the men who take care of my animals. 9 There is plenty of land for both of us. So we should separate. You can choose whatever part you want [RHQ]. If you want the area over there, I will stay here. If you want the area here, I will go over there.” 10 Lot looked around toward Zoar town, and saw that there was plenty of water all over the plain near the Jordan River. It was like the park/garden in Eden, and like the land in Egypt. [That was before Yahweh destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which were on that plain.] 11 So Lot chose the land in the plain of the Jordan River. He left his uncle, Abram, and moved east. 12 Abram stayed in the Canaan area, and Lot started to live near the cities in the plain of the Jordan River, and he set up his tents near Sodom city. 13 You need to know that people who lived there were extremely wicked.

Abram moved to Hebron

14 After Abram and Lot separated, Yahweh said to Abram, “Look around at this whole area where you are. Look north and south, look east and west. 15 I will give to you and your descendants all the land that you see; I will give it to you forever. 16 I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as particles of dust! It will be easier to count the particles of dust than it will be to count your descendants [HYP]. 17 Walk through the land in every direction, because I am going to give it all to you.” 18 So Abram and his men took down their tents and moved to Hebron and started to live by the huge trees at the town of Mamre. He placed a stone altar there to make sacrifices to Yahweh.

Abram rescued Lot

14 In a region to the east, there were four kings who were friends/allies. They were King Amraphel of Babylonia, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim. 2 In an area to the west, there were five other kings. They were King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, the city that is now called Zoar. 3 Those five kings and their armies gathered together in Siddim Valley, which is also called the Dead Sea Valley, to fight against the four kings and their armies. King Chedorlaomer and his army conquered the armies of those five kings, and demanded that those kings pay him tribute money each year. 4 For twelve years he ruled them. But during the thirteenth year they rebelled and refused to keep giving him tribute money. 5 The next year, King Chedorlaomer and the other kings that were his allies took their armies and defeated the Repha people-group in Ashteroth-Karnaim and the Zuz people-group in Ham, and the Emi people-group in Shaveh-Kiriathaim. 6 They also defeated the Hor people-group in the hilly area of Seir as far as El-Paran near the desert. 7 Then they turned back and went to Mishpat city, which is now called Kadesh. They conquered all the land belonging to the Amalek people-group and the Amor people-group who were living in Hazazon-Tamar town. 8 Then the armies of the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela marched out to fight the armies of the other four kings in Siddim Valley. That valley is close to the Salt/Dead Sea. 9 They fought against the armies of Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, Tidal the king of Goiim, Amraphel the king of Shinar, and Arioch the king of Ellasar. The armies of four kings were fighting against the armies of five kings. 10 The Siddim Valley was full of tar pits. So when the armies of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah tried to run away, many of the men fell into the tar pits. The others escaped and ran away to the hills. 11 As the armies of the five kings fled, the armies of the four kings seized all of the valuable things in Sodom and Gomorrah, including all the food. 12 They also captured Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom at that time. 13 Abram was living near the big trees near Mamre, who belonged to the Amor people-group. Abram had made an agreement with Mamre and his two brothers, Eshcol and Aner, that they would help each other if there was a war. 14 One of the men who escaped from the battle told Abram what had happened and that his nephew Lot had been captured and taken away. So Abram summoned 318 men who were his servants, men who had been with Abram since they were born. They all went together and pursued their enemies as far north as Dan city. 15 During the night, Abram divided the men into several groups, and they attacked their enemies from various directions and defeated them. They pursued them as far as Hobah, which was north of Damascus city. 16 Abram’s men recovered all of the goods that had been taken. They also rescued Lot and all his possessions and also the women and others who had been captured by their enemies.

Melchizedek blessed Abram

17 As Abram was returning home after he and his men had defeated the armies of King Chedorlaomer and the other kings who had fought alongside him, the king of Sodom went north to meet him in Shaveh Valley, which people call the King’s Valley. 18 The king of Salem city, whose name was Melchizedek, was also a priest who offered sacrifices to the Supreme God. He brought some bread and wine to Abram. 19 Then he blessed Abram, saying “I ask the Supreme God, the one who created heaven and earth, to bless you. 20 The Supreme God has enabled you to defeat [MTY] your enemies, so we should praise/thank him.” Then Abram gave to Melchizedek a tenth part of all the things he had captured. 21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “You can keep all the goods you recovered. Just let me take back the people from my city whom you rescued.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have solemnly promised [MTY] to Yahweh, the Supreme God, the one who created heaven and earth, 23 that I will not accept even one thread or a thong of a sandal from anything that belongs to you. As a result, you will never be able to say, ‘I caused Abram to become rich.’ 24 The only thing I will accept is the food that my men have eaten. But Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre went with me and fought alongside me, so let them also have a share of the goods we brought back.” So the king of Sodom agreed to what he said.

Yahweh made a solemn promise to Abram

15 Some time later, Abram had a vision in which Yahweh spoke to him and said, “Do not be afraid of ◄anything/your enemies►. I will protect you [MTY], and I will give a great reward.” 2 But Abram replied, “Yahweh God, how can you give me what I truly want, because I have no children, and the one who will be like a son and inherit all my possessions is my servant Eliezer from Damascus!” 3 Abram added, “You have not given me any children, so think about this: A servant in my household will inherit all I own!” 4 Yahweh replied, “No! He will not be the one who will inherit it. Instead, you yourself will be the father of the one who will inherit everything you own.” 5 Then Yahweh took Abram outside of his tent and said, “Look up at the sky! Can you count the stars? No, you cannot count them because there are so many of them, and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars.” 6 Abram believed that what Yahweh said would happen. And because of that, Yahweh considered that Abram was righteous. 7 Yahweh also said to him, “I am Yahweh. I am the one who brought you from Ur in Chaldea land. I brought you here to give you this land to possess.” 8 But Abram replied, “Yahweh God, how can I know for sure that this land will belong to me?” 9 God said to him, “Bring a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old goat to me, and a dove and a pigeon.” 10 So Abram brought all of them and killed them and cut each of the animals in half. He arranged the halves of each one, side by side. But he did not cut the pigeon and dove in half. 11 Birds that eat dead flesh came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram shooed them away. 12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep, and suddenly everything around him became dark and frightening. 13 Then God said to Abram, “I want you to know that your descendants will become foreigners living in a land that does not belong to them. They will become slaves of the owners of that land. The owners of the land will mistreat them for 400 years. 14 But then I will punish the people of that country that made them become slaves, and then your descendants will leave that country, taking many possessions with them. 15 But as for you, you will die [EUP] peacefully when you are very old. 16 After your descendants have been slaves for 400 years, they will return here, and take control of this land and defeat the Amor people-group. Those people will, because those people have not yet sinned enough to deserve to be punished now.” 17 When the sun had set and it had become dark, unexpectedly a blazing torch and a clay pot containing burning coals from which smoke was rising appeared and went between the halves of the animals. 18 And on that day Yahweh made an agreement with Abram. Yahweh told him, “I will give to your descendants all the land between the river that is on the eastern border of Egypt to the south, and north to the huge Euphrates River. 19 That is the land where the Ken, the Keniz, the Kidmon, 20 the Heth, the Periz, the Repha, 21 the Amor, the Canaan, the Girgash, and the Tebus people-groups live.”

Sarai gave Abram a slave woman to be another wife, and that woman gave birth to Ishmael

16 Up to that time, Abram’s wife Sarai had not given birth to any children for Abram. But she had a female slave from Egypt, whose name was Hagar. 2 So one day Sarai said to Abram, “Listen to me! Yahweh has not allowed me to become pregnant. So ◄sleep with/have sex with► [EUP] my slave Hagar. Perhaps she will bear children whom I can consider to be mine.” Abram agreed to do what Sarai said. 3 So Abram ◄slept with/had sex with► Hagar, his wife Sarai’s slave from Egypt. This happened ten years after they went to live in Canaan land. Sarai gave Hagar to her husband to be his secondary wife. 4 He ◄slept with/had sex with► [EUP] Hagar and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress Sarai. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It is your fault! I put my servant into your arms, so that you could sleep with her [EUP]. Now she realizes that she is pregnant, and she despises me. I think Yahweh will punish you for doing this to me!” 6 So Abram said to Sarai, “You listen to me! She is your servant, so act towards her in the way you consider best.” Then Sarai started to mistreat her, so she ran away from Sarai. 7 An angel of Yahweh found her as she was near a spring of water in the desert. It was the spring that was alongside the road to Shur. 8 He said to her, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I have run away from Sarai, my mistress.” 9 The angel said, “Go back to your mistress and be under her authority [MTY]”. 10 The angel also said to her, “I will enable you to bear so many descendants that no one will be able to count them!” 11 The angel also said to her, “Listen to this! You are pregnant. You will give birth to a son. You must name him Ishmael, which means ‘God hears’, because Yahweh has heard you crying because you feel so miserable. 12 But your son will be as uncontrollable as a wild donkey [MET]. He will oppose everyone, and everyone will oppose him [MTY]. He will live far away from his relatives [SYN].” 13 Then Hagar realized that the angel was really Yahweh, so she said to herself, “◄It is difficult to believe that I have really seen the back of Yahweh, the one who sees me!/Have I really seen the back of Yahweh, the one who sees me?►” [RHQ] So she called him ‘Yahweh, the one who sees me’. 14 That is why people call the well there ‘Beer-Lahai-Roi’, which means, ‘The well of the living one who sees us’! It is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar later gave birth to a son for Abram, and she gave to her son the name Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son Ishmael.

Yahweh changed Abram’s name to Abraham and made an agreement with him

17 When Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him again and said to him, “I am God Almighty. I want you to live in a way that I will regard you as someone that cannot be criticized. 2 If you do that, I will make an agreement with you in which I will promise to enable you to have very many descendants.” [MTY] 3 Abram prostrated himself with his face on the ground. Then God said to him, 4 “Listen to this agreement that I am making with you: People of many nations will be your descendants. 5 And no longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham, which means ‘father of many nations,’ because the people of many nations will descend from you. 6 I will enable you to have very many descendants, and I will cause them to become great nations/people-groups, and some of your descendants will become kings. 7 I will make this agreement between me and you and your descendants. It will be an everlasting agreement to be in effect for many generations. This agreement is that I will be your God, and the God of your descendants. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants the land through which you are now traveling, all of the Canaan region. It will be an everlasting possession for your descendants, and I will be the God that they will worship.”

God told Abraham that all the males must be circumcised as part of that agreement

9 Then God said to Abraham, “Now you must obey your part of the agreement that I am making with you, and your descendants must also obey it, for all generations. 10 This is the agreement that I am making, between myself and you and all your descendants: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 ◄Cutting the foreskins of/Circumcising► them will be the sign that you have accepted the agreement I am making with you. 12 Every male child among you must be circumcised when he is eight days old, in all future generations. That includes baby boys in your household or those born from slaves that have been bought, and baby boys of foreigners who live among you but do not belong to your household. 13 It does not matter whether their parents are members of your household or slaves that have been bought; they must all be circumcised. Your bodies will have this mark to show you have accepted this everlasting agreement I am making. 14 You must expel from your community any male who has not been circumcised, because by not being circumcised that person has disobeyed my agreement.”

God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah

15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, you must not call her Sarai any longer. Since I changed your name, I will change her name also. Her name will now be Sarah. 16 I will bless her, and she will surely give birth to a son for you. And I will bless her so much that she will be the ancestor of people of many nations. Kings of some people-groups will be descended from her.”

God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son

17 Abraham prostrated himself with his face on the ground to show respect to God. But then he laughed as he said to himself, “Can a man who is a 100 years old become a father of a son? And since Sarah is 90 years old, how can she bear a child?” 18 Then Abraham said to God, “Perhaps you will let Ishmael receive your blessing and inherit all I possess.” 19 Then God replied, “No! Your wife Sarah will bear a son for you. You must name him Isaac. I will establish my agreement with him, one which will be an everlasting agreement for him and his descendants. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard what you asked me to do for him. I will bless him so that he also will have many descendants. Among his descendants will be rulers of twelve nations. And I will cause his descendants [MTY] to also become a great nation. 21 But Isaac, the son whom Sarah will give birth to at this time next year, is the one with whom I will establish my agreement.” 22 When God finished talking to Abraham, God disappeared from his sight.

23 On that same day, Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the males that were in his household, including the sons of all the slaves he had bought, and circumcised them. He cut off their foreskins, just as God told him to do. 24 Abraham was 99 years old when ◄he was circumcised/someone circumcised him►, 25 and Ishmael was thirteen years old when Abraham circumcised him. 26 On that very day Abraham and his son, Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the males in his household, the ones who had been born there and those who had been bought from foreigners, were also circumcised.

Yahweh appeared to them and promised again that they would have a son

18 One day during that year when it was hot, Yahweh appeared to Abraham again near the big trees that belonged to Mamre, while Abraham was sitting in the entrance to his tent. 2 Abraham looked up [MTY] and was surprised to see three men standing near him. Actually, one was Yahweh, and the other two were angels. When he saw them, he ran to meet them. He prostrated himself with his face on the ground to show respect, 3 and said to one of them, “Sir, if you are pleased with me, stay here for a little while [LIT]. 4 Allow my servants to bring a little water and wash your feet, and rest under this tree. 5 Since you have come here to me, allow me to bring you some food [SYN] so that you can feel refreshed before you leave.” Yahweh replied, “All right, do as you have said.” 6 So Abraham quickly went into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, get some of our best flour and make some loaves of bread!” 7 Then he ran to the herd of cattle and selected a calf whose meat would be tender and tasty. He gave it to one of his servants and told him to quickly kill it and cook it. 8 When the meat was cooked, Abraham brought some curds and milk and the meat that had been prepared, and set them in front of his visitors. Then he stood near them, under a tree, while they ate. 9 One of them asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He replied, “She is in the tent.” 10 Then the leader of the group said, “I will return to you ◄about this time/in the springtime► next year, and to your amazement, your wife Sarah will have an infant son.” It happened that Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind the one who was speaking. 11 Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was far past the time of when she could bear children. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “My body is worn out, and my husband is old. So how can I have the pleasure of having a child?” [RHQ] 13 Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why was she thinking, ‘I am too old, so how can I bear a child?’ 14 I am Yahweh! ◄Is there anything too difficult for me?/There is nothing too difficult for me!► [RHQ] I will return about this time next year in the springtime, and Sarah will have an infant son.” 15 Then Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But Yahweh said, “Don’t deny it! You did laugh.”

Abraham tried to intercede for the wicked people of Sodom

16 When the three men got up to leave, they looked down into the valley toward Sodom city. Abraham was walking with them to say “goodbye” to them. 17 Yahweh thought to himself, “It is not right for me to prevent Abraham from knowing what I plan to do [RHQ]. 18 Abraham’s descendants [MTY] will become a great and powerful nation. And people of [MTY] all nations will be blessed because of what I do for him. 19 I have chosen him in order that he will teach his children and their families to obey me and do what is right and fair, and then I will do for Abraham what I promised.” 20 So Yahweh said to Abraham, “I have heard the terrible things that have been said about the people of [MTY] Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sins are very great. 21 So I will go down now, and I will see if all the terrible things that I have heard are true or not true.” 22 Then the two men turned and started walking toward Sodom. But Yahweh remained, standing in front of Abraham. 23 Abraham came closer to him and said, “Will you really destroy righteous people along with wicked ones? 24 What will you do if there are only 50 righteous people in the city? Will you really get rid of them all, and not spare the place/city for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are in the city? 25 It would certainly not be right for you to do such a thing, to kill righteous people along with wicked ones, and treat righteous people and wicked people the same way. You could not do that, because you, who are the judge of everyone on the earth, will certainly do what is right regarding the people of Sodom!” [RHQ] 26 Yahweh replied, “If I find 50 righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the whole place/city for their sake.” 27 Abraham replied, “I should not be bold like this and speak to you, God, because I am as worthless as dust and ashes [MET]. 28 But what will you do if there are only 45 righteous people? Will you destroy everyone in the whole city because there are only 45 and not 50 righteous people?” Yahweh replied, “I will not destroy it if I find that there are 45 righteous people.” 29 Abraham continued to speak to him like this, saying, “What will you do if you find that there are only 40 righteous people there?” Yahweh replied, “I will not destroy them all, for the sake of the 40.” 30 Abraham said, “God, please don’t be angry now. Let me speak again. What will you do if there are only 30 righteous people?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find that there are 30 there.” 31 Abraham said, “I should not be bold and speak to you like this, God. But what will you do if you find that there are only 20 righteous people there?” He replied, “I will not destroy the whole city, for the sake of those 20.” 32 Abraham said, “God, don’t be angry now. Just let me speak one time more. What will you do if you find that there are only ten righteous people there?” Yahweh answered, “I will not destroy the city for the sake of those ten.” 33 Abraham said no more, and as soon as Yahweh finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Angels warned Lot that Sodom would be destroyed because of the people’s wickedness

19 That evening, the two angels arrived in Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to greet them, and prostrated himself with his face on the ground. 2 He said to them, “Gentlemen, please stay in my house tonight. You can wash your feet, and tomorrow you can continue your journey.” But they said, “No, we will just sleep in the city square.” 3 But Lot kept insisting strongly that they sleep in his house. So they entered his house with him, and he prepared a meal for them. He baked some bread without yeast, and they ate it. 4 After they finished eating, before they went to bed, the men of Sodom city, all of them, from the young ones to the old ones, surrounded the house. 5 They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to your house this evening? Bring them out, so that we can have sex with them!” [EUP] 6 Lot went outside the house and shut the door behind him, so that they could not go inside. 7 He said to them, “My friends, don’t do such an evil thing! 8 Listen to me. I have two daughters who have never had sex with any man. Let me bring them out to you now, and you can do with them whatever pleases you. But don’t do anything to these men, because they are guests in my house, so I must protect them!” 9 But they replied, “Get out of our way! You are a foreigner; so you have no right to tell us what is right! If you don’t get out of our way, we will do worse things to you than we will do to them!” Then they lunged towards Lot, and tried forcefully to break down the door. 10 But the two angels opened the door carefully, reached out their hands, and pulled Lot to them inside the house. Then they quickly shut the door. 11 Then they caused all the men who were outside the door of the house, young and old, to become blind, so that they could not find the door. 12 Then the two angels said to Lot, “Who else is with you here? If you have sons or sons-in-law or daughters or anyone else in the city who is related to you, take them out of the city, 13 because we are the ones who are going to destroy this place. Yahweh considers that these people are so evil that he sent us to destroy the city.” 14 So Lot went and spoke to the men who had pledged to marry his daughters. He said to them, “Hurry! Get out of this city, because Yahweh is about to destroy it!” But his future sons-in-law thought he was joking. 15 As it was about to dawn the next morning, the two angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up quickly! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here with you and leave! If you don’t, you will die when we destroy/Yahweh destroys the city!” 16 When Lot hesitated, the angels grasped his hand and his wife’s hand and the hands of his two daughters. They led them outside the city safely. The angels did that because Yahweh was acting mercifully toward them. 17 When they were outside the city, one of the angels said, “If you want to remain alive, run away quickly! Don’t look back! And don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Flee to the hills! If you don’t, you will die!” 18 But Lot said to one of the angels, “No, sir, don’t make me do that! 19 Please, listen. You have been pleased with me and have been very kind to me and spared my life. But I cannot flee to the mountain. If I try to do that, I will die in this disaster [PRS]. 20 But listen to me. There is a town nearby. Let me run to that small town. Let me go there now. It is a small town, but our lives will be saved if we go there.” 21 One of the angels said to Lot, “I will allow you to do what you have requested [MTY]. I will not destroy the little town you are speaking about. 22 But hurry! Run there, because I cannot destroy anything until you arrive there.” People later called the name of the town Zoar which means ‘small’, because Lot said it was small.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah cities

23 As the sun was rising, Lot and his family arrived in the town which is now called Zoar. 24 Then Yahweh caused fire and burning sulfur to fall down on Sodom and Gomorrah like rain. 25 In that way, he destroyed those cities and all the people who were living in those cities. He also destroyed everything in the valley, including all the plants/vegetation. 26 But Lot’s wife stopped and looked back to see what was happening, so she died, and her body later became a pillar of salt.

27 That morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood in front of Yahweh. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and he was surprised to see that all over the valley, smoke was rising, like the smoke of a huge furnace.

29 So, when God destroyed those cities in the valley, he remembered what he had promised Abraham, and he rescued Lot from the disaster that occurred in the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot’s daughters tricked him into making them pregnant

30 Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he left there and moved with his two daughters to the mountain, and they lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to ◄the younger daughter/her sister►, “Our father is old, and there is no man in this area who can have sex [EUP] with us, as people all over the earth do. 32 Let’s make our father drink wine until he gets drunk. Then we can have sex with him [EUP] without him knowing it. In that way he will cause us to become pregnant and we can bear children.” 33 So that night they caused their father to become drunk. And the older daughter went in and lay in bed with her father, and he had sex with her, but he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up. 34 The next day, his older daughter said to ◄his younger daughter/her sister►, “Listen to me. Last night I slept with our father. Let’s cause him to become drunk again tonight! This time you can go and sleep with him. If he has sex with you, you can become pregnant, and that way you can have a child, too.” 35 So that night, they caused their father to become drunk with wine again, and then his younger daughter went and slept with him. But again, he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up. 36 So Lot caused his two daughters to become pregnant. 37 The older one later gave birth to a son, whom she named Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moab people-group. 38 The younger one also gave birth to a son, whom she named Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammon people-group.

Abraham deceived King Abimelech about Sarah

20 Abraham left Mamre and moved southwest to the Negev desert and lived in a place named Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. 2 While he was there, he told people that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. Then King Abimelech of Gerar sent some of his men to Sarah, and they brought her to him to be his wife. 3 But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream during the night and said to him, “Listen to me! You are going to die because the woman you took is another man’s wife.” 4 But Abimelech had not had sex [EUP] with her, so he said, “God, since the people of my nation and I am innocent; will you kill me? 5 He told me, ‘She is my sister,’ and she also said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this with pure motives and I [SYN] have not done anything wrong yet.” 6 God said to him in another dream, “Yes, I know that your motives were pure. That is why I truly prevented you from sinning against me. I did not allow you to have sex [EUP] with her. 7 Now, return this man’s wife to her husband, because he is ◄a prophet/a man who receives messages from me►. He will pray for you, and you will ◄remain alive/not die►. But if you do not return her to him, you will certainly die, and all the members of your household will also certainly die.” 8 Early the next morning, Abimelech summoned all his officials, and told them everything that had happened. When they heard that [MTY], his men were very afraid that God would punish them. 9 Abimelech then summoned Abraham, and said to him, “You should not have done that to us [RHQ]! Did I do something wrong to you, with the result that you are causing me and the people in [MTY] my kingdom to be guilty of committing a great sin [RHQ]? You have done things to me that ◄should not be done/you should not have done►!” 10 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?” 11 Abraham replied, “I said that because I thought, ‘They certainly do not respect God in this place. If they don’t respect God, they will not respect relationships with others. If I say she is my sister, they will try to pay me a bride price to get her. But if I say she is my wife, they will kill me to get her.’ 12 Besides, she really can be considered my sister, because she is the daughter of my father, although she is not the daughter of my mother. She is the daughter of another woman, and I married her. 13 Later, when God told me to move away from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is the way you can show that you love me: Everywhere we go, say about me, “This is my brother.” ’ ” 14 So Abimelech brought some sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. And he returned his wife Sarah to him. 15 And Abimelech said to him, “Look! All my land is here in front of you. Live in whatever place you like!” 16 And he said to Sarah, “Look here, I am giving 1,000 pieces of silver to your brother. This is to insure that no one will bring up this matter again and say that I have done something wrong. [EUP, IDM]” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech’s wife and his slave girls so that they could become pregnant. 18 This was because Yahweh had caused it to be impossible for any of the women in Abimelech’s household to bear children, because Abimelech had taken Abraham’s wife Sarah.

Sarah gave birth to Isaac

21 Yahweh was very kind to Sarah, just as he said he would be. He did for Sarah exactly what he promised to do. 2 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was very old, at the time God promised it would happen. 3 Abraham gave the name ‘Isaac’ (which means ‘he laughs’) to the son Sarah gave birth to. 4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when his son was eight days old, just as God commanded him to do. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. 6 And Sarah said, “Although I was sad before because I did not have any children, God has now enabled me to laugh, and everyone who hears about what God has done for me will laugh with me.” 7 Then she also said, “No one would have said to Abraham that some day Sarah would nurse a child, but I have given birth to a son when Abraham is very old.”

Abraham sent Hagar and her son Ishmael away

8 The baby grew and was weaned when he was about three years old. On that day, Abraham prepared a large feast to celebrate. 9 ◄One day/During the feast► Sarah noticed that Hagar’s son Ishmael was ◄making fun of/playing with► Isaac. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman from Egypt and her son! I do not want the son of that slave woman to be alone (OR, to be an heir along with) my son, Isaac!” 11 Abraham was very distressed about the matter, because he was concerned about his son Ishmael. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about your son, Ishmael, and about your maidservant, Hagar. Do everything that Sarah tells you to do. Listen to her, because Isaac is the one who will be considered the ancestor of the descendants I promised to give you. 13 But I will also cause the son of your maidservant to be the ancestor of the people of a great nation [MTY], because he is also your son.” 14 So Abraham got up early the next morning. He got some food ready, put water in a container, and gave them to Hagar. He put them in a bag on her shoulder and sent them away.

They wandered in the desert near Beersheba town. 15 After they had drunk all the water in the container, she put her son under one of the bushes there. 16 Then she went and sat nearby, about ◄as far as someone can shoot an arrow/100 meters away►, because she thought, “I cannot endure seeing my son die!” As she sat there, she began to cry loudly [MTY]. 17 The boy was crying too. And God heard the boy crying. So he caused one of his angels to call out from heaven to Hagar, saying, “Hagar, are you worried about something? Do not be afraid, because God has heard the boy crying there. 18 Help your son up, and hold his hand as you leave, because I will cause his descendants to become a great nation.” 19 Then God showed her a well of water. So she went to the well and filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.

20 God helped the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became a good ◄archer/man who hunts with bow and arrows►. 21 He lived in Paran Desert. While e was there, Hagar got a wife for him from Egypt.

22 At that time, King Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “It is clear that God helps you with everything that you do. 23 So now ◄solemnly promise/swear► to me here, as God is listening, that you will ◄not deceive/act fairly to► me and my children and my descendants, in return for my being kind to you. Be kind to me and to all the people here in the country where you are now living.” 24 So Abraham promised to do that.

25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about one of Abraham’s wells that Abimelech’s servants had seized. 26 But Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done that. You did not tell me previously, and I did not hear about it until today.” 27 So Abraham brought some sheep and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a ◄treaty/peace agreement►. 28 Abraham separated seven female lambs from his flock. 29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What are these seven female lambs that you have separated from the rest of your flock?” 30 Abraham replied, “I want you truly to accept these female lambs from me [SYN], so that it may be a ◄public witness/proof► that this well belongs to me because I dug it.” 31 So Abimelech accepted the animals, and as a result they called that place Beersheba, which means ‘Friendship Agreement Well’, because there the two of them made that agreement. 32 After they made the agreement at Beersheba, Abimelech and his army commander, Phicol, left, and returned to the land of the Philistine people-group. 33 Abraham planted a ◄tamarisk tree/kind of tree called esel► there, and he worshiped the eternal God there. 34 Abraham lived in the land of the Philistine people-group for a long time.

Yahweh told Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice

22 Several years later, God tested Abraham to find out whether Abraham really trusted in him and would obey him. He called out to Abraham, and Abraham replied, “I’m here.” 2 God said, “Your son, Isaac, whom you love very much, is the only son who is still here with you. But take him and go together to the Moriah region. Offer him as a sacrifice like a burnt offering, on a hill that I will show you.” 3 So Abraham got up early the next morning, put a saddle on his donkey, and took with him two of his servants along with his son, Isaac. He also chopped some wood to kindle a fire for a burnt offering. Then they started traveling to the place God told him about. 4 On the third day of their travels, Abraham looked up and saw in the distance the place where God wanted him to go. 5 Abraham said to his servants, “You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We will worship God there, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Then Abraham took the wood to kindle a fire for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, for him to carry. Abraham carried in his hand a pan containing burning coals to start a fire, and a knife, and the two of them walked along together. 7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham, saying, “My father!” Abraham replied, “Yes, my son, I’m here!” Isaac said, “Look, we have wood and coals to light a fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham replied, “My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.” So the two of them continued walking along together. 9 They arrived at the place God had told him about. There, Abraham built a stone altar and arranged the wood on top of it. Then he tied his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham took the knife and reached out to kill his son. 11 But an angel who was really Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” Abraham replied, “I’m here!” 12 The angel said, “Do not harm the boy or do anything to injure him, because now I know that you respect and obey God. I know that because you have not refused to sacrifice your son, the only son who is still with you.”

13 Then Abraham looked up and saw that a ram was nearby, whose horns had been caught in a ◄thicket/clump of bushes►. So Abraham went over and grabbed the ram and killed it, and sacrificed it on the altar as a burnt offering, instead of his son. 14 Abraham named that place ‘Yahweh will provide’. And to the present day, people say, “On Yahweh’s mountain, he will provide.”

15 The angel who was really Yahweh called out to Abraham from heaven a second time. 16 He said, “I, Yahweh your Lord, am telling you that you did what I told you, and you have not refused to sacrifice your only son that is with you. So I say, ‘I solemnly swear, with myself as my witness, 17 that some day your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. And your descendants will defeat their enemies and capture their cities [SYN].’ 18 You obeyed me, so by means of your descendants the people of all the nations on the earth will be blessed.” 19 Then Abraham and Isaac returned to where his servants were waiting, and they went back home together to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.

20 After these things happened, someone told Abraham, “Your brother Nahor’s wife, Milcah, has also given birth to children. She has eight sons.” 21 The oldest son was Uz. The next was Buz. After him was Kemuel, the father of Aram. 22 After Kemuel was Kesad, then Hazo, then Pildash, then Jidlaph, then Bethuel, 23 who was the father of Rebekah, who later became Isaac’s wife. Those were the eight sons of Milcah, wife of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. 24 Nahor also had a ◄concubine/female slave whom he took as a wife►, whose name was Beumah. She gave birth to four sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

After Sarah died, Abraham bought a burial place for her

23 When Sarah was 127 years old, 2 she died at Kiriath-Arba town, which is now called Hebron, in the Canaan region. After Abraham mourned for her, 3 he left the body of his wife and went and spoke to some of the descendants of Heth, saying, 4 “I am a foreigner [DOU] living among you, so I do not own any land here. Sell me some land here so that I can bury my wife’s body.” 5 They replied to him, 6 “Sir, you are a powerful prince among us. Choose one of our finest tombs and bury your wife’s body in it. None of us will refuse to sell land to you for a tomb for your relatives’ bodies.” 7 Then Abraham stood up and bowed in respect in front of the people who owned the land, the descendants of Heth. 8 He said to them, “If you say that you are willing for me to bury my wife’s body here, listen to me, and ask Ephron, the son of Zohar for me, 9 to sell to me the cave in the Machpelah area, which is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price he wants, so that I can have a burial ground among you.” 10 Ephron was sitting among the people near the city gate where many [HYP] descendants of Heth had gathered. He heard what Abraham said to them. 11 So, just to make the customary reply to start the real discussion about a price, Ephron said, “No, sir, listen to me. I will give to you the field and the cave in it, without charge, with the people here as witnesses.” 12 Abraham again bowed before the people who lived in the area, 13 and said to Ephron, as all the others were listening, “No, listen to me. If you are willing, I will pay for the field. You tell me what the price is, and I will give it to you. If you accept it, the field will become mine, and I can bury my wife’s body there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 “Sir, listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver. But the price is not important to you and me. Give me the money and bury your wife’s body there.” 16 Abraham agreed with Ephron about the price, and weighed for Ephron the 400 pieces of silver he had suggested, as everyone was listening, using the standard weights for silver used in that area by people who sold things.

17 So Ephron’s field in the Machpelah area, near Mamre, and the cave in the field, and all the trees that were in the field inside the boundaries of the land, became Abraham’s possession. 18 It became Abraham’s property as all the descendants of Heth were listening there at the city gate. 19 After that, Abraham buried his wife Sarah’s body in the cave in the field in the Machpelah area near Mamre, which is now called Hebron city, in the Canaan region. 20 So the field and the cave in it were officially sold to Abraham by the descendants of Heth, to be used as a burial ground.

Abraham sent a servant to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac

24 Abraham was now a very old man. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in many ways. 2 One day Abraham said to the chief servant of his household, the man who was in charge of everything Abraham owned, “Put your hand between my thighs to solemnly promise you will do what I tell you. 3 Knowing that Yahweh God who created the heavens and the earth is listening, promise that you will not get a wife for my son, Isaac, from the women here in Canaan. 4 Instead, go back to my country and to my relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac from among them.” 5 The servant asked him, “If I find a woman among your relatives, what if she is not willing to come back with me to this land? Shall I take your son back there to the country you came from, so he can find a wife and live there?” 6 Abraham replied to him, “No! Be certain that you don’t take my son there! 7 Yahweh God, who created the heavens, brought me here. He brought me from my father’s household, and from the land where my relatives lived. He spoke to me and made a solemn promise to me, saying, ‘I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants.’ He will send an angel who will go there ahead of you, and enable you to get a wife for my son there and bring her to live here. 8 But if the woman you find will not come back with you, you are free to disregard the promise you are making. The only thing that you must not do is to take my son to live there!” 9 So the servant put his hand between Abraham’s thighs and made a solemn promise about the matter.

Abraham’s servant found a wife for Isaac

10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and loaded them with all kinds of goods that his master gave him to take along. Then he left to go to Aram-Naharaim, which is in ◄northern Mesopotamia/Syria►. He arrived in Nahor city. 11 It was late in the afternoon, at the time when the women go to the well to get water, when he arrived there. He made the camels kneel down near the well, which was outside the city. 12 The servant prayed, “Yahweh God whom my master Abraham worships, enable me to be successful today! Act kindly to my master, Abraham! 13 Listen to me. I am standing near a well of water, and the young women of the city are coming to get water. 14 I am asking you this: ‘I will say to some girl, “Please lower your jar so that I may drink some water.” If she says, “Drink some, and I will draw some water from the well for your camels, too,” I will know that she is the woman whom you chose to be a wife for your servant, Isaac, and I will know that you have been kind to my master.’ ” 15 Before he finished praying, amazingly, Rebekah arrived there, carrying a jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s younger brother Nahor. 16 She was very beautiful and still a virgin. She went down to the edge of the well, filled her jar with water, and then came back up. 17 Abraham’s servant immediately ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” 18 She replied, “Drink some, sir!” She lowered her jar from her shoulder to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also get some water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.” 20 She quickly emptied the water in her jar into the trough for giving water to animals, and then ran back to the well, and kept getting water for all the camels. 21 The servant just watched her, without saying anything. He wanted to know if Yahweh had caused his trip to be successful or not. 22 Finally, after the camels finished drinking, the servant took out a gold nose ring that weighed ◄two ounces/6 grams►, and two large gold bracelets for her arms, and gave them to Rebekah and told her to put them on. 23 Then he said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Also, tell me, is there room in your father’s house for me and my men to sleep there tonight?” 24 She replied, “My father’s name is Bethuel. He is the son of Nahor and his wife Milcah. 25 Yes, we have room where you all can sleep tonight, and we also have plenty of straw and grain to feed the camels.” 26 The servant bowed and worshiped Yahweh. 27 He said, “I thank you, Yahweh God, whom my master Abraham worships. You have continued to be kind and faithful to my master. You led me on this journey straight/directly to the house of my master’s relatives!” 28 The girl ran and told everyone in her mother’s household about what had happened. 29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban went quickly to Abraham’s servant, who was still by the well. 30 He was surprised to have seen the bracelets on his sister’s arms and the nose ring and to have heard Rebekah tell what the man had said to her. So he went out and saw the man standing near the camels, close to the well. 31 He said to the man, “You who have been blessed by Yahweh, come with me! ◄Why are standing out here?/You should not keep standing out here!► [RHQ] I have prepared a room for you in the house, and a place for the camels to stay.” 32 So the servant went to the house, and Laban’s servants unloaded the camels, and brought straw and grain for the camels, and water for him and the men with him to wash their feet. 33 They set food in front of him for him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I tell you ◄what I need to tell you/why I have come►.” So Laban said, “Tell us!” 34 So the servant said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 Yahweh has greatly blessed my master so that he has become very rich. Yahweh has given him many sheep and cattle, a lot of gold and silver, male and female servants, camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife, Sarah, bore a son for him when she was very old, and my master has given to his son everything he owns. 37 My master made me solemnly promise, saying, ‘Do not get a wife for my son from the women here in Canaan. 38 Instead, go back to my father’s family, to my own clan, and get from them a wife for my son.’ 39 Then I asked my master, ‘What shall I do if the woman you show me will not come back with me?’ 40 He replied, ‘Yahweh, whom I have always obeyed [MTY], will send his angel with you, and he will cause your journey to be successful, with the result that you can get a wife for my son from my clan, from my father’s family. 41 But if my clan refuses to allow her to return with you, you will be freed from being cursed because of not obeying me.’

42 “When I came today to the well, I prayed, ‘Yahweh God whom my master, Abraham worships, if you are willing, please allow this journey of mine to be successful. 43 Listen to me. I am standing beside a well. A young woman may come to draw water. I will say to her, “Please, give me a little water to drink from your jar.” 44 If she says to me, “Certainly, drink some! And I will also draw some water for your camels,” that will be the woman whom you have chosen for my master’s son!’ 45 Before I finished praying, amazingly, Rebekah approached with her water jar on her shoulder. She went down to the well and got some water. I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink!’ 46 She quickly lowered her jar and said, ‘Drink some! And I will draw water from the well for your camels, too.’ So I drank some water, and she also got water for the camels. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife, Milcah.’ I had a ring and bracelets with me, and I put the ring in her nose and put the bracelets on her arms. 48 Then I bowed and worshiped Yahweh, and I thanked Yahweh God, the one my master Abraham worships, the one who led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother to be a wife for my master’s son. 49 Now, if you are kind and faithful to my master, tell me that you will do what I am asking. If you will not do that, tell me that also, so I may know what to do [MTY].” 50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “It is clear that Yahweh has caused this to happen. So we two cannot say anything more. 51 Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as Yahweh has indicated.”

52 When Abraham’s servant heard these words, he bowed down to the ground to thank Yahweh. 53 Then the servant brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothes, and gave them to Rebekah. And he gave gifts to her brother Laban and to her mother. 54 Then they ate a meal together. The men who were with Abraham’s servant also slept there that night. The next morning, the servant said, “Allow me now to return to my master.” 55 But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the girl remain with us for about ten days. After that, you may take her and go.” 56 But he replied to them, “Yahweh has made my journey successful, so do not detain me. Let me take her back to my master now!” 57 They said, “Let’s call Rebekah and ask her what she wants to do.” [MTY] 58 So they summoned Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man now?” She replied, “Yes, I will go.” 59 So they allowed Rebekah, a woman who had taken care of her when she was very young, Abraham’s servant, and the men who had come with him. to go. 60 Before they all left, they asked God to bless Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, we ask that Yahweh will cause you to have millions of descendants, and allow them to completely defeat [MET] all those that hate them.” 61 Then Rebekah and her maid servants got ready and got on their camels and went with Abraham’s servant.

62 At that time, Isaac was living in the Negev desert. He had gone there from Beer-Lahai-Roi. 63 One evening he went out into the field to meditate as he walked. He looked up and was surprised to see some camels coming. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got off the camel, 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man who is approaching?” The servant replied, “That is Isaac, my master, the man you will be marrying.” So she took her veil and covered her face, which was the custom for a woman who was about to be married. 66 The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. 67 Then Isaac took Rebekah into the tent that belonged to his mother, Sarah, and she became his wife. And he loved her. So Isaac was comforted about his mother’s death.

Abraham died and was buried near Sarah

25 Some time after Sarah died, Abraham married another woman, whose name was Keturah. 2 She later gave birth to six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan became the father of two sons, Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Asshur people-group, the Letush people-group, and the Leum people-group. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. They were all descendants of Keturah.

5 Abraham declared that after he died, Isaac would inherit everything he owned. 6 But while Abraham was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his ◄concubines/slaves that he had taken to be his secondary wives►, and then he sent them away to live in a land to the east, to keep them far from his son Isaac. 7 Abraham lived until he was 175 years old. 8 He died at a very old age, joining his ancestors who had died previously [DOU]. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried his body in the cave at Machpelah area, near Mamre, in the field that Abraham had previously bought from Ephron, one of the descendants of Heth. 10 Isaac and Ishmael buried his body there, where Abraham previously buried his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac moved to live near Beer-Lahai-Roi.

The descendants of Ishmael

12 ◄These are/I will now give a list of► the descendants of Abraham’s son, Ishmael, to whom Sarah’s female slave, Hagar from Egypt, had given birth. 13 These are their names, in the order in which they were born: Ishmael’s oldest son was named Nebaioth. After him were born Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 The twelve sons of Ishmael became the leaders/chiefs of people-groups that had those names. They each had their own settlement and campsite. 17 Ishmael lived until he was 137 years old. Then he died, [EUP] joining his ancestors who had previously died. 18 His descendants ◄settled/went to live► in the area between Shur and Havilah, near the border of Egypt as a person travels toward Asshur. All of their camps were close to each other (OR, they all frequently attacked each other).

The birth of Esau and Jacob

19 ◄This is an account of/I will now tell you about► Abraham’s son, Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and when Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. Bethuel was one of the descendants of Aram from Paddan-Aram. Rebekah was the sister of Laban, who belonged to the Aram people-group. 21 Almost 20 years after they were married, Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac prayed to Yahweh concerning his wife, and Yahweh answered his prayer. His wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 She was carrying twins in her womb, and they kept jostling each other. So she said, “Why is it that this is happening to me?” So she asked Yahweh about it. 23 Yahweh said to her, “The older one of your twins will serve the younger one. The twins will be ancestors of two nations. And those two people-groups will separate from each other.” [CHI]

24 When Rebekah gave birth, it was true! Twin boys were born! 25 The first one born was red, and his body had hair all over it, like a garment made of hair. So they named him Esau, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘hairy'. 26 Then his brother was born, grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘heel’. Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born.

Esau sold his rights as the oldest son

27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter. He spent a lot of time out in the fields. Jacob was a quiet man who stayed close to the campsite. 28 Isaac liked Esau more, because he enjoyed the taste of the meat of the animals that Esau killed. But Rebekah liked Jacob more.

29 One day while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came home from the field, very hungry. 30 He said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew to eat right now, because I am very hungry!” [That is why Esau’s other name was Edom, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘red’.] 31 Jacob said, “I will give you some if you sell me ◄your birthright/the privileges you have because you are the firstborn son►.” 32 Esau replied, “Well, I am about to die from being so hungry. If I die now, ◄my birthright will not benefit me./What good will my birthright be to me?►” [RHQ] 33 Jacob said, “◄Swear to/Solemnly promise► me that you are giving me the privileges that you will have from being the firstborn son!” So that is what Esau did. He sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave to Esau some bread and some stew made of lentils/beans. Esau ate and drank, and then he got up and left. By doing that, Esau showed that he ◄was not interested in/did not value► the privileges that would be his because of being the firstborn son.

Isaac deceived King Abimelech

26 Some time later there was a severe ◄famine/scarcity of food► there. That was different from the famine that occurred when Abraham was alive. So Isaac went southeast to Gerar town, to talk to Abimelech, the king of the Philistine people-group. What happened was this: Isaac considered going to Egypt, 2 but Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt! Live in the land where I will tell you to go! 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will help you and bless you, because it is to you and your descendants that I will give all these lands, and I will do what I solemnly promised to your father. 4 I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will give to your descendants all these lands, and I will cause your descendants to be a blessing to the people of [MTY] all nations on the earth. 5 I will do that because your father Abraham obeyed me. He obeyed everything that I told him to do, everything that I declared and all the laws that I gave him.”

So Isaac went and asked King Abimelech if he would permit him to live in the Gerar area. The king said, “Okay,” 6 so Isaac stayed there along with his wife and sons.

7 When the men in Gerar town asked who Rebekah was, Isaac said, “She is my sister.” He said that because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “Rebekah is very beautiful, so they will want her. If I say that she is my sister, they know they will have to negotiate about a bride price because I am her older brother; but if I say that she is my wife, no negotiation will be possible. They will just kill me to get her.” 8 When Isaac had been there a long time, one day Abimelech, the king of the Philistine people-group, looked down from a window in his palace and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said to him, “Now I realize that she is really your wife! So why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied to him, “I said that because I thought that someone here might kill me to get her.” 10 Abimelech said, “◄You should not have done this to us!/Why did you do this?► [RHQ] One of our people might have ◄had sex with/slept with► [EUP] your wife, and you would have caused us to be guilty of a great sin!” 11 Then Abimelech commanded all his people, saying, “Do not harm/molest this man or his wife! Anyone who does that will surely be executed!”

The Philistines argued with Isaac about wells

12 Isaac planted grain in that land that year, and he harvested a very large crop, because Yahweh blessed him. 13 Isaac continued to acquire more and more possessions, until finally he became very wealthy. 14 He had large herds of sheep and goats and cattle, and many slaves. Because of that, the Philistine people envied him. 15 So all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug during the time when he was alive, the people filled up with dirt. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “You people have become more numerous than we are, so I want you to get out of our area.” 17 So Isaac and his family moved from there. They set up their tents in Gerar Valley and started to live there. 18 There were several wells in that area that had been dug when Isaac’s father Abraham was living, but Philistine people had filled them up with dirt after Abraham died. Now Isaac and his servants removed the dirt, and Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given to them. 19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water. 20 But other men who lived in Gerar Valley who took care of their animals argued/quarreled with the men who took care of Isaac’s animals, and said, “The water in this well is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek, which means ‘dispute’, because they disputed about who owned it. 21 Then Isaac’s servants dug another well, but they quarreled about who owned that one also. So Isaac named it Sitnah, which means ‘opposition’. 22 They moved on from there and dug another well, but this time no one quarreled about who owned it. So Isaac named it Rehoboth, which means ‘uninhabited place’, saying, “Yahweh has given us an uninhabited place to live in, a place that is not wanted by other people, and we will become very prosperous here.”

23 From there Isaac went up to Beersheba. 24 The first night that he was there, Yahweh appeared to him and said, “I am God, whom your father Abraham worshiped. Do not be afraid of anything. I will help you and bless you, and because of what I promised my servant Abraham, I will greatly increase the number of your descendants.” 25 So Isaac built a stone altar there and offered a sacrifice to worship Yahweh. He and his servants set up their tents there, and his servants started to dig a well.

Isaac made a peace treaty with King Abimelech

26 While they were digging the well, King Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army. 27 Isaac asked them, “You ◄acted in a hostile way toward me/treated me like an enemy► before, and sent me away. So why have you come to me now?” 28 One of them answered, “We have seen that Yahweh helps you. So we said to each other, ‘We should have an agreement between us and you. We should make a peace treaty with you, 29 stating that you will not harm us, in the same way that we did not molest [EUP] you.’ We always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now Yahweh is blessing you.” 30 So Isaac made a feast for them, and they all ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning they all ◄swore/solemnly promised► each other that they would do what they had promised. Then Isaac sent them home peacefully.

32 That day Isaac’s servants came to him and told him about the well that they had finished digging. They said, “We found water in the well!” 33 Isaac named the well Shibah, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘oath’. To the present time the town there has the name Beersheba which means ‘Friendship Agreement Well’.

Esau married foreign women

34 When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. Both of those women were descendants of Heth, not from Isaac’s clan. 35 Esau’s two wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

Jacob received a blessing from Isaac by trickery

27 When Isaac was old, he became almost blind. One day he summoned Esau, his firstborn/older son, 2 and said to him, “My son?” Esau replied, “Here I am!” 3 Isaac said, “Listen to me. I am very old, and I do not know when I will die. So now take your bow and quiver full of arrows and go out into the countryside, and hunt for a wild animal for me. 4 Kill one and prepare the kind of tasty meat that I like. Then bring it to me so that after I eat it, I can give you a blessing before I die.” 5 Rebekah was listening as Isaac said that to his son, Esau. So when Esau left the tent to go to the countryside to hunt for a wild animal in order to kill it and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son, Jacob, “Listen to me. I heard your father talking to your brother, Esau, saying, 7 ‘Go and kill some wild animal and bring it here, and prepare the meat in a tasty way, so that I may eat it, and then before I die I can give you my blessing while Yahweh is listening.’ 8 So now, my son, do what I am telling you. 9 Go out to the flock and kill two nice young goats and bring the meat to me. Then I will prepare some tasty food for your father, the way he likes it. 10 Then you can take it to your father, in order that he can eat it, and then, before he dies, he will give his blessing to you, and not to your older brother.”

11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau’s skin has hair all over it, and my skin is not like that! My skin is smooth! 12 What will happen if my father touches me? He will realize that I am tricking him, and as a result ◄I will be cursed/he will say that God will do bad things to► me, not a blessing!” 13 His mother replied, “If that happens, let the curse be on me. You do what I am telling you. Go and get the goats for me!” 14 So Jacob went and killed two goats and brought them to his mother. Then with the meat his mother prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked. 15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s clothes that were with her in the tent, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she handed him some bread and the tasty food that she had prepared.

18 Jacob took it to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac replied, “I’m here; which of my sons are you?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn son. I did what you told me to do. Sit up and eat some of the meat so that you can then bless me.” 20 But Isaac asked his son, “My son, how is it that you were able to find and kill an animal so quickly?” Jacob replied, “Because Yahweh, whom you worship, enabled me to be successful.” 21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near to me, my son, so that I can touch you and determine whether you are really my son Esau.” 22 So Jacob went close to him. Isaac. Isaac touched him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy, like the hands of your older brother, Esau.” 23 Isaac did not recognize Jacob, because he was blind and because Jacob’s hands were now hairy, like those of his older brother, Esau. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. 24 But first Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” Jacob replied, “Yes, I am.” 25 Isaac said, “My son, bring me some of the meat that you have cooked, so that I may eat it and then give you my blessing.” So Jacob brought him some, and he ate it. Jacob also brought him some wine, and he drank it. 26 Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come here and kiss me.” 27 So Jacob came close to him, and his father kissed him on the cheek. Isaac smelled the clothes Jacob was wearing. They smelled like Esau’s clothes. So he said,

“Truly, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Yahweh has blessed.

28 I ask that God will send down to you dew from heaven to water your fields,

and cause you to have abundant crops,

good harvests of grain, and grapes for wine.

29 I ask that people of many nations will serve you and bow down to you.

I ask that you will rule over your brothers,

and that your mother’s descendants will also bow down to you.

I ask that God will curse/punish those who ◄curse you/ask God to do bad things to you►,

and bless those who bless you.”

30 After Isaac finished blessing Jacob, Jacob was just leaving the room where his father was, when his older brother, Esau, returned from hunting. 31 Esau cooked some tasty meat and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “My father, please sit up and eat some of the meat that I have cooked, so that you can then give me your blessing!” 32 His father, Isaac, said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am Esau, your firstborn son!” 33 Then Isaac, realizing that it was not Esau who had come earlier, trembled very violently. He said, “Then who is it that brought me some meat from an animal that he had hunted and killed, and I ate it all? He was here just before you came. I blessed him, and I cannot ◄take back that blessing/declare that those things will not happen to him►.” 34 When Esau heard those words of his father, he cried loudly. He was very disappointed. He said to his father, “My father, bless me, too!” 35 But his father said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing!” 36 Esau said, “It is right [RHQ] that his name is Jacob, which means ‘cheat,’ because he deceived me two times. The first time he took my rights from being his firstborn son, and this time he took my blessing!” Then he asked, “Do you not have any blessing left for me?” 37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “I have declared that your younger brother will rule over you, and declared that all his relatives will serve him. And I have said that God will give him plenty of grain and grapes for wine. So, my son, ◄what can I do for you?/There is nothing more that I can do for you!►” [RHQ] 38 Esau said to his father, “My father, do you have only one blessing? My father, bless me, too!” Then Esau cried very loudly. 39 His father Isaac answered and said to him,

“The place where you will live will be far from the fertile soil and from the dew that God sends from heaven to water the fields.

40 You will rob and kill people [MTY] in order to get what you need to live,

and you will be as though you are your brother’s slave.

But when you decide to rebel against him, you will ◄free yourself from/no longer be under► his control.”

Jacob fled from Esau

41 So, because his father had given a blessing to Jacob, and not to him, Esau hated his younger brother. Esau thought to himself, “After my father dies and we finish mourning for him, I will kill Jacob!” 42 But Rebekah found out what her older son, Esau, was thinking. So she summoned her younger son, Jacob, and said to him, “Listen to me. Your older brother, Esau, is comforting himself by planning to kill you, to get revenge because of your deceiving your father. 43 So now, my son, listen carefully to what I am telling you. Escape quickly and go and stay with my brother Laban, in Haran town. 44 Stay with him a while, until your older brother is no longer angry. 45 When he forgets what you did to him, I will send a message to you, to tell you to return from there. If Esau kills you, others will kill him, and then both my sons would die at the same time!” [RHQ]

46 Rebekah also said to Isaac, “These foreign women whom Esau has married, who are descendants of Heth, are making my life miserable. I would prefer to die than to see Jacob marry a woman from the descendants of Heth in this area!”

Isaac gave instructions to Jacob

28 Then Isaac summoned Jacob, and gave him a blessing. He told him, “Do not marry a woman of the Canaan people-group. 2 Instead, go right away to Paddan-Aram in northwest Mesopotamia, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Ask one of the daughters of your mother’s brother Laban to marry you. 3 I will pray that God Almighty will bless you, and enable you to get married and have many descendants, in order that they will become many people-groups. 4 I also will pray that he will bless you and your descendants by enabling you to possess/seize the land in which you are now living as a foreigner, the land that God promised to give to my father Abraham and his descendants.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram, to live with Rebekah’s brother Laban, the son of Bethuel, who belonged to the Aram people-group.

Esau married Ishmael’s daughter

6 Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and then sent him to Paddan-Aram. He also found out that when he blessed Isaac, he told him, “Do not marry a woman of the Canaan people-group,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother, and had gone to Paddan-Aram. 8 Esau also realized that his father Isaac did not approve of women from the Canaan people-group. 9 Because of that, Esau went to see his uncle Ishmael, and married Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Mahalath was the sister of Nabaioth and the granddaughter of Abraham.

God made a promise to Jacob in a dream

10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and started walking along the road to Haran. 11 When he arrived at a certain place, he stopped there, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there and put it under his head to use as a pillow. Then he lay down and slept there. 12 While he was sleeping, he had a dream, in which he was surprised to see a stairway. The bottom of the stairway was on the earth and the top was in the sky. Jacob also saw that God’s angels were going up and down the stairway. 13 And he was surprised to see Yahweh standing at the top of the stairway, saying “I am Yahweh God, whom your grandfather Abraham worshiped, and whom Isaac worships. I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the particles of dirt that are on the earth, and their territory will be very large. It will extend in all directions, to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south. And people of all people-groups on earth will receive blessings because of what happens to you and to your descendants. 15 I will help you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you; I will continue to do for you all that I have promised to do.”

16 During the night, when Jacob woke up from sleeping, he thought, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and until now I was not aware of it!” 17 He was afraid, and he said, “This place is very awesome! This is surely the place where God lives, and this is the entrance to heaven!” 18 In the morning Jacob got up and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up on its end to show that the place was a holy place. He poured some olive oil on top of the stone to dedicate it to God. 19 He named that place Bethel, which means ‘house of God’. Previously its name was Luz.

20 Jacob solemnly promised God, saying, “God, if you will help me and protect me while I am taking this journey, and if you give me enough food to eat and clothes to wear, 21 in order that I can later return safely to my father’s house, then you, Yahweh, will be the God that I will worship. 22 This stone that I have set up will mark the place where people can worship you. And I will give back to you a tenth of everything that you give to me.”

Jacob met Laban’s daughter Rachel at Haran

29 Jacob continued on the road [MTY], and he arrived at the land that was east of Canaan. 2 There he was surprised to see a well in a field, and three flocks of sheep were lying near the well. It was the well from which shepherds habitually got water for their sheep. There was a large stone covering the top of the well. 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would work together to roll the stone away from the top of the well and get water for the sheep. When they finished doing that, they would put the stone back in its place over the top of the well.

4 On that day, Jacob asked the shepherds who were sitting there, “Where are you from?” They replied, “We are from Haran.” 5 He asked them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” They replied, “Yes, we know him.” 6 Jacob asked them, “Is Laban well?” They replied, “Yes, he is well. Look! Here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep!” 7 Jacob said, “Hey! The sun is still high in the sky. It is not time for the flocks to be gathered for nighttime. Give the sheep some water and then take them back to ◄graze/eat grass► in the pastures!” 8 They replied, “No, we cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered here and the stone is removed from the top of the well. After that, we will give water to the sheep.”

9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep. She was the one who took care of her father’s sheep. 10 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, who was his mother’s brother, Jacob was so excited that he went over and by himself rolled away the stone that covered the top of the well, and he got water for his uncle’s sheep. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel on the cheek, and he cried loudly because he was so happy. 12 Jacob told Rachel that he was one of her father’s relatives, the son of her aunt Rebekah. So she ran and told that to her father.

13 As soon as Laban heard that Jacob, his sister’s son, was there, he ran to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him on the cheek. Then he brought him to his home, and Jacob told him all that had happened to him. 14 Then Laban said to him, “Truly, you are part of my family!”

Jacob married Leah and Rachel

After Jacob had stayed there and worked for Laban for a month, 15 Laban said to him “◄You should not work for me for nothing just because you are a relative of mine!/Why should you work for me for nothing just because you are a relative of mine?► [RHQ] Tell me how much you want me to pay you.” 16 Well, Laban had two daughters. The older one was named Leah, and the younger one was named Rachel. 17 Leah had pretty eyes, but Rachel had a very attractive figure and was beautiful. 18 Jacob ◄was in love with/wanted very much to be married to► Rachel, and he said, “I will work for you for seven years. That will be my payment for your letting me marry your younger daughter, Rachel.” 19 Laban replied, “It is better for me to let you marry her than for her to marry some other man!” 20 So Jacob worked for Laban for seven years to get Rachel, but to him it seemed like it was only a few days, because he loved her so much.

21 After the seven years were ended, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me marry Rachel now, because the time we agreed upon for me to work for you is ended, and I want to marry her. [EUP]” 22 So Laban gathered together all the people who lived in that area and made a feast. 23 But that evening, instead of taking Rachel to Jacob, Laban took his older daughter, Leah, to him. But because it was already dark, he could not see that it was Leah and not Rachel, and he had sex [EUP] with her. 24 (Laban had already given his slave girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid/servant.)

25 The next morning, Jacob was shocked to see that it was Leah who was with him! So he went to Laban and told him very angrily, “◄What you have done to me is disgusting!/What is this that you have done to me?► [RHQ] I worked for you to get Rachel, did I not? So why did you deceive me?” 26 Laban replied, “In this land, it is not our custom to give a younger daughter to be married before we let someone marry our firstborn daughter. 27 After we finish this week of celebration, we will let you marry the younger one also. But in return, you must pay for Rachel by working for me for another seven years.”

28 So that is what Jacob did. After the week of celebration was ended, Laban gave him his daughter, Rachel, to be his wife. 29 Laban gave his slave girl, Bilhah, to Rachel to be her maid/servant. 30 Jacob had sex [EUP] with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. And Jacob worked for Laban for another seven years.

Leah gave birth to four sons

31 When Yahweh saw that Jacob did not love Leah very much, he enabled her to become pregnant. But Rachel was not able to become pregnant. 32 Leah gave birth to a son, whom she named Reuben, which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean ‘Look, a son!’ She said, “Yahweh has seen that I was miserable, and because of that he has given me a son. Now, surely my husband will love me for giving birth to a son for him.” 33 Later she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “Because Yahweh has heard that my husband doesn’t love me, he has given me this son, too.” So she named him Simeon, which means ‘someone who hears’. 34 Later she became pregnant again, and gave birth to another son. She said, “Now, finally, my husband will hold me close to him.” So she named him Levi, which means ‘hold close’. 35 Later she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “◄This time/Now► I will praise Yahweh.” So she called his name Judah, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘praise’. After that, she did not give birth to any more children for several years.

Jacob had more sons and a daughter

30 Rachel realized that she was not becoming pregnant and giving birth to any children for Jacob. So she became jealous of her older sister, Leah, because Leah had given birth to four sons. She said to Jacob, “Enable me to become pregnant and give birth to children. If you do not do that, I think I will die!” 2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “◄I am not God!/Am I God?► [RHQ] He is the one who has prevented you from becoming pregnant!” 3 Then she said, “Look, here is my female slave, Bilhah. ◄Sleep with/Have sex with► [EUP] her, so that she may become pregnant and give birth to children for me. In that way it will be as though ◄I have children/her children are mine►.” 4 So she gave him her slave, Bilhah, to be another wife for him, and Jacob had sex [EUP] with her. 5 She became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. 6 Rachel said, “God has ◄vindicated me/judged my case and has decided that what I have done is right►. He has also heard my requests and has given me a son.” So she named him Dan, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘he judged’. 7 Later, Rachel’s slave Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son for Jacob. 8 Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle to have children like my older sister, but truly I have a son.” So she named him Naphtali, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘struggle’.

9 When Leah realized that she was not becoming pregnant and giving birth to any more children, she took her female slave, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob to be another wife for him. 10 Zilpah soon became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 11 Leah said, “I am truly fortunate!” So she named him Gad, which means ‘fortunate’. 12 Later Leah’s slave, Zilpah, gave birth to another son for Jacob. 13 Leah said, “Now I am very happy, and people will call me happy.” So she named him Asher, which means ‘happy.’

14 When it was time to harvest wheat, Reuben went out into the fields and saw some ◄mandrakes/plants that women eat to help them to become pregnant►. He brought some of them to his mother Leah. But Rachel saw them and said to Leah, “Please give me some of those plants that your son brought to you!” 15 But Leah said to her, “No! ◄It was bad that you stole my husband!/Is it not bad enough that you stole my husband?► [RHQ] Now ◄are you going to take my son’s mandrake plants?/You want to take my son’s mandrake plants also, so that you can become pregnant!►” [RHQ] So Rachel said, “All right, Jacob can sleep with you tonight, if you give me some of your son’s mandrake plants.” So Leah ◄agreed/gave her some►.

16 When Jacob returned from the wheat fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. She said, “You must sleep with me tonight, because I gave Rachel some of my son’s mandrakes that enable women to become pregnant, to pay her for allowing us to do that.” So Jacob slept with her that night. 17 God answered Leah’s prayers, and she became pregnant and bore a fifth son to Jacob. 18 Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband to be another wife for him.” So she named him Issachar, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘reward’.

19 Leah became pregnant again and bore a sixth son for Jacob. 20 Leah said, “God has given me a precious gift. ◄This time/Now► my husband will honor/respect me, because I have given birth to six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulon, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘accepted gift’.

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

22 Then God thought about what Rachel wanted. He heard her prayers and enabled her to become pregnant. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has caused that no longer will I be ashamed for not having children.” 24 She named him Joseph, which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean ‘may he give another’ and she said, ‘ want Yahweh to give me another son.’

Jacob tricked Laban and became very wealthy

25 After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Now allow me to quit working for you and let me return to my own land. 26 You know the work that I have done for you for a long time to get my wives. So let me take my wives and my children, and leave.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If you are pleased with me, stay here, because I have found out by performing a magic ritual that Yahweh has blessed me because of what you have done for me. 28 Tell me what you want me to pay you for continuing to work for me, and that is what I will pay you.” 29 Jacob replied, “You know how I have worked for you, and you know that your livestock have increased greatly as I have taken care of them. 30 You had only a few animals before I came here. But now you have very many, and Yahweh has caused them to increase greatly in number wherever I have taken them. But now I need to start taking care of the needs of my own family.” 31 Laban replied, “What do you want me to give you?” Jacob replied, “I do not want you to pay me anything. But if you will do this one thing for me, I will continue to take care of your flocks and protect them. 32 Allow me to go and look at all of your flocks today and remove from them all the speckled sheep, all the spotted sheep, and every dark-colored lamb, all the goats that are speckled, and all the goats that are spotted, and keep them for myself. They will be my wages. 33 In that way, in the future, you will be able to know whether I have been honest regarding what you have paid me. If any of my goats are neither speckled or spotted, or if any of my lambs are not dark-colored, you will know that I have stolen them from you.”

34 Laban agreed and said, “Okay, we will do as you have said.” 35 But that same day Laban removed all the male goats that had black and white stripes on them or were spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled or spotted, all the goats that were partly white, and all the dark-colored lambs. He separated them and told his sons to take care of them. 36 Then he took these flocks and walked a distance of three days, in order that he could be that far from Jacob. Jacob continued to take care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 Then Jacob cut some branches of ◄poplar, almond, and plane trees/three kinds of trees that had white wood►. He peeled strips of bark from the branches, so that where the bark had been peeled off, the branches were light in color. 38 Then he placed the peeled branches in the troughs where they put the water for the animals to drink, so that the branches would be in front of the flocks when they came to drink. 39 The animals also mated in front of the branches, and eventually they gave birth to animals that were speckled, or to animals that were spotted, or to animals that had black and white stripes on them. 40 Furthermore, Jacob separated the female sheep in his flock from the other sheep and goats in Laban’s flock. And when his female sheep mated, he made them look toward the animals that belonged to Laban that had black and white stripes on them, and the dark-colored animals. He did that so that the female sheep would give birth to animals that were striped or dark-colored. By doing that, he made bigger flocks for himself, and he kept them separate from Laban’s flocks. 41 In addition, whenever the stronger female sheep were ready to mate, Jacob put some of those peeled branches in the troughs in front of them, so that they would mate in front of the branches. 42 But when weak animals were ready to mate, he did not put the branches in their troughs. So the weak ones became part of Laban’s flock, and the strong ones became part of Jacob’s flock. 43 As a result, Jacob became very rich. He owned many large flocks of sheep and goats, and many male and female slaves, and many camels and donkeys.

Jacob’s family fled from Laban

31 Someone told Jacob that Laban’s sons were complaining and saying, “Jacob has become very rich by taking everything [HYP] that belonged to our father.” 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban was not acting friendly toward him as he had done before. 3 Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will help you there.”

4 So Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah, telling them to come out to the pastures where his flocks of sheep and goats were. 5 When they arrived, he said to them, “I see that your father does not act friendly toward me as he did previously. But God, whom my father worshiped, has helped me. 6 You two know that I have worked very hard for your father, 7 but many times [HYP] he has cheated me by decreasing my wages. But God has not allowed him to harm me. 8 When Laban said, ‘The speckled animals are the ones that I will give you to be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to young ones that were speckled. When he changed and said, ‘The ones that have black and white stripes on them will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to young ones that were striped. 9 In that way, God has taken away the livestock that belonged to your father and has given them to me.

10 “One time, when the animals were mating, I had a dream. In my dream I looked up and was surprised to see that some of the male goats that were mating with the female goats had black and white stripes on them, some were speckled, and some were spotted. 11 An angel who was sent by God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ I replied, ‘I am here!’ 12 He said to me, ‘Look up and you will see that all the male goats that are mating have black and white stripes on them, or are speckled or spotted. This is happening because I have seen all that Laban has done to you. 13 I am God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you set up a stone to show that the place was holy, and you poured olive oil on the stone and made a solemn promise to me. So now leave this land immediately, and return to the land where you were born.’ ”

14 Rachel and Leah replied, “Our father will not give us anything more when he dies [RHQ]. 15 He treats us as though we were foreigners [RHQ]! Your working for him all these years was like a payment that you gave him as a price for us, but we will not inherit any of that money that he got as a price for us. He has spent it all! 16 Surely all of the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you to do!”

17 Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels. 18 He made all his livestock go ahead of him. Besides the livestock, he took along all the other things that he had acquired while living in Paddan-Aram. And they prepared to return to his father Isaac, in the Canaan region.

19 Before they left, while Laban was shearing his sheep, Rachel stole the small wooden idols that were in her father’s tent. 20 Furthermore, Jacob deceived Laban, who belonged to the Aram people-group, by not telling him that they were planning to leave. 21 So Jacob and his family fled with all their possessions, and they crossed the Euphrates River, and then started traveling south toward the hilly Gilead region.

Jacob rebuked Laban after Laban caught up with him

22 On the third day after they left, someone told Laban that Jacob and his family had left. 23 So he took some of his relatives with him and started to pursue Jacob. They continued walking for seven days. 24 Then God appeared to Laban in a dream at night, and said to him, “When you catch up to Jacob, be sure that you do not say anything at all [HYP] to him in an angry manner!”

25 The next day, by the time Laban caught up with Jacob, Jacob and his household had set up their tents in the hilly Gilead region. So Laban and his relatives set up their tents there, too. 26 Then Laban went to Jacob and said to him, “Why have you done this? You have deceived me by carrying away my daughters as though you had captured them in a war [MTY]! 27 Why did you run away and deceive me? Why did you not tell me that you were going to leave, so that we could have rejoiced and sung while people played music on tambourines and harps before I said ‘goodbye’ to you? 28 ◄You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye before they left!/Why did you not allow me to kiss my grandchildren and daughters goodbye before they left?► [RHQ] What you have done was foolish! 29 My relatives and I have the power to harm you, but last night the God whom your father worships said to me in a dream, ‘Be sure that you do not say anything at all to Jacob in an angry way.’ 30 Now, I know you have left because you long to go back home. But why did you steal my wooden idols?”

31 Jacob replied to Laban, saying, “I did not tell you that we were planning to leave, because I was afraid. I thought that if I told you, you would forcefully take your daughters away from me. 32 But if you find anyone here who has your wooden idols, we will execute that person. While our relatives are watching, search for yourself to see if there is anything that belongs to you that is here with me. If you find anything, you can take it!” When Jacob said that, he did not know that Rachel had stolen the wooden idols.

33 Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and then into Leah’s tent, and then into the tents of the two female slaves and searched for the idols, but he did not find them. After he left their tents, he entered Rachel’s tent. 34 But Rachel had previously taken the idols and put them in the saddle of a camel, and she was sitting on the saddle. So when Laban searched all over for them inside Rachel’s tent, he did not find them. 35 Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry with me, sir, but I cannot get up in your presence to show respect for you, because I am having my monthly menstrual period. [EUP]” So when Laban searched some more, he did not find the wooden idols.

36 Then Jacob became angry. He rebuked Laban, saying, “What crime did I commit? For what sin that I committed have you pursued me? 37 Now you have searched through all my possessions, and what did you find from all these possessions that belongs to you? Put it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they can decide who is right, you or me!

38 I was with you for 20 years. In all that time, your sheep and goats have ◄not miscarried/always given birth to animals safely►. I have not killed and eaten any rams from your flocks. 39 When one of your animals was attacked and mauled/killed by a wild animal, I did not bring it to you. I replaced the dead animal with a living one of my own animals. Whenever one of your animals was stolen, during the day or during the night, you demanded that I replace it with one of my own animals. 40 I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was often not even able to sleep [PRS]! 41 I lived in your household for 20 years. I worked for you for 14 years to buy your two daughters, and for six more years to buy some of your sheep and goats. During that time, you changed and reduced my wages many times [HYP]. 42 If God, the one whom my grandfather Abraham worshiped and before whom my father Isaac trembled in fear, had not been with me and helped me, you would have sent me away ◄with nothing in my hands/owning nothing►! But God saw how much I was suffering and how hard I was working, so last night he told you that what you have done to me was wrong.”

Jacob and Laban made a solemn promise not to harm each other

43 Laban replied, “These two women are my daughters, and their children are my grandchildren, and the animals are my animals. Everything you see here is mine [HYP]! But what can I do today to keep my daughters or the children they have given birth to [RHQ]? 44 I cannot do anything in order to keep them, so hey, we should make a peace agreement, you and I, and do something that will remind us about our agreement.”

45 So Jacob took a large stone and set it on its end. 46 Then Jacob said to his relatives, “You also gather some stones.” So they gathered some rocks and put them in a heap, and they ate some food there near the heap. 47 Laban gave the heap the Aramaic name Jegar-Sahadutha, which means ‘rock-pile to remind us’, but Jacob gave the rock-pile the Hebrew name Galeed, which has the same meaning. 48 Laban said to Jacob, “This pile of rocks we have put here today will help us to remember our agreement.” That is why Jacob called it Galeed. 49 They also named the place Mizpah, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘watchtower’, because Laban said, “We will ask Yahweh to watch you and me while we are separated from each other, so that we do not try to harm each other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take other women to be your wives, even if no one tells me about it, don’t forget that God sees what you and I are doing!”

51 Laban also said to Jacob, “You see this large stone and this pile of rocks that we have set up to be between us. 52 Both this pile of rocks and this large stone will remind us, that I will not go past these rocks to harm you, and you will not go past these rocks to harm me. 53 We will ask the God whom your grandfather Abraham and his father Nahor worshiped to punish [MTY] either one of us, if we harm the other one.”

So Jacob solemnly promised to do what they said in their peace agreement. And he asked God, the one before whom his father Isaac trembled, to listen to what they promised. 54 He offered a sacrifice to God there in the hilly area, and he invited his relatives to eat with him. After they had eaten, they slept there that night. 55 The next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye and asked God to bless them. Then he and his men left them and returned home.

Jacob sent gifts to Esau as he prepared to meet him

32 As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels, whom God sent, met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s army camp!” So he named that place Mahanaim, which means ‘two camps’.

3 Jacob told some of the men to go ahead of him to his older brother Esau, who was living in Seir, the land where the descendants of Edom lived. 4 He told them, “This is what I want you to say to Esau: 'I, Jacob, want to be your servant and I want you to be my master. I have been living with our uncle Laban, and I have stayed there until now. 5 I now own many cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and male and female slaves. Now I am sending this message to you, sir, hoping that you will ◄be friendly toward me/treat me kindly► when I arrive.’ “

6 The messengers went and gave that message to Esau. When they returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your older brother Esau. Now he is coming to you, and 400 men are coming with him.”

7 Jacob was very afraid and worried. So he divided the people who were with him into two groups. He also divided the sheep and goats, the cattle, and the camels, into two groups. 8 He was thinking, “If Esau and his men come and attack us, perhaps one of the groups will be left and will be able to escape.” 9 Then Jacob prayed, “O Yahweh God, whom my grandfather Abraham worshiped and my father Isaac worships, you said to me, ‘Go back to your own land and to your relatives, and I will ◄cause good things happen to/do good things for► you.’ 10 I am not worthy for you to have been so kind and faithful to me in so many ways, your servant. I had only this walking stick with me when I crossed the Jordan River on my way to Haran, but now I am so wealthy that there are two large groups of my family and possessions. 11 So now I pray that you will rescue me from [MTY] my older brother Esau, because I am afraid that he and his men will come and attack and kill me and the children and their mothers. 12 But do not forget that you have said, ‘I will certainly enable you to prosper, and I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, which are so many that no one can count them.’ ”

13 Jacob slept there that night. The next morning he selected some animals to give to his brother Esau. 14 He selected 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep, 15 30 female camels and their offspring, 40 cows and ten bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. 16 He divided them into small herds, and put each herd into the care of one of his servants. He said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, one group at a time, and keep some space between each herd.” 17 He said to the servant who was going with the first group, “When my brother Esau meets you, and he asks you, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ 18 tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He has sent them to you as a gift, sir. And he is coming behind us.’ ”

19 He also said the same thing to the servants who were taking care of the second and third groups, and to the other herdsmen. He said to them, “When you meet Esau, I want you to say to him the same thing that I told the first servant. 20 And be sure to say ‘Jacob, who wants to serve you, is coming behind us.’ ” Jacob told them to say that because he was thinking, “Perhaps these gifts that I am sending ahead of me will cause him to ◄act peacefully toward/stop being angry with► me. Then later, when I see him, perhaps he will be kind to me.” 21 So the men taking the gifts [PRS] went ahead, but Jacob himself stayed in the camp that night.

Jacob wrestled with Yahweh

22 Some time during that night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven sons and his daughter, and he sent them across the ford at the Jabbok River. 23 After he had done that, he sent other slaves, carrying all his possessions, across the river. 24 So Jacob was left there alone. But a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. 25 When the man realized that he was not winning against Jacob, he struck Jacob’s hip and caused the thigh bone to pull away from the hip socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, because it will soon be daylight.” Then Jacob realized who he was really wrestling with. So he replied, “No, if you will not bless me, I will not let you go!” 27 The man said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” 28 The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will be Israel, which means ‘he struggles with God’, because you have struggled with God and with people, and you have won.” 29 Jacob said, “Now, please tell me your name!” The man replied, “◄Why do you ask me what my name is?/You should not have to ask me what my name is!►” [RHQ] But he blessed Jacob there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, which means ‘God’s face’, saying “I looked directly at God, but I did not die because of doing that.”

31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of what had happened to his hip. 32 The muscle on his hip joint had been injured. So to this present time, because of what happened to Jacob, the Israeli people do not eat the muscle/tendon that is attached to the socket of the hips of animals.

Jacob and Esau met peacefully

33 Then Jacob joined the rest of his family. Later that day Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and there were 400 men with him. Jacob was worried because of that, so he separated the children. He put Leah’s children with Leah, Rachel’s children with Rachel, and the two female slaves’ children with their mothers. 2 He put the two female slaves and their children in front. He put Leah and her children next. He put Rachel and Joseph at the rear. 3 He himself went ahead of them all, and as he continued to approach his older brother, he prostrated himself with his face on the ground seven times. 4 But Esau ran to Jacob. He hugged him, put his arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek. And they both cried. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and the children. He asked, “Who are these people who are with you?” Jacob replied, “These are the wives and children that God has graciously/kindly given to me.” 6 Then the female slaves and their children came near and bowed in front of Esau. 7 Then Leah and her children came and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed down.

8 Esau asked, “What is the meaning of all the animals that I saw?” Jacob replied, “I am giving them to you, sir, so that you will feel good toward me.” 9 But Esau replied, “My younger brother, I have enough animals! Keep for yourself the animals that you have!” 10 But Jacob said, “No, please, if you feel good toward me, accept these gifts from me. You have greeted me very kindly. Seeing your smiling face assures me that you have forgiven me. It is like seeing the face of God! 11 Please accept these gifts that I have brought to you, because God has acted kindly toward me, and I still have plenty of animals!” Jacob kept on urging him to accept the animals, and finally he accepted them.

12 Then Esau said, “Let’s continue traveling together, and I will show the road to you.” 13 Jacob had no intention to go with Esau, but he said, “You know, sir, that the children are weak, and that I must take care of the female sheep and cows that are ◄sucking their mother’s milk/nursing their young►. If I force them to walk fast for a long distance in just one day, the animals will all die. 14 You go ahead of me. I will lead the animals slowly, but I will walk as fast as the children and animals can walk. I will catch up with you in Seir, in the land where the descendants of Edom live.” 15 Esau said, “Then allow me to leave with you some of the men who came with me, to protect you.” But Jacob replied, “◄Why do that?/There is no need to do that!► [RHQ] The only thing that I want is for you to act friendly toward me.” 16 So on that day Esau left to return to Seir. 17 But instead of going to Seir, Jacob and his family went to a place called Succoth. There he built a house for himself and his family, and built shelters for his livestock. That is the reason they named the place Succoth, which means ‘shelters’.

18 Some time later, Jacob and his family left Paddan-Aram in Mesopotamia, and they traveled safely to the Canaan region. There they set up their tents in a field near Shechem city. 19 One of the leaders of the people in that area was named Hamor. Hamor had several sons. Jacob paid the sons of Hamor 100 pieces of silver for the piece of ground on which they set up their tents. 20 He built a stone altar there, and named it El-Elohe Israel, which means ‘God, the God of Israel.’

Hamor’s son Shechem raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah

34 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women in that area. 2 Shechem, one of the sons of Hamor, the ruler of that area who was descended from the Hiv people-group, saw her. He wanted her. So he grabbed her and forced her to have sex [EUP] with him. 3 He [SYN] was very much attracted to her, and fell in love with her, and he tried to get her to love him. 4 So Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Please get this girl for me. I want her to become my wife!”

5 Jacob very soon found out that his daughter Dinah had been disgraced/defiled. But his sons were in the fields with his livestock, so he did nothing about it until they returned home.

6 In the meantime, Shechem’s father Hamor went to talk with Jacob. 7 While they were still talking, Jacob’s sons came in from the field. When they found out what had happened, they were shocked and very angry. They said, “Shechem has done something that is very disgraceful among us Israeli people, something that never should be done!”

8 But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem really likes this girl. Please allow him to marry her. 9 Let’s make an agreement: You will give your daughters to our young men to be their wives, and we will give our daughters to your young men to be their wives. 10 You can live among us, and live anywhere in our land that you wish. You can buy and sell things (OR, travel around) and if you find land that you want, then you can buy it.”

11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “If you feel good toward me and do what I am asking for, I will give you whatever you ask for. 12 Tell me what gifts you want and what bride price you want, and I will give you what you ask for. I just want you to give the girl to me to be my wife.”

Dinah’s brothers got revenge

13 But because Shechem had done a shameful thing to their sister Dinah, the sons of Jacob deceived Shechem and his father Hamor 14 by saying to them, “No, we cannot do that. We cannot give our sister to be the wife of a man who is not circumcised, because that would be a shameful thing for us to do. 15 We will do that only if you do one thing: You must become like us by circumcising all the males that are among you. 16 Then we will give our daughters to your young men to be your wives, and we will take your daughters to be the wives of our young men. We will live among you, and we will become one people-group. 17 But if you will not agree to being circumcised, we will take our sister and go back to our land.”

18 What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem. 19 Shechem was very much in love with Jacob’s daughter, so he quickly agreed to do what they suggested. 20 Shechem went with Hamor to the meeting place near the city gate, and they spoke to the city leaders, saying, 21 “These men are friendly toward us. We should let them live here and travel around (OR, buy and sell things) and if they find land that they want, they can buy it. There is plenty of land for them to live here. Our young men can marry their daughters, and their young men can marry our daughters. 22 But these men will agree to live among us and become one people-group with us only if all our males are circumcised, as they are. 23 But if we do that, just think! Their livestock and their possessions and their other animals will become ours [RHQ]! So we should agree to do what they suggest, and then they will live among us!” 24 Shechem was the most respected person in his father’s household, so all the men who were there at the city gate agreed to what Hamor and Shechem suggested. So every male in the city was circumcised.

25 On the third day after that, when the men of the city were still sore because of being circumcised, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and entered the city without anyone opposing them, and killed all the men. 26 They even killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left the city. 27 Then the other sons of Jacob went into the city where all those dead bodies were. They ◄looted/took everything in► the city to get revenge for the shameful thing that had been done to their sister. 28 They took away the people’s sheep and goats, their cattle, their donkeys, and everything else that they wanted from inside the city and from out in the countryside. 29 They took away everything that was valuable, even the children and the women. They seized and took away everything that was in the houses.

30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have caused a lot of trouble for me! Now the Canaan people-group and the Perizzi people-group and everyone else who lives in this land will ◄hate me/say my name stinks►! I do not have many men to fight for us, so if they all gather together and come to me and attack us, they will destroy us and all our household!” 31 But they replied, “◄Should we have allowed Shechem to treat our sister like a prostitute?/We could not just let Shechem treat our sister like a prostitute!►” [RHQ]

Jacob and his family returned to Bethel

35 Some time later God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to worship me, God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your older brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all the others who were with him, “Get rid of the idols you brought from Mesopotamia. Also, bathe yourselves and put on clean clothes. 3 Then we will get ready and go up to Bethel. There I will make an altar to worship God. He is the one who helped me at the time when I was greatly distressed and afraid, and he has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the idols that they had brought, and all their earrings. Jacob buried them in the ground under the big oak tree that was near Shechem town.

5 As they prepared to leave there, God caused the people who lived in the cities around them to be extremely afraid of Jacob’s family [PRS], so that they did not pursue and attack them. 6 Jacob and all those who were with him came to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the Canaan region. 7 There he built an altar. He named the place El-Bethel, which means ‘God of Bethel’, because it was there that God revealed himself to Jacob when he was fleeing from his older brother Esau.

8 Deborah, who had taken care of Isaac’s wife Rebekah when Rebekah was a small girl, was now very old. She died and was buried under an oak tree south of Bethel. So they named that place Allon-Bacuth, which means ‘oak of weeping’.

9 After Jacob and his family returned from Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia, while they were still at Bethel, God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him. 10 God said to him again, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. It will be Israel.” So Jacob was then called ‘Israel’. 11 Then God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Produce many children. Your descendants will become many nations, and some of your descendants will be kings. 12 The land that I promised to give to your grandfather Abraham and your father Isaac, I will give to you. I will also give it to your descendants.”

13 When God finished talking there with Jacob, he left him. 14 Jacob set up a large stone at the place where God had talked with him. He poured some wine and some olive oil on it to dedicate it to God. 15 Jacob named that place Bethel, which means ‘house of God’, because God had spoken to him there.

Rachel died as Benjamin was born

16 Jacob and his family left Bethel and traveled south toward Ephrath town. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to have severe childbirth pains. 17 When her pain was the most severe, the ◄midwife/woman who helped her to give birth► said to Rachel, “Do not be afraid, because now you have given birth to another son!” 18 But she was dying, and with her last breath she said, “Name him Benoni,” which means ‘son of my sorrow’, but his father named him Benjamin, which means ‘son of my right hand’.

19 After Rachel died, she was buried alongside the road to Ephrath, which is now called Bethlehem. 20 Jacob set up a large stone over her grave, and it is still there, showing where Rachel’s grave is.

21 Jacob, whose new name was Israel, continued traveling with his family, and he set up his tents on the south side of the watchtower at Eder town. 22 While they were living in that area, Jacob’s son Reuben had sex [EUP] with Bilhah, one of his father’s ◄concubines/female slaves whom he had taken as a secondary wife►. Someone told Jacob about it, and it made him very angry.

◄I will now give you/Here is► a list of Jacob’s twelve sons. 23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, who was Jacob’s oldest son, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulon. 24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Rachel’s female slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Leah’s female slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. All those sons of Jacob, except Benjamin, were born while he was living in Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia.

Isaac died

27 Jacob had returned back home to see his father Isaac at Mamre, which is also named Kiriath-Arba, and which is now named Hebron. Isaac’s father Abraham had also lived there. 28 Isaac lived until he was 180 years old. 29 He was very old when he died, joining his ancestors who had died previously. His sons Esau and Jacob buried his body.

The descendants of Esau

36 ◄Here is/I will now give you► a list of the descendants of Esau, whose other name was Edom. 2 Esau married three women from the Canaan region: Adah, the daughter of Elon from the Heth people-group; Oholibamah, who was the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon from the Hiv people-group; 3 and Basemath, who was the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. 4 Esau’s wife Adah gave birth to Eliphaz. Basemath gave birth to Reuel. 5 Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. All these sons of Esau were born while he was living in the Canaan region.

6-7 6-7Jacob and Esau had very many possessions. The result was that they needed more land for their livestock. The land where they were living was not big enough for both of them. They had too much livestock. So Esau, whose other name was Edom, had taken his wives and sons and daughters and all the other members of his household, his sheep and goats and his other animals, and all the other things he had obtained in Canaan land, and they had moved to an area that was away from Jacob. 8 They went to live in the Seir hilly area.

9 ◄Here is/I will now give you► another list of the male descendants of Esau. He was the ancestor of the Edom people-group who live in the Seir area. 10 Esau’s wife Adah gave birth to Eliphaz, and Esau’s wife Basemath gave birth to Reuel. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Esau’s son Eliphaz also had a ◄concubine/female slave whom he took as a secondary wife►. Her name was Timna. She gave birth to Amalek. Those six men were grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

13 Reuel’s sons were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

14 Esau’s wife Oholibamah, who was the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon, gave birth to three sons: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

15 ◄Here is/I will now give you► a list of the people-groups who were descendants of Esau. His oldest son Eliphaz was the ancestor of the Teman people-group, the Omar people-group, the Zepho people-group, the Kenaz people-group, 16 the Korah people-group, the Gatam people-group, and the Amalek people-group. They were descendants of Eliphaz and of Esau’s wife Adah. They lived in the Edom region.

17 The sons of Esau’s son Reuel were ancestors of the Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah people-groups. They were descended from Esau’s wife Basemath. They also lived in Edom.

18 The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, whose mother was Anah, were ancestors of the Jeush, Jalam, and Korah people-groups.

19 That is the list of the sons of Esau, and the people-groups who were their descendants.

20 ◄This is/I will now give you► a list of the descendants of Seir, who belonged to the Hor people-group, who were the first people-group who lived in the Edom region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. Those seven men became ancestors of people-groups. Each of the people-groups had the same name as the name of their ancestor.

22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

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

24 The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah. This Anah was the one who discovered the hot springs in the desert while he was taking care of his father Zibeon’s donkeys.

25 Anah had two children—a son named Dishon and a daughter named Oholibamah.

26 Dishon’s sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

27 Ezer’s sons were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

28 Dishan’s sons were Uz and Aran.

29-30 29-30The people-groups who were descendants of Hor lived in the Seir/Edom region. The names of the people-groups are Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

31 These are the names of the kings who ruled in Edom before any kings ruled over Israel. 32 Beor’s son Bela became the first king in Edom. The city where he lived was named Dinhabah.

33 When Bela died, Zerah’s son Jobab/became the king. He was from Bozrah city.

34 When Jobab died, Husham became the king. He was from the region where the Teman people-group lived.

35 When Husham died, Bedad’s son Hadan became the king. Husham’s army fought the army of the Midian people-group in the Moab region and defeated them. The city where Husham lived was Avith.

36 When Hadad died, Samlah became the king. He was from Masrekah town.

37 When Samlah died, Shaul became the king. He was from Rehoboth town along the Euphrates river.

38 When Shaul died, Achbor’s son Baal-Hanan became king.

39 When Achbor’s son Baal-Hanan died, Hadad became king. The city where he lived was named Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel. She was the daughter of Matred, who was the daughter of Me-Zahab.

40-43 40-43◄Here is/I will now give you► a list of all the people-groups that were descendants of Esau: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram. They all lived in the Edom region. The land where each people-group lived got the same name as the name of the people-group.

Joseph had two dreams about himself and his brothers

37 Jacob continued to live in the Canaan region where his father had lived previously. 2 ◄This is/I will now tell you► what happened to Jacob’s family.

When his son Joseph was 17 years old, he was taking care of the flocks of sheep and goats with some of his older brothers. They were sons of his father’s ◄concubines/female slaves that he had taken to be his secondary wives►. Joseph sometimes told his father about bad things that his brothers were doing.

3 Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other children, because Joseph had been born when Jacob was an old man. Jacob made for Joseph a long pretty robe that had long sleeves. 4 When Joseph’s older brothers realized that their father loved him more than he loved any of them, they hated him. They never spoke kindly to him.

5 One night Joseph had a dream. He told his brothers about the dream. 6 He said to them, “Listen to the dream I had! 7 In the dream, we were tying up bundles of wheat in the field. Suddenly my bundle stood up straight, and surprisingly, your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it!” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you think that some day you will rule over us? Are you saying that some day you are going to be our king?” [RHQ] They hated him even more than before because of what he had told them about his dream.

9 Later he had another dream, and again he told his older brothers about it. He said, “Listen to this! I had another dream. In this dream, the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me!” 10 He also told his father about it. His father rebuked him, saying “What are you suggesting by that dream [RHQ]? Do you think it means that your mother and I and your older brothers will some day bow down to the ground in front of you?” [RHQ] 11 Joseph’s older brothers were furious/angry with him, but his father just kept thinking about what the dream meant.

12 One day Joseph’s older brothers went to take care of their father’s sheep and goats that were eating grass near Shechem. 13 Some time later, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are taking care of the sheep and goats near Shechem [RHQ]. I am going to send you there to see them.” Joseph replied, “Okay.” 14 Jacob said, “Go and see if they are doing okay, and if the flocks are doing okay. Then come back and give me a report.” So Jacob sent Joseph from the valley where they were living, the valley where Hebron is located, to go north to find his brothers.

When Joseph arrived near Shechem city, 15 while he was wandering around in the fields looking/searching for his brothers, a man saw him and asked him, “Whom are you looking/searching for?” 16 Joseph replied, “I am looking for my older brothers. Can you tell me where they are taking care of their sheep and goats?” 17 The man replied, “They are not here any more. I heard one of them saying, ‘Let’s take the sheep and goats and go to Dothan town.’ ”

Joseph was taken to Egypt after his brothers sold him.

So Joseph left there and went north, and found his older brothers near Dothan. 18 But they saw him when he was still far away, and they decided to kill him. 19 They said to each other things like, “Here comes that dreamer!” 20 and “Hey, let’s kill him, and then throw his body into one of the pits/cisterns. Then we will tell people that a ferocious/wild animal attacked and killed him and ate him. And then we will ◄find out whether his dreams come true/make sure that his dreams do not come true►!”

21 Reuben heard what they were saying, so he tried to persuade them not to kill [MTY] Joseph. He said, “No, we should not kill him. 22 Do not even shed his blood! We can throw him into this pit/cistern in the desert, but we should not harm him [MTY].” He said that, and then left them, planning to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.

23 So when Joseph arrived where his older brothers were, they seized him and ripped off his pretty robe with long sleeves. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit/cistern. But the pit/cistern was dry; there was no water in it.

25 After they sat down to eat some food, they looked up and saw a ◄caravan/group of traders►, descendants of Ishmael, coming from the Gilead area. Their camels were loaded with bags of spices and nice-smelling resins. They were going down to Egypt to sell those things there. 26 Judah said to his older and younger brothers, “If we kill our younger brother and hide his body, ◄what will we gain?/we will not gain anything!► [RHQ] 27 So, instead of harming him, let’s sell him to these men who are descendants of Ishmael. Don’t forget, he is our own younger brother!” So they all agreed to do that.

28 When those traders from the Midian area came near, Joseph’s brothers pulled him up out of the pit/cistern. Then they sold him to the men from Midian for 20 pieces of silver. The traders then took Joseph to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the pit/cistern, he saw that his younger brother was not there. He was so grieved that he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his younger brothers and said, “The boy is not in the pit/cistern! What can I do now?” [RHQ]

31 Joseph’s brothers did not dare to tell their father what they had done. So, they decided to invent a story about what had happened. They got Joseph’s robe. Then they killed a goat and dipped the robe in the goat’s blood. 32 They took that pretty robe back to their father and said, “We found this robe! Look at it. Is it your son’s robe?” 33 He recognized it, and he said, “Yes, it is my son’s robe! Some ferocious/wild animal must have attacked and killed him! I am sure that the animal has torn Joseph to pieces!”

34 Jacob was so grieved that he tore his clothes. He put on ◄sackcloth/clothes that people wear when they are mourning for someone who has died►. He mourned/cried for his son for many days. 35 All of his children came to try to comfort him, but he did not pay attention to what they said. He said, “No, I will still be mourning/crying when I die and go to be with my son.” So Joseph’s father continued to cry because of what had happened to his son.

36 In the meantime, the men/traders from Midian took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, who was one of the king’s officials. He was the captain of the soldiers who protected the king.

Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar tricked Judah into making her pregnant

38 At that time, Judah left his older and younger brothers and went down from the hilly area and stayed with a man whose name was Hiram, who lived in Adullam town. 2 There he ◄met/became acquainted with► a woman who was the daughter of a man from Canaan named Shua. He married her. He had sex [EUP] with her, 3 and she became pregnant and later gave birth to a son, whom he named Er. 4 Later she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son whom she named Onan. 5 Many years later, when Judah and his family went to live in Kezib town, Judah’s wife gave birth to another son, whom she named Shelah.

6 When Judah’s oldest son Er grew up, Judah got a wife for him, a woman named Tamar. 7 But Er did something that Yahweh considered to be very wicked, so Yahweh caused him to die. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Your older brother died without having any sons. So marry his widow and have sex [EUP] with her. That is what our customs require that you should do.” 9 But Onan knew if he did that, any children who would be born would not be considered to be his. So every time he had sex [EUP] with his brother’s widow, he spilled his semen on the ground, so that she would not get pregnant and produce children for his older brother. 10 Yahweh considered that what he did was wicked, so he caused him to die also.

11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Return to your father’s house, but do not marry anyone else. When my youngest son Shelah grows up, he can marry you.” But Judah really did not want Shelah to marry her, because he was afraid that then Shelah would die too, just as his older brothers had died. So Tamar obeyed Judah and went back to live in her father’s house again.

12 Several years later, Judah’s wife, who was the daughter of Shua, died. When the time of mourning for her was finished, Judah decided to go up to Timnah, to the place where his ◄men were shearing his sheep/sheep were being sheared► His friend Hiram, from Adullam, went with him. 13 Someone said to Tamar, “Your father-in-law is going to the fields near the city of Timnah to help the men who are shearing his sheep.” 14 She realized that now Shelah was grown up, but Judah had not given her to him to be his wife. So she took off her widow’s clothes, and covered her head with a veil, so that people would not ◄recognize her/know who she was►. Then she sat down at the entrance to Enaim town, which is on the road to Timnah. 15 When Judah came along and saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had covered her head like prostitutes often did (OR, and sat where prostitutes often sat). 16 Judah did not realize that she was his daughter-in-law. So he said to her, “Hey, let me have sex [EUP] with you!” She replied, “What will you give me for allowing you to have sex [EUP] with me?” 17 He replied, “I will send you a young goat from my flock of goats.” She asked, “Will you give me something now for me to keep until you send the goat?” 18 He replied, “What do you want me to give to you?” She replied, “Give me the ring that has your name on it that is tied by a cord around your neck, and give me the walking stick that you are holding in your hand.” So he gave them to her. Then he had sex [EUP] with her, and she became pregnant. 19 After she left, she took off the veil and put her widow’s clothes on again.

20 Judah gave a young goat to his friend from Adullam, for him to take back to the woman, as he had promised. But his friend could not find the woman. 21 So he asked the men who lived there, “Where is the prostitute who was sitting by the road at Enaim?” They replied, “There has never been a prostitute here!” 22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I did not find her. Furthermore, the men who live in that town said, ‘There has never been a prostitute here.’ ” 23 Judah said, “She can keep the things that I gave to her. If we continued to search for her, people would ridicule us. I tried to send this young goat to her, but you could not find her to give it to her.”

24 About three months later, someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has become a prostitute and now she is pregnant!” Judah said, “Drag her outside of the city and kill her by burning her!”

25 But as they were taking her outside of the city, she gave the ring and walking stick to someone, and told him to take them to Judah, and say to him, “The man who owns these things is the one who caused me to become pregnant.” She also said to tell him, “Look at this ring, and the cord that is attached to it, and this walking stick. Whose are they?” 26 When the man did that, Judah recognized the ring and the stick. He said, “She is more righteous than I am. I did not tell my son Shelah to marry her, as I promised that I would.” And Judah did not have sex [EUP] with her again.

27 When it was time for her to give birth, she was surprised that there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand. So the midwife fastened a scarlet thread around his wrist, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But he pulled his hand back inside the womb, and his brother came out first. So she said, “So this is how you break your way out first!” So she named him Perez, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘breaking out.’ 30 Then his younger brother, the one who had the scarlet thread around his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘redness of dawn.’

In Egypt, Joseph refused to have sex with Potiphar’s wife

39 Meanwhile, the descendants of Ishmael took Joseph down to Egypt. There Potiphar bought Joseph from them. Potiphar was an Egyptian who was one of the king’s officials and the captain of the king’s ◄palace guards/guards who protected the king►. 2 Because Yahweh helped Joseph, he was able to do his work very well, and lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that Yahweh was helping Joseph and enabling him to be successful in everything that he did. 4 Joseph’s master was pleased with him, so he appointed him to be his personal servant. Then he appointed him to be the one who would take care of everything in his household and all of his possessions. 5 From the time Potiphar appointed Joseph to take care of everything in his household and all that he owned, Yahweh blessed the people who lived in Potiphar’s house because of Joseph. He also caused Potiphar’s crops to grow well. 6 Potiphar allowed Joseph to take care of everything that he owned. Potiphar needed to decide only about the food he ate. He was not concerned about anything else in his house.

Joseph was well-built/muscular and handsome. 7 Because of that, after a while, his master’s wife started to look fondly at Joseph. So one day she said to him, “Have sex [EUP] with me!” 8 But he refused, saying to his master’s wife, “Listen! My master is not concerned about anything in this house. He has appointed me to take care of everything that he owns. 9 No one in this household has more authority than I do. The only thing that he has not allowed me to have is you, because you are his wife! So ◄how could I do this wicked thing that you are asking me to do?/I certainly could not do this wicked thing!► [RHQ] I would be sinning against God if I did that!” 10 She kept on asking Joseph day after day to have sex [EUP] with her, but he refused. He would not even go near her.

To get revenge, Potiphar’s wife lied, and Potiphar had Joseph thrown into prison

11 One day Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the other household servants were in the house. 12 Potiphar’s wife grabbed his cloak and said, “Have sex [EUP] with me!” Joseph ran out of the house, but his cloak was still in her hand! 13 When she saw that he had run outside leaving his cloak in her hand, 14 she called the household servants. She said to them, “Look! This Hebrew man that my husband brought to us is ◄insulting/trying to do something disgraceful to► us! He came into my room and tried to ◄rape me/make me have sex [EUP] with him►, but I screamed loudly. 15 As soon as he heard me scream loudly, he left his loincloth with me and ran outside!” 16 She kept the loincloth beside her until her husband, Joseph’s master, came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave whom you brought here came into my room and tried to rape me! 18 As soon as I screamed loudly, he ran outside, leaving me holding his loincloth!” 19 When Joseph’s master heard this story that his wife told him, saying “This is how your slave treated me,” he was very angry. 20 Joseph’s master took Joseph and put him in prison, the place where all the king’s prisoners were put, and Joseph stayed there.

21 But Yahweh was kind to Joseph and helped him, and caused the ◄prison warden/man who was in charge of the prison► to be pleased with him. 22 So the prison warden put Joseph in charge of all those who were in the prison, and in charge of all the work that was done there. 23 The warden was not concerned with anything that Joseph was taking care of, because Yahweh helped Joseph to do well everything that he did.

Joseph told two other prisoners the meaning of their dreams

40 Some time later, two of the king of Egypt’s officials did things that displeased him. One was his chief ◄drink-server/man who prepared the wine and served it to the king►, and the other was his chief ◄baker/man who baked bread for the king►. 2 The king became angry with both of them. 3 So he had them put in prison, in the house of the captain of the palace guards. That was the place where Joseph was being kept. 4 The two men were in prison for a long time. And during that time the captain of the palace guards appointed Joseph to be their servant, to take care of their needs.

5 One night while the king’s drink-server and his baker were there in the prison, each of them had a dream. Each dream had a different meaning.

6 The next morning, when Joseph came to them, he saw that both of them were dejected/worried. 7 So he asked them, “Why do you look so sad today?” 8 One of them answered, “We both had dreams last night, but there is no one who can tell us the meaning of the dreams.” Joseph said to them, “God is the only one who can [RHQ] tell the meaning of dreams. So tell me what you dreamed, and God will tell me the meaning.” 9 So the king’s chief drink-server told his dream to Joseph. He said, “In my dream I saw a grapevine in front of me. 10 On the vine there were three branches. After the branches budded, they blossomed, and then they produced clusters of grapes. 11 I was holding the king’s cup, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I gave the cup to the king to drink the juice.” 12 God immediately told Joseph what the dream meant. So Joseph said to him, “This is the meaning of your dream: The three branches of the vine represent three days. 13 Within three days the king will release you from prison. He will let you do the work that you did before. You will take cups of wine to the king as you did before, when you were his drink-server. 14 But when you are out of prison and everything goes well for you, please do not forget me. 15 People took me away forcefully from the land where my fellow Hebrews live. I did nothing wrong there, and also while I have been here in Egypt, I have done nothing for which I deserved to be put in prison. So be kind to me and tell the king about me, so that he will release me from this prison!”

16 When the chief baker heard that the meaning of the dream of the king’s drink-server was very favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. In the dream I was surprised to see three baskets of bread stacked on my head. 17 In the top basket there were many kinds of baked goods for the king, but birds were eating them from the top basket that was on my head!” 18 God again told Joseph what the dream meant, so he said, “The three baskets also represent three days. 19 Within three days the king will command that your head be cut off. Then your body will be hung on a tree, and vultures will come and eat your flesh.”

20 The third day after that was the ◄king’s birthday/day they celebrated when the king became one year older►. On that day the king invited all his officials to celebrate his birthday. During the celebration, while they were all gathered there, the king summoned his chief drink-server and chief baker from the prison. 21 He said that his chief drink-server could have his previous job again, so that again he took cups of wine to the king. 22 But he commanded that the chief baker should be killed by being hanged, just as Joseph had said would happen when he told the two men the meaning of their dreams.

23 But the chief drink-server did not think about Joseph. He forgot to do what Joseph asked him to do.

Joseph told the king that the meaning of his dreams was that there would be a big famine

41 Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile River. 2 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows come up out of the river. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank. 3 Soon seven other cows, unhealthy-looking and thin, came up behind them from the Nile River. They stood alongside the fat cows that were on the riverbank. 4 Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.

5 The king went to sleep again, and he had another dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain that were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and all growing on one stalk. 6 After that, the king saw that seven other heads of grain sprouted on that (OR, on another) stalk. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind. 7 Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven ripe full heads. Then the king woke up. He realized that he had been dreaming.

8 But the next morning he was worried about the meaning of the dream. So he summoned all the magicians and wise men who lived in Egypt. He told them what he had dreamed, but none of them could tell him the meaning of the two dreams.

9 Then the chief drink-server said to the king, “Now I remember something that I should have told you! I made a mistake by forgetting to tell it to you. 10 One time you were angry with two of us. So you put me and the chief baker in the prison in the house of the captain of the palace guards. 11 While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings. 12 There was a young Hebrew man there with us. He was a servant of the captain of the palace guards. We told him what we had dreamed, and he told us what our dreams meant. He told each of us the meaning of our dreams. 13 And what happened was exactly the same as the meanings that he told us: You said I could have my previous job again, but the other man was killed by being hanged. The Hebrew man’s name was Joseph.”

14 When the king heard that, he told some servants to bring Joseph to him, and they quickly brought Joseph out of the prison. Joseph shaved and put on better clothes, and then he went and stood in front of the king. 15 The king said to Joseph, “I had two dreams, and no one can tell me what they mean. But someone told me that when you hear someone tell about a dream he has had, you can tell that person what the dream means.” 16 But Joseph replied to the king, “No, I cannot do that. It is God who knows the meaning of dreams, but he will enable me to tell you their meaning, and they will mean something good.”

17 The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile River. 18 Suddenly seven healthy fat cows came up out of the river, and they started eating the grass that was on the riverbank. 19 Soon seven other cows, ugly and thin ones, came up behind them from the river. I never saw such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt! 20 The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first. 21 But afterwards, no one would have known that the thin cows ate them, because they were just as ugly as they were before. Then I woke up.

22 Then I had another dream. I saw seven heads of grain. They were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and they were all growing on one stalk. 23 Then to my surprise I saw seven other heads of grain that sprouted. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind. 24 The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain to me what they meant.”

25 Then Joseph said to the king, “Both your dreams have the same meaning. God is revealing to you in your dreams what he is about to do. 26 The seven healthy cows represent seven years. The seven good heads of grain also represent seven years. The two dreams both have the same meaning. 27 The seven thin ugly cows that came up behind them and the seven worthless heads of grain that were dried up by the hot east wind each represent seven years ◄of famine/when food will be very scarce►. 28 It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do. 29 There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt, 30 but after that there will be seven years ◄of famine/when food will be very scarce►. Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward will ruin the country. 31 The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible. 32 The reason God gave to you two dreams is that he wants you to know that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.

33 “Now I suggest that you should choose a man who is wise and can make good decisions. I suggest that you appoint him to direct the affairs of the whole country. 34 You should also appoint supervisors over the country, in order that they can arrange to collect one-fifth of all the grain that is harvested during the seven years when food is plentiful. 35 They should collect this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. You should supervise them as they store it in the cities. 36 This grain should be stored so that it can be eaten during the seven years when there will be a famine here in Egypt, so that the people in this country will not die from hunger.”

The king made Joseph the governor of all of Egypt, to handle the problem of the famine

37 The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan. 38 So the king said to them, “◄Can we find any other man like Joseph, a man to whom God has given his Spirit?/It is not likely that we will find another man like this man, one to whom God has given his Spirit!►” [RHQ]

39 Then the king said to Joseph, “Because God has revealed all this to you, it seems to me that there is no one who is as wise as you and who can decide wisely about things. 40 So I will put you in charge of everything in my palace. All the people here in Egypt must obey what you command. Only because I am king [MTY] will I have more authority than you.”

41 Then the king said to Joseph, “I am now putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.” 42 The king took from his finger the ring that had his seal on it, and he put it on Joseph’s finger. He put robes made of fine linen on him, and he put a gold chain around his neck. 43 Then he arranged for Joseph to ride around in the chariot that showed that he was the second-most important man in the country. When Joseph rode in the chariot, men shouted to the people who were on the road in front of him, “Get off the road!” So the king put Joseph in charge of everything in the country.

44 The king said to Joseph, “I am the king, but no one in the whole land of Egypt will do anything [IDM] if you do not permit them to do it.” 45 The king gave Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave him Asenath to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in a temple in On city. Then Joseph became known (OR, traveled) through all the land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was 30 years old when he started to work for the king of Egypt. To do his work, he left the king’s palace and traveled throughout Egypt. 47 During the next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food. 48 As Joseph supervised them, his helpers collected one-fifth of all the grain that was produced during those years, and stored it in the cities. In each city, he had his helpers store up the grain that was grown in the fields that surrounded that city. 49 Joseph had them store up a huge amount of grain. It looked as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. There was so much grain that after a while they stopped keeping records of how much grain was stored, because there was more grain than they could measure.

50 Before the seven years of famine started, Joseph’s wife Asenath gave birth to two sons. 51 Joseph named the first one Manasseh, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘forget’, because, he said, “God has caused me to forget all my troubles and all my father’s family.” 52 He named his second son Ephraim, which means ‘to have children’, because, he said, “God has given me children here in this land where I have suffered.”

53 Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended. 54 Then the seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had predicted. There was also a famine in all the other nearby lands, but although the crops did not grow, there was food everywhere in Egypt, because of the grain they had stored up in the cities. 55 When all the people of [MTY] Egypt had eaten all of their own food and were still hungry, they begged the king for food. So the king told all the people of Egypt, “Go to Joseph, and do what he tells you to do.”

56 When the famine was very bad throughout the whole country, Joseph ordered his helpers to open the storehouses. Then they sold the grain in the storehouses to the people of Egypt, because the famine was very severe all over Egypt. 57 And people from many [HYP] nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere [HYP].

Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain, but didn’t realize they were buying it from their brother

42 When someone told Jacob that there was grain in Egypt that people could buy, he said to his sons, “◄Why do you just sit there looking at each other?/Do not just sit there looking at each other!► [RHQ] We need some grain!” 2 He said to them, “Someone told me that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, in order that we will not die!”

3 So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy some grain. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s younger brother, to go with the others, because he was afraid/worried that something terrible might happen to him like what happened to Joseph. 5 So Jacob’s other sons went down from Canaan to Egypt to buy grain, and others from there went too, because there was a famine in Canaan also.

6 At that time Joseph was the governor of Egypt. He was the one who sold grain to people who came from all over Egypt and from many other countries [HYP] to buy grain. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they were told that it was necessary for them to talk with Joseph. So they went to him and prostrated themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he pretended that he did not know them. He spoke harshly to them, saying, “Where do you come from?” One of them replied, “We have come from Canaan, to buy some grain.”

8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 9 And then Joseph remembered what he had dreamed about them many years previously. But he decided not to tell them yet that he was their younger brother. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to find out whether we will be able to defend ourselves if you attack us!” 10 One of them replied, “No, sir! We have come to buy grain. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men, not spies.” 12 He said to them, “I do not believe you. You have come just to see whether we would be able to defend ourselves if we were attacked!” 13 But one of them replied, “No, that is not true! Originally there were twelve of us who were brothers, the sons of one man. Our younger brother is with our father. One younger brother has died. [EUP]”

14 Joseph replied, “You are lying! I think it is just as I told you. You are spies! 15 But this is how I will determine whether what you are saying is true. I think that as surely as the king lives, you are spies. And you will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here! 16 Send one of your group to go and get your younger brother and bring him here. I will put the rest of you in prison, in order that I may test what you have said to find out whether what you are telling me is true. If the one who goes does not bring your younger brother here, then, just as surely as the king lives, it will be clear that you are lying and that you are spies.” 17 Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

18 On the third day, Joseph went to the prison and said to them, “I am a man who fears that God will punish me if I do not do what I promise. So do what I tell you, and I will spare your lives. 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, and the rest of you can take some grain back to your families who are very hungry because of the famine. 20 But if you come back here again, you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that you can prove that what you told me is true, and as a result I will not have you executed.” So they agreed to do that.

21 They said to each other, “It is surely because of what we did to our younger brother that ◄we are being punished/God is punishing us►! We saw that he [SYN] was very distressed when he pleaded with us not to harm him. But we did not pay any attention to him, and that is why we are having this trouble!”

22 Reuben said to them, “I told you not to harm the boy [RHQ], but you did not pay attention to what I said! Now we are being ◄paid back/punished► for killing him [MTY]!”

23 While they were talking with Joseph, they were speaking through ◄an interpreter/someone who knew their language and the Egyptian language►, but when they said these things among themselves, they were speaking in their own language, and they did not know that Joseph could understand their language, and that he could understand what they were saying. 24 Because of what they said, Joseph realized that they admitted that what they had done to him many years previously was wrong. He could not keep from crying, and he did not want them to see him crying, so he left them and went outside the room and began to cry. But then he returned to them and talked to them again. Then he took Simeon, and while they were watching, he told his servants to tie him up. He left Simeon in the prison and told the others that they could go.

25 Joseph told his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also told them to put the money that each one had paid for the grain in the top of his sack. He also told them to give them food to eat along the way. After the servants did those things for Joseph’s older brothers, 26 his older brothers loaded the sacks of grain on their donkeys and left.

Joseph’s brothers returned home, frightened because the money they paid was in their sacks

27 At the place where they stopped to sleep that night, one of them opened his sack to get some grain for his donkey. He was amazed to see his money in the top of the sack. 28 He exclaimed to his brothers, “Someone has returned my money! Here it is in my sack!” They started shaking with fear, and said to each other, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29 When they returned to their father in Canaan land, they told him all that had happened to them. One of them said, 30 “The man who governs the whole land of Egypt talked very harshly to us. He acted toward us as though we were spying on his country. 31 But we told him, ‘We are honest men! We are not spies. 32 Originally there were twelve of us who were brothers, the sons of one father. One has died [EUP], and our youngest brother is with our father in Canaan.’ 33 The man who is the governor of the land did not believe us, so he said to us, ‘This is how I will know if you are truly honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me. Then the rest of you can take some grain for your families that are starving from hunger and go. 34 But when you return, bring your youngest brother to me, in order that I will know that you are not spies, but instead, that you are honest men. Then I will release your brother for you. And then you can buy whatever you want in this country.’ ”

35 As they were emptying their sacks, they were surprised that in each man’s sack was his pouch of money! When they and their father saw all the pouches of money, they were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have caused two of my children to be taken from me! Joseph is dead, and Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin from me! It is I who am suffering because of all these things that are happening!”

37 Reuben said to his father, “I will be responsible for Benjamin. I will take him to Egypt and bring him back to you. Let me take care of him. If I do not bring Benjamin back to you, you may kill both of my sons.” 38 But Jacob said, “No, I will not let my son go down there with you. His older brother is dead, and he is the only one of my wife Rachel’s sons who is left! If something harms him while you are traveling, you would cause me, a gray-haired old man, to die because of sorrow.”

Joseph’s brothers returned to Egypt with Benjamin, to buy more grain

43 The famine in Canaan got worse. 2 Finally, when Jacob and his family had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, Jacob said to them, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain for us!” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man who sold us the grain warned us sternly, ‘I will not let you see me [SYN] again if you come and your younger brother is not with you.’ 4 So, if you will send our younger brother with us, we will go down to Egypt and buy some grain for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down there, because that man said to us, ‘I will not let you see me again if your younger brother is not with you.’ ” 6 Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me to have this trouble by telling the man that you had a younger brother?” 7 One of them replied, “The man asked about us and about our family. He said, ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We had to answer his questions. ◄We could not know that he would say, ‘The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!’/How could we know that he would say, ‘The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!’►” [RHQ]

8 Then Judah said to his father Jacob, “Send the boy with me, and we will go immediately, in order that we and you and our children may get grain and not die from hunger. 9 I myself will guarantee that he will return. You can require me to do what I am promising [IDM]. If I do not bring him back to you safely, you can say forever that ◄I am to blame/it was my fault that he did not return to you►. 10 If we had not ◄wasted so much time/waited so long►, by now we could have gone there and returned two times!”

11 Then their father Jacob said to them, “If there is no other way, do this: Put in your sacks some of the best things that are grown in this land, and take them down to the man as a gift. Take some balm/perfume and honey and spices and myrrh/ointment, some pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take twice as much money as you took the previous time, because you must return the silver that someone put in the tops of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake that it was put in your sacks. 13 Take your younger brother and go back to that man. 14 I will pray that God Almighty will cause that man to act mercifully toward you, so that he will let your other brother, as well as Benjamin, come back here with you. But as for me, if my sons are taken from me, then I will not have my sons!”

15 So the men took the gifts that Jacob said that they should take, and twice the amount of money that the grain would cost, and they also took Benjamin. They went down quickly to Egypt, and they stood in front of Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the man who ◄was in charge of/supervised► things in his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare a meal, because I want them to eat with me at noon.” And he told him in what order they were to be seated.

17 The man did as Joseph said. And he took them to Joseph’s house. 18 But they were afraid because he was taking them to Joseph’s house. They were thinking, “He is taking us here because of the silver that was put in our sacks the first time that we came here. While we are eating, he will have his servants attack us and seize us and cause us to become his slaves, and also take our donkeys.”

Joseph made a feast for his brothers, but they still did not recognize him

19 They went with the man who was in charge of things in Joseph’s house. When they arrived at the entrance of the house, 20 one of them said to him, “Please, sir, listen to me. We came down here previously and bought some grain. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night as we were returning home, we opened our sacks. We were astonished to see that in the top of each of our sacks was the exact amount of silver that we had paid for the grain! So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought more silver with us to buy more grain. We do not know who put the silver in our sacks.”

23 The man replied, “Relax! Do not worry about it! I received the silver that you brought. Your God, the God your father worships, must have put it in your sacks.” And then he brought Simeon to them from the prison.

24 Then he took them into Joseph’s house. He gave them water to wash their feet and gave them food for the donkeys. 25 He told them that they were going to eat with Joseph at noon. So the men prepared their gifts to give to Joseph when he arrived.

26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts that they had brought into the house. Then they bowed down to the ground in front of him. 27 He asked them if they were ◄well/in good health►, and then he asked, “How is the health of your old father, the one that you told me about? Is he still living?” 28 One of them replied, “Yes, our father, who is willing to be your servant, is still alive, and he is well.” Then again they bowed down in front of him.

29 Then he saw his younger brother Benjamin, his own mother’s other son. He asked them, “Is this your youngest brother, the one whom you told me about?” After they said “Yes,” he said to Benjamin, “Young man, I pray that God will act kindly toward you.” 30 Joseph quickly left the room. He realized that he was about to cry because he ◄was full of emotion about his younger brother/loved his younger brother so much►. He went into his private room and cried there. 31 Then, after he washed the tears from his face, he came out, and controlling his emotions, he said to the servants, “Serve the food!”

32 The people of Egypt considered that it was disgraceful for them to eat with Hebrews, so the servants served food to Joseph by himself, and served the other people of Egypt who ate with him by themselves, and they served Joseph’s older brothers and younger brother by themselves. 33 His brothers were astonished to see that their seats were arranged according to their ages, from the oldest to the youngest! 34 And when their portions of food were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s portion! So they ate food and drank wine with Joseph and became very cheerful.

Joseph tricked his brothers by having his cup put in Benjamin’s sack

44 When his brothers were ready to return home, Joseph said to the man who was in charge of things in his house, “Fill the sacks of those men with as much grain as they can carry on their donkeys. And put in the top of each man’s sack the silver that he paid for the grain. 2 Then put my silver cup in the top of the youngest brother’s sack, along with the silver that he paid for the grain.” So the servant did what Joseph told him to do.

3 The next morning at dawn the men started on the way home with their donkeys. 4 When they had not gone far from the city, Joseph said to the servant in charge of things in his house, “Pursue those men immediately. When you catch up to them, say to them, ‘We did good things for you! Why have you paid us back by doing something bad to us? 5 You have stolen the cup that my master drinks from [RHQ]! It is the cup that he uses to find out things that nobody knows! What you did was very wicked!’ ”

6 The servant left immediately and when he caught up with them, he told them what Joseph had told him to say. 7 But one of them replied to him, “Sir, why do you say such things? We are your servants, and we would never do anything like that! 8 We even brought back to you from Canaan land the silver that we found inside the tops of our sacks! So ◄we certainly would not steal silver or gold from your master’s house!/Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?► [RHQ] 9 If you discover that any of us has that cup, you can execute him, and the rest of us will become your slaves.”

10 The man replied, “Okay, I will do what you say. But the one who has the cup will not be executed. Instead, he will become my slave, and the rest of you may return home.”

11 Each of the men quickly lowered his sack down from the donkey to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the servant started to search for the cup in each sack. He started with the oldest brother’s sack and ended with the youngest one’s sack. And he found the cup in Benjamin’s sack and showed it to them. 13 The brothers tore their clothes because they were so dismayed. They loaded the sacks on the donkeys again and returned to the city.

Back in Egypt, Joseph said that only the one who stole his cup would be his slave

14 When Judah and his older and younger brothers entered Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there. The servant told Joseph what had happened. Then the brothers threw themselves down on the ground in front of Joseph. 15 He said to them, “Why did you do this? Do you not know that a man like me can find out things that nobody knows?” [RHQ]

16 Judah replied, “Sir, what can we say? How can we prove that we ◄are innocent/did not steal the cup►? God has ◄paid us back/punished us► for the sins we committed many years ago. So now we will become your slaves—both we and the one in whose sack the cup was found.” 17 But Joseph replied, “No, I could never do anything like that. Only the man in whose sack the cup was found will become my slave. The rest of you can return to your father peacefully.”

Judah pleaded that he be allowed to become Joseph’s slave instead of Benjamin

18 Then Judah came near to Joseph and said, “Sir, please let me say something to you. You are equal to the king himself, so you could command that I be executed; but do not be angry with me for speaking to you. 19 You asked us, ‘Is your father still living, and do you have another brother?’ 20 We answered, ‘Our father is alive, but he is an old man. He has a young son who was born after our father became an old man. That son had an older brother, who is now dead. So the youngest son is the only one of his mother’s sons who is still alive, and his father loves him very much.’ 21 Then you said to us, ‘The next time you come here, bring your younger brother down to me, so that I can see him.’ 22 We said to you, ‘No, we cannot do that, because the boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves his father, his father will die from sorrow.’ 23 But you told us, ‘If your youngest brother does not come back with you, I will not let you see me again!’ 24 When we returned to our father, we told him what you said. 25 Months later our father said, ‘Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain!’ 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go back by ourselves. We will go only if our youngest brother is with us. We will not be able to see the man who sells grain if our youngest brother is not with us.’ 27 Our father replied, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave birth to two sons for me. 28 One of them disappeared, and I said, “A wild animal has surely torn him to pieces.” And I have not seen him since then. 29 I am an old gray-haired man. If you take this other one from me, too, and something harms him, you would cause me to die because of my sorrow.’

30 “So please listen. My father will remain alive only if his youngest son remains alive. 31 If he sees that the boy is not with us when we return to him, he will die. We will cause our gray-haired father to die because of his sorrow. 32 I guaranteed/promised to my father that the boy would return safely. I told him, ‘You can require me to do what I am promising. If I do not bring him back to you, you can say forever that ◄I am to blame/it is my fault► for not bringing him back to you.’

33 “So, please let me remain here as your slave instead of my youngest brother, and let the boy return home with his other older brothers. 34 ◄I cannot return to my father if the boy is not with me!/How can I return to my father if the boy is not with me?► [RHQ] I do not want to see how miserable/sad my father would become!”

Joseph told his brothers who he was

45 Joseph was not able to control his feelings any longer. He did not want to cry in front of his servants, so he said to them loudly, “All of you go outside!” After they went outside, there was no one else there with Joseph when he told his brothers who he was. 2 He cried so loudly that the people of Egypt who were outside heard it, and even the people in the king’s palace heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is our father still alive?” But his brothers were not able to reply, because they were frightened because of what he said. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me!” When they came closer, he said, “I am your brother Joseph! I am the one you sold to traders who brought me here to Egypt! 5 But now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me to people who brought me here, because it was to save you from dying because of the famine that God sent me here ahead of you. 6 There has been a famine in this country for two years, and it will continue for five more years, so that no one will plow ground, and there will be no crops to harvest. 7 But God sent me here ahead of you, to keep you from starving, and to make sure that your descendants will survive. 8 Therefore, it was not you who sent me here; it was God who sent me here! He has caused me to become like a father to the king. I am in charge of everything in his palace and the governor of everyone in Egypt! 9 Now return to my father quickly, and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has caused me to become the governor over the whole land of Egypt. Come down to me immediately! 10 You can live in the Goshen region. You and your children and your grandchildren, your sheep and goats and cattle, and everything that you own, will be near me. 11 Since there will be five more years of famine, I will make sure that you have food. If you do not come here, you and your family and all of your servants will starve. [EUP]” ’

12 “Look closely, and all of you can see, including my brother Benjamin, that it is really I, Joseph, who am speaking to you. 13 Go and tell my father about how greatly I am honored here in Egypt. And tell him about everything else that you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly!”

14 Then he threw his arms around his younger brother Benjamin’s neck and cried. And Benjamin hugged him and cried. 15 And then as he kissed his older brothers on their cheeks, he cried. After that, his brothers started to talk with him.

The king invited Joseph’s family to come and live in Egypt

16 Someone went to the palace and told the news that Joseph’s brothers had come. The king and all his officials were pleased. 17 The king said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers this: ‘Put loads of grain on your animals and return to the Canaan region. 18 Then bring your father and your families back here. I will give you the best land in Egypt, and you will have the best food in the land to eat.’ 19 “Also tell this to your brothers: ‘Take some carts from Egypt to carry your children and your wives, and get them and your father and come back here quickly. 20 Do not worry about bringing your possessions, because the best things in Egypt will be yours. Because of that, you will not need to bring any of your things from Canaan.’ ”

21 Jacob’s sons did what the king suggested. Joseph gave them carts and food to eat along the way, as the king had ordered. 22 To each of them he gave new clothes, but he gave 300 pieces of silver and five sets of new clothes to Benjamin! 23 And this is what he sent to his father: Ten male donkeys, loaded with some of the best goods that come from Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other food for his father’s trip to Egypt. 24 Then he sent his brothers on their way, saying to them “Do not quarrel along the way!”

25 So they left Egypt and came to their father Jacob in Canaan. 26 One of them told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is the governor over all of Egypt!” Jacob was extremely astonished; he could not believe that it was true. 27 But they told him everything that Joseph had said to them, and Jacob saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him and his family and possessions to Egypt. Then their father Jacob’s shock ended. 28 He said, “What you have said is enough to convince me! My son Joseph is still alive, and I will go and see him before I die!”

Jacob and his family moved to Egypt

46 So Jacob left Canaan, taking with him all his family and possessions. When they arrived at Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to God, the one whom his father Isaac worshiped. 2 That night, God called to Jacob in a vision, saying, “Jacob! Jacob!” He replied, “I am here!” 3 God said, “I am God, the one your father worshiped. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, because I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and later I will bring your descendants back to Canaan again. And Joseph will be with you [MTY] when you die.” [IDM]

5 Jacob left Beersheba, and his sons took their father, their wives, and their children, in the carts that the king had sent for them to travel in. 6 So Jacob and all his family went to Egypt. They took with them the livestock and all the other possessions that they had acquired in Canaan. 7 Jacob went to Egypt with all his sons and his daughters and grandsons and granddaughters—his whole family.

8-25 8-25◄Here is/I will now give you► a list of the names of the members of Jacob’s family who went with him to Egypt:

• Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son;
• Reuben’s sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi;
• Simeon and his sons Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, who was the son of a Canaan people-group woman;
• Levi and his sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari;
• Judah and his sons, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (his other sons, Er, and Onan, had died in Canaan);
• Perez and his two sons Hezron and Hamul;
• Issachar and his sons Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron;
• Zebulon and his sons Sered, Elon, and Jahleel;
• (Those were the sons of Jacob and Leah, and their daughter Dinah, who were born in Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia: There were 33 of them, altogether.) They had Gad and his sons Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli;
• Asher and his sons Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah; and their sister Serah;
• Beriah’s sons Heber and Malkiel;
• (Those were the children and grandchildren of Jacob and Zilpah, the slave girl whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah: There were 16 of them, altogether.)
• Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel;
• (Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s two sons. They did not go down to Egypt because they were already in Egypt. They were sons of Asenath, the daughter of On, who was the priest in the temple in On city.)
• Benjamin and his sons Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard;
• (Those were the sons and grandsons of Rachel and Jacob: There were 14 people altogether.)
• Dan and his son Hushim;
• Naphtali and his sons Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
• (Those were the sons and grandsons of Jacob and Bilhah, the slave girl whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel: There were seven people altogether.)

26 Altogether there were 66 people who were Jacob’s descendants who went to Egypt with him. That number does not include his sons’ wives. 27 Including Jacob and Joseph and Joseph’s two sons who were born in Egypt, there were 70 members of Jacob’s family when they were all there in Egypt.

28 Jacob sent Judah to go ahead of the rest of them to talk with Joseph and ask for directions on how to travel to Goshen. Then Judah returned to the rest of his family and they all traveled to the Goshen region. When they arrived there, 29 Joseph got his chariot ready and went to Goshen to meet his father. When Joseph arrived, he threw his arms around his father’s neck and cried a long time. 30 Jacob said to Joseph, “I have seen you and I know that you are still alive! So now I am ready to die.”

Joseph arranged for his family to settle in Goshen

31 Then Joseph said to his older brothers and younger brother and to the rest of his father’s family, “I will go to the king and say to him, ‘My older brothers and younger brother and my father and the rest of his family, who were living in Canaan land, have all come to me. 32 The men are all shepherds. They take care of their livestock, and they have brought with them their sheep and goats and cattle, and everything else that they own.’ 33 When the king summons you and asks, ‘What work do you do?’ 34 answer him by saying, ‘From the time when we were young, we have taken care of livestock, just as our ancestors did.’ If you tell him that, he will let you live in the Goshen region.” Joseph told them to say that because the people of Egypt despised all shepherds.

Jacob blessed the king of Egypt

472 1-2Joseph chose five of his older brothers to go with him to talk to the king. He introduced his older brothers to the king, and then he said, “My father and my older brothers and younger brother have come from the Canaan region. They have brought all their sheep and goats and cattle and everything else that they own, and they are living now in Goshen region.” 3 The king asked the brothers, “What work do you do?” They replied, “We are shepherds, just as our ancestors were.” 4 They also said to him, “We have come here to live for a while in this land, because the famine is very severe in Canaan, and our animals have no ◄pasture/grass to eat► there. So now, please let us live in the Goshen region.”

5 The king said to Joseph, “I am happy that your father and your older brothers and younger brother have come to you. 6 They can live wherever you want in the whole country of Egypt. Give your father and your brothers the best part of the land. They can live in Goshen. And if you know that any of them have any special ability to work with livestock, have them be in charge of my own livestock, too.”

7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob into the palace and introduced him to the king. Jacob asked God to bless the king. 8 Then the king asked Jacob, “How old are you?” 9 Jacob replied, “I have been traveling around for 130 years. I have not lived as long as my ancestors, but my life has been full of troubles.” 10 Then Jacob again asked God to bless the king, and left him.

11 That is how Joseph enabled his father and older brothers and younger brother to start living in Egypt. As the king had commanded, he gave them property in the best part of the land, in Goshen, which is now called Rameses. 12 Joseph also provided food for all his father’s family. The amounts that he gave them were according to how many children each of them had.

Joseph arranged for people to buy grain from him during the famine

13 There were no crops growing in the whole region, because the famine was very severe. The people of Egypt and Canaan [MTY] became weak because they did not have enough food to eat. 14 Joseph collected all the money that the people in Egypt and Canaan paid for the grain they were buying from him, and he brought the money to the king’s palace. 15 When the people of Egypt and Canaan had spent all their money for grain, they all kept coming to Joseph and saying, “Please give us some food! If you do not give us grain, we will die [RHQ]! We have used all our money to buy food, and we have no money left!” 16 Joseph replied, “Since your money is all gone, bring me your livestock. If you do that, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph. He gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle, and their donkeys.

18 The next year they came to him again and said, “We cannot hide this from you: We have no more money, and now our livestock belongs to you. We have only our bodies and our land to give to you. We have nothing else left. 19 ◄If you do not give us some food, we will die!/Do you want to watch us die?► [RHQ] If you do not give us seeds, our fields will become useless [IDM]. Buy us and our land in exchange for food. Then we will be the king’s slaves, and he will own the land. Give us seeds that we can plant and grow food, in order that we will not die, and in order that our land will not become like a desert.”

20 So Joseph bought all the farms in Egypt for the king. The people of Egypt each sold their land to him because the famine was very severe, and they had no other way to get money to buy food. So all the farms became the king’s farms. 21 As a result, Joseph caused all the people from one border of the country to the other to become the king’s slaves. 22 But he did not buy the priests’ land, because they received food from the king regularly, so the food that the king gave them was enough for them. That is the reason they did not sell their land to him. 23 Joseph said to the people who sold themselves and their land to him, “Listen to me! Today I have bought you and your land for the king. So here are seeds for you so that you can plant them in the ground. 24 But when you harvest the crop, you must give one-fifth of the crop to the king. The rest of the crop you can keep, to be seed to plant in the fields, and to be food for you and your children and for everyone else in your household to eat.” 25 They replied, “You have saved our lives! We want you to be pleased with us. And we will be the king’s slaves.”

26 So Joseph made a law about all the land in Egypt, stating that one-fifth of the crops that are harvested belongs to the king. That law still exists. Only the land that belonged to the priests did not become the king’s land.

27 Jacob and his family started to live in Egypt, in the Goshen region. They acquired property there. Many children were born to them there. As a result, their population increased greatly.

Jacob made Joseph promise to not bury him in Egypt after he died.

28 Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years. Altogether he lived 147 years. 29 When it was almost time for him to die, he summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have pleased you, make a solemn promise that you will be kind to me and faithfully do what I am now asking you: When I die, do not bury me here in Egypt. 30 Instead, take my body out of Egypt, and bury it in Canaan where my ancestors are buried.” Joseph replied, “I will do that.” 31 Jacob said, “◄Swear/Solemnly promise► to me that you will do it!” So Joseph swore to do it. Then Jacob turned over in bed, bowed his head, and worshiped God.

Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh

48 Some time later, someone told Joseph, “Hey, your father is ill.” When Joseph heard that, he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see his father. 2 When someone told Jacob, “Look, your son Joseph has come to see you!” Jacob sat up on the bed, even though it was difficult for him to do that. 3 He said to Joseph, “When I was at Luz in Canaan, God Almighty appeared to me. He blessed me 4 and said to me, ‘I am going to enable you to become the father of many children. You will have many descendants, and they will become the ancestors of many people-groups. And I will give this land to your descendants to possess forever.’

5 “And now I will consider that your two sons, who were born to you here in Egypt before I came here, will ◄belong to me/be as though they are my sons►. Ephraim and Manasseh will be as though they were my sons, and they will inherit my possessions, just like my sons Reuben and Simeon and the others will. 6 If you later become the father of any more children, they will not be considered to be my children, but as my grandchildren, and in Canaan they will receive as part of what they inherit some of the same land that is in the territory that their brothers Ephraim and Manasseh will inherit. 7 Many years ago, as I was returning from Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia, your mother Rachel died in the Canaan region, while we were still traveling, not far from Ephrath town. So I buried her body there alongside the road to Ephrath [which is now called Bethlehem].”

8 When Jacob saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these boys?” 9 Joseph replied, “They are the sons that God has given to me here in Egypt.” Jacob said, “Bring them close to me so that I can bless them.” 10 Jacob was almost blind because he was very old. He could not recognize the boys. So Joseph brought his sons close to his father, and Jacob kissed them and hugged them. 11 Jacob said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see you again, but look at this! God has allowed me to see not only you, but he has allowed me to see your children, too!”

Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, in a way contrary to what Joseph expected

12 Joseph took the boys from alongside Jacob’s knees. Then he bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 Then Joseph took both of the boys, putting Ephraim on his right side toward Jacob’s left hand, and putting Manasseh on his left side toward Jacob’s right hand, and brought them close to Jacob. 14 But Jacob did not do what Joseph wanted him to do. Instead, he reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, even though he was the younger son. He crossed his arms and put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the older son. 15 Then he ◄blessed/asked God to bless► Joseph and his sons, saying,

“My grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac conducted their lives as God desired,

and to this very day God has led me and taken care of me as a shepherd leads and cares for his sheep [MET].

16 The angel whom he sent has kept me from being harmed in any way.

I pray that God will bless these boys.

I pray that people will never forget about me and about Abraham and Isaac because of what God does for these boys.

I pray that they will have many descendants who will live all over the earth.”

17 When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head and not on Manasseh’s head, he was distressed/displeased. So he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to him, “My father, that is not right! The one on whom you put your left hand is my older son. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father refused, saying, “I know that, my son, I know what I am doing. Manasseh’s descendants will also become a people-group, and they will become important. But his younger brother’s descendants will become greater than his will. His descendants will become several nations.” 20 So he blessed them both on that day, saying, “The people in Israel will use your names when they bless people. They will say, ‘We pray that God will help you as he helped Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ” In that way, Jacob said that Ephraim would become more important than Manasseh.

21 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I am about to die. But I know that God will help/protect you. And some day he will take your descendants back to the land of their ancestors. 22 And it is to you, not to your brothers, that I will give the fertile hill in the Shechem area. I captured that land from the Amor people-group, fighting them with my sword and my bow and arrows.”

Jacob prophesied what would happen to his sons and their descendants

49 Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,

2 “Gather around me in order that I can tell you what will happen in the future.

My sons, come and listen to me.

I am your father, Jacob, whom God named Israel.

3 Reuben, you are my oldest son.

You were born when I was young and energetic/strong.

You are prouder and stronger than all the rest of my sons.

4 But you were as uncontrollable as a flood [SIM].

So now you will not be my most important son,

because you climbed up onto my bed,

and had sex with [MTY] my ◄concubine/slave who had become one of my wives►.

Your doing that caused me, your father, to have great shame.

5 Simeon and Levi, you have both acted like criminals.

You use your swords to act violently.

6 I do not want to be with you when you make evil plans [DOU].

I do not want to join you in your meetings,

because you killed people when you became very angry,

and you ◄hamstrung/cut the tendons in the legs of► oxen just to ◄have fun/see them suffer►.

7 God says, ‘I will ◄curse/cause bad things to happen to► them for being very angry,

for acting very cruelly when they were very furious.

I will scatter their descendants [MTY] throughout Israel land.’

8 Judah, your older and younger brothers will praise you.

They will bow down before you,

because you will thoroughly defeat [MTY] your enemies.

9 Judah is like a young lion [SIM] that has returned to its den satisfied

after eating the animals that it has killed.

He is like a lion that lies down and stretches out after eating;

no one would dare to disturb it [RHQ].

10 There will always be a ruler [MTY] from the descendants of Judah [MTY].

Each one will hold a scepter/staff to show that he has authority as a king.

He will do that until the one to whom the scepter belongs comes,

the one to whom the nations will bring tribute

and show that they will obey him.

11 The grapevines of Judah’s descendants will produce grapes very abundantly.

As a result, they will not object to tying their young donkeys to the grapevines

in order that the donkeys can eat the leaves of the grapevines.

Wine will be very plentiful, with the result that

they could wash their cloaks in wine that is as red as blood [MET].

12 Their eyes will be red because of drinking too much wine,

but their teeth will be very white because of drinking much milk from the cows.

13 Zebulun, your descendants will live by the seashore

where there will be a safe harbor for ships.

Their land will extend north as far as Sidon city.

14 Issachar, your descendants will be like strong donkeys

that are lying down on the ground between their loads,

so tired that they cannot get up!

15 They will see that their resting place is good,

and that the land pleases them very much.

But they will bend their backs to carry heavy loads

and be forced to work for others.

16 Dan, although your tribe will be small,

their leaders will rule their people just like the leaders of other tribes of Israel will rule their people.

17 Your descendants will be like snakes at the side of a road,

like poisonous snakes lying beside a path.

They will strike the heels of horses that pass by,

causing the riders to fall backwards as the horses rear up on their hind legs.”

18 Then Jacob prayed, “Yahweh, I am waiting for you to rescue me from my enemies.”

19 Then Jacob continued telling his sons what would happen in the future. He said,

“Gad, your tribe/descendants will be attacked by a group of bandits,

but your tribe/descendants will pursue and attack them [MTY].

20 Asher, your descendants will eat good-tasting food;

they will produce food that is delicious enough for kings to eat.

21 Naphtali, your descendants will be like deer [MET] that are ◄free to/not tied down and can► run wherever they wish.

They will give birth to children who are good-looking like ◄fawns/baby deer► [MET].

22 Joseph, you will have many descendants [MET].

Their children will be as many as the fruit on a vine near a spring of water,

whose branches extend over a wall.

23 Their enemies will attack them fiercely,

and shoot at them with bows and arrows and pursue them.

24 But they will hold their bows steady and their arms will remain strong,

because of the power [MTY] of my mighty God,

because of Yahweh who guides and provides for me [MET]

like a shepherd guides and provides for his sheep.

The people of Israel will ask Yahweh to protect them,

like people hide under a huge overhanging rock to be protected.

25 God, the one whom I worship, will help your descendants.

God Almighty will bless them

by sending them rain from the sky

and by giving them water from deep/far below the ground.

He will give them many cattle and children [MET] (OR, and their cattle will have many offspring).

26 The blessings that I want God to give you are great ones.

They are greater than the blessings that come from the eternal mountains,

greater than the ones that come from the everlasting hills.

Joseph, I pray that these blessings will ◄be given to you/come upon your head►,

because you are the leader of your older brothers and younger brother.

27 Benjamin, your descendants will be like [MET] vicious/fierce wolves:

In the morning they will kill their enemies

like a wolf devours ◄its prey/the animals that it has killed►,

and in the evening they will divide among their warriors the spoils that they seized from their enemies.”

28 Those twelve sons are the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. That is what their father said to them as he blessed them, telling to each one words that were appropriate for him.

Jacob died

29 Then Jacob said to his sons, “I will soon die. Bury my body where some of my ancestors are buried, in the cave that is in the field that was bought from Ephron, who belonged to the Heth people-group. 30 That field is in the Machpelah area, east of Mamre town, in Canaan. My grandfather Abraham bought it from Ephron to use as a burial place. 31 That is where they buried him and his wife Sarah. That is where they buried my father Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And that is where I buried my wife Leah. 32 That field and the cave in it were bought from the Heth people-group; so that is where I want you to bury me.”

33 When Jacob finished giving those instructions to his sons, he lay down on his bed again. Then he died [IDM].

Jacob’s body was taken to Canaan and buried there

50 Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded his servants who were morticians to ◄embalm his father’s body/put spices on his father’s body► to ◄preserve it/keep it from decaying►, and then wrap it with strips of cloth. 3 So the morticians did that. It took 40 days to embalm Jacob’s body, because that is the amount of time that was always required for them to embalm a body. And the people of Egypt mourned for 70 days because of Jacob’s death. 4 When the time of mourning was finished, Joseph said to the king’s officials, “If you are pleased with me, please take this message to the king: 5 ‘When my father was about to die, he told me to solemnly promise that I would bury his body in Canaan, in the tomb that he himself had prepared. So please let me go up to Canaan and bury my father’s body. Then I will return.’ ”

6 After they gave the king the message, he replied, “Tell Joseph, ‘Go up and bury your father’s body, as you ◄swore/solemnly promised► that you would do.’ ” 7 So Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father’s body. All of the king’s officials, all the king’s advisors, and all the elders in Egypt went with him. 8 His own family’s small children and their sheep and goats and their cattle stayed in the Goshen region. But all the rest of Joseph’s family and his older brothers and younger brother and his father’s family went with him. 9 Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.

10 They went to the east side of the Jordan River and arrived at Atad. There was a place there where people ◄threshed/beat the grain to separate the wheat from the chaff.► There they mourned loudly for Jacob for a long time. Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for his father for seven days. 11 When the Canaan people-group who lived there saw them mourning like that, they said, “This is a sad mourning place for the people of Egypt!” So they named the place Abel-Mizraim, which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean ‘mourning of the Egyptians.’

12 Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded. 13 They crossed the Jordan River and carried Jacob’s body to Canaan. They buried it in the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre town. That was the field that Abraham had bought from Ephron, who was one of the Heth people-group, to use as a burial place.

14 After he had buried his father, Joseph and his older brothers and younger brother and all the others who had gone up to Canaan with him for the funeral returned to Egypt.

Joseph told his brothers that he would not get revenge for what they did to him

15 After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers became worried. They realized what might happen. They said, “Suppose Joseph hates us and tries to get revenge for all the evil things that we did to him many years ago?” 16 So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive your older brothers for the evil thing that they did to you, for their terrible sin against you, because what they did to you was very wrong.” ’ So now we, who are servants of your father’s God, ask you, please forgive us for what we did to you.” But Joseph just cried when he received their message. 18 Then his older brothers themselves came and threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph, and one of them said, “Please listen. We will just be your servants.” 19 But Joseph replied to them, “Do not be afraid! God is the one who punishes people; ◄am I God?/I am not God!► [RHQ] 20 As for you, yes, you wanted to do something very evil to me. But God caused something good to come from it! He wanted to save many people from dying of hunger, and that is what happened! Today they are alive! 21 So I say again, do not be afraid! I will make sure that you and your children have enough to eat.” In that way he reassured them and made made them feel much better.

Joseph died in Egypt

22 Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old. 23 He lived long enough to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. The children of Joseph’s grandson Machir, who was Manasseh’s son, were born before Joseph died, and were adopted by Joseph to be his own children [IDM]. 24 One day Joseph said to his older brothers, “I am about to die. But God will certainly ◄help/take care of► you. And some day he will lead your descendants up out of this land and take them to Canaan, the land that he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph said, “When God enables you to do that, you must take my body back to Canaan.” He made his older brothers solemnly promise to do that.

26 So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.