Genesis 35-37 (Amplified Bible)

Genesis 35

 ¹AND GOD said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. And make there an altar to God Who appeared to you [in a distinct manifestation] when you fled from the presence of Esau your brother.^(A)

    ²Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the [images of] strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves and change [into fresh] garments;

    ³Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God Who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me wherever I went.

    ⁴So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.

    ⁵And they journeyed and a terror from God fell on the towns round about them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

    ⁶So Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people with him.

    ⁷There he built an altar, and called the place El-bethel [God of Bethel], for there God revealed Himself to him when he fled from the presence of his brother.

    ⁸But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under an oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth [oak of weeping].

    ⁹And God [in a distinctly visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Padan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.^(B)

    ¹⁰Again God said to him, Your name is Jacob [supplanter]; you shall not be called Jacob any longer, but Israel shall be your name. So He called him Israel [contender with God].

    ¹¹And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall be born of your stock;

    ¹²The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your descendants after you I will give the land.

    ¹³Then God ascended from him in the place where He talked with him.

    ¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar (monument) in the place where he talked with [God], a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it and he poured oil on it.

    ¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God had talked with him Bethel [house of God].

    ¹⁶And they journeyed from Bethel and had but a little way to go to Ephrath [Bethlehem] when Rachel suffered the pangs of childbirth and had hard labor.

    ¹⁷When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid; you shall have this son also.

    ¹⁸And as her soul was departing, for she died, she called his name Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [son of the right hand].

    ¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

    ²⁰And Jacob set a pillar (monument) on her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

    ²¹Then Israel journeyed on and spread his tent on the other side of the tower of Edar.

    ²²When Israel dwelt there, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard about it. Now Jacob's sons were twelve.

    ²³The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

    ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

    ²⁵The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid: Dan and Naphtali.

    ²⁶And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob born to him in Padan-aram.

    ²⁷And Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre or Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

    ²⁸Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.

    ²⁹And Isaac's spirit departed; he died and was gathered to his people, being an old man, satisfied and satiated with days; his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

   

Genesis 36

 ¹NOW THIS is the history of the descendants of Esau, that is, Edom.

    ²Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite,

    ³And Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth.

    ⁴Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel;

    ⁵And Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau born to him in Canaan.

    ⁶Now Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle, all his beasts, and all his possessions which he had obtained in the land of Canaan, and he went into a land away from his brother Jacob.

    ⁷For their great flocks and herds and possessions [which they had collected] made it impossible for them to dwell together; the land in which they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock.

    ⁸So Esau dwelt in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.

    ⁹And this is the history of the descendants of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

    ¹⁰These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, the son of Adah, Esau's wife, and Reuel, the son of Basemath, Esau's wife.

    ¹¹And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

    ¹²And Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.

    ¹³These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.

    ¹⁴And these are the sons of Oholibamah daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon, Esau's wife. She bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

    ¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

    ¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Adah.

    ¹⁷These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.

    ¹⁸These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the chiefs born of Oholibamah daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.

    ¹⁹These are the sons of Esau, that is, Edom, and these are their chiefs.

    ²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

    ²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the ^[a]Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

    ²²The sons of Lotan are Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister is Timna.

    ²³The sons of Shobal are these: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

    ²⁴These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

    ²⁵The children of Anah are these: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah [Esau's wife].

    ²⁶These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

    ²⁷Ezer's sons are these: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

    ²⁸The sons of Dishan are these: Uz and Aran.

    ²⁹The Horite chiefs are these: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

    ³⁰Dishon, Ezer, Dishan. These are the Horite chiefs, according to their clans, in the land of Seir.

    ³¹And these are the kings who reigned in Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:

    ³²Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom. And the name of his city was Dinhabah.

    ³³Now Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

    ³⁴Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.

    ³⁵And Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his stead. The name of his [enclosed] city was Avith.

    ³⁶Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him.

    ³⁷Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the river [Euphrates] reigned in his stead.

    ³⁸And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

    ³⁹Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, and then Hadar reigned. His [enclosed] city was Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

    ⁴⁰And these are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families and places of residence, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

    ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

    ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

    ⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom [that is, of Esau the father of the Edomites], according to their dwelling places in their land.

   

Genesis 37

 ¹SO JACOB dwelt in the land in which his father had been a stranger and sojourner, in the land of Canaan.

    ²This is the history of the descendants of Jacob and this is Jacob's line. Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's [secondary] wives; and Joseph brought to his father a bad report of them.

    ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a [distinctive] long tunic with sleeves.

    ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved [Joseph] more than all of his brothers, they hated him and could not say, Peace [in friendly greeting] to him or speak peaceably to him.

    ⁵Now Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him still more.

    ⁶And he said to them, Listen now and hear, I pray you, this dream that I have dreamed:

    ⁷We [brothers] were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about my sheaf and bowed down!

    ⁸His brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or are you going to have us as your subjects and dominate us? And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for what he said.

    ⁹But Joseph dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers [also]. He said, See here, I have dreamed again, and behold, [this time not only] eleven stars [but also] the sun and the moon bowed down and did reverence to me!

    ¹⁰And he told it to his father [as well as] his brethren. But his father rebuked him and said to him, What is the meaning of this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow down ourselves to the earth and do homage to you?

    ¹¹Joseph's brothers envied him and were jealous of him, but his father observed the saying and pondered over it.

    ¹²Joseph's brothers went to shepherd and feed their father's flock near Shechem.

    ¹³[One day] Israel said to Joseph, Do not your brothers shepherd my flock at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said, Here I am.

    ¹⁴And [Jacob] said to him, Go, I pray you, see whether everything is all right with your brothers and with the flock; then come back and bring me word. So he sent him out of the Hebron Valley, and he came to Shechem.

    ¹⁵And a certain man found him, and behold, he had lost his way and was wandering in the open country. The man asked him, What are you trying to find?

    ¹⁶And he said, I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where they are pasturing our flocks.

    ¹⁷But the man said, [They were here, but] they have gone. I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

    ¹⁸And when they saw him far off, even before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.

    ¹⁹And they said one to another, See, here comes this dreamer and master of dreams.

    ²⁰So come on now, let us kill him and throw his body into some pit; then we will say [to our father], Some wild and ferocious animal has devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams!

    ²¹Now Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands by saying, Let us not kill him.

    ²²And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit or well that is out here in the wilderness and lay no hand on him. He was trying to get Joseph out of their hands in order to rescue him and deliver him again to his father.

    ²³When Joseph had come to his brothers, they stripped him of his [distinctive] long garment which he was wearing;

    ²⁴Then they took him and cast him into the [well-like] pit which was empty; there was no water in it.

    ²⁵Then they sat down to eat their lunch. When they looked up, behold, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites [mixed Arabians] coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum [of the styrax tree], balm (balsam), and myrrh or ladanum, going on their way to carry them down to Egypt.

    ²⁶And Judah said to his brothers, What do we gain if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

    ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites [and Midianites, these mixed Arabians who are approaching], and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers consented.

    ²⁸Then as the Midianite [and Ishmaelite] merchants were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the well. And they sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph [captive] into Egypt.

    ²⁹Then Reuben [who had not been there when the brothers plotted to sell the lad] returned to the pit; and behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and he rent his clothes.

    ³⁰He rejoined his brothers and said, The boy is not there! And I, where shall I go [to hide from my father]?

    ³¹Then they took Joseph's [distinctive] long garment, killed a young goat, and dipped the garment in the blood;

    ³²And they sent the garment to their father, saying, We have found this! Examine and decide whether it is your son's tunic or not.

    ³³He said, My son's long garment! An evil [wild] beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

    ³⁴And Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned many days for his son.

    ³⁵And all his sons and daughters attempted to console him, but he refused to be comforted and said, I will go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.

    ³⁶And the Midianites [and Ishmaelites] sold [Joseph] in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain and chief executioner of the [royal] guard.