Bible in 90 Days

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow (promise), saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹ and if [He grants that] I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. ²² This stone which I have set up as a pillar (monument, memorial) will be God’s house [a sacred place to me], and of everything that You give me I will give the tenth to You [as an offering to signify my gratitude and dependence on You].”^(A)

Jacob Meets Rachel

29 Then Jacob ^[a]went on his way and came to the land of the people of the East [near Haran]. ² As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying there [resting] beside it because the flocks were watered from that well. Now the stone on the mouth of the well [that covered and protected it] was large, ³ and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, water the sheep, and [afterward] replace the stone on the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.” ⁵ So he said to them, “Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor [Abraham’s brother]?” And they replied, “We know him.” ⁶ And he asked them, “^[b]Is it well with him?” And they said, “He is doing well; look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep!” ⁷ Jacob said, “Look, the sun is still high [overhead]; it is a long time before the flocks need to be gathered [in their folds for the night]. Water the sheep, and go, and return them to their pasture.” ⁸ But they said, “We cannot [leave] until all the flocks are gathered together, and the shepherds roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we will water the sheep.”

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw [his cousin] Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he came up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban, his uncle. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel [in greeting], and he raised his voice and wept. ¹² Jacob told Rachel he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father.

¹³ When Laban heard of the arrival of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and embraced and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things. ¹⁴ Then Laban said to him, “You are my bone and my flesh.” And Jacob stayed with him a month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?” ¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you [as a hired workman] for seven years [in return] for [the privilege of marrying] Rachel your younger daughter.” ¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better that I give her [in marriage] to you than give her to another man. Stay and work with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served [Laban] for seven years for [the right to marry] Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Laban’s Treachery

²¹ Finally, Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time [of service] is completed, so that I may take her to me [as my wife].” ²² So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and prepared a [wedding] ^[c]feast [with wine]. ²³ But in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob ^[d]went in to [consummate the marriage with] her. ²⁴ Laban also gave Zilpah his maid to his daughter Leah as a maid. ²⁵ But in the morning [when Jacob awoke], it was Leah [who was with him]! And he said to Laban, “What is this that you have done to me? Did I not work for you [for seven years] for Rachel? Why have you deceived and betrayed me [like this]?” ²⁶ But Laban only said, “It is not ^[e]the tradition here to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the older. ²⁷ Finish the week [of the wedding feast] for Leah; then we will give you Rachel also, and in return you shall work for me for seven more years.” ²⁸ So Jacob complied and fulfilled Leah’s week [of celebration]; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his [second] wife. ²⁹ Laban also gave Bilhah his maid to his daughter Rachel as a maid. ³⁰ So Jacob consummated his marriage and lived with Rachel [as his wife], and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

³¹ Now when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He ^[f]made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben (See, a son!), for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my humiliation and suffering; now my husband will love me [since I have given him a son].” ³³ Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon (God hears). ³⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me [as a companion], for I have given him three sons.” Therefore he was named ^[g]Levi. ³⁵ Again she conceived and gave birth to a [fourth] son, and she said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” So she named him ^[h]Judah; then [for a time] she stopped bearing [children].

The Sons of Jacob

30 When Rachel saw that she conceived no children for Jacob, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.” ² Then Jacob became furious with Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has denied you children?” ³ She said, “Here, take my maid Bilhah and go in to her; and [when the baby comes] she shall ^[i]deliver it [while sitting] on my knees, so that by her I may also have children [to count as my own].” ⁴ So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [^[j]secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid].” So she named him Dan (He judged). ⁷ Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [^[k]secondary] wife. ¹⁰ Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹ Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad (good fortune). ¹² Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ¹³ Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy).

¹⁴ Now at the time of wheat harvest Reuben [the eldest child] went and found some ^[l]mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵ But Leah answered, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Jacob shall sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me [tonight], for I have in fact hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷ God listened and answered [the prayer of] Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸ Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she named him ^[m]Issachar. ¹⁹ Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰ Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good [marriage] gift [for my husband]; now he will live with me [regarding me with honor as his wife], because I have given birth to six sons.” So she named him ^[n]Zebulun. ²¹ Afterward she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered [the prayers of] Rachel, and God thought of her and opened her womb [so that she would conceive]. ²³ So she conceived and gave birth to a son; and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph (may He add) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

²⁵ Now when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go back to my own place and to my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the work which I have done for you.” ²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ He said, “Name your wages, and I will give it [to you].” ²⁹ Jacob answered him, “You know how I have served you and how your possessions, your cattle and sheep and goats, have fared with me. ³⁰ For you had little before I came and it has increased and multiplied abundantly, and the Lord has favored you with blessings wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household?” ³¹ Laban asked, “What shall I give you?” Jacob replied, “You shall not give me anything. But if you will do this one thing for me [which I now propose], I will again pasture and keep your flock: ³² Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every dark or black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages. ³³ So my honesty will be evident for me later, when you come [for an accounting] concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark among the young lambs, if found with me, shall be considered stolen.” ³⁴ And Laban said, “Good! Let it be done as you say.” ³⁵ So on that same day Laban [secretly] removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one with white on it, and all the dark ones among the sheep, and put them in the care of his sons. ³⁶ And he put [a distance of] three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was then left in care of the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷ Then Jacob took branches of fresh poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white in the branches. ³⁸ Then he set the branches which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated and conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks mated and conceived by the branches, and the flocks ^[o]gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and [as he had done with the peeled branches] he made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the dark or black in the [new] flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart by themselves and did not put them [where they could breed] with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ Furthermore, whenever the stronger [animals] of the flocks were breeding, Jacob would place the branches in the sight of the flock in the watering troughs, so that they would mate and conceive among the branches; ⁴² but when the flock was sickly, he did not put the branches there; so the sicker [animals] were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ So Jacob became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks [of sheep and goats], and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken away everything that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this wealth and honor.” ² Jacob noticed [a change in] the ^[p]attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and he said to them, “I see [a change in] your father’s attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has cheated me [as often as possible] and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled [young]; and if he said, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked [young]. ⁹ Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰ And it happened at the time when the flock conceived that I looked up and saw in a dream that the rams which mated [with the female goats] were streaked, speckled, and spotted. ¹¹ And the ^[q]Angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Look up and see, all the rams which are mating [with the flock] are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has told you to do, do it.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob stood [and took action] and put his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and [took along] all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹ When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel [went inside the house and] stole her father’s ^[r]household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[s]deceived Laban the Aramean (Syrian) by not telling him that he intended to leave and he slipped away secretly. ²¹ So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵ Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban with his relatives camped on the same hill of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre? ²⁸ And why did you not allow me to kiss my ^[t]grandchildren and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have done a foolish thing [in behaving like this]. ²⁹ It is in my power to harm you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰ Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you ^[u]were homesick for your father’s house and family; but why did you steal my [household] ^[v]gods?” ³¹ Jacob answered Laban, “[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. ³² The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [search my possessions and] point out whatever you find that belongs to you and take it.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban searched through all her tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ So Rachel said to her father, “Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell.” He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. And he said to Laban, “What is my fault? What is my sin that you pursued me like this? ³⁷ Although you have searched through all my possessions, what have you found of your household goods? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide [who has done right] between the two of us. ³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not lost their young, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ I did not bring you the torn carcasses [of the animals attacked by predators]; I [personally] took the loss. You required of me [to make good] everything that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or night. ⁴⁰ This was my situation: by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and ^[w]I could not sleep. ⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for [my share of] your flocks, and you have ^[x]changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and [the Feared One] of Isaac, had not been with me, most certainly you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [exhausting] labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment and rebuked you last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

⁴³ Laban answered Jacob, “These ^[y]women [that you married] are my daughters, these children are my ^[z]grandchildren, these flocks are [from] my flocks, and all that you see [here] is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ So come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a [memorial] pillar. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound [of stones], and they ate [a ceremonial meal together] there on the mound [of stones].^{(B) 47} Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha (stone monument of testimony in ^[aa]Aramaic), but Jacob called it ^[ab]Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “This mound [of stones] is a witness [a reminder of the oath taken] today between you and me.” Therefore he [also] called the name Galeed, ⁴⁹ and Mizpah (^[ac]watchtower), for Laban said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another. ⁵⁰ If you should mistreat (humiliate, oppress) my daughters, or if you should take other wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us [as a witness], see and remember, God is witness between you and me.” ⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this mound [of stones] and look at this pillar which I have set up between you and me. ⁵² This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this mound to harm you, and that you will not pass by this mound and this pillar to harm me. ⁵³ The God of Abraham [your father] and the God of Nahor [my father], and the ^[ad]god [the image of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolater], judge between us.” But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Fear of his father Isaac.^{(C) 54} Then Jacob offered a sacrifice [to the Lord] on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate food and spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his ^[ae]grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32 Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him]. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim (^[af]double camps).^(D)

³ Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says this, “I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now; ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants; and I have sent [this message] to tell my lord, so that I may find grace and kindness in your sight.”’”

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps; ⁸ and he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape.”

⁹ Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With only my staff [long ago] I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become [blessed and increased into these] two groups [of people]. ¹¹ Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. ¹² And You [Lord] said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”

¹³ So Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels with their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten [donkey] colts. ¹⁶ He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds.” ¹⁷ Then he commanded the one in front, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks to whom you belong, and where you are going, and whose are the animals in front of you? ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ And so Jacob commanded the second and the third as well, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is what you shall say to Esau when you meet him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said [to himself], “I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me.” ²¹ So the gift [of the herds of livestock] went on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night back in the camp.

²² But he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and waded over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ Then he took them and sent them across the brook. And he also sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a ^[ag]Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. ²⁶ Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” ²⁷ So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[ah]Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”^{(E) 29} Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.” But He said, “Why is it that you ask My name?” And He declared a blessing [of the covenant promises] on Jacob there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away.” ³¹ Now the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh by the tendon of the hip.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob looked up, and saw Esau coming with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. ² He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ Then Jacob crossed over [the stream] ahead of them and bowed himself to the ground seven times [bowing and moving forward each time], until he approached his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy].^{(F) 5} Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So Jacob replied, “They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the maids approached with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau asked, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” And he answered, “[These are] to find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob replied, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift [as a blessing] from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything [that I could possibly want].” So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us get started on our journey and I will go in front of you [to lead the way].” ¹³ But Jacob replied, “You know, my lord, that the children are frail and need gentle care, and the nursing flocks and herds [with young] are of concern to me; for if the men should drive them hard for a single day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord go on ahead of his servant, and I will move on slowly, governed by the pace of the livestock that are in front of me and according to the endurance of the children, ^[ai]until I come to my lord in Seir [in Edom].”

¹⁵ Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But Jacob said, “^[aj]What need is there [for it]? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau turned back [toward the south] that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed [north] to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; so the name of the place is Succoth (huts, shelters).

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ When Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely and in peace at the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and camped in front of the [walled] city. ¹⁹ Then he bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tents from ^[ak]the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ^[al]pieces of money. ²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it ^[am]El-Elohe-Israel.

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out [unescorted] to visit the girls of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her]. ³ But his soul longed for and clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke comfortingly to her young heart’s wishes. ⁴ So Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” ⁵ Now Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled (violated) Dinah his daughter; but his sons were in the field with his livestock, so Jacob said nothing until they came in. ⁶ But Shechem’s father Hamor went to Jacob to talk with him. ⁷ Now when Jacob’s sons heard of it they came in from the field; they were deeply grieved, and they were very angry, for Shechem had done a disgraceful thing to ^[an]Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing is not to be done.

⁸ But Hamor conferred with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem [deeply] longs for your daughter [and sister]. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹ And [beyond that] intermarry with us; give your daughters to us [as wives] and take our daughters for yourselves.^{(G) 10} In this way you shall live with us; the country will be open to you; live and do business in it and acquire property and possessions in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to Dinah’s father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give you whatever you ask of me. ¹² Demand of me a very large bridal payment and gift [as compensation for giving up your daughter and sister], and I will give you whatever you tell me; only give me the girl to be my wife.”

¹³ Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled and disgraced their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing and give our sister [in marriage] to one who is not circumcised, because that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ But we will consent to you only on this condition: if you will become like us, in that every male among you consents to be circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you [in marriage], and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not listen to us and refuse to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter [Dinah] and go.”

¹⁸ Their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and his son Shechem, ¹⁹ and the young man did not hesitate to do the [required] thing, for he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected and honored than all [others] in the household of his father. ²⁰ Then Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their [walled] city [where the leading men would meet] and spoke with the men of the city, saying, ²¹ “These men are peaceful and friendly with us; so let them live in the land and do business in it, for the land is large enough [for us and] for them; let us take their daughters for wives and let us give them our daughters [in marriage]. ²² But only on this condition will the men consent to our request that they live among us and become one people: that every male among us become circumcised just as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their cattle and their possessions and all their animals be ours [if we do this]? Let us consent [to do as they ask], and they will live here with us.” ²⁴ And every [Canaanite] man who went out of the city gate listened and considered what Hamor and Shechem said; and every male who ^[ao]was a resident of that city was circumcised.

²⁵ Now on the third day [after the circumcision], when all the men were [terribly] sore and in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without anyone suspecting them of evil intent], and they killed every male. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house [where she was staying], and left. ²⁷ Then Jacob’s [other] sons came upon those who were killed and looted the town, because their sister had been defiled and disgraced. ²⁸ They took the Canaanites’ flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field; ²⁹ they looted all their wealth, and [took captive] all their children and their wives, even everything that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me, making me a stench to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! My men are few in number, and the men of the land will band together against me and attack me; I shall be destroyed, I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he [be permitted to] treat our sister as a prostitute?”

Jacob Moves to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you [in a distinct manifestation] when you fled [years ago] from Esau your brother.”^{(H) 2} Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the [idols and images of] foreign gods that are among you, and ceremonially purify yourselves and change [into fresh] clothes; ³ then let us get up and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the ^[ap]oak tree near Shechem.

⁵ As they journeyed, there was a great [supernatural] terror [sent from God] on the cities around them, and [for that reason] the Canaanites did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ There he built an altar [to worship the Lord], and called the place El-bethel (God of the House of God), because there God had revealed Himself to him when he escaped from his brother. ⁸ Now Deborah, [who once was] Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (Oak of Weeping).

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹ Then God [in a visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.^{(I) 10} Again God said to him,

So he was called ^[aq]Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him,

¹³ Then God ascended from Jacob in the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴ Jacob set up a pillar (memorial, monument) in the place where he had talked with God, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering [of wine] on it; he also poured oil on it [to declare it sacred for God’s purpose]. ¹⁵ So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (the House of God).

¹⁶ Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had difficulty and suffered severely. ¹⁷ When she was in hard labor the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; you now have another son.” ¹⁸ And as her soul was departing, (for she died), she named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow); but his father called him Benjamin (^[at]son of the right hand). ¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set a pillar (memorial, monument) on her grave; that is the ^[au]pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹ Then Israel (Jacob) journeyed on and pitched his tent on the other side of the tower of Eder [the lookout point used by shepherds].

²² While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s ^[av]concubine, and Israel heard about it.

The Sons of Israel

Now Jacob had twelve sons— ²³ The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ²⁴ and the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵ and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶ and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob born to him in Paddan-aram.

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

²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ Isaac’s spirit departed and he died and was ^[aw]gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death], an old man full of days (satisfied, fulfilled); his sons Esau and Jacob buried him [in the cave of Machpelah with his parents Abraham and Sarah].

Esau Moves

36 Now these are the records of the descendants of Esau, (that is, Edom).

² Esau took his [three] wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite, ³ and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, ⁵ and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau born to him in Canaan.

⁶ Now Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all the members of his household, and his livestock and all his cattle and all his possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and he went to a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ For their [great flocks and herds and] possessions made it impossible for them to live together [in the same region]; the land in which they lived temporarily could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.

Descendants of Esau

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

¹⁵ These are the tribal chiefs of the sons of Esau: The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶ Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷ These 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. ¹⁸ These 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. ¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau, (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

²⁰ These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²² The sons of Lotan are Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister is Timna. ²³ The sons of Shobal are these: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. ²⁴ These 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. ²⁵ The children of Anah are these: Dishon and Oholibamah [Esau’s wife], the daughter of Anah. ²⁶ These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ²⁷ Ezer’s sons are these: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. ²⁸ The sons of Dishan are these: Uz and Aran. ²⁹ The Horite chiefs are these: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰ Dishon, Ezer, Dishan. These are the Horite chiefs, according to their various clans in the land of Seir.

³¹ And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: ³² Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³ Now Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned as his successor. ³⁴ Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned as his successor. ³⁵ And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned as his successor. The name of his [walled] city was Avith. ³⁶ Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him. ³⁷ Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the river [Euphrates] reigned as his successor. ³⁸ And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned as his successor. ³⁹ Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and then ^[ay]Hadar reigned [as his successor]. His [walled] city was ^[az]Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ And these are the names of the tribal chiefs of Esau, according to their families and places of residence, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹ Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴² Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³ Magdiel, and Iram. These are the tribal chiefs of Edom (that is, of Esau the father of the Edomites), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.

Joseph’s Dream

37 So Jacob (Israel) lived in the land ^[ba]where his father [Isaac] had been a stranger (sojourner, resident alien), in the land of Canaan. ² These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers [Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher]; the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s [^[bb]secondary] wives; and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a [distinctive] ^[bc]multicolored tunic. ⁴ His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; so they hated him and could not [find it within themselves to] speak to him on friendly terms.

⁵ Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they ^[bd]hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to [the details of] this dream which I have dreamed; ⁷ we [brothers] were binding sheaves [of grain stalks] in the field, and lo, my sheaf [suddenly] got up and stood upright and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves stood all around my sheaf and bowed down [in respect].” ⁸ His brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Are you really going to rule and govern us as your subjects?” So they hated him even more for [telling them about] his dreams and for his [arrogant] words.

⁹ But Joseph dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers [as well]. He said, “See here, I have again dreamed a dream, and lo, [this time I saw] eleven stars and the sun and the moon bowed down [in respect] to me!” ¹⁰ He told it to his father as well as to his brothers; but his father rebuked him and said to him [in disbelief], “What is [the meaning of] this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow down to the ground [in respect] before you?” ¹¹ Joseph’s brothers were envious and jealous of him, but his father kept the words [of Joseph] in mind [wondering about their meaning].

¹² Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. ¹³ Israel (Jacob) said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing [the flock] at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said, “Here I am [ready to obey you].” ¹⁴ Then Jacob said to him, “Please go and see whether everything is all right with your brothers and all right with the flock; then bring word [back] to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵ Now a certain man found Joseph, and saw that he was wandering around and had lost his way in the field; so the man asked him, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing our flocks.” ¹⁷ Then the man said, “[They were here, but] they have moved on from this place. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to ^[be]Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

The Plot against Joseph

¹⁸ And when they saw him from a distance, even before he came close to them, they plotted to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Look, here comes this ^[bf]dreamer. ²⁰ Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the ^[bg]pits (cisterns, underground water storage); then we will say [to our father], ‘A wild animal killed and devoured him’; and we shall see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹ Now Reuben [the eldest] heard this and rescued him from their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” ²² Reuben said to them, “Do not shed his blood, but [instead] throw him [alive] into the pit that is here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him [to kill him]”—[he said this so] that he could rescue him from them and return him [safely] to his father. ²³ Now when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the [distinctive] ^[bh]multicolored tunic which he was wearing; ²⁴ then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat their meal. When they looked up, they saw a caravan of ^[bi]Ishmaelites coming from Gilead [east of the Jordan], with their camels bearing ladanum resin [for perfume] and balm and ^[bj]myrrh, going on their way to carry the cargo down to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood (murder)? ²⁷ Come, let us [instead] sell him to these Ishmaelites [and ^[bk]Midianites] and not lay our hands on him, because he is our brother and our flesh.” So his brothers listened to him and agreed.^{(J) 28} Then as the ^[bl]Midianite [and Ishmaelite] traders were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And so they took Joseph [as a captive] into Egypt.

²⁹ Now Reuben [unaware of what had happened] returned to the pit, and [to his great alarm found that] Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his clothes [in deep sorrow]. ³⁰ He rejoined his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where shall I go [to hide from my father]?” ³¹ Then they took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³² and they brought the multicolored tunic to their father, saying, “We have found this; please examine it and decide whether or not it is your son’s tunic.” ³³ He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces!” ³⁴ So Jacob tore his clothes [in grief], put ^[bm]on sackcloth and mourned many days for his son. ³⁵ Then 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) in mourning for my son.” And his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph [as a slave] to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the [royal] guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 Now at that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to [stay with] a certain Adullamite named Hirah. ² There Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite, and he took her [as his wife] and lived with her. ³ So she conceived and gave birth to a son and Judah named him Er. ⁴ Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. ⁵ Again she conceived and gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶ Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar. ⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him [in judgment]. ⁸ Then Judah told Onan, “Go in to your brother’s widow, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law [under the levirate marriage custom]; [be her husband and] raise children for [the name of] your brother.”^{(K) 9} Onan knew that the child (heir) would not be his [but his dead brother’s]; so whenever he lay with his brother’s widow, he spilled his seed on the ground [to prevent conception], so that he would not give a child to his brother. ¹⁰ But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; therefore He killed him also [in judgment]. ¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow at your father’s house until Shelah my [youngest] son is grown”; [but he was deceiving her] for he thought that [if Shelah should marry her] he too might die like his brothers did. So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

^12 [bn]But quite a while later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ Tamar was told, “Listen, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself up [in disguise], and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife [as Judah had promised]. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a [temple] prostitute, for she had covered her face [as such women did]. ¹⁶ He turned to her by the road, and said, “Please come, let me lie with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may lie with me?” ¹⁷ He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge [as a deposit] until you send it?” ¹⁸ He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She said, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and was intimate with her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothing.

²⁰ When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to get his pledge [back] from the woman, he was unable to find her. ²¹ He asked the men of that place, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the roadside at Enaim?” They said, “There was no prostitute here.” ²² So he returned to Judah, and said, “I cannot find her; also the local men said, ‘There was no prostitute around here.’” ²³ Then Judah said, “Let her keep the things (pledge articles) for herself, otherwise we will be a laughingstock [searching everywhere for her]. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the [role of a] prostitute, and she is with child because of her immorality.” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned [to death as punishment]!” ²⁵ While she was being brought out, she [took the things Judah had given her and] sent [them along with a message] to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these articles belong.” And she added, “Please examine [them carefully] and see [clearly] to whom these things belong, the seal and the cord and staff.” ²⁶ Judah recognized the articles, and said, “She has been more righteous [in this matter] than I, because I did not give her to my son Shelah [as I had promised].” And Judah did not have [intimate] relations with her again.

²⁷ Now when the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ And when she was in labor, one [baby] put out his hand, and the midwife took his hand and tied a scarlet thread on it, saying, “This one was born first.” ²⁹ But he pulled back his hand, and his brother was born first. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself [to be the firstborn]!” So he was named Perez (breach, break forth).^{(L) 30} Afterward his brother who had the scarlet [thread] on his hand was born and was named Zerah (brightness).

Joseph’s Success in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the [royal] guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he [even though a slave] became a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³ Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper (succeed) in his hand.^{(M) 4} So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight and he served him as his personal servant. He made Joseph overseer over his house, and he put all that he owned in Joseph’s charge. ⁵ It happened that from the time that he made Joseph overseer in his house and [put him in charge] over all that he owned, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph; so the Lord’s blessing was on everything that Potiphar owned, in the house and in the field. ⁶ So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with Joseph there he did not [need to] ^[bo]pay attention to anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and attractive in form and appearance.^{(N) 7} Then after a time his master’s wife ^[bp]looked at Joseph with desire, and she said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me in the house, my master does not concern himself with anything; he has put everything that he owns in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God [and your husband]?” ¹⁰ And so it was that she spoke to Joseph [persistently] day after day, but he did not listen to her [plea] to lie beside her or be with her. ¹¹ Then it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the household was there in the house. ¹² She caught Joseph by his [outer] robe, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his robe in her hand and ran, and got outside [the house]. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his robe in her hand and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “Look at this, your master has brought a Hebrew [into the household] to mock and insult us; he came to me to lie with me, and I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me screaming, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house].” ¹⁶ So she left Joseph’s [outer] robe beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told her husband the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you brought among us, came to me to mock and insult me; ¹⁸ then as soon as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house].”

Joseph Imprisoned

¹⁹ And when Joseph’s master heard the words of his wife, saying, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger burned. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden. ²² The warden committed to Joseph’s care (management) all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was ^[bq]in charge of it. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him; whatever Joseph did, the Lord made to prosper.

Joseph Interprets a Dream

40 Now some time later, the cupbearer (butler) and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, Egypt’s king. ² Pharaoh (^[br]Sesostris II) was extremely angry with his two officials, the chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers. ³ He put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard put Joseph in charge of them, and he served them; and they continued to be in custody for some time. ⁵ Then the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, both dreamed a dream in the same night, each man with his [own significant] dream and each dream with its [personal] interpretation. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning and looked at them, [he saw that] they were sad and depressed. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in confinement with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so down-hearted today?” ⁸ And they said to him, “We have [each] dreamed [distinct] dreams and there is no one to interpret them.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell me [your dreams].”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me; ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. Then as soon as it budded, its blossoms burst open, and its clusters produced ripe grapes [in rapid succession]. ¹¹ Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup; then I placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”