Genesis 31:1-38:4

English Standard Version

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw ^(A)that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(B)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵ and said to them, ^(C)“I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father ^(D)has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷ yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ^(F)ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸ If he said, ^(G)‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹ Thus God has ^(H)taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰ In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. ¹¹ Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ ¹² And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for ^(I)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, ^(J)where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now ^(K)arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” ¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there ^(L)any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(M)he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. ¹⁶ All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

¹⁷ So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in ^(N)Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's ^(O)household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[a] Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the ^(P)Euphrates,^[b] and ^(Q)set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²² When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean ^(R)in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(S)either good or bad.”

²⁵ And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have ^(T)tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly ^(U)and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? ²⁸ And why did you not permit me ^(V)to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is ^(W)in my power to do you harm. But the ^(X)God of your^[c] father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(Y)either good or bad.’ ³⁰ And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house, but why did you ^(Z)steal my gods?” ³¹ Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (AA)Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^(AB)rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and ^(AC)your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. ^(AD)From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. ^(AE)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(AF)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (AG)If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the ^(AH)Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(AI)God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and ^(AJ)rebuked you last night.”

⁴³ Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Come now, ^(AK)let us make a covenant, you and I. ^(AL)And let it be a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(AM)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,^[d] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[e] 48} Laban said, ^(AN)“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, ^49 (AO)and Mizpah,^[f] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. ⁵⁰ If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(AP)God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ^52 (AQ)This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^(AR)Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^(AS)his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

^55 [g] Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed ^(AT)his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's ^(AU)camp!” So he called the name of that place ^(AV)Mahanaim.^[h]

³ And Jacob sent^[i] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of ^(AW)Seir, the country of Edom, ⁴ instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that ^(AX)I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(AY)he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(AZ)greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸ thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, ^(BA)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ^(BB)said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ^10 (BC)I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ^(BD)I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But ^(BE)you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

¹³ So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took ^(BF)a present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷ He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” ¹⁹ He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him^[j] with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”^{[k] 21} So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²² The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,^[l] and crossed the ford of the ^(BG)Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone. And ^(BH)a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, ^(BI)“I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then he said, ^(BJ)“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[m] for ^(BK)you have striven with God and ^(BL)with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, ^(BM)“Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,^[n] saying, “For ^(BN)I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” ³¹ The sun rose upon him as he passed ^(BO)Penuel, limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(BP)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ² And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on before them, ^(BQ)bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

^4 (BR)But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him ^(BS)and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, ^(BT)“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by ^(BU)all this company^[o] that I met?” Jacob answered, ^(BV)“To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. ^(BW)For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept my ^(BX)blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he ^(BY)urged him, and he took it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of^[p] you.” ¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord ^(BZ)in Seir.”

¹⁵ So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? ^(CA)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to ^(CB)Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^(CC)Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.^[q]

¹⁸ And Jacob came safely^[r] to the city of ^(CD)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. ¹⁹ And from the sons of ^(CE)Hamor, Shechem's father, ^(CF)he bought for a hundred pieces of money^[s] the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.^[t]

The Defiling of Dinah

34 Now ^(CG)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. ² And when Shechem the son of ^(CH)Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem ^(CI)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶ And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and ^(CJ)very angry, because he ^(CK)had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, ^(CL)for such a thing must not be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your^[u] daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. ⁹ Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You shall dwell with us, and ^(CM)the land shall be open to you. Dwell and ^(CN)trade in it, and ^(CO)get property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, ^(CP)“Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Ask me for as great a ^(CQ)bride-price^[v] and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for ^(CR)that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”

¹⁸ Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. ¹⁹ And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now ^(CS)he was the most honored of all his father's house. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem ^(CT)came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and ^(CU)trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴ And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who ^(CV)went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, ^(CW)Simeon and Levi, ^(CX)Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. ²⁹ All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ^(CY)“You have brought trouble on me ^(CZ)by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, ^(DA)the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ^(DB)My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(DC)Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you ^(DD)when you fled from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(DE)household and to all who were with him, “Put away ^(DF)the foreign gods that are among you and ^(DG)purify yourselves and change your garments. ³ Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God ^(DH)who answers me in the day of my distress and ^(DI)has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ^(DJ)the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ And Jacob came to ^(DK)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷ and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[w] because ^(DL)there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸ And ^(DM)Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.^[x]

⁹ God appeared^[y] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰ And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; ^(DN)no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but ^(DO)Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him, ^(DP)“I am God Almighty:^[z] be ^(DQ)fruitful and multiply. ^(DR)A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.^{[aa] 12 (DS)}The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” ¹³ Then God ^(DT)went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ And Jacob ^(DU)set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him ^(DV)Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

¹⁶ Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance^[ab] from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. ¹⁷ And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for ^(DW)you have another son.” ¹⁸ And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;^{[ac] (DX)}but his father called him Benjamin.^{[ad] 19} So ^(DY)Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to ^(DZ)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰ and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is ^(EA)the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. ²¹ Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²² While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and ^(EB)lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³ The sons of Leah: ^(EC)Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴ The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵ The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶ The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷ And Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^(ED)Mamre, or ^(EE)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. ²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. ²⁹ And Isaac breathed his last, and he died ^(EF)and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And ^(EG)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Esau's Descendants

36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, ^(EH)Edom). ² Esau ^(EI)took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, ^(EJ)Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter^[ae] of Zibeon the Hivite, ³ and ^(EK)Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ And Adah bore to Esau, ^(EL)Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; ⁵ and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. ^7 (EM)For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. ^(EN)The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau settled in ^(EO)the hill country of Seir. (^(EP)Esau is Edom.)

⁹ These are the generations of Esau the father of ^(EQ)the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. ¹⁰ These are the names of Esau's sons: ^(ER)Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. ¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹² (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore ^(ES)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 These are the sons of ^(ET)Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵ These are ^(EU)the chiefs of the sons of Esau. ^(EV)The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶ Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷ These are the sons of ^(EW)Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. ¹⁸ These are the sons of ^(EX)Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. ¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau (^(EY)that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

^20 (EZ)These are the sons of ^(FA)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 were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna. ²³ These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. ²⁴ These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. ²⁵ These are the children of Anah: Dishon and ^(FB)Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. ²⁶ These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ²⁷ These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. ²⁸ These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹ These are the chiefs of the Horites: the ^(FC)chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir.

^31 (FD)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, the name of his city being Dinhabah. ³³ Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. ³⁴ Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. ³⁵ Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. ³⁶ Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. ³⁷ Samlah died, and Shaul of ^(FE)Rehoboth on the Euphrates^[af] reigned in his place. ³⁸ Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. ³⁹ Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹ Oholibamah, Elah, ^(FF)Pinon, ⁴² Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³ Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of ^(FG)Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.

Joseph's Dreams

37 Jacob lived in ^(FH)the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

² These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought ^(FI)a bad report of them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was ^(FJ)the son of his old age. And he made him ^(FK)a robe of many colors.^{[ag] 4} But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷ Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, ^(FL)my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and ^(FM)bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and ^(FN)your mother and your brothers indeed come ^(FO)to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” ¹¹ And ^(FP)his brothers were jealous of him, ^(FQ)but his father kept the saying in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near ^(FR)Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ¹⁴ So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of ^(FS)Hebron, and he came to Shechem. ¹⁵ And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” ¹⁶ “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷ And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to ^(FT)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at ^(FU)Dothan.

¹⁸ They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them ^(FV)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰ Come now, ^(FW)let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.^[ah] Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹ But when ^(FX)Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—^(FY)that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. ²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, ^(FZ)the robe of many colors that he wore. ²⁴ And they took him and ^(GA)threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a ^(GB)caravan of ^(GC)Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ^(GD)gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it ^(GE)if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(GF)let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then ^(GG)Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and ^(GH)sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels^[ai] of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he ^(GI)tore his clothes ³⁰ and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy ^(GJ)is gone, and I, where shall I go?” ³¹ Then they took ^(GK)Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” ³³ And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. ^(GL)A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters ^(GM)rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, ^(GN)I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile ^(GO)the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, ^(GP)the captain of the guard.

Judah and Tamar

38 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and ^(GQ)turned aside to a certain ^(GR)Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. ² There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was ^(GS)Shua. He took her and went in to her, ³ and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name ^(GT)Er. ⁴ She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name ^(GU)Onan.