God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(A)Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you ^(B)when you fled from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(C)household and to all who were with him, “Put away ^(D)the foreign gods that are among you and ^(E)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 ^(F)who answers me in the day of my distress and ^(G)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 ^(H)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 ^(I)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,^[a] because ^(J)there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸ And ^(K)Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.^[b]

⁹ God appeared^[c] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰ And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; ^(L)no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but ^(M)Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him, ^(N)“I am God Almighty:^[d] be ^(O)fruitful and multiply. ^(P)A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.^{[e] 12 (Q)}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 ^(R)went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ And Jacob ^(S)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 ^(T)Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

¹⁶ Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance^[f] 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 ^(U)you have another son.” ¹⁸ And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;^{[g] (V)}but his father called him Benjamin.^{[h] 19} So ^(W)Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to ^(X)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰ and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is ^(Y)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 ^(Z)lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³ The sons of Leah: ^(AA)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 ^(AB)Mamre, or ^(AC)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 ^(AD)and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And ^(AE)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and ^(A)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(B)had bought him from the ^(C)Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ^2 (D)The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(E)caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph ^(F)found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house ^(G)and put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵ From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house ^(H)for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶ So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was ^(I)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and ^(J)he has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and ^(K)sin against God?” ¹⁰ And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he ^(L)would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹ But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ^12 (M)she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³ And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶ Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷ and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰ And Joseph's master took him and ^(N)put him into the ^(O)prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹ But ^(P)the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love ^(Q)and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²² And the keeper of the prison ^(R)put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³ The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because ^(S)the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Joseph Interprets Two Prisoners' Dreams

40 Some time after this, the ^(A)cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. ² And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ^3 (B)and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.

⁵ And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, ^(C)“Why are your faces downcast today?” ⁸ They said to him, ^(D)“We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, ^(E)“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰ and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.” ¹² Then Joseph said to him, ^(F)“This is its interpretation: ^(G)the three branches are three days. ¹³ In three days Pharaoh will ^(H)lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. ¹⁵ For ^(I)I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and ^(J)here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷ and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸ And Joseph answered and said, ^(K)“This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. ^19 (L)In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and ^(M)hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

²⁰ On the third day, which was Pharaoh's ^(N)birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and ^(O)lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ^21 (P)He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and ^(Q)he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. ²² But he ^(R)hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

45 Then Joseph could not ^(A)control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³ And Joseph said to his brothers, ^(B)“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

⁴ So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, ^(C)whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ^(D)for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are ^(E)yet five years in which there will be neither ^(F)plowing nor harvest. ⁷ And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸ So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ^(G)ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. ^10 (H)You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ^11 (I)There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ ¹² And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is ^(J)my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³ You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and ^(K)bring my father down here.” ¹⁴ Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. ¹⁵ And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, “Joseph's brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and take your father and your households, and come to me, and ^(L)I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹ And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take ^(M)wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰ Have no concern for^[a] your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹ The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them ^(N)wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To each and all of them he gave ^(O)a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels^[b] of silver and ^(P)five changes of clothes. ²³ To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. ²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, ^(Q)“Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶ And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. ²⁷ But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw ^(R)the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

50 Then Joseph ^(A)fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. ² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to ^(B)embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³ Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians ^(C)wept for him seventy days.

⁴ And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, ^(D)“If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb ^(E)that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” ⁶ And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” ⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left ^(F)in the land of Goshen. ⁹ And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, ^(G)they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he ^(H)made a mourning for his father seven days. ¹¹ When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim;^[a] it is beyond the Jordan. ¹² Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, ¹³ for ^(I)his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham ^(J)bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

God's Good Purposes

¹⁵ When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ¹⁷ ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of ^(K)the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ His brothers also came and ^(L)fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^(M)am I in the place of God? ²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but ^(N)God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people^[b] should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹ So do not fear; ^(O)I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

²² So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. ²³ And Joseph saw Ephraim's children ^(P)of the third generation. The ^(Q)children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were ^(R)counted as Joseph's own.^{[c] 24} And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but ^(S)God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land ^(T)that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then ^(U)Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They ^(V)embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.