²² Then God remembered Rachel;^(A) he listened to her^(B) and enabled her to conceive.^{(C) 23} She became pregnant and gave birth to a son^(D) and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”^{(E) 24} She named him Joseph,^[a](F) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”^(G)

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac^(A)

¹⁶ Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath,^(B) Rachel^(C) began to give birth and had great difficulty. ¹⁷ And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife^(D) said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”^{(E) 18} As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.^[a](F) But his father named him Benjamin.^[b](G)

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath^(H) (that is, Bethlehem^(I)). ²⁰ Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day^(J) that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.^(K)

³ Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain^(A) from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin,^(B) Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.^(C)

²⁵ “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’^{(A) 26} But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’^(B)

²⁷ “Your servant my father^(C) said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.^{(D) 28} One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”^(E) And I have not seen him since.^{(F) 29} If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave^(G) in misery.’^(H)

³⁰ “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father,^(I) and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,^{(J) 31} sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die.^(K) Your servants^(L) will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave^(M) in sorrow. ³² Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’^(N)

³³ “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave^(O) in place of the boy,^(P) and let the boy return with his brothers. ³⁴ How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery^(Q) that would come on my father.”^(R)