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Jacob’s Flocks Increase
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.
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So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were.
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Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps?
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If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”
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Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
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I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
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then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
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And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”
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After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
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and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied.
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So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,
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“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.
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Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her.
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Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”
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As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”
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In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
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So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.
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But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.
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Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”
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If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
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But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
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Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.
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As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.
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And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
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But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
