Beginning
Jacob Returns to Bethel
35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, dwell there, and there make an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and there I will make an altar 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 foreign gods which were in their possession and all their earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. 5 As they traveled, the terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they 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 and called the place El Bethel, because God had appeared to him there when he fled from his brother.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried beneath Bethel under the oak. So it was called Allon Bakuth.
9 God appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan Aram and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called Jacob any more, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel.
11 God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. 12 The land that I gave Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your descendants after you I will give the land.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.
14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it too. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac(A)
16 They journeyed from Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had a difficult labor. 17 When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear. You will have this son also.” 18 As her soul was departing (for she died), she called his name Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin.
19 Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20 Jacob set a pillar on her grave. It is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.
21 Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 When Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
23 The sons of Leah were
Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,
and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel were
Joseph and Benjamin.
25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, were
Dan and Naphtali.
26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, were
Gad and Asher.
These are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27 Jacob came back to Isaac his father in Mamre of Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Esau’s Descendants(B)
36 Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.
2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz, and 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 people of his house, his livestock, all his animals, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and he moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were foreigners could not sustain them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.
9 These are 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 the wife of Esau, and 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 to Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife.
13 These are the sons of Reuel:
Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
14 These were the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau
Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
The Chiefs of Edom
15 These were chiefs of the sons of Esau.
The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau were
Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, 16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These are the chiefs who came from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Adah.
17 These were the sons of Reuel Esau’s son:
Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs who came from Reuel in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
18 These were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife:
Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, and Chief Korah. These were the chiefs who came from Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.
19 These were the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these were their chiefs.
The Sons of Seir
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land:
Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 The children of Lotan were
Hori and Homam, and Lotan’s sister was Timna.
23 The children of Shobal were these:
Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 These were the children of Zibeon:
Aiah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the water in the wilderness as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon, his father.
25 The children of Anah were these:
Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
26 These are the children of Dishon:
Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.
27 The children of Ezer were these:
Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
28 The children of Dishan were these:
Uz and Aran.
29 These were the chiefs that came from the Horites:
Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, 30 Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishan. These are the chiefs who came from Hori, among their chiefs in the land of Seir.
The Kings of Edom(C)
31 These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.
32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead.
35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Avith.
36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.
37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.
38 Shaul died, and Baal-Hanan the son of Akbor reigned in his stead.
39 Baal-Hanan the son of Akbor died, and Hadad reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.
40 These are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names:
Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, 41 Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, 42 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, 43 Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land of their possession.
Esau was the father of the Edomites.
Joseph’s Dreams
37 Now Jacob lived in the land where his father was a foreigner, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers, and the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.[a] 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have dreamed. 7 We were binding sheaves in the field. All of a sudden my sheaf rose up and stood upright, and your sheaves stood around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Will you really reign over us, or will you really have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “I have dreamed another dream. The sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing to me.”
10 But when he told it to his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come to bow down ourselves to you to the ground?” 11 So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold Into Slavery
12 Now his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
14 Israel said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 A certain man found him wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 And he said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
17 The man said, “They have departed from here. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
18 When they saw him some distance away, before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.
19 They said one to another, “The master of dreams comes! 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into some pit, and we will say, ‘Some evil beast has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”
21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not kill him.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him,” so that he might rescue him out of their hands and deliver him to his father again.
23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat—his coat of many colors that he had on. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty, and there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, carrying it down to Egypt.
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let us not lay our hand on him, for he is our brother and our own flesh.” So his brothers agreed.
28 Then when the Midianite merchants passed by, they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver.[b] They took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. 30 He returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is not there, and I, where can I go?”
31 They took Joseph’s coat and killed a young goat and dipped the coat in the blood. 32 Then they took the coat of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found. Do you know whether it is your son’s robe or not?”
33 He knew it and said, “It is my son’s coat. A wild beast has devoured him. Joseph has without a doubt been torn into pieces.”
34 Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his waist and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “For I will go down into the grave mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.