Beginning
The Return to Bethel
35 God said to Jacob, “Get up and go to Bethel, and live there. Make an altar there for God, who appeared to you when you fled from the presence of Esau your brother.”
2 Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothing. 3 Let’s get up and go to Bethel. I will make an altar there for God, who answered me in the day when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I have traveled.”
4 They gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5 They set out, and terror from God fell on the cities that were around them, so they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. 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 He built an altar there and named the place El Beth El,[a] because God had been revealed to him there, when he fled from the presence of his brother.
8 Deborah, who was Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under the oak below Bethel. So the place was named Allon Bacuth.[b]
9 God appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Paddan Aram, and he blessed him.[c] 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will not be Jacob anymore. Your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.[d] 11 God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a community of nations will descend from you, and kings will come from your body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give also to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”
13 God left him in the place where he had spoken with him, 14 and Jacob set up a memorial in the place where God had spoken with him. It was a memorial stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.
Jacob’s Sons
16 Then they traveled from Bethel. As they were coming close to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. She was experiencing hard labor, 17 and when she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”
18 Then as her life was slipping away[e] (for she was dying), she named her son Benoni,[f] but his father named him Benjamin.[g] 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a memorial stone on her grave. It is the marker for Rachel’s tomb to this day. 21 Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder.[h]
22 While Israel lived in that region, Reuben went and lay down with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.
Jacob had twelve sons.
23 The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
25 The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s maid) were Dan and Naphtali.
26 The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s maid) were Gad and Asher.
These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre near Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided as aliens.
The Death of Isaac
28 The days of Isaac’s life were one hundred eighty years. 29 Isaac breathed his last and died. He was gathered to his people. He had lived a long, full life. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
Esau’s Descendants
36 Now this is the account about the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom): 2 Esau took Canaanite women as his wives. They were Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. 3 He also married Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau.
Basemath gave birth to Reuel.
5 Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, along with his livestock, all his animals, and all the possessions that he had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and he went into another land, away from his brother Jacob. 7 Their herds were too large for them to stay together, and the land where they had settled could not support both of them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is another name for Edom.)
9 This is the account about the descendants of Esau, who was the founding father of Edom in the hill country of Seir:
10 The following are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Timna was the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.
13 The following are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
14 The following were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon. She gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah for Esau.
The Chiefs of the Clans of Edom
15 The following are the chiefs of the clans of the descendants of Esau:
From the descendants of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau they were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, 16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These are the chiefs who descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the descendants of Adah.
17 The following are the descendants of Esau’s son Reuel: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs who descended from Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 The following are the descendants of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, and Chief Korah. These are the chiefs who came from Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah. 19 These are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.
Other People of Edom
20 The following are the sons of Seir the Horite, who lived in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs who descended from the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman. Lotan’s sister was Timna.
23 The following are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 The following are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the wilderness as he was feeding the donkeys of Zibeon his father.
25 The following are the descendants of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
26 The following are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.
27 The following are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Za’avan, and Akan.
28 The following are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 The following are the chiefs who descended 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 the Horites, according to their chiefdoms in the land of Seir.
Kings of Edom
31 The following are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel:
32 Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab 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 son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the territory of Moab, reigned in his place. The name of his city was Avith.
36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place.
37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his place.
38 Shaul died, and Baal Hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.
39 Baal Hanan son of Achbor died, and Hadad[i] reigned in his place. The name of his city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.
40 The following are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, listed according to their clans, their territory, and their names: Chief Timna, 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 are the chiefs of Edom, according to the territory they inhabited in the land they possessed. (Edom is another name for Esau, the father of the Edomites.)
Trouble in Jacob’s Family
37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided as an alien, that is, in the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account about the development of the family of Jacob:
When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers. He was just a boy compared to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son born in his old age,[j] and he made him a special robe.[k] 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him in a friendly way.
5 Once Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, so they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream that I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 His brothers said to him, “So will you really reign over us? Will you really have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more because of his dreams and what he said.
9 Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “Listen, I had another dream. This is what I saw: The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” 10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept what he had said in mind.
12 His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Go, I will send you to them.”
Joseph said to him, “Yes, I will do it.”
14 Israel said to him, “Please go and see whether everything is going well with your brothers and with the flock. Then bring me word again.” So he sent him off from the valley at Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem.
15 A man met him as he was wandering in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.”
17 The man said, “They have left here. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him in the distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to each other, “Look, here comes this master of dreams. 20 Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we will say, ‘A wild animal has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”
21 Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this cistern that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” He said this so that he could rescue him out of their hands and restore him to his father.
23 And so when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the special robe he was wearing. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 They sat down to eat bread, and they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, which they were going to deliver to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there in killing our brother and concealing his blood? 27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, since he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers listened to him. 28 As the Midianites, who were merchants, were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces[l] of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern, he saw that Joseph was not in the cistern, so he tore his clothing. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is no longer here, and as for me, where will I go now?”
31 Then they took Joseph’s robe, killed a male goat, and dipped the robe in the goat’s blood. 32 They took the special robe, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Examine it now, and see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A wild animal has devoured him. Without a doubt Joseph has been torn to pieces.” 34 Jacob tore his clothing, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “No, I will mourn for my son until I go down to the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 In Egypt the Midianites sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, who was the captain of the guard.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.