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her. She said, "If it be so, why do I live?" She went to inquire of Yahweh. 025:023 Yahweh said to her, Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger. 025:024 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 025:025 The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. 025:026 After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau's heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 025:027 The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. 025:028 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. 025:029 Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 025:030 Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom. 025:031 Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright." 025:032 Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?" 025:033 Jacob said, "Swear to me first." He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. 025:034 Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright. 026:001 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 026:002 Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. 026:003 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 026:004 I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, 026:005 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." 026:006 Isaac lived in Gerar. 026:007 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at." 026:008 It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. 026:009 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'" 026:010 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!" 026:011 Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death." 026:012 Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. 026:013 The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 026:014 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. 026:015 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 026:016 Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we." 026:017 Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. 026:018 Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 026:019 Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 026:020 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 026:021 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called the name of it Sitnah. 026:022 He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land." 026:023 He went up from there to Beersheba. 026:024 Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake." 026:025 He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well. 026:026 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 026:027 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?" 026:028 They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, 026:029 that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh." 026:030 He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 026:031 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 026:032 It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water." 026:033 He called it Shibah.{Shibah means "oath" or "seven."} Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba{Beersheba means "well of the oath" or "well of the seven"} to this day. 026:034 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 026:035 They grieved Isaac's and Rebekah's spirits. 027:001 It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am." 027:002 He said, "See now, I am old. I don't know the day of my death. 027:003 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. 027:004 Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die." 027:005 Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 027:006 Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 027:007 'Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.' 027:008 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. 027:009 Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good kids of the goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. 027:010 You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death." 027:011 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 027:012 What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing." 027:013 His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me." 027:014 He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 027:015 Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. 027:016 She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. 027:017 She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 027:018 He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" 027:019 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me." 027:020 Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because Yahweh your God gave me success." 027:021 Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not." 027:022 Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 027:023 He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him. 027:024 He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am." 027:025 He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. 027:026 His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son." 027:027 He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed. 027:028 God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. 027:029 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you." 027:030 It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 027:031 He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me." 027:032 Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." 027:033 Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed." 027:034 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father." 027:035 He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing." 027:036 He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?" 027:037 Isaac answered Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?" 027:038 Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 027:039 Isaac his father answered him, "Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above. 027:040 By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck." 027:041 Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob." 027:042 The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 027:043 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. 027:044 Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away; 027:045 until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" 027:046 Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?" 028:001 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 028:002 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 028:003 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, 028:004 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham." 028:005 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother. 028:006 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan," 028:007 and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram. 028:008 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn't please Isaac, his father. 028:009 Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. 028:010 Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 028:011 He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 028:012 He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 028:013 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. 028:014 Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. 028:015 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you." 028:016 Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn't know it." 028:017 He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven." 028:018 Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. 028:019 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 028:020 Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, 028:021 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, 028:022 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you." 029:001 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east. 029:002 He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was large. 029:003 There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place. 029:004 Jacob said to them, "My relatives, where are you from?" They said, "We are from Haran." 029:005 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him." 029:006 He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep." 029:007 He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them." 029:008 They said, "We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep." 029:009 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. 029:010 It happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. 029:011 Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 029:012 Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son. She ran and told her father. 029:013 It happened, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. 029:014 Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. He lived with him for a month. 029:015 Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?" 029:016 Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 029:017 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. 029:018 Jacob loved Rachel. He said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter." 029:019 Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me." 029:020 Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her. 029:021 Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her." 029:022 Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 029:023 It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her. 029:024 Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. 029:025 It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" 029:026 Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. 029:027 Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years." 029:028 Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. 029:029 Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid. 029:030 He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. 029:031 Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 029:032 Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, "Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me." 029:033 She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, "Because Yahweh has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also." She named him Simeon. 029:034 She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi. 029:035 She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, "This time will I praise Yahweh." Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing. 030:001 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die." 030:002 Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" 030:003 She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her." 030:004 She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. 030:005 Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. 030:006 Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan. 030:007 Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. 030:008 Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali. 030:009 When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 030:010 Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son. 030:011 Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad. 030:012 Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son. 030:013 Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher. 030:014 Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." 030:015 She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes." 030:016 Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night. 030:017 God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 030:018 Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar. 030:019 Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 030:020 Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun. 030:021 Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah. 030:022 God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. 030:023 She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach." 030:024 She named him Joseph,{Joseph means "may he add."} saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me." 030:025 It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 030:026 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you." 030:027 Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake." 030:028 He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it." 030:029 He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 030:030 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?" 030:031 He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. 030:032 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. 030:033 So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen." 030:034 Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word." 030:035 That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 030:036 He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. 030:037 Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 030:038 He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. 030:039 The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 030:040 Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock. 030:041 It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; 030:042 but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. 030:043 The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys. 031:001 He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this wealth." 031:002 Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. 031:003 Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you." 031:004 Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, 031:005 and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 031:006 You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. 031:007 Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt me. 031:008 If he said this, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked. 031:009 Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me. 031:010 It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. 031:011 The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' 031:012 He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. 031:013 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'" 031:014 Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? 031:015 Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money. 031:016 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do." 031:017 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 031:018 and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 031:019 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim{teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property.} that were her father's. 031:020 Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was running away. 031:021 So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. 031:022 Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 031:023 He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. 031:024 God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad." 031:025 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead. 031:026 Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? 031:027 Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; 031:028 and didn't allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly. 031:029 It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad.' 031:030 Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father's house, but why have you stolen my gods?" 031:031 Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.' 031:032 Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it." For Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them. 031:033 Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. 031:034 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them. 031:035 She said to her father, "Don't let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me." He searched, but didn't find the teraphim. 031:036 Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? 031:037 Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two. 031:038 These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks. 031:039 That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 031:040 This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. 031:041 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 031:042 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night." 031:043 Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? 031:044 Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you." 031:045 Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 031:046 Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. 031:047 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,{"Jegar Sahadutha" means "Witness Heap" in Aramaic.} but Jacob called it Galeed.{"Galeed" means "Witness Heap" in Hebrew.} 031:048 Laban said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Galeed 031:049 and Mizpah, for he said, "Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. 031:050 If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you." 031:051 Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. 031:052 May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 031:053 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac. 031:054 Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain. 031:055 Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place. 032:001 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 032:002 When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's army." He called the name of that place Mahanaim. 032:003 Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 032:004 He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: 'This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. 032:005 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'" 032:006 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him." 032:007 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; 032:008 and he said, "If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape." 032:009 Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,' 032:010 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 032:011 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. 032:012 You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'" 032:013 He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esau, his brother: 032:014 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 032:015 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 032:016 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd." 032:017 He commanded the foremost, saying, "When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, 'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?' 032:018 Then you shall say, 'They are your servant, Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.'" 032:019 He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him. 032:020 You shall say, 'Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.'" For, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me." 032:021 So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the camp. 032:022 He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. 032:023 He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. 032:024 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. 032:025 When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled. 032:026 The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Jacob said, "I won't let you go, unless you bless me." 032:027 He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." 032:028 He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed." 032:029 Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there. 032:030 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel{Peniel means "face of God."}: for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 032:031 The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh. 032:032 Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip. 033:001 Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two handmaids. 033:002 He put the handmaids and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. 033:003 He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 033:004 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept. 033:005 He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, "Who are these with you?" He said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." 033:006 Then the handmaids came near with their children, and they bowed themselves. 033:007 Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. After them, Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 033:008 Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" Jacob said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." 033:009 Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours." 033:010 Jacob said, "Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 033:011 Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." He urged him, and he took it. 033:012 Esau said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you." 033:013 Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. 033:014 Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the livestock that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir." 033:015 Esau said, "Let me now leave with you some of the folk who are with me." He said, "Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord." 033:016 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 033:017 Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.{succoth means shelters or booths.} 033:018 Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city. 033:019 He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for one hundred pieces of money. 033:020 He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.{El Elohe Israel means "God, the God of Israel" or "The God of Israel is mighty."} 034:001 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 034:002 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. 034:003 His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 034:004 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young lady as a wife." 034:005 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came. 034:006 Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him. 034:007 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a which thing ought not to be done. 034:008 Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 034:009 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 034:010 You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it." 034:011 Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. 034:012 Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife." 034:013 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, 034:014 and said to them, "We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us. 034:015 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised; 034:016 then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 034:017 But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister,{Hebrew has, literally, "daughter"} and we will be gone." 034:018 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son. 034:019 The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father. 034:020 Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying, 034:021 "These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 034:022 Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. 034:023 Won't their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us." 034:024 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 034:025 It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. 034:026 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away. 034:027 Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 034:028 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field, 034:029 and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house. 034:030 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house." 034:031 They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?" 035:001 God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother." 035:002 Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments. 035:003 Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." 035:004 They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 035:005 They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob. 035:006 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 035:007 He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 035:008 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon Bacuth. 035:009 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 035:010 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." He named him Israel. 035:011 God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. 035:012 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you will I give the land." 035:013 God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. 035:014 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. 035:015 Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him "Bethel." 035:016 They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor. 035:017 When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son." 035:018 It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Benoni,{"Benoni" means "son of my trouble."} but his father named him Benjamin.{"Benjamin" means "son of my right hand."} 035:019 Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). 035:020 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. 035:021 Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 035:022 It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 035:023 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 035:024 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 035:025 The sons of Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid): Dan and Naphtali. 035:026 The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram. 035:027 Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. 035:028 The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. 035:029 Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him. 036:001 Now this is the history of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 036:002 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; 036:003 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. 036:004 Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz. Basemath bore Reuel. 036:005 Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 036:006 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, with his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 036:007 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels couldn't bear them because of their livestock. 036:008 Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom. 036:009 This is the history of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir: 036:010 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. 036:011 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 036:012 Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 036:013 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 036:014 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. 036:015 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 036:016 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs who came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 036:017 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 036:018 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs who came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 036:019 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 036:020 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 036:021 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs who came of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 036:022 The children of Lotan were Hori and Heman. Lotan's sister was Timna. 036:023 These are the children of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 036:024 These are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 036:025 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. 036:026 These are the children of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 036:027 These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 036:028 These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 036:029 These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 036:030 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan: these are the chiefs who came of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir. 036:031 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the children of Israel. 036:032 Bela, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah. 036:033 Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned in his place. 036:034 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 036:035 Husham died, and Hadad, the son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. The name of his city was Avith. 036:036 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 036:037 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river, reigned in his place. 036:038 Shaul died, and Baal Hanan, the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 036:039 Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar 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. 036:040 These are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, according to their families, after their places, and by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 036:041 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 036:042 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 036:043 chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites. 037:001 Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan. 037:002 This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. 037:003 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. 037:004 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him. 037:005 Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 037:006 He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 037:007 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." 037:008 His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 037:009 He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." 037:010 He told it to his father and to 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 indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" 037:011 His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind. 037:012 His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 037:013 Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am." 037:014 He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 037:015 A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, "What are you looking for?" 037:016 He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock." 037:017 The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 037:018 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 037:019 They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes. 037:020 Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams." 037:021 Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life." 037:022 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"— that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 037:023 It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; 037:024 and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it. 037:025 They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 037:026 Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 037:027 Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him. 037:028 Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt. 037:029 Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 037:030 He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where will I go?" 037:031 They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. 037:032 They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not." 037:033 He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces." 037:034 Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 037:035 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol{Sheol is the place of the dead.} to my son mourning." His father wept for him. 037:036 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard. 038:001 It happened at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 038:002 Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her, and went in to her. 038:003 She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. 038:004 She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. 038:005 She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him. 038:006 Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 038:007 Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh killed him. 038:008 Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother." 038:009 Onan knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. 038:010 The thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he killed him also. 038:011 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;" for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." Tamar went and lived in her father's house. 038:012 After many days, Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. 038:013 It was told Tamar, saying, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." 038:014 She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife. 038:015 When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 038:016 He turned to her by the way, and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?" 038:017 He said, "I will send you a kid of the goats from the flock." She said, "Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?" 038:018 He said, "What pledge will I give you?" She said, "Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. 038:019 She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 038:020 Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he didn't find her. 038:021 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?" They said, "There has been no prostitute here." 038:022 He returned to Judah, and said, "I haven't found her; and also the men of the place said, 'There has been no prostitute here.'" 038:023 Judah said, "Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this kid, and you haven't found her." 038:024 It happened about three months later, that it was told Judah, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute; and moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." 038:025 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man, whose these are, I am with child." She also said, "Please discern whose are these—the signet, and the cords, and the staff." 038:026 Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son." He knew her again no more. 038:027 It happened in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb. 038:028 When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This came out first." 038:029 It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, "Why have you made a breach for yourself?" Therefore his name was called Perez.{Perez means "breaking out."} 038:030 Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.{Zerah means "scarlet" or "brightness."} 039:001 Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there. 039:002 Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 039:003 His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand. 039:004 Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 039:005 It happened from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Yahweh blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Yahweh was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. 039:006 He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He didn't concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate. Joseph was well-built and handsome. 039:007 It happened after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph; and she said, "Lie with me." 039:008 But he refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. 039:009 He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" 039:010 As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn't listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 039:011 About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside. 039:012 She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside. 039:013 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had run outside, 039:014 she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, "Behold, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. 039:015 It happened, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and ran outside." 039:016 She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. 039:017 She spoke to him according to these words, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me, 039:018 and it happened, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and ran outside." 039:019 It happened, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, "This is what your servant did to me," that his wrath was kindled. 039:020 Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody. 039:021 But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 039:022 The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, he was responsible for it. 039:023 The keeper of the prison didn't look after anything that was under his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, Yahweh made it prosper. 040:001 It happened after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 040:002 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 040:003 He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 040:004 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days. 040:005 They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison. 040:006 Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad. 040:007 He asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?" 040:008 They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me." 040:009 The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, 040:010 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes. 040:011 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." 040:012 Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days. 040:013 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cupbearer. 040:014 But remember me when it will be well with you, and show kindness, please, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. 040:015 For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." 040:016 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. 040:017 In the uppermost basket there was all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head." 040:018 Joseph answered, "This is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days. 040:019 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you." 040:020 It happened the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 040:021 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; 040:022 but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 040:023 Yet the chief cupbearer didn't remember Joseph, but forgot him. 041:001 It happened at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and behold, he stood by the river. 041:002 Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass. 041:003 Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. 041:004 The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. 041:005 He slept and dreamed a second time: and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. 041:006 Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 041:007 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 041:008 It happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt's magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh. 041:009 Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember my faults today. 041:010 Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. 041:011 We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. 041:012 There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he interpreted. 041:013 It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: he restored me to my office, and he hanged him." 041:014 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh. 041:015 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." 041:016 Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It isn't in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." 041:017 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river: 041:018 and behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat and sleek. They fed in the marsh grass, 041:019 and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness. 041:020 The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle, 041:021 and when they had eaten them up, it couldn't be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 041:022 I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good: 041:023 and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 041:024 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me." 041:025 Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. 041:026 The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one. 041:027 The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. 041:028 That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. 041:029 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. 041:030 There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, 041:031 and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. 041:032 The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. 041:033 "Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 041:034 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt's produce in the seven plenteous years. 041:035 Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. 041:036 The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine." 041:037 The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 041:038 Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" 041:039 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you. 041:040 You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you." 041:041 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." 041:042 Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, 041:043 and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, "Bow the knee!" He set him over all the land of Egypt. 041:044 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." 041:045 Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. 041:046 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 041:047 In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly. 041:048 He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, he laid up in the same. 041:049 Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. 041:050 To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 041:051 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh,{"Manasseh" sounds like the Hebrew for "forget."} "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." 041:052 The name of the second, he called Ephraim{"Ephraim" sounds like the Hebrew for "twice fruitful."}: "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." 041:053 The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. 041:054 The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 041:055 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." 041:056 The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 041:057 All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth. 042:001 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" 042:002 He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die." 042:003 Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 042:004 But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him." 042:005 The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 042:006 Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. 042:007 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, "Where did you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." 042:008 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him. 042:009 Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land." 042:010 They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 042:011 We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies." 042:012 He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land." 042:013 They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more." 042:014 Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies.' 042:015 By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother comes here. 042:016 Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies." 042:017 He put them all together into custody for three days. 042:018 Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God. 042:019 If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. 042:020 Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die." They did so. 042:021 They said one to another, "We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us." 042:022 Reuben answered them, saying, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'Don't sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required." 042:023 They didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. 042:024 He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. 042:025 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them. 042:026 They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. 042:027 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. 042:028 He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!" Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?" 042:029 They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying, 042:030 "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. 042:031 We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies. 042:032 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' 042:033 The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way. 042:034 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'" 042:035 It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 042:036 Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." 042:037 Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again." 042:038 He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol." 043:001 The famine was severe in the land. 043:002 It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little more food." 043:003 Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.' 043:004 If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food, 043:005 but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'" 043:006 Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?" 043:007 They said, "The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'" 043:008 Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones. 043:009 I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I don't bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever, 043:010 for if we hadn't delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now." 043:011 Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds; 043:012 and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 043:013 Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man. 043:014 May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." 043:015 The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. 043:016 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon." 043:017 The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house. 043:018 The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we're brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys." 043:019 They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house, 043:020 and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. 043:021 When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand. 043:022 We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don't know who put our money in our sacks." 043:023 He said, "Peace be to you. Don't be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them. 043:024 The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. 043:025 They made ready the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. 043:026 When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth. 043:027 He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?" 043:028 They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." They bowed the head, and did homage. 043:029 He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son." 043:030 Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there. 043:031 He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, "Serve the meal." 043:032 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians don't eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 043:033 They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another. 043:034 He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him. 044:001 He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. 044:002 Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 044:003 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 044:004 When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good? 044:005 Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'" 044:006 He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them. 044:007 They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! 044:008 Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house? 044:009 With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondservants." 044:010 He said, "Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless." 044:011 Then they hurried, and every man took his sack down to the ground, and every man opened his sack. 044:012 He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 044:013 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city. 044:014 Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. 044:015 Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?" 044:016 Judah said, "What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord's bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found." 044:017 He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father." 044:018 Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and don't let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh. 044:019 My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?' 044:020 We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, |
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