called Esau his oldest son and said to him, "My son." Esau answered,
"Here am I." Then Isaac said, "See, I am old and do not know how soon I
may die. Now, therefore, take your quiver and your bow and go out into
the fields and hunt game for me and prepare for me savory food, such as
I love, and bring it to me that I may eat and that I may bless you
before I die."
Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau
went into the fields to hunt game, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I
just now heard your father say to your brother Esau, 'Bring me game and
prepare for me savory food that I may eat it and bless you before I
die.' Now, my son, do as I tell you: Go to the flock and bring me from
there two good kids, and I will make of them savory food for your
father, such as he loves. Then take it to him, that he may eat, so that
he may bless you before he dies." But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother,
"You know that my brother Esau is a hairy man, while I am smooth.
Perhaps my father will feel of me; then I shall appear to him as a
deceiver, and I shall bring blame upon me and not a blessing." But his
mother said to him, "Upon me be the blame, my son; only obey me and go,
bring the kids to me." So he went and brought them to his mother, and
his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
Rebekah also took the fine clothes of her older son Esau, which she had
with her in the tent, and put them on her younger son Jacob. Then she
put the skins of the kids upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his
neck, and she placed the savory food and the bread which she had
prepared in his hand, and he went to his father and said, "My father."
Isaac answered, "Here am I; who are you, my son?" Jacob said, "I am Esau
your oldest son. I have done as you commanded me. Sit up and eat of my
game, that you may bless me." Isaac said to his son, "How very quickly
you have found it, my son." He answered, "Yes, because Jehovah your God
gave me success."
Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come here, my son, that I may feel of you to
find out whether you are really my son Esau or not." So Jacob went near
to Isaac his father, and he felt of him and said, "The voice is the
voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Are you really my
son Esau?" Jacob answered, "I am." And Isaac did not recognize him, for
his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's. So he blessed him. Then
Isaac said, "Bring the food to me, that I may eat of my son's game and
bless you." So he brought it to him, and he ate. Jacob also brought him
wine, and he drank.
Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near now and kiss me, my son."
As he came near and kissed him, he smelled the smell of his garment, and
blessed him.
As soon as Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and Jacob was about to
leave his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also had
made savory food and was bringing it to his father. So he said to him,
"Father, rise and eat of your son's game, that you may bless me." But
Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am your
son, your oldest, Esau." Then Isaac trembled and said, "Who then is he
that has hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate plentifully
before you came, and blessed him? Also blessed shall he be!"
When Esau heard the words of his father, he uttered a loud and bitter
cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father."
But Isaac said, "Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your
blessing." Esau said, "Is it not because he was named Jacob, which means
Supplanter, that he has supplanted me these two times: he took my
birthright, and now he has taken my blessing!" Then he said, "Have you
kept a blessing for me?" Isaac answered Esau, "See, I have made him your
master and I have given to him all his relatives as servants and grain
and wine as his food. What then can I do for you, my son?" Esau said to
his father, "Is that the only blessing you have, my father?" and Esau
began to weep aloud. Then Isaac his father answered him:
"You shall live far from earth's fertile places,
And away from the dew of heaven.
By your sword you shall live,
And your brother you shall serve."
JACOB'S DREAM
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing which his father had given him.
And Esau said to himself, "My father will soon die; then I will kill
Jacob, my brother."
When the words of her older son Esau were told to Rebekah, she sent for
her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother, Esau, is going to
kill you. Now therefore, my son, listen to me: run away to my brother
Laban at Haran and stay with him for a time until your brother is no
longer angry and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send
and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
Then Jacob set out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And when he
arrived at a certain place, he passed the night there, because the sun
had set. And he took one of the stones from its place and put it under
his head and lay down to sleep. Then he dreamed and saw a ladder set up
on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and the angels of God were
going up and down on it.
Jehovah also stood beside him and said, "I am Jehovah, the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to
you and to your children. See, I am with you, and will keep you wherever
you go and will bring you again to this land; for I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you."
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, "Surely Jehovah is in this
place, and I did not know it." And he was filled with awe and said,
"This place is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put
under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil upon the top of
it. And he named that place Bethel, which means House of God. Jacob also
made this promise, "If God will be with me and protect me on this
journey which I am making and give me bread to eat and clothing to put
on, and if I return safe and sound to my father's house, then Jehovah
shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall be
a house of God. And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a
tenth to thee."
THE DECEIVER DECEIVED
Then Jacob went on his journey and arrived at the land of the children
of the East. And he looked and saw a well in the field, and there were
three flocks of sheep lying down by it; for from that well they watered
the flocks; but there was a large stone over the well. When all the
flocks were gathered there, they used to roll away the stone and water
the sheep and then put the stone back in its place over the well.
Jacob said to the men, "My friends, from where do you come?" They said,
"We are from Haran." Then he said to them, "Do you know Laban the son of
Nahor?" And they said, "We know him." And he said to them, "Is all well
with him?" And they said, "All is well; indeed, this is Rachel his
daughter coming with the sheep." And he said, "See, the sun is still
high! It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the
sheep and feed them." But they said, "We cannot until all the flocks are
gathered together, and they roll away the stone from the well; then we
will water the sheep."
While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's
sheep; for she was a shepherdess. When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of
Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went up and rolled
the stone from the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother's
brother. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. And when Jacob told
Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah's
son, she ran and told her father.
As soon as Laban heard about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet
him, put his arms around him, kissed him many times, and brought him to
his home. When Jacob told Laban all about these things, Laban said to
him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh." So he remained with him a
whole month.
Then Laban said to Jacob, "Should you serve me for nothing simply
because you are related to me? Tell me what shall be your wages?" Now
Laban had two daughters: the name of the older was Leah, and the name of
the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful.
Jacob loved Rachel, and so he said, "I will serve you seven years for
Rachel your younger daughter." And Laban said, "It is better for me to
give her to you than to give her to any other man. Stay with me." So
Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few
days, because he loved her so.
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time is up, and let
me marry her." So Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a
feast. In the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him,
and Jacob received her as his wife.
When in the morning Jacob found it was Leah, he said to Laban, "What is
this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have
you deceived me?" Laban said, "It is not the custom among us to give the
younger in marriage before the older. Remain with this one during the
marriage week, then we will give you the other also for the service
which you shall give me during seven more years." Jacob did so: he
remained with Leah during the marriage week. Then Laban gave him Rachel
his daughter to be his wife, but Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. So
he had to serve Laban seven years more.
MEETING A BROTHER WHO HAD BEEN WRONGED
In time Jacob became very wealthy, and he had large flocks, slaves, and
asses. But he heard Laban's sons say, "Jacob has taken all that was our
father's, and from that which was our father's he has gotten all this
wealth." He also saw that Laban did not act toward him the same as
before. So Jacob rose and put his sons and his wives upon the camels and
drove away all his cattle. He deceived Laban, for he did not tell him
that he was fleeing away. So he fled across the river Euphrates, with
all that he had, and set out on his way toward Mount Gilead.
Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau. And he gave
them this command, "Say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob declares, I
have lived with Laban and have stayed until now. I have oxen and asses,
flocks and slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may
win your favor.'" The messengers returned to Jacob with the report, "We
came to your brother Esau, even as he was coming to meet you with four
hundred men."
Then Jacob was greatly alarmed and worried. So he divided the people
that were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two
parts and said, "If Esau comes to the one and attacks and destroys it,
then the other which is left can escape."
Jacob also prayed, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father
Isaac, deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the
hand of Esau, for I fear that he will come and attack me and kill the
mothers and the children."
Then Jacob took as a present for his brother Esau, two hundred female
goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty
milch camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female
asses and ten young asses. These he put, each drove by itself, in the
care of his servants and said to them, "Go on before me and leave a
space between the droves."
He gave those in front this command: "When my brother Esau meets you and
asks you, 'To whom do you belong? and where are you going? and whose are
these before you?' then you shall say, 'To your servant Jacob; it is a
present sent by him to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is just behind
us.'" Jacob also commanded the second, and the third, and all that
followed the droves, to make the same answer, and to say, "Jacob himself
is just behind us." For he said to himself, "I will please him with the
present that goes before me, and then, when I meet him, perhaps he will
welcome me." So he sent the present over before him; but he himself
spent that night in the camp.
Later that night he rose up and took his two wives, his two maid
servants, and his eleven children, and sent them over the river Jabbok.
Jacob was left alone, and one wrestled with him until daybreak. When he
saw that he did not win against Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip,
and the socket of Jacob's hip was strained, as he wrestled with him.
Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But Jacob replied,
"I will not let thee go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What
is your name?" He answered, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall be
no longer Jacob, but Israel, which means Struggler with God; for you
have struggled with God and with men and have won." So he blessed him
there. And Jacob called the place Penuel, which means Face of God, for
he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life has been saved."
When Jacob looked up, he saw Esau coming with four hundred men. And he
put the maid servants and their children in front, Leah and her children
next, and Rachel and her son Joseph in the rear. Then Jacob himself went
in front of them, and he bowed down to the ground seven times, as he
drew near to his brother. Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms about his
neck, and kissed him, and they wept.
When Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, he said, "Who
are these with you?" Jacob answered, "The children whom God has so
kindly given me." Then the maid servants with their children came up and
bowed down to the ground. Leah and her children also came and bowed
down, and afterward Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed down before
Esau.
Esau asked, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" Jacob
answered, "To win your friendship, my lord." Esau said, "I have enough,
my brother; keep what you have." But Jacob replied, "No, if now I have
won your favor, receive this present from me to show that you are my
friend. Take, I beg of you, the gift that I bring to you, for God has
been generous to me, and I have enough." So he urged Esau until he took
it.
Then Esau said, "Let me at least leave with you some of the people who
are with me." But Jacob replied, "What need is there? Let me only enjoy
your friendship, my Lord." So Esau turned back that day on his way to
Seir.
JOSEPH SOLD AS A SLAVE BY HIS BROTHERS
When Joseph was seventeen years old, he and his brothers were shepherds,
but he made them angry, for he brought a bad report about them to their
father. Now Jacob loved his son Joseph, who was born in his old age; and
he made him a long coat with sleeves. When his brothers saw that their
father loved him more than all his other sons, they hated Joseph and
would not speak to him in a friendly way.
Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him
still more. This is what he said to them, "I dreamed that, as we were
binding sheaves in the field, my sheaf rose up and remained standing,
while your sheaves came around and bowed down to my sheaf." His brothers
said to him, "Will you really be king over us? Will you indeed rule over
us?" So they hated him still more because of his dreams and his words.
Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, "I have
had another dream, and it seemed to me that the sun and the moon and
eleven stars bowed down to me." But when he told it to his father and
his brothers, his father reproved him and said, "What is this dream that
you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come
and bow down to the earth before you?" Therefore his brothers were
jealous of him; but his father remembered the dream.
When his brothers went to pasture his father's flocks in Shechem, Jacob
said to Joseph, "Go, see whether all goes well with your brothers and
with the flock, and bring me back word." So he sent him out, and a
certain man found him, as he was wandering in the field, and the man
asked him, "What are you looking for?" He said, "I am looking for my
brothers; tell me, I beg of you, where they are pasturing the flock."
The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to
Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
When they saw him in the distance, before he came to them, they planned
together to kill him. And they said one to another, "See, here comes
that great dreamer! Come, let us kill him and throw him into one of the
pits, and we will say, 'A fierce beast has devoured him.' Then we shall
see what will become of his dreams!"
Judah, however, when he heard it, saved Joseph's life by saying, "Let us
not take his life." Reuben also said to them, "Do not shed blood; throw
him into this pit, here in the wilderness; but do not harm him." Reuben
said this to save Joseph from their hands so that he could bring him
back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off
his long coat with sleeves and threw him into the pit. But the pit was
empty, there being no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat and, when they looked up, they saw a band of
Ishmaelites coming from Gilead; and their camels were loaded with
spices, gum, and ladanum on their way to carry it down to Egypt. And
Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and
hide his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let us do
him no harm, for he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." So his
brothers listened to him; and, drawing up Joseph, they sold him for
twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought him to Egypt.
Then his brothers took Joseph's long coat, killed a he-goat, dipped the
coat in the blood, and brought it to their father, and said, "We found
this; see whether it is your son's coat or not." He recognized it and
said, "It is my son's coat! A wild beast has devoured him! Joseph surely
is torn in pieces." Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth about his
waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and his daughters
tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, saying, "I shall
go down to the grave mourning for my son." Thus Joseph's father mourned
for him.
JOSEPH'S EAGERNESS TO HELP OTHERS
Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian, one of
Pharaoh's officers, the captain of the guard, bought him from the
Ishmaelites.
Now Jehovah was with Joseph, so that he prospered; and he was in the
house of his master, the Egyptian. When his master saw that Jehovah was
with him and made everything succeed that he undertook, he trusted him
and made him his own servant. He also made him overseer of his household
and placed all that he had in his care. From the time that he made him
overseer in his house and over all that he had, Jehovah blessed the
Egyptian's household for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of Jehovah was
upon all that he had in the house and in the field. Potiphar left all
that he had in Joseph's charge, and he knew nothing about his affairs
except about the food which he ate. And Joseph was handsome and
attractive.
After these honors had come to Joseph, his master's wife tried to tempt
him to be unfaithful to his trust. But he refused, saying to her, "See,
my master knows nothing about what I do in the house, and he has put all
that he has in my charge. How then can I do this great wrong and sin
against God?" Day after day she tempted Joseph, but he did not listen to
her. One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work and
when none of the men of the household were at home, she caught hold of
his garment and again tried to tempt him, but he left his garment in her
hand and fled out of the house.
She kept his garment by her until his master came home; then she said to
him, "The Hebrew slave whom you have brought to us came to me to insult
me; and when I cried aloud, he left his garment with me and fled."
When Joseph's master heard what his wife said to him, he was very angry;
and he took Joseph and put him into the prison, in the place where the
king's prisoners were kept. So he was left there in prison. But Jehovah
was with Joseph and showed kindness to him and helped him to win the
friendship of the keeper of the prison, so that he placed all the
prisoners in Joseph's charge and made him responsible for whatever they
did there.
After these things the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker
offended their master the king of Egypt, and Pharaoh was so angry with
these two officers that he put them in the same prison where Joseph was.
And the captain of the guard appointed Joseph to wait on them; and they
stayed in prison for some time.
And the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were in the
prison, both had dreams the same night, each with a different meaning.
When Joseph came in to them in the morning, he saw plainly that they
were sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers, "Why do you look so sad
to-day?" They answered, "We have had a dream, and there is no one who
can tell what it means." Then Joseph said to them, "Is not God the one
who knows what dreams mean? Tell them to me, if you will."
Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, "In my
dream I saw a vine before me, and on the vine were three branches, and
the buds put out blossoms, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes.
Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and squeezed the
juice into his cup and gave the cup to Pharaoh."
Then Joseph said to him, "This is what it means: the three branches are
three days. Within three days Pharaoh will let you out of prison and
restore you to your office, and you will give Pharaoh's cup into his
hand as you used to do when you were his butler. But when all goes well
with you, remember me, show kindness to me and speak for me to Pharaoh
and bring me out of this prison; for I was unjustly stolen from the land
of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put
me in the dungeon."
When the chief baker saw that the meaning of the butler's dream was
good, he said to Joseph, "I also saw something in my dream: there were
three baskets of white bread on my head, and in the upper basket there
were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them
out of the basket on my head." Joseph answered, "This is what it means:
the three baskets are three days; within three days Pharaoh will take
off your head and hang you on a tree, and the birds shall eat your
flesh."
Now on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for
all his servants. Then he set free the chief butler and the chief baker.
He restored the chief butler to his office, so that he again gave the
cup to Pharaoh; but the chief baker he hanged, as Joseph had told them.
Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
A PRISONER WHO BECAME A MIGHTY RULER
Two years later Pharaoh had a dream: as he stood by the river Nile, he
saw coming up from the water seven cows, well fed and fat, for they had
been feeding in the river grass. Then seven other cows came up after
them out of the Nile, poorly fed and thin, and they stood by the other
cows on the bank of the Nile. The poorly fed, lean cows ate up the seven
well-fed, fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.
Afterward he slept and had a second dream and saw seven ears, plump and
good, growing up on one stalk. Also seven ears, thin and withered by the
east wind, grew up after them. The thin ears swallowed up the seven
plump, full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and knew that it was only a dream.
In the morning Pharaoh was worried. So he sent for all the magicians and
wise men of Egypt and told them his dreams; but no one could tell him
what they meant.
Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh, "I now remember my sins: Pharaoh
was very angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in
prison in the house of the captain of the guard. We both had dreams the
same night, each with a different meaning. There was also with us a
young Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our
dreams and he told each of us what our dreams meant. And our dreams came
true just as he said they would: I was restored to my office, but the
chief baker was hanged."
Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the
dungeon; and he shaved his face, changed his clothes, and came to
Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream, and there is no
one who can tell what it means. Now I have heard that when you hear a
dream, you can tell what it means." Joseph answered Pharaoh, "Not I; God
alone can give Pharaoh a true answer."
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream as I stood on the bank of the
Nile, I saw seven cows, fat and well fed, which had been feeding in the
river grass. There came up after them seven more cows, poorly fed and
thin, worse than I ever saw in all the land of Egypt; and the lean and
poorly fed cows ate up the first seven fat cows. When they had eaten
them up, one could not tell that they had eaten them, for they were
still as thin as at the beginning. Then I awoke.