But the land was unable to support them as long as they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they could not stay together,

I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!”

You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,

Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

Then Abimelech said, “What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered, “Here I am.”

I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.

For their possessions were too many for them to live together, and because of their herds, the land where they stayed could not support them.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”

Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

she called the household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.

When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

When they had devoured them, you could not tell that they had devoured them; their appearance was as bad as it had been before. Then I woke up.

They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

If we had not wasted time, we could have come back twice by now.”

They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is abhorrent to them.

They said to him, “Why does my lord say these things? Your servants could not possibly do such a thing.

We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal gold and silver from your master’s house?

“What is this you have done?” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?”

For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the grief that would overwhelm my father.”

Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!” No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers.

Now his eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought them to him, and he kissed and embraced them.