Then his brothers asked him, "Do you really think you will rule over us or have dominion over us?" They hated him even more because of his dream and because of what he said.

Then Judah said to Onan, "Have sexual relations with your brother's wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise up a descendant for your brother."

He turned aside to her along the road and said, "Come on! I want to have sex with you." (He did not realize it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, "What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?"

Judah recognized them and said, "She is more upright than I am, because I wouldn't give her to Shelah my son." He did not have sexual relations with her again.

But then he drew back his hand, and his brother came out before him. She said, "How you have broken out of the womb!" So he was named Perez.

Soon after these things, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Have sex with me."

Even though she continued to speak to Joseph day after day, he did not respond to her invitation to have sex with her.

She grabbed him by his outer garment, saying, "Have sex with me!" But he left his outer garment in her hand and ran outside.

she called for her household servants and said to them, "See, my husband brought in a Hebrew man to us to humiliate us. He tried to have sex with me, but I screamed loudly.

for I really was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing wrong here for which they should put me in a dungeon."

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard about you, that you can interpret dreams."

When they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Both dreams of Pharaoh have the same meaning. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

The seven good cows represent seven years, and the seven good heads of grain represent seven years. Both dreams have the same meaning.

They should gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh's authority they should store up grain so the cities will have food, and they should preserve it.

Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, "You are spies; you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!"

But they exclaimed, "No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food!

"No," he insisted, "but you have come to see if our land is vulnerable."

But Jacob replied, "My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to the grave."

They replied, "The man questioned us thoroughly about ourselves and our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?' So we answered him in this way. How could we possibly know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?"

But if we had not delayed, we could have traveled there and back twice by now!"

But when we came to the place where we spent the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his money -- the full amount -- in the mouth of his sack. So we have returned it.

We have brought additional money with us to buy food. We do not know who put the money in our sacks!"

They got their gifts ready for Joseph's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to have a meal there.

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, "Pursue the men at once! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil?

Doesn't my master drink from this cup and use it for divination? You have done wrong!'"

He replied, "You have suggested your own punishment! The one who has it will become my slave, but the rest of you will go free."

My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'

We said to my lord, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. The boy's brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'

The first disappeared and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." I have not seen him since.

You will live in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me -- you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everything you have.

So tell my father about all my honor in Egypt and about everything you have seen. But bring my father down here quickly!"

Now it was reported in the household of Pharaoh, "Joseph's brothers have arrived." It pleased Pharaoh and his servants.

Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive."

Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father's household, "I will go up and tell Pharaoh, 'My brothers and my father's household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me.

The men are shepherds; they take care of livestock. They have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.'

Tell him, 'Your servants have taken care of cattle from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,' so that you may live in the land of Goshen, for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting to the Egyptians."

Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen."

Then they said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as temporary residents in the land. There is no pasture for your servants' flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen."

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How long have you lived?"

Jacob said to Pharaoh, "All the years of my travels are 130. All the years of my life have been few and painful; the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors."

Joseph said to the people, "Since I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Cultivate the land.

They replied, "You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

The time for Israel to die approached, so he called for his son Joseph and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,

O my soul, do not come into their council, do not be united to their assembly, my heart, for in their anger they have killed men, and for pleasure they have hamstrung oxen.

You are a lion's cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness -- who will rouse him?

Zebulun will live by the haven of the sea and become a haven for ships; his border will extend to Sidon.

When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's royal court, "If I have found favor in your sight, please say to Pharaoh,

Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?"

So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come home so early today?"

When she bore a son, Moses named him Gershom, for he said, "I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land."

The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.

He replied, "Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain."

"Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to me -- the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- saying, "I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt,

and I have promised that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

and I said to you, 'Let my son go that he may serve me,' but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!"'"

and they said to them, "May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants, so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!"

Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me?

From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have certainly not rescued them!"

I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

So the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

Tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, "Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!" But until now you have not listened.

Moses said to Pharaoh, "You may have the honor over me -- when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed from you and your houses, so that they will be left only in the Nile?"

But the Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that the Israelites have."'"

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses throw it into the air while Pharaoh is watching.

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth.

But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display these signs of mine before him,

They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been in the land until this day!'" Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you!

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, "Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested!

Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also."

But everyone's servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it.

Bread made without yeast must be eaten for seven days; no bread made with yeast shall be seen among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

then you must give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. Every firstling of a beast that you have -- the males will be the Lord's.

When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, "What in the world have we done? For we have released the people of Israel from serving us!"

and they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

The depths have covered them, they went down to the bottom like a stone.

In the abundance of your majesty you have overthrown those who rise up against you. You sent forth your wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

By your loyal love you will lead the people whom you have redeemed; you will guide them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people whom you have bought pass by.

You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place you made for your residence, O Lord, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!"

"I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, 'During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.'"

for he said, "For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord -- that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land"),

When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws."

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

The Lord said to Moses: "Thus you will tell the Israelites: 'You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.

If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.

then there will be an oath to the Lord between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor's goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.

If it is torn in pieces, then he will bring it for evidence, and he will not have to pay for what was torn.