But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, "Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob."

I have the power to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, 'Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.'

Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives identify whatever is yours and take it." (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)

So Laban entered Jacob's tent, and Leah's tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

(Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel's saddle and sat on them.) Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.

Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord. I cannot stand up in your presence because I am having my period." So he searched thoroughly, but did not find the idols.

"I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.

Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself. You always made me pay for every missing animal, whether it was taken by day or at night.

I was consumed by scorching heat during the day and by piercing cold at night, and I went without sleep.

If the God of my father -- the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears -- had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, and he rebuked you last night."

"This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant. With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.

Jacob stayed there that night. Then he sent as a gift to his brother Esau

So the gifts were sent on ahead of him while he spent that night in the camp.

During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob's hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." "I will not let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me."

That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck the socket of Jacob's hip near the attached sinew.

Please take my present that was brought to you, for God has been generous to me and I have all I need." When Jacob urged him, he took it.

Now Jacob's sons had come in from the field when they heard the news. They were offended and very angry because Shechem had disgraced Israel by sexually assaulting Jacob's daughter, a crime that should not be committed.

They said to them, "We cannot give our sister to a man who is not circumcised, for it would be a disgrace to us.

But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart."

The young man did not delay in doing what they asked because he wanted Jacob's daughter Dinah badly. (Now he was more important than anyone in his father's household.)

and they started on their journey. The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

because they had too many possessions to be able to stay together and the land where they had settled was not able to support them because of their livestock.

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindly.

When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph from their hands, saying, "Let's not take his life!"

Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let's not lay a hand on him, for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed.

Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! He tore his clothes,

Then they brought the special tunic to their father and said, "We found this. Determine now whether it is your son's tunic or not."

But Onan knew that the child would not be considered his. So whenever he had sexual relations with his brother's wife, he withdrew prematurely so as not to give his brother a descendant.

So she removed her widow's clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.)

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?"

Then Judah had his friend Hirah the Adullamite take a young goat to get back from the woman the items he had given in pledge, but Hirah could not find her.

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 he refused, saying to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not give any thought to his household with me here, and everything that he owns he has put into my care.

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

The warden did not concern himself with anything that was in Joseph's care because the Lord was with him and whatever he was doing the Lord was making successful.

Both of them, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream the same night. Each man's dream had its own meaning.

But the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph -- he forgot him.

We each had a dream one night; each of us had a dream with its own meaning.

Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "It is not within my power, but God will speak concerning the welfare of Pharaoh."

The previous abundance of the land will not be remembered because of the famine that follows, for the famine will be very severe.

He then said, "Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die."

But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "What if some accident happens to him?"

Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men! Your servants are not spies."

You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

One of you must go and get your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison. In this way your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die." They did as he said.

(Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.)

But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies!

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.'"

Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you."

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."

But Judah said to him, "The man solemnly warned us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'

But if you will not send him, we won't go down there because the man said to us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"

Then Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. Then we will live and not die -- we and you and our little ones.

I myself pledge security for him; you may hold me liable. If I do not bring him back to you and place him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.

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 set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers, and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting to do so.)

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?

Then Judah approached him and said, "My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. Please do not get angry with your servant, for you are just like Pharaoh.

But you said to your servants, 'If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.'

But we replied, 'We cannot go down there. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go, for we won't be permitted to see the man's face if our youngest brother is not with us.'

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

"So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us -- his very life is bound up in his son's life.

When he sees the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.

Indeed, your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.'

For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn't bear to see my father's pain."

Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" His brothers could not answer him because they were dumbfounded before him.

Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life!

So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Now go up to my father quickly and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay!

They told him, "Joseph is still alive and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!" Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

God spoke to Israel in a vision during the night and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" He replied, "Here I am!"

He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob's sons.)

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."

Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become Pharaoh's slaves. Give us seed that we may live and not die. Then the land will not become desolate."

But he did not purchase the land of the priests because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh and they ate from their allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

So Joseph made it a statute, which is in effect to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh's.

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,

Now Israel's eyes were failing because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph brought his sons near to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

You are destructive like water and will not excel, for you got on your father's bed, then you defiled it -- he got on my couch!

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.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him.

Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt.

But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women -- for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!"

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked -- and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!

So Moses thought, "I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?"

God said, "Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even under force.

"I will grant this people favor with the Egyptians, so that when you depart you will not leave empty-handed.

Moses answered again, "And if they do not believe me or pay attention to me, but say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you'?"