The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and made an oath to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land: he will send his angel before you and give you a wife for my son in that land.

And if the woman will not come with you, then you are free from this oath; only do not take my son back there.

And the servant came running to her and said, Give me a little water from your vessel.

And after putting the water from her vessel into the animals' drinking-place, she went quickly back to the spring and got water for all the camels.

And my master made me take an oath, saying, Do not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

And he said, The Lord, whom I have ever kept before me, will send his angel with you, who will make it possible for you to get a wife for my son from my relations and my father's house;

And you will be free from your oath to me when you come to my people; and if they will not give her to you, you will be free from your oath.

Let it come about that, while I am waiting here by the water-spring, if a girl comes to get water and I say to her, Give me a little water from your vessel, and she says,

And straight away she took down her vessel from her arm, and said, Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels.

And when Rebekah, looking up, saw Isaac, she got down from her camel,

And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

And from Midian came Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the offspring of Keturah.

The same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth: there Abraham was put to rest with Sarah, his wife.

And their country was from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt: they took their place to the east of all their brothers.

And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger.

And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau.

And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food;

And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are.

So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.

Then he went away from there, and made another water-hole, about which there was no fighting: so he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land.

And from there he went on to Beer-sheba.

And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the captain of his army.

And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you?

And when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field.

Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be:

By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.

Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day?

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?

Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan-aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them.

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it.

Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran.

And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the water-hole; then we will get water for the sheep.

Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.

And Rachel, hearing from Jacob that he was her father's relation and that he was the son of Rebekah, went running to give her father news of it.

And Leah's eyes were clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form.

But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit?

But Leah said to her, Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband from me? and now would you take my son's love-fruits? Then Rachel said, You may have him tonight in exchange for your son's love-fruits.

In the evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to him and said, Tonight you are to come to me, for I have given my son's love-fruits as a price for you. And he went in to her that night.

Let me go through all your flock today, taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or coloured or black, and all the marked or coloured goats: these will be my payment.

But your father has not kept faith with me, and ten times he has made changes in my payment; but God has kept him from doing me damage.

Are we not as people from a strange country to him? for he took a price for us and now it is all used up.

For the wealth which God has taken from him is ours and our children's; so now, whatever God has said to you, do.

And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force.

This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes.

Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child.

Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau,

Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep,

So Jacob came safely from Paddan-aram to the town of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and put up his tents near the town.

And for a hundred bits of money he got from the children of Hamor, the builder of Shechem, the field in which he had put up his tents.

Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.

And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.

And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.

And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.

And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Beth-el, under the holy tree: and they gave it the name of Allon-bacuth.

Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan-aram, God came to him again and, blessing him, said,

Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer; from now your name will be Israel; so he was named Israel.

And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring;

Then God went up from him in the place where he had been talking with him.

So they went on from Beth-el; and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, the pains of birth came on Rachel and she had a hard time.

And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.

Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the people of his house, and his beasts and his cattle and all his goods which he had got together in the land of Canaan, and went into the land of Seir, away from his brother Jacob.

And these are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah: these were the chiefs who came from Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.

And at the death of Jobab, Husham, from the country of the Temanites, became king in his place.

And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan.

Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.

Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels.

And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.

Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,

Now at that time, Judah went away from his brothers and became the friend of a man of Adullam named Hirah.

And he said, I will give you a young goat from the flock. And she said, What will you give me as a sign till you send it?

Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field.

And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face.

So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?

Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream?

And on the vine were three branches; and it seemed as if it put out buds and flowers, and from them came grapes ready for cutting.

For truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews; and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison.

And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;

Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck;

Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.

So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.

And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.

But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.

And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping; then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes.

And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.

And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.

And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.

And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? far be it from your servants to do such a thing:

See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan: how then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house?

Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace.

The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him,

If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld.

And say to them, This you are to do: take carts from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come back.