I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps.

You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “and I have been delivered.”

“I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.”

But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me.

Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

But they answered, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Are your mother and brothers and I going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”

But then he pulled his hand back, and his brother came out. Then she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez.

For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should put me in the dungeon.”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.”

Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.”

Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

“No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said.

“No,” he said to them. “You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken: ‘You are spies!’

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!”

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.”

But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.”

When we came to the place where we lodged for the night and opened our bags of grain, each one’s money was at the top of his bag! It was the full amount of our money, and we have brought it back with us.

We have brought additional money with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our money in the bags.”

Then the steward said, “May you be well. Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?

Isn’t this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wrong!’”

If any of us is found to have it, he must die, and we also will become my lord’s slaves.”

The steward replied, “What you have said is right, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”

“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?”

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

and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

One left—I said that he must have been torn to pieces—and I have never seen him again.

when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hairs of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

You can settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you, your children, and grandchildren, your sheep, cattle, and all you have.

There I will sustain you, for there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you, your household, and everything you have will become destitute.”’

Tell my father about all my glory in Egypt and about all you have seen. And bring my father here quickly.”

When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

Then Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen your face and know you are still alive!”

Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

The men are shepherds; they also raise livestock. They have brought their sheep and cattle and all that they have.

you are to say, ‘Your servants, both we and our fathers, have raised livestock from our youth until now.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians.”

So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their sheep and cattle and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.”

Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live in the land for a while because there is no grazing land for your servants’ sheep, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you,

Then Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?”

Jacob said to Pharaoh, “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not surpassed the years of my fathers during their pilgrimages.”

Then Joseph said to the people, “Understand today that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you. Sow it in the land.

And they said, “You have saved our lives. We have found favor in our lord’s eyes and will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

When the time drew near for him to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise me that you will deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt.

When I rest with my fathers, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

Joseph answered, “I will do what you have asked.”

When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s household, “If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that

So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

When they returned to their father Reuel he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”

She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings.

I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

The Israelites’ cry for help has come to Me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

He answered, “I will certainly 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 will all worship God at this mountain.”

“Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.

And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.

But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant—because I am slow and hesitant in speech.”

The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do all the wonders before Pharaoh that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go.

Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

“May the Lord take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek in front of Pharaoh and his officials—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”

So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have You caused trouble for this people? And why did You ever send me?

Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in Your name he has caused trouble for this people, and You haven’t delivered Your people at all.”

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Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered My covenant.

The Lord answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

Tell him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened.

“Tomorrow,” he answered.

Moses replied, “As you have said, so you may know there is no one like Yahweh our God,

By now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.

However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power and to make My name known in all the earth.

Therefore give orders to bring your livestock and all that you have in the field into shelters. Every person and animal that is in the field and not brought inside will die when the hail falls on them.”

Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “Yahweh is the Righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones.

Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will extend my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth belongs to Yahweh.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may do these miraculous signs of Mine among them,

They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat the remainder left to you that escaped the hail; they will eat every tree you have growing in the fields.

No, only the men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

Pharaoh urgently sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you.

Moses responded, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to prepare for Yahweh our God.

You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked.

But any slave a man has purchased may eat it, after you have circumcised him.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said: “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

You will lead the people
You have redeemed
with Your faithful love;
You will guide them to Your holy dwelling
with Your strength.

You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of Your possession;
Lord, You have prepared the place
for Your dwelling;
Lord, Your hands have established the sanctuary.

“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.”

So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t smell or have any maggots in it.

along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”)

Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”

‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.

He said to the people, “Be prepared by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with women.”

Do not have other gods besides Me.

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Then the Lord told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.