This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, was taking care of the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.

He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:

When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, "What is this dream that you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?"

The man said, "They left this area, for I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They said to one another, "Here comes this master of dreams!

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

Reuben continued, "Don't shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him." (Reuben said this so he could rescue Joseph from them and take him back to his father.)

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."

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.)

Judah said, "Let her keep the things for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn't find her."

While she was giving birth, one child put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, "This one came out first."

There is no one greater in this household 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?"

This is what she said to him: "That Hebrew slave you brought to us tried to humiliate me,

When his master heard his wife say, "This is the way your slave treated me," he became furious.

"This is its meaning," Joseph said to him. "The three branches represent three days.

But remember me when it goes well for you, and show me kindness. Make mention of me to Pharaoh and bring me out of this prison,

Joseph replied, "This is its meaning: The three baskets represent three days.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning."

This is just what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Pharaoh should do this -- he should appoint officials throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt. In this way the land will survive the famine."

This advice made sense to Pharaoh and all his officials.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has enabled you to know all this, there is no one as wise and discerning as you are!

They replied, "Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers. We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time, and one is no longer alive."

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!"

They said to one other, "Surely we're being punished because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress has come on us!"

We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the sons of one father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father at this time in the land of Canaan.'

"Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for your hungry households and go.

Israel said, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had one more brother?"

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'?"

Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man -- a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, he said, "Is this your youngest brother, whom you told me about?" Then he said, "May God be gracious to you, my son."

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

Joseph said to them, "What did you think you were doing? Don't you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?"

But Joseph said, "Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of you may go back to your father in peace."

If you take this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair in tragedy to the grave.'

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!

He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After this his brothers talked with him.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and go to the land of Canaan!

You are also commanded to say, 'Do this: Take for yourselves wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives. Bring your father and come.

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.)

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.

He said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will multiply you. I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting possession.'

Joseph said to his father, "They are the sons God has given me in this place." His father said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."

Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked -- the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,

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

But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude of nations."

These are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing.

When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a very sad occasion for the Egyptians." That is why its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the field Abraham purchased as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite.

Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.' Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father." When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.

As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to you and lead you up from this land to the land he swore on oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, "God will surely come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place."

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

opened it, and saw the child -- a boy, crying! -- and she felt compassion for him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.

He looked this way and that and saw that no one was there, and then he attacked the Egyptian and concealed the body in the sand.

When Pharaoh heard about this event, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he settled by a certain well.

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

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."

God said to Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.'"

God also said to Moses, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'The Lord -- the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob -- has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.'

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

You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs."

The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, "Why are you treating your servants this way?

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!"

Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and hard labor.

Thus says the Lord: "By this you will know that I am the Lord: I am going to strike the water of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.

And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this.

But on that day I will mark off the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land.

I will put a division between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow."'"

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not release the people.

The Lord set an appointed time, saying, "Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land."

And the Lord did this on the next day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the Israelites' livestock not one died.

For this time I will send all my plagues on your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all 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.

I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

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.

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.

Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a menace to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know that Egypt is destroyed?"

So now, forgive my sin this time only, and pray to the Lord your God that he would only take this death away from me."

The Lord said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you, he will drive you out completely from this place.

"This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year.

Tell the whole community of Israel, 'In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families -- a lamb for each household.

You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown.

This is how you are to eat it -- dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.

This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord -- you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony.

When your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' --

It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, and so on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil to the Lord for generations to come.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may share in eating it.

And on this very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.

Moses said to the people, "Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, for the Lord brought you out of there with a mighty hand -- and no bread made with yeast may be eaten.

On this day, in the month of Abib, you are going out.