But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my business.” And he said, “Speak on.”

He said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;

then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

“So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful;

and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.

And they said, “We will call the girl and consult her wishes.”

Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”

The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb;
And two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger.”

Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.

I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,
“I am the God of your father Abraham;
Do not fear, for I am with you.
I will bless you, and multiply your descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”

that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’”

Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”

So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.

“By your sword you shall live,
And your brother you shall serve;
But it shall come about when you become restless,
That you will break his yoke from your neck.”

So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.

Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear,

and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.

This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.”

Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”

She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi.

And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

He continued, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”

So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:

So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”

Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,’

Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.

For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”

and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.”

But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.

Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.

Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.”

Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised,

then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.

But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.

Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.”

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”

and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

“The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give it to you,
And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.”

Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”

Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “Here now, let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

He said, therefore, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, moreover, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?”

Then Judah said, “Let her keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”

within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.

within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine.

and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land.

So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.

Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about.

Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”

You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.”

by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here!

and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so.

The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go.

But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’”

Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “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 return him to you.”

But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.

But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones.

I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever.

and may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

You said to your servants, however, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’

when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”’

and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land.’

Then Israel said, “It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

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

I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.”

Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me;

Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.”

When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands.

Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”