Our father has twelve sons, but one of us isn't alive anymore, and our youngest brother is with our father today back home in Canaan.'

"Feel free to put my own two sons to death," Reuben responded to his father, "if I don't bring him back to you. Trust me I'll bring him back to you."

But Jacob replied, "My son isn't going back with you, since his brother is dead and he's the only one left. If something should harm him as you travel, then it'll be death for me and my sad, gray hair!"

As a result, when Jacob's family was beginning to eat the last of the grain that they had brought back from Egypt, their father Jacob told his sons, "Go back to Egypt and buy us some food."

As Joseph looked up and recognized his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother about whom you spoke to me?" And he addressed him directly, "May God be gracious to you, my son."

and we answered Your Excellency, "We have an aged father and a younger child who was born when he was old. His brother is now dead, so he's the only surviving son of his mother. His father loves him.'

"Then your servant, our father, told us, "You know my wife bore me two sons.

"So when I go back to your servant, my father, and the young man isn't with us, since he's constantly living life focused on his son,

So hurry up, go back to my father, and tell him that his son Joseph tells him, "God has made me master of all of Egypt. Hurry up! Come live with me!'

So Israel's sons did what they were asked to do, and Joseph provided wagons for them, as Pharaoh had commanded. He also gave them provisions for the journey.

However, as soon as his sons had told him everything Joseph had said, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent along to carry him, their father Jacob's spirit was encouraged.

"It's enough," Israel replied. "My son Joseph is still alive. I'm going to go see him before I die!"

So Jacob got up and left Beer-sheba, and Israel's sons carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the transport wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry them.

including his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters every one of his descendants accompanied him to Egypt.

Here's a list of the names of Israel's sons, that is, of Jacob and his sons who moved to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn;

Reuben's sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi;

Simeon's sons Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, who was the son of a Canaanite woman;

Levi's sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari;

and Judah's sons Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Technically, Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan.) Perez's sons were Hezron and Hamul.

Also included were Issachar's sons Tola, Puvvah, Job, and Shimron;

along with Zebulun's sons Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

These were all sons from Leah, whom she bore for Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah. He had 33 sons and daughters.

Also included were Gad's sons Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli;

Asher's sons Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah's sons Heber and Malchiel were also included.

These were all sons from Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah. She bore these sixteen children for Jacob.

Jacob's wife Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

Joseph's sons born in the land of Egypt were Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore for him.

Benjamin's sons included Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

These were all the sons of Rachel, who were born for Jacob fourteen in all.

Also included were Dan's son Hushim;

Naphtali's sons Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

These were sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel. She bore these children for Jacob seven in all.

All of these people, who belonged to Jacob's family, traveled to Egypt. All of Jacob's direct descendants, not including his sons' wives, numbered 66 persons in all.

Joseph had two sons born to him in Egypt, and all of Jacob's household who went to Egypt numbered 70.

As the time approached for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and addressed him. "Please," he asked, "if you're happy with me, make a solemn promise that you'll treat me fairly and kindly by not burying me in Egypt.

Some time later, somebody informed Joseph, "Your father is ill!" So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him to visit Jacob.

As soon as Jacob was informed, "Look! Your son Joseph has come to visit you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

You have two sons who were born to you in Egypt before I came to be with you, whom I now take as my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Just then, Israel saw Joseph's sons and asked, "Who are these?"

"These are my sons," Joseph replied. "God gave them to me here in Egypt." "Please bring them close to me," Jacob said, "so I can bless them."

But Israel stretched out his right hand, laying it on Ephraim's head (he was the younger son) and laying his left hand on Manasseh's head (even though Manasseh was the firstborn).

After this, Jacob called his sons together and told them, "Assemble yourselves around me so I can tell you all what is going to happen to you in the last days.

Judah is a lion cub. My son, you have gone up from the prey. Crouching like a lion, he lies down, Like a lioness, who would dare rouse him?

After concluding this set of instructions to his sons, Jacob tucked his feet up into bed, quit breathing, and was gathered to his ancestors.

And so Israel's sons did what he had instructed them to do:

Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim's children, as well as the children who had been born to Manasseh's son Machir, whom he adopted as his own.

"When you help the Hebrew women give birth," he said, "watch them as they deliver. If it's a son, kill him; but if it's a daughter, let her live."

Meanwhile, Pharaoh continued commanding all of his people, "You're to throw every Hebrew son who is born into the Nile River, but you're to allow every Hebrew daughter to live."

Later, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a beautiful child, and hid him for three months.

After the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, because she said, "I drew him out of the water."

Later she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, because he used to say, "I became an alien in a foreign land."

Each woman is to ask her neighbor or any foreign woman in her house for articles of gold and for clothing, and use them to clothe your sons and daughters. You will plunder the Egyptians."

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on donkeys, and headed back to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

You are to say to Pharaoh, "This is what the LORD says: "Israel is my firstborn son.

And I say to you, "Let my son go so he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, then I will kill your firstborn son.'"'"

Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it, saying while doing so, ""because you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

These are the heads of their ancestors' households: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu; Hezron and Carmi.

These are the families of Reuben, including Simeon's sons Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the Canaanite woman's son. These are the families of Simeon.

These are the names of Levi's sons according to their genealogies: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

Gershon's sons were Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the descendants of Levi, according to their genealogies.

The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the families of the descendants of Korah.

Aaron's son Eleazar married one of Putiel's daughters, and she bore him Phineas. These are the heads of the ancestors of the descendants of Levi, according to their families.

Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and our cattle, because it's a festival to the LORD for us."

You are to redeem every firstborn donkey with a lamb, and if you don't redeem it, you are to break its neck. You are to redeem every firstborn among your sons.

And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of humans to the firstborn of animals. Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD every male that first opens the womb, but I redeem every firstborn of my sons.

Then Moses and the Israelis sang this song to the LORD: "I'll sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

The LORD is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God and I'll praise him, the God of my father and I'll exalt him.

along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, because he uwould say, "I was an alien in a foreign land,"

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, together with Moses' two sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camped at the mountain of God.

He told Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you along with your wife and her two sons."

Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain: "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and declare to the sons of Israel,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You are not to do any work neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your livestock, nor any foreigner who lives among you

If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and children belong to her master, and he is to go out by himself.

If he has selected her for his son, he is to treat her according to the ordinance for daughters.

This same ordinance applies if it gores a son or daughter.

"You are not to hold back the fullness of your harvest and the outflow of your wine presses. You are to give to me the firstborn of your sons.

You are to do your work for six days, but on the seventh day you are to refrain from work so that your ox and donkey may rest, and so the son of your maidservant and the alien may be refreshed.

In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to maintain the lamp stand from evening until morning in the LORD's presence. It is to be a perpetual ordinance from generation to generation among the Israelis."

"You are to bring your brother Aaron, along with his sons, from among the Israelis so they can serve as priests for me: that is, Aaron and his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

These are the garments that they are to make: a breast piece, an ephod, a robe, a checkered tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for Aaron your brother and for his sons to serve me as priests.

You are to take two onyx stones and engrave the names of the sons of Israel on them,

With work like a jeweler engraves on a signet, you are to inscribe the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel, and you are to mount them in settings of gold filigree.

You are to put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance representing the sons of Israel, and Aaron is to carry their names into the LORD's presence on his two shoulders as a memorial.

The stones are to correspond to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve stones corresponding to their names. They are to be engraved like a signet, each with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

"Aaron is to carry the names of Israel's sons on his heart on the breast piece to be worn by the high priest when he makes legal decisions, that is, whenever he goes into the Holy Place in order to remember them continuously in the LORD's presence.

You are to put the Urim and Thummim into the breast piece of judgment, and they are to be on Aaron's heart when he goes into the LORD's presence. He is to carry the breast piece of decision that depicts Israel's sons on his heart in the LORD's presence continuously."

"You are to make tunics for the sons of Aaron, you are to make sashes for them, and you are to make head coverings for them for dignity and beauty.

You are to put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and you are to anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them to serve as my priests.

They shall be on Aaron and his sons when they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place so they don't incur guilt and die. This is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him."

You are to bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water.

Then you are to bring his sons and clothe them with tunics.

You are to gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and tie headdresses on them. The priesthood is to belong to them by perpetual ordinance, and you are to ordain Aaron and his sons.

"You are to bring the bull in front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.

"You are to take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.

"You are to take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

You are to slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, the lobe of his sons' right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet. Then you are to scatter the rest of the blood around the altar.

You are to take some of the blood which is on the altar, along with some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their garments. He is to be consecrated with his garments, along with his sons and their garments.