In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him at Mount Gilead.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.

Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.”

So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker.

and also Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him.

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

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.’”

He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.

You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.

That is why, to this day, the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because He struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves.

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”

He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.”

So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?”

“To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered.

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.

Then Esau said, “Let’s move on, and I’ll go ahead of you.”

He purchased a section of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 qesitahs.

Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area.

When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her.

Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.

Jacob’s sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident and were deeply grieved and angry. For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by raping Jacob’s daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

Hamor said to Jacob’s sons, “My son Shechem is strongly attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I’ll give you whatever you say.

But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father’s house.

So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men there.

On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away.

Jacob’s other sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled.

So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah, died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Oak of Weeping.

God said to him:

Your name is Jacob;
you will no longer be named Jacob,
but your name will be Israel.

So He named him Israel.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave to this day.

While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had 12 sons:

Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn),
Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, and Zebulun.

Rachel’s sons were
Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah
were Dan and Naphtali.

The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah
were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau’s sons, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

So Esau (that is, Edom) lived in the mountains of Seir.

These are the names of Esau’s sons:
Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah,
and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz,
bore Amalek to Eliphaz.
These were the sons of Esau’s wife Adah.

These are Reuel’s sons:
Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah
daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon:
She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom.

These are the chiefs of Esau’s sons:
the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn:
Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son:
Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
These are the chiefs of Reuel
in the land of Edom.
These are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah:
Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These are the chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah
daughter of Anah.

The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman.
Timna was Lotan’s sister.

These are Shobal’s sons:
Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

These are Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah.
This was the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness
while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.

These are Dishon’s sons:
Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

These are Ezer’s sons:
Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

These are Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran.

When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar became king in his place.
His city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel
daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

These are the names of Esau’s chiefs,
according to their families and their localities,
by their names:
Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

Magdiel, and Iram.
These are Edom’s chiefs,
according to their settlements in the land they possessed.
Esau was father of the Edomites.

These are the family records of Jacob.

At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”

Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed.

When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”

His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”

There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.

Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord put him to death.

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother.”

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so He put him to death also.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to the sheepshearers.

So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

“What should I give you?” he asked.

She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she got pregnant by him.

She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”

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.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,

Joseph found favor in his master’s sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.