Demand of me a high compensation and gift; I’ll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife!”

But we'll agree to your request, only if you will become like us by circumcising every male among you.

Then we'll give our daughters to you and take your daughters for ourselves, live among you, and be as a united people.

These men are peaceable with us; then let them dwell in the land, and trade in it; and the land, lo, is wide before them; their daughters let us take to ourselves for wives, and our daughters give to them.

Shouldn't all their cattle, acquisitions, and animals belong to us? So, let's give our consent to them, and then they'll live with us."

Then let's get up and go to Bethel, where I'll build an altar to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who was with me on the road, wherever I went."

So God called his name Israel and also told him, "I am God Almighty. You are to be fruitful and multiply. You will become a nation in fact, an assembly of nations! Kings will come from you they'll emerge from your own loins!

And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:

And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.

For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

And he dreameth yet another dream, and recounteth it to his brethren, and saith, 'Lo, I have dreamed a dream again, and lo, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars, are bowing themselves to me.'

And a man findeth him, and lo, he is wandering in the field, and the man asketh him, saying, 'What seekest thou?'

And they say one unto another, 'Lo, this man of the dreams cometh;

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!”

And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

And they sit down to eat bread, and they lift up their eyes, and look, and lo, a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, and their camels bearing spices, and balm, and myrrh, going to take them down to Egypt.

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.

And Reuben returneth unto the pit, and lo, Joseph is not in the pit, and he rendeth his garments,

All his sons and daughters showed up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He kept saying, "Leave me alone! I'll go down to the next world, still mourning for my son." So Joseph's father wept for him.

Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and fulfil to her the brother-in-law's duty, and raise up seed to thy brother.

Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.

And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?

"I'll send you a young goat from the flock," he responded. But she pressed him, asking, "What security will you put up until you've sent it?"

Then said he, "What pledge shall I give thee?" And she said, "Thy signet, thy necklace, and thy staff that is in thy hand." And he gave it her and lay by her, and she was with child by him.

and Judah saith, 'Let her take to herself, lest we become despised; lo, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.'

And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.

And Judah knew them, saying, "She is more righteous than I, because I gave her not to Shelah my son." But he lay with her no more.

And it cometh to pass in the time of her bearing, that lo, twins are in her womb;

And it cometh to pass as he draweth back his hand, that lo, his brother hath come out, and she saith, 'What! thou hast broken forth -- on thee is the breach;' and he calleth his name Pharez;

And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.

and he refuseth, and saith unto his lord's wife, 'Lo, my lord hath not known what is with me in the house, and all that he hath he hath given into my hand;

And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:

And he took Joseph and put him in prison: even in the place where the king's prisoners lay bound. And there continued he in prison,

And Joseph cometh in unto them in the morning, and seeth them, and lo, they are morose;

And the chief of the butlers recounteth his dream to Joseph, and saith to him, 'In my dream, then lo, a vine is before me!

Within three days, Pharaoh will encourage you and return you to your responsibilities. You'll attend to Pharaoh's personal wine cup, just as you did when you were his senior security advisor.

And the chief of the bakers seeth that he hath interpreted good, and he saith unto Joseph, 'I also am in a dream, and lo, three baskets of white bread are on my head,

And it cometh to pass, at the end of two years of days that Pharaoh is dreaming, and lo, he is standing by the River,

and lo, from the River coming up are seven kine, of fair appearance, and fat in flesh, and they feed among the reeds;

and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them out of the River, of bad appearance, and lean in flesh, and they stand near the kine on the edge of the River,

And he sleepeth, and dreameth a second time, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, fat and good,

and lo, seven ears, thin, and blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them;

and the thin ears swallow the seven fat and full ears -- and Pharaoh awaketh, and lo, a dream.

And Pharaoh speaketh unto Joseph: 'In my dream, lo, I am standing by the edge of the River,

and lo, out of the River coming up are seven kine, fat in flesh, and of fair form, and they feed among the reeds;

and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them, thin, and of very bad form, and lean in flesh; I have not seen like these in all the land of Egypt for badness.

'And I see in my dream, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, full and good;

and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them;

'Lo, seven years are coming of great abundance in all the land of Egypt,

And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.

he saith also, 'Lo, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, go down thither, and buy for us from thence, and we live and do not die;'

Jacob would not send Joseph's brother Benjamin to accompany them, because he was saying, "I'm afraid that he'll come to some kind of harm."

and they say, 'Thy servants are twelve brethren; we are sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and lo, the young one is with our father to-day, and the one is not.'

So here's how we'll test you. You can bet the life of Pharaoh that you're not leaving here until your youngest brother comes here!

One of you is to be sent back so he can get your brother while the rest of you remain in custody. That way, we'll test whether or not you're telling the truth. If you're not, as surely as the Pharaoh lives, you're spies!"

Three days later, Joseph told them, "I fear God, so do this and you'll live.

And Reuben answereth them, saying, 'Spake I not unto you, saying, Sin not against the lad? and ye hearkened not; and his blood also, lo, it is required.'

and the one openeth his sack to give provender to his ass at a lodging-place, and he seeth his money, and lo, it is in the mouth of his bag,

And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I can be sure that you're honest men, and not spies. Then I'll return your brother to you, and you'll be allowed to trade anywhere in the land.'"

And it cometh to pass, they are emptying their sacks, and lo, the bundle of each man's silver is in his sack, and they see their bundles of silver, they and their father, and are afraid;

"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!"

But Judah reminded him, "The man distinctly warned us: "You'll never see my face unless your brother comes with you.'

If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food,

but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'"

Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.

I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I don't bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,

When they were brought to Joseph's house, they were afraid, and said, "Because of the money that came in our sacks' mouths at the first time, are we brought, to pick a quarrel with us and to lay something to our charge: to bring us in bondage and our asses also."

and it cometh to pass, when we have come in unto the lodging-place, and open our bags, that lo, each one's money is in the mouth of his bag, our money in its weight, and we bring it back in our hand;

lo, the money which we found in the mouth of our bags we brought back unto thee from the land of Canaan, and how do we steal from the house of thy lord silver or gold?

Go ahead and execute whichever one of your servants is discovered to have it, and we'll remain as your master's slaves."

And Judah saith, 'What do we say to my lord? what do we speak? and what -- do we justify ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants; lo, we are servants to my lord, both we, and he in whose hand the cup hath been found;'

"But we told him, "We can't go back there. If our youngest brother accompanies us, we'll go back, but we cannot see the man's face again unless our youngest brother accompanies us.'

when he notices that the young man hasn't come back with us, he'll die, and your servants really will have brought death to your servant, our father, along with his sad, gray hair!

I'll provide for you there, since there are still five years of famine left to go, and you, your households, and everything you own would have otherwise become impoverished.

And lo, your eyes are seeing, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth which is speaking unto you;

get your father and your households, and come back to me. I'll give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can live off the abundance of the land.'

I will go down with thee to Egypt, and will bring thee up, yea wholly up, - and, Joseph, shall lay his own hand upon thine eyes.

These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.

These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

But Joseph addressed his brothers and his father's household and told them, "I'll go up and tell Pharaoh that my brothers and my father's household have arrived from Canaan to be with me.

I'll mention that the men are shepherds. Because they've been taking care of livestock, they brought along their flocks, their herds, and everything else that they own.

you are to tell him, "Your servants have been taking care of livestock since we were youths. We and our ancestors have taken care of livestock.' That way, you'll be able to live in the Goshen territory, since shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians."

And Joseph cometh, and declareth to Pharaoh, and saith, 'My father, and my brethren, and their flock, and their herd, and all they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and lo, they are in the land of Goshen.'

"You can surrender your livestock," Joseph replied. "I'll feed them in exchange, since your money is gone."

Wherefore should we die before thine eyes both we, and our ground? Buy thou us and our ground, for bread, - and we and our ground will become servants to Pharaoh, and give seed, that we may live, and not die, and the ground, not lie waste.

Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

"You've saved our lives," they replied. "If it pleases you, your Excellency, we'll be Pharaoh's slaves."

And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.

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.

But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

And it cometh to pass, after these things, that one saith to Joseph, 'Lo, thy father is sick;' and he taketh his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim.

And one declareth to Jacob, and saith, 'Lo, thy son Joseph is coming unto thee;' and Israel doth strengthen himself, and sit upon the bed.

and saith unto me, Lo, I am making thee fruitful, and have multiplied thee, and given thee for an assembly of peoples, and given this land to thy seed after thee, a possession age-during.