 29 Then Jacob arose unto his feet, and went towards the land of the sons of the east, and he looked and saw a well in the field, and there were by it three flocks of sheep lying down, for from that well they watered the flocks, but a great stone was on the mouth of the well. So when all the flocks had collected there, they rolled away the stone and watered the sheep, and then returned the stone onto the mouth of the well until another time. Jacob therefore asked them, Brothers, where do you come from? And they replied, We are from Qaraan. Then he asked them if they knew Laban, the son of Nahor, when they answered, We know him. He next asked them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel, his daughter, coming with his sheep. Then he asked, Look, it is full day already. Is it not time to water the cattle and sheep that they may go and feed? But they replied, He cannot until all the flocks are collected, and they roll away the stone from off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Whilst he was speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she shepherded them. But it happened that when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, the brother of his mother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob rolled the stone from off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his mother's brother, Laban. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. Then Jacob said to Rachel, I do it because I am a relative of your father and because I am the son of Rebecca. So she ran and reported it to her father. When Laban had heard the report about Jacob, the son of his sister, he ran to invite him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where he related to Laban all these events. Then Laban said, You are my bone and my flesh. So he stayed five days with him when Laban said to Jacob, Since you are my relative, now serve me, and also inform me what wages I shall pay you. Now Laban had two daughters, the name of the eldest, Leah, and the name of the youngest, Rachel. But the eyes of Leah were timid, and those of Rachel perfect in form and beautiful to see, and Jacob loved Rachel. So he replied, I will serve you seven years for your youngest daughter, Rachel. Laban then replied, Good, she shall be yours. I will give her for a wife after you have stayed with me. So Jacob waited for Rachel seven years, but they were to him like a single day because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for the time is up and I will go to her. Laban then collected all the men of the place and made a feast, and when it was dark he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him, and he went to her. Laban also gave Zilpha his servant to Leah to be her servant. But when it was morning he discovered it was Leah and said to Laban, Why have you done this to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Then why have you cheated me? But Laban answered, It is not our custom in this country to give the younger before the elder. Count the seven for this, then I will give to you also the other, and for her you shall serve with me another seven years afterwards. Laban therefore agreed to it that he would serve thus, so he gave Rachel his daughter to him for a wife. Laban also gave to Rachel Billa his servant to be her servant. He therefore went to Rachel, and he loved Rachel completely and served to him other seven years afterwards. But the ever-living saw that he hated Leah, so he opened her womb, but Rachel was childless. So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Rubin, before she said that, The ever-living has looked on my sorrow, so that now my husband may love me. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, Now the ever-living has heard that he hates me, so he has given to me also this. And she called his name Simeon. Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, Now certainly my husband will cling to me, for I have borne him three sons. Before she called his name Levi. She also conceived again and bore a son, and she said, This time I will praise the Lord. So she called his name Judah. Then she ceased to bear children. CHAPTER 30 When Rachel saw that she bore no child to Jacob, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me children, and if not I shall die. But Jacob's anger fired at Rachel, and he answered, Am I in the place of God to hold back from you the fruit of your body? She therefore said, See now my attendant Billa, Go to her and she shall bear at my knee, so that I also myself shall have children from her. So she gave to him Billa her servant for a wife, and Jacob went to her, and she conceived and bore a son to Jacob. Then Rachel said, God has done me justice, and also has heard my voice, and given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan. Then Billa the servant of Rachel conceived and bore a son to Jacob, when Rachel exclaimed, I struggled with God, I also struggled with my sister. So she called his name Naftali. When Leah saw that she ceased to bear, she took Zilpha her attendant and gave her to Jacob for a wife, so Zilpha the servant of Leah bore a son to Jacob. Then Leah said, Buy a troop, and called his name Gad. Zilpha the attendant of Leah also bore a second son to Jacob, and Leah exclaimed, I am blessed, for the women will bless me. She therefore called his name Asher. Rubin once went out at the time of wheat harvest and found love apples in the field, and brought them to Leah, his mother, when Rachel said to Leah, Give me I pray some of your son's love apples. But she said, Is it a trifle that you have taken my husband, and would you also take the apples of my son? Then Rachel replied, Come now, he shall sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's apples. When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah met him and said to him, You must come, for I have hired you with the love apples of my son, so sleep with me tonight. And God heard Leah, so she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. Leah therefore said, God has paid me wages because I gave my servant to my husband. She therefore called his name Isacar. Leah afterwards conceived again a sixth son to Jacob. Then Leah said, God has endowed me, even me, with a good dowry, so that my husband will live with me, for I have borne him six sons. Therefore she called his name Zebulon. She afterwards also bore a daughter, and called her name Dina. But God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb, and she conceived and bore a son. Then she said, God has taken away my reproach. She therefore called his name Joseph, saying, The ever living has added to me another son. But it occurred that when Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, and I will go to my own home and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children whom I have served you for, because I must go with them, for you know the wages for which I have served to you. But he replied, Name your wages to me, and I will give you them. So he answered him, You know how I have served you and how your herds have been with me, for they were small that were with you before me, and they have spread out to many, and the ever living has blessed you at my feet. Yet have I gained even a house of my own? But he replied, What shall I give? Then Jacob answered, You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will conduct your sheep and guard them. I will go over all your sheep today, counting. Every sheep speckled or spotted, and every black sheep among the lambs, and every spotted or speckled in the rams, they shall be my wages, and you shall assign them justly to me from today forward as my wages from you. All that is not spotted or speckled in the goats or black in the sheep, it shall be a theft with me. And Laban replied, It shall be exactly as you say. He therefore separated on that day the marked and spotted rams, and all the marked and speckled of the goats from all that were white, and all the black sheep, and gave them to the hands of his sons, and put a three-days journey between them and between Jacob's. But Jacob shepherded the other sheep for Laban, his father-in-law. Jacob then selected young wands of Willow, and Almond, and Sycamore, and peeled them, peeling to the white so as to show the whiteness of the wands, and he stuck the wands which he had peeled near the watering troughs where the sheep came to drink, in the sight of the sheep, when they were hot for breeding after drinking. So the sheep were hot amongst the wands, and bore, and the sheep bore marked and spotted and speckled. Then Jacob separated the lambs and placed the faces of the sheep towards the striped, and gave all the black among the sheep of Laban to his own flocks, and did not assign them to the sheep of Laban. Thus when any of the strong sheep were hot for union, then Jacob placed the wands before the eyes of the sheep near the troughs to inflame them among the wands. Before the feeble of the sheep, however, he placed them not, so the feeble went to Laban and the strong to Jacob. Thus the man increased very much, and he possessed many sheep, and women and men-servants, and camels, and asses. CHAPTER 31 However he heard the sons of Laban talking, saying, Jacob will take all that our father has, and from what our father possessed he has made all his wealth. Jacob consequently watched the face of Laban, and perceived it was not with him as formerly. CHAPTER 2 Then the ever-living said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers and your birth, and I will be with you. So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his sheep, and said to them, I see that the face of your father is not with me as formerly, but the god of my fathers is with me. Now you know that with all my strength I have served your father, but your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times. God however did not allow him to do evil to me, for when he said, The spotted shall be your wages, all the sheep were spotted. But if he said, The streaked shall be your wages, then all the sheep were streaked, so God took away the flocks of your father and gave them to me. It also happened in the season of the heat of the sheep, that I raised my eyes in a dream, and saw the rams leaping on the street speckled and spotted sheep, and the messenger of God said to me in the dream, Jacob, and I replied, I am here. Then he said, Lift up your eyes and see all the rams leaping on the street speckled and spotted sheep, for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. I am the god of the house of God, which you consecrated there in the pillar, which you dedicated to me, where you vowed a gift. Go from this country and return to the country of your birth. Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, What portion our inheritance is there to us in the house of our father? Are we not like strangers, and outcasts to him? For he sold us, and has eaten up our money. For all the wealth which God has stripped from our father, that is ours, and our children's, so do all that God has said to you. After Jacob arose and mounted his children and wives on camels, and collected the whole of his herds, and the whole of the property which he had acquired by trading, property he had acquired in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Laban, however, had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the tariff him which were her fathers. Thus Jacob stole away secretly from Laban the army, without informing him, for he fled from him. So he fled, he and all he possessed, and they went up and crossed over the river, and he set his face to Mount Gilad, but on the third day it was reported to Laban that Jacob had fled. Then he took his relatives with him and pursued after him a seven days journey, and came up with him at Mount Gilad. But God appeared to Laban the army in a dream by night, and said to him, Guard yourself in what you do to Jacob for either good or ill. Laban, however, overtook Jacob, and Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, but Laban with his relatives on Mount Gilad. Laban then said to Jacob, What have you done? You have carried away my daughters like captives, desolate! Why did you steal away to fly in to see me and not inform me, when I would have sent you away with pleasure and with the sound of drums and harps? You have not even let me kiss my children and your children. You have acted like a fool. Truly there is a God who guides me from evil and acting with you. For the God of your father last night said to me, Guard yourself in dealing with Jacob for good or ill. So go your journey, for you desire the house of your father. But why have you stolen my gods? Then Jacob replied, Because I was afraid, for I said he will certainly steal his daughters from me. If however you find your gods, it is not known to me. Go round what is with me and take your own. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. Laban, therefore, went round the tent of Jacob and the tent of Leah and to the tents of the two mothers and did not find them. Consequently he left the tent of Leah and went to the tent of Rachel, but Rachel had taken the pterothem and placed them under the camel saddle and sat upon them. So Laban searched all the tent and could not find. And she said to her father, Let it not grieve your eyes, my lord, that I am not able to rise before you, for the way of women is on me. So he searched and did not find the pterothem. Then Jacob was furious and abused Laban, and Jacob was savage and said to Laban, What is my fault and what is my sin that you have come after me? Now you have searched all my goods. What have you found of all the goods of your house? Put it before my people and your people, and they shall decide between us. During the twenty years I have been with you, I have not lost a sheep or a goat of yours, and I have never eaten a ram of your flock. I have not brought you the maimed. I have borne the loss from my own hand. I have restored to you the stolen by day and the stolen by night. I have borne the heat by day and the cold by night and my eyes never rested. This twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your sheep, and you cheated me over my wages ten times. If the God of my father Abraham and the worship of Isaac had not been with me, then you would have sent me away empty. But God saw my weary feet and defended me last night. But Laban answered and said to Jacob, The girls are my girls, and the children my children, and the sheep my sheep, and all that you see is mine. And for the girls what shall I do for them or the children which they have borne? Never now! Come on, and let you and me make a settlement, and let it be a witness between myself and you. Then Jacob took a stone and set it up with both his hands, and Jacob said to his father-in-law, Let them collect stones. So they collected stones and made a heap. Then they feasted on the heap there, and Laban called it for himself the heap of witnesses. But Jacob called it for himself the heap of evidence. Laban also said, This heap is a witness between me and between you today. Therefore they called its name Gilad and a watchtower, for he said, Let the ever-living watch between me and between you to keep each from evil. If you grieve my daughters, and if you take wives beside my daughters when we are not together, let God see the witness between me and you. Then Laban added to Jacob, See this heap, and see the pillar which I have raised between me and between you. Witness this heap, and witness this pillar, if I should pass over to you beyond this heap, or if you should pass over to me beyond this heap, and this pillar for evil, the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of our fathers. Jacob then swore by the worship of his father Isaac, and Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the heap, and invited his relatives to eat bread. So they ate bread, and they rested on the heap. CHAPTER 32 Laban then rose up in the morning, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them, and went and returned to his own place. But Jacob continued his journey, and a messenger of God met him. So Jacob said, What a glorious encampment of God this place is! Therefore he called the name of that place the encampment. Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau at Mount Sier in the land of Edom, and he commanded them, saying, You shall say this to my Lord Esau. Jacob your servant says thus, I have lodged with Laban and stayed until now, and there are with me bullocks and asses and sheep, and serving men and women, so I have sent to inform my Lord to find favor in your eyes. When the messengers returned to Jacob they reported, We went to your brother, to Esau, and he is also coming to call upon you, and four hundred men with him. Jacob consequently was very greatly afraid, and it distressed him. So he divided the people who were with him, and the sheep, and the cattle, and camels into two camps. Because, he said, If Esau comes to the one camp and assails it, then there will be the other to fly to. Jacob also said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, Return to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you. I am unworthy of all the mercies, and of all the support which you have shown to me when I, your servant, passed over this torrent with my staff, and I am returning as two camps. Grant me a deliverance from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear that he will come and cut off mothers with children. But you have said, Supporting I will support you, and I will make your race like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted for quantity. So he rested there that night. Then he took presence in his hand, presence for his brother Esau, a hundred goats and twenty he-goats, a hundred sheep and twenty rams, thirty suckling camels with their foals, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten asses, and he put them under the hands of servants separately, troop by troop, and said to his servants, Go before me and spread a space between troop and troop. He also ordered the foremost, saying, If you meet Esau my brother, and he asks you, Who are you, and where are you going, and whose are these before you? You shall reply, From your servant, from Jacob, a present he sends to my lord to Esau, and look, also he is behind us. He ordered the second also, with the third, with all the servants who followed after them repeating, You shall say the same words to Esau if he meets with you, and you shall also say to him, See, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he remarked, I will pacify him first by the presence that I send to him, and afterwards I will see by his face whether or not I can stand before him. Thus he sent presence over before him, but he himself stopped that night in the camp. However he arose at night and took his two wives and the two second wives and his eleven lads, and crossed the fort of Jabbaq. So he took them and passed them over the brook, and sent over all who were with him. Jacob however was left alone by himself, and a man wrestled with him until the departure of the darkness. He saw, however, that he was not equal to him, so he touched him in the hollow of the thigh, and struck the hollow of the thigh of Jacob whilst wrestling with him. Then he said, Release me, for the darkness is going! But he replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Then he answered, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. When he responded, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with a divine messenger as with men and been equal to it. Then Jacob asked, and said, Tell me your name. And he replied, Why do you ask my name? But he then blessed him. Jacob consequently called the name of that place, N-E-L, that is, God's face, for I have seen divinities face to face, and preserved my life. And the sun arose on him as he crossed over from Peniel, but he limped on his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew nerve from the foot to the thigh until this day, for he struck Jacob in the sinew nerve at the hollow of the thigh. CHAPTER 33 Then Jacob raised his eyes and saw that Esau approached and four hundred men with him. So he separated the children of Leah and of Rachel and of the two second wives, and placed the second wives and their children in the front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph behind. But he passed to the front of them and bowed to the earth seven times, whilst approaching to his brother. But Esau rushed forwards and called to and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and wept. Then he lifted his eyes and saw the wives and children and asked, Who are these with you? And he replied, The children which God has given me, your servant. Then the second wives approached with their children and they bowed. Leah also came forward and heard children and they bowed, and afterwards Joseph and Rachel and they bowed. So he asked, What is all this camp with you which approaches me? Then he replied, To find favor in the eyes of my Lord. Esau, however, answered, I have plenty, my brother, let your own remain to yourself. But Jacob said, Not so. If now I have found favor in your eyes, take a present from my hand, for certainly I have seen your face as if I had seen the face of God and am delighted. Now do take the things which I have brought to you, for God has favored me and because there is plenty for me as well. So he pressed him until he took them. Then he said, I will rise up and travel and we will go along together. But he answered him, My Lord knows that the children are many and the sheep and the cattle with me are breeding so if we drive them a single day then all the sheep will die. But let my Lord now go before me and I will be traveling at my ease according to the pace of the guide before me and the pace of the children until that I come to my Lord at Sear. But Esau said, I will then assign to you some of the people who are with me. And he replied, Why have I found this favor in the eyes of my Lord? So Esau returned that day on his journey to Sear, but Jacob pitched his tent and built himself a house and cattle yards, making an encampment. Therefore he called the name of the place Scoothe. Since Jacob went quietly to the village of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan on his return from Padan Aram, an encampment before the village and bought that part of the land where he pitched his tent, from the hand of the son of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred quesitas, he also built an altar there and called on God, the God of Israel. CHAPTER 34 But it happened that Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the country, and Shechem, the son of Hamor, the chief of the country, saw and seized her and violated her and disgraced her. But his soul was attached to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke to the girl's heart. So Shechem spoke to Hamor, his father, saying, Get me this girl for a life. Jacob however heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah, but his sons were at the fold in the fields, so Jacob kept silence until their return. Then Hamor the father of Shechem came to Jacob to speak with him, but the sons of Jacob returned from the field upon hearing it, and the men were grieved and very angry at it, for he had done an outrage to Israel in violating the daughter of Jacob, which ought not to be done. But Hamor spoke to them, saying, My son Shechem is attached by his soul to your daughter. Therefore give her to him for a wife, and you can give your girls to us, and we can give ours to you to take for yourselves, and you can dwell with us, and the land shall be before you, reside and travel about and possess it. Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you ask of me I will give it. Heep upon me a great dowry and settlement, and I will give whatever you say to me, only give me the girl for a wife. Then the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father craftily, because, they said, He has corrupted our sister Dina. So they replied, We are unable to do such a thing as to give our sister to an uncircumcised man, for that would be a reproach to us, yet if you will agree with us that, like us, every male of you should be circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will reside with you and be one people. But if you will not listen to us, then we will take our sister and depart. And the idea was good in the eyes of Shechem, the son of Hamor, so the youth did not delay to do the thing, for he had an affection for the daughter of Jacob, and he was the most honoured of all his father's house. So Hamor and Shechem his son went to the gate of their village, and addressed the men of their town, saying, These men are peaceable with us, and they travel in it, and the country lies open to their hands before them. We would wish to take their daughters to us for wives, and give our daughters to them, however the men will only unite with us in this way, to reside with us and to be one people, by our circumcising every male of us as they are circumcised, their herds and possessions and all they have, will they not be ours if we agree with them and they reside with us? All who sat in the gate of the village listened, therefore, to Hamor and Shechem his son, and they circumcised every male who came to the gate of the town. But on the third day when they were in pain, Simeon and Levi, the two sons of Jacob, brothers of Dina, each took his sword and went into the village quietly, and slew every male. They also slew Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dina from the house of Shechem and went away. Then the sons of Jacob came on the booty and plundered the town which had defiled their sister. They took the sheep, the cattle and the asses, and the wealth in the village and the wealth in the field, and captured their youths and little children and wives, and plundered all the furniture and the houses. But Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You are a sorrow to me. You have made me hateful to the inhabitants of the land, to the Canaanites and the Parasites, and I, being few in number, they will outnumber me and assail and destroy me in my house. They, however, answered, Are they to use our sister as a harlot? Chapter 35 God afterwards said to Jacob, Arise, go to Bethel and reside and make an altar there to the God who appeared to you in your flight from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, Go away the strange gods which are among you and purify yourselves and change your clothing and let us be rising, and we will go to Bethel, and I will there build an altar to the God who pitied me in the day of my distress and was with me in the journey that I went. They therefore gave to Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands and the earrings that were in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak which was near Shechem. Then they marched, and a terror from God was upon their neighbors, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan, it is Bethel, and his people with him. He also built an altar there and called the house of God Bethel, for there God appeared to him in his flight from the presence of his brother. But Debra, the nurse of Rebekah, died, and he buried her between Bethel and Alon, and called the name of the place The Oak of Weeping. God also appeared another time to Jacob on his return from Padan Aram, and spoke with him when God said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, for Israel shall be your name. So he called his name Israel, and God said to him, I am the Almighty God, be fruitful and multiply, a nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you, and kings shall proceed from your loins, and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and the same land I will give to you and your race after you. Then the Divine Messenger went up from him from the place where he spoke with him. So Jacob erected a pillar at the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and poured a libation upon it, and poured oil upon it. Jacob also called the name of that place where God spoke with him, God's house. He afterwards marched from there, and had gone some distance into the country towards Ephraffa, when Rachel was taken in labor, and the child went hard with her. But when she was delivered with hard labor, the midwives said to her, Be not downhearted, for this child is a son! But she breathing out her life, for she was dying, named him Son of My Anguish, but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and they buried her at Ephraffa, which is near Bethlehem, and Jacob erected a pillar over her tomb. Then Israel marched from there, and pitched his tent at the encampment of Megdal Adar, and it was whilst Israel resided in that country, that Reuben went and committed adultery with Bila, his father's second wife, and Israel heard of it. These are the twelve sons of Jacob, the first born by Leah to Jacob, Reuben, then Simeon, then Levi, then Judah, and Issachar, then Zebulun, the sons of Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin, and the sons of Bila, the servant of Rachel, Dan, and Naftali, and the sons of Zilpha, the servant of Leah, Gad, and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Padan Aram. Jacob afterwards went to his father Isaac at Mamrah, near Kiriath Arba, where Abraham and Isaac dwelt. And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. Then Isaac expired, and died, and was added to his people, old and satisfied with years, and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. The end of chapters twenty-nine through thirty-five of the Book of Genesis, recording by Mark Penfold. Chapters thirty-six through forty-two of the Book of Genesis from the Holy Bible in modern English. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Mark Penfold. The Holy Bible in modern English, translated by Farrar Fenton. The Book of Genesis, chapters thirty-six through forty-two. CHAPTER thirty-six. Now these are the descendants of Esau, who is Edom. Esau took wives from the women of Canaan, Adah, the daughter of Ilon the Hittite, and Alebama, the daughter of Zibaion, the Hivite, and Bashmath, the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Benayath, and Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz, and Bashmath bore Ra'uel, and Alebama bore Jayesh and Jamal and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, which they bore to him in the land of Canaan. Esau afterwards took his wives and his sons and daughters and all the persons of his house, and the flocks and all his cattle, and all property which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and left the land from the face of his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great to remain together, for the land was not able to lodge the both of them because of their herds. Esau is Edom. Esau was the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. These are the names of the sons of Edom. Eliphaz, the son of Adah, the wife of Esau. Ra'uel, the son of Bashmath, wife of Esau. And these are the sons of Eliphaz. Omar, Zifo, and Nathan, and Kenez. And Timna was secondary wife to Eliphaz, the son of Esau. And she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, the wife of Esau. And these are the sons of Ra'uel, Nahath, and Zaraf, Shama, and Miza. These were the sons of Bashmath, wife of Esau. And these are the sons of Alebama, the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Zibion, wife of Esau, which she bore to Esau. Jayesh, and Jalaam, and Korah. These were the chiefs from the sons of Esau and of the sons of Eliphaz, the eldest of Esau. Chief Tamar, chief Omar, chief Zifo, chief Kenez, chief Korah, chief Nathan, chief Amalek. These were the chieftains of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the sons of Adah. And these were the sons of Ra'uel, the son of Esau. Chief Nahath, chief Zira, chief Shama, chief Miza. These were chieftains of Ra'uel in the land of Edom. They were sons of Bashmath, the wife of Esau. These were sons of Esau and were chieftains in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Seer, the Horites who inhabited the country. Lothan and Shubal, and Zilean and Ana. And Dishan and Azar and Dishan. These were chieftains of the Horites, sons of Seer, in the land of Edom. And these were the sons of Lothan, Horai and Himam. And the sister of Lothan was Timna. And these are the sons of Shobal, Alwan and Manahaf, and Aibal, Shefa and Anam. And these are the sons of Zebayon, Eaya and Ana. He is the Ana who discovered mules in the desert while attending the asses of Zebayon, his father. These are the children of Ana, Dishan and Alebama, daughter of Ana. And these are the sons of Dishan, Hamedan and Ashban, and Ithran and Keran. These are the sons of Azan, Bilkan and Zavan and Aikan. These are the sons of Dishan, Aor and Aran. These are the chiefs of the Horites. Chief Lothan, Chief Shubal, Chief Zebayon, Chief Ana, Chief Dishan, Chief Azar, Chief Dishan. These were chiefs of the Horites, as chieftains in the land of Seer. And these are the names of the chieftains of Esau by their families, with their tribal names. Chief Timna, Chief Alva, Chief Ithaf, Chief Alebama, Chief Allah, Chief Pinan, Chief Kana, Chief Timan, Chief Mibzar, Chief Magdiel, Chief Iram. These were chieftains of Edam, with the names of the districts they possessed. Esau himself was the father of the people of Edam. CHAPTER 37 Jacob continued to reside in the land of his father's foreignhood, in the land of Canaan. These are the progeny of Jacob. Joseph, a lad of seventeen years, was attending to the sheep with his brothers, the young men who were sons of Bila and sons of Zilpha, two of his father's wives. And Joseph reported their bad conduct to their father. Israel also loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. So he made him a robe with long sleeves, and his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him, and would not let him be in peace. Joseph, however, dreamed a dream, and told it to his brothers, and they hated him the more for it, for he said, Listen now to the dream that I dreamed. We were binding sheaves in the middle of a field, when my sheaf arose and stood up, and your sheaves turned and bowed to my sheaf. But they replied to their brother, Reigning would you reign, and ruling would you rule over us? So they hated him the more, because of his dream and his talk. Then he dreamed another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, I have dreamed another dream, when the sun and the moon and eleven stars came and did homage to me. He told it to his father and to his brothers, and his father reproved him, and said, What is this dream which you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers come and bow down to the ground to you? So his brothers envied him, but his father remembered the event. His brothers afterwards went to pasture their father's sheep in Shechem, and Israel sent to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the sheep in Shechem? Go, I will send you to them. And he replied, I am ready. Then he continued, Go then, and see how your brothers are, and how the sheep are, and bring me word. They had gone, however, from the veil of Hebron and removed to Shechem, and a man met him while searching the field, and asked him, What are you seeking? When he answered, I am seeking my brothers, tell me where I can find them. So the man responded, They have marched from here, for I heard them say, Let us go to the two wells. Joseph consequently went after his brothers and found them at the two wells. When they saw him in the distance, and before he approached them, they determined to murder him, and each said to his brother, Here is my Lord the dreamer, there he comes. So now let us go and murder him, and fling him into one of these wells, and we will say a wild beast caught him. Then we shall see what will come of his dreams. But Ruben heard it, and wished to deliver him from their hand, so he said, Let us not destroy his life, Ruben also said to them, Let us not shed his blood, let us fling him into this dry well. Before he was desirous that they should not stab him, so that he might rescue him from their hands to return him to his father. Therefore when Joseph was come to his brothers, they stripped the robe from Joseph, the long sleeved robe which was on him, and took him and flung him into the empty well with no water in it. Then they turned to eat bread, but looking up they saw at a distance Ishmaelites coming from Gilad with their camels loaded with spices and nuts and balm who were going down to Mitsarayim. Then Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it to us to murder our brother and dabble ourselves in his blood? Come on, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, and that guilt will not be upon us, for he is our brother and our own flesh. So they listened to their brother. Meantime those Midianite merchants came on and approached, so they pulled up Joseph from out of the well, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels. Thus Joseph was taken down to Mitsarayim. Before when Reuben returned to the well he did not find Joseph in the well, so he tore his garments. When he went back to his brothers he said, The lad is not, and morning I shall grieve and die of grief. They however took and slaughtered a goat-kid and dabbled his robe in its blood and sent the long-sleeved robe to their father with this message. About this robe which we send you, send back and say if it is the robe of your son or no. And he replied, It is the robe of my son. Some wild beast has torn and eaten my son! Jacob consequently tore his garments and put on sackcloth for his death, and mourned for his son many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to console him, but he refused their consolations and said, I know that I shall go mourning for my son to the grave! So he wept for his son. But the Midianite sold him in Mitsarayim to Potiphar, the general of Pharaoh, commander of his guards. CHAPTER 38 About this same time Judah went and separated from his brothers and joined with an Adolamite, whose name was Hyra. Whilst there he saw the daughter of a Canaanite, whose name was Bethshua, and he took her and married her, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ar, then she conceived again and bore a son, and called his name Onan. She afterwards increased and bore a son, and called his name Shaila. Then she ceased to be child-bearing. When Judah took a wife for his eldest son Ar, her name was Tamar. But Ar, Judah's eldest son, was wicked in the presence of the everliving, so the Lord caused him to die. Ar consequently said to Onan, Marry the wife of your brother, and raise up an heir for your brother. But Onan knew that the heir would not be his own, therefore when he approached his brother's wife, he ejected on the ground instead of giving seed to his brother. What he did was, however, wicked in the eyes of the everliving, and therefore he caused him to die. Then Judah said to Tamar, Return as a widow to your father's house, until Shaila my son grows up. For he reflected, perhaps she may also kill him like his brother's. Therefore Tamar went and returned to her father's house. But time went on, and Beth Shua the wife of Judah died, and Judah grieved for her, and went up with Hyra the Adulamite, his partner, to shear the sheep at Timnaf. And it was reported to Tamar that her father-in-law was going up to Timnaf to shear his sheep. So she put off her widow's weeds, and concealed herself in her veil, and went down and sat at the opening by the wells which are on the road to Timnaf, for she saw that Shaila was grown up, and he was not given to her as a husband. Judah saw her, and he thought she was a harlot, for she had hidden her face. So he turned from the road to her, and said, Come on, go with me. For he knew not she was his daughter-in-law. Then she asked, What will you give to me if I go with you? Then he replied, I will send you a kid of the goats or sheep. And she replied, If you will give me a pledge that you will send them? He replied, What is the pledge that I shall give you? And she answered, Your ring and the stick you have in your hand. So he gave her them, and he went with her, and she conceived to him. Then she arose, and went and put the veil from off her, and dressed herself in her widow's weeds. But Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his partner the Adulamite, who was to receive the pledge from the hand of the woman, and he could not find her. He therefore inquired of the men of the place, asking, Where is the whore of the wells by the road? But they replied, There is no whore by there. So he returned to Judah and reported, I cannot find her. And the men of the place said, There was not a whore there. Judah therefore said, You have taken it to her. Therefore I cannot be abused by her, for I sent the kid, but you could not find her. But three months after it was reported to Judah, your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and she is also with child from her fornication. And Judah replied, Bring her here and burn her. They brought her when she produced the ring and walking-stick, and said, By the man that these belong to, I am with child. And she continued, To whom belongs this ring and its motto and this walking-stick? Then Judah replied and said, You are more virtuous than I, for I did not give you Shaila my son. He therefore proceeded no further to examine her. When therefore the time for her delivery came, there were twins in her belly, and it happened in her childing one put out his hand, so the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread upon its hand, remarking, This came the first, but it occurred that he drew back the hand, and then his brother was produced, when she said, What? Have you broken? The breach be upon yourself! Therefore she called his name Faraz, and afterwards his brother was born upon whose hand was the scarlet thread, so she called his name Zahra. CHAPTER XXIX Thus Joseph had been taken down to Mitsar and sold to Potiphar, Pharaoh's general, commander of the guards, a Mitsarite, from the hands of the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. But the ever-living was with Joseph, and he became a prosperous man, and was steward to his master, the Mitsarite, for his master saw that the ever-living was with him, and that all he did the Lord prospered it in his hand. Joseph therefore found favor in his eyes, for he was honest towards him, consequently he appointed him chief of his house, and entrusted all his possessions to his control, with a result that from when he was appointed over the house, and over all that belonged to him, the ever-living blessed the house of the Mitsarite under the administration of Joseph, and he was blessed by the ever-living in all his possessions in the house and in the field, so that all he had increased under the direction of Joseph. Consequently he made no enquiry about what he had except for the bread which he ate. Joseph was also handsome in form and handsome in face. It happened, however, after these events, that the wife of his master lifted up her eyes to Joseph, and said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said to his master's wife, My master knows not what is in his house, and all that he possesses he has placed in my control. There is not a greater than I in this house, and he has withheld nothing from me except yourself because you are his wife. Therefore I will not commit that great sin and outrage against God. However, she solicited Joseph day after day, but he would not listen to her, to lie down beside her, or be with her. But it happened that one day when he came to her apartment with a message for her, and there were none of the attendants of the house there in the apartment, that she seized him by his wrapper saying, Lie with me. But he let his wrapper slip off in her hand, and fled away naked. So when she saw that he had left his wrapper in her hand and had fled naked, she cried out to the attendants of her house, and said to them, Look! He has brought this foreign fellow to us to insult us. He came to me to violate me, but I shrieked out, and when he heard that I raised my voice and shrieked, then he left his wrapper beside me and fled naked. She also laid by the wrapper with her till her lord came home, when she spoke to him about all this matter saying, There came to me the Hebrew slave whom you brought to us to insult me, but when I raised my voice to cry out, he abandoned his wrapper near me and fled away naked. Then when his master heard the tale of his wife, which he told him, asserting, You are servant acted towards me according to my statements. He was fired with anger, therefore Joseph's master took and put him into the towerhouse, the place where the prisoners of the king were imprisoned, and he was confined in the towerhouse. But the everliving was with Joseph and gave him mercy and gave him favor in the eyes of the commander of the towerhouse, so that the commander of the towerhouse placed in Joseph's hands the whole of the prisoners who were in the towerhouse, and all that was done there he directed it. The commander of the tower did not super intend anything, the whole was in his hands, because the everliving was with him, and what he did the lord prospered it. CHAPTER 40 But it occurred after these events that the butler of the king of the Mitsorayim offended, and the king of the Mitsorayim his master was angry, and Pharaoh was enraged with two of his officers with the chief of the butlers and with the chief of the cooks, and he ordered them to be confined in the house of the commander of the guards in the towerhouse, the place where Joseph was also imprisoned. The commander of the guards consequently remitted them to Joseph, and he kept them, and they were many days under restraint. But they dreamed, both of them a dream, each dream in the same night, each dream had a separate appearance, to the butler and to the cook whom the king of the Mitsorayim had imprisoned in the towerhouse. When Joseph came to them in the morning he saw their pining gloom, so he asked the officers of Pharaoh who were in his custody in the house of his master, why are your faces sad and sorrowful today? And they replied, We have dreamed, dreams, and we have not an interpreter. But Joseph answered, Is not God the interpreter of dreams? Tell to me now. The chief butler therefore told his dream to Joseph and said to them, In my dream I saw a vine before me, and on the vine three branches, and the berries grew on them, and the clusters of grapes were ripe, and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, so I took the grapes and crushed them into the cup of Pharaoh, and put the cup into the hand of Pharaoh. Joseph then said to him, This is the interpretation. The three branches are three days, after three days hence Pharaoh will raise your head and restore you to your station, and you will give Pharaoh's cup to his hand as was appointed formerly when you were his butler. Then remember me, because I was kind to you, do me therefore a kindness and remind Pharaoh of me, and cause him to bring me out of this house, for by treachery I was dragged from the country of the Hebrews, and also here I have done no crime that should put me in a dungeon. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he also said to Joseph, I have dreamed as well, and there were three baskets filled on my head, and in the highest basket of all, victuals for Pharaoh, ready baked, but the birds ate them from the basket and from my head. Then Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation. The three baskets are three days, three days from hence Pharaoh will take your head from off you, and will hang you on a gallows, and the birds shall eat your flesh from off you. It happened that three days after was Pharaoh's birthday, and he made a feast for all his officers, and raised the head of the chief of the butlers, and the head of the chief of the bakers among his officers, and restored the chief of the butlers to his butlership, and he gave the cup to the hand of Pharaoh. But he hung the chief of the bakers, as Joseph had interpreted the dream. The chief of the butlers, however, did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. CHAPTER 41 Sometime after it occurred that Pharaoh dreamed and seemed standing by the river, and saw seven cows come up from the river, beautiful to see and full-fleshed, and they fed upon the rushes. Then he saw seven other cows come up after them from the river, poor to look upon and lean in flesh, and they approached the cows on the bank of the river, and the cows that were poor to look upon and lean in flesh ate up the seven beautiful looking and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. He slept again and dreamed, and saw seven ears of corn spring up from one stock, very beautiful and good. He saw also seven ears of corn spring up after them, withered and blighted by the east wind, and the seven withered ears of corn swallowed the seven beautiful and good ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and it was a dream. When morning came his spirit was oppressed, so he sent and summoned all the writers of Mitsarayim and all her scientists, and Pharaoh related his dreams to them, but there was not an interpreter among them for Pharaoh. Then the chief of the butlers spoke to Pharaoh, saying, I remember my offence of the day when Pharaoh was angry with his servant, and put me into custody in the house of the general of the guard, and the chief of the bakers was with me, and we dreamed a dream in the same night, I and he, each according to the form of the dream we had dreamed. But there was with us a Hebrew youth, a slave of the general of the guard, and we related them to him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. He interpreted to each his own dream, and it happened to us exactly as he interpreted to us our dream. Pharaoh therefore sent and summoned Joseph, and they took him from the dungeon, and shaved him, and changed his clothes, and brought him to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh told Joseph the dream he had dreamed, and that none could interpret it to him. But I have heard a report about you, that you heard a dream and interpreted it." Joseph, accordingly, answered to Pharaoh, saying, May God return an answer of peace to Pharaoh! So Pharaoh related his dream to Joseph. I stood by the bank of the river, and saw come up from the river, seven cows, full fleshed and beautiful to see, and they pastured on the rushes. Then I saw seven other cows come up after them, miserable and very bad to look at, and lean in flesh. I never saw such wretched things in all the land of the Mitsarayim, they were so bad. But the lean and wretched cows ate up the seven former beautiful cows, and they came and approached me, and yet I noticed as they came and drew near, and could observe they were poor as before. Then I awoke. Again I was in a dream, and saw seven ears of corn spring from one stalk, each full and good. Then I saw seven ears, blasted, poor, and withered by the east wind follow them, and the poor ears swallowed the seven good ears, and I told it to the writers, and they cannot inform me about it. Then Joseph replied to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is all one. What God has determined to do, he has related to Pharaoh. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of corn are seven years. These dreams are all one, and the seven lean and poor cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven poor ears of corn blasted by the east wind, they are seven years of famine. This event which I have stated to Pharaoh, God has made known to Pharaoh. The seven years before us will be great years in all the land of the Mitsarayim, but they will be followed by seven years of famine afterwards, and those seven shall be forgotten in the land of the Mitsarayim, for the famine shall desolate the land. For those seven shall not be recognized in the land before the presence of the famine that will follow them, for it will be very heavy. As for the double dream granted to Pharaoh, that confirms the event from God, and God will hasten to affect it. Therefore let Pharaoh seek out a man, firm and skillful, and set him over the Mitsarites, and let Pharaoh act and appoint officers over the land, and take a fifth part produced by the land of the Mitsarites, in the first seven years of the sevens, and store up all that food in the seven good years that are coming, and store up corn under the hand of Pharaoh for food in cities and fortresses, so that there may be food to support the land in the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of the Mitsarites, so that the country may not be cut off by the famine. And this advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his ministers. Therefore Pharaoh commanded his ministers to select some man with the Spirit of God in him. Then afterwards Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have perceived that God is with you in all this, and there is certainly no intelligence like yours, therefore you shall be over my house and by your mouth all my affairs shall be regulated. Only in the throne will I be greater than you. Pharaoh also said to Joseph, See I appoint you over all the land of the Mitsarites. Then Pharaoh took his ring from his hand, and put it upon the hand of Joseph, and clothed him in a white robe, and put a golden chain on his neck, and mounted him in a hooded chariot of his own, and they proclaimed before him the appointment given to him over all the land of the Mitsarites. Pharaoh also said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, but without your order no man shall move his hand or foot in all the land of the Mitsarites. Pharaoh consequently called the office of Joseph the High Treasurer's Ship, and gave him Aseneth, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of An for a wife. Joseph at once made a survey of the whole land of the Mitsarites. Joseph was thirty years old on his appearance before Pharaoh, king of the Mitsarites, and Joseph went from the presence of Pharaoh and organized all the land of Mitsar. The earth also produced big loads in the seven years of the sevens, and he collected much provision in the seven years, in the land of Mitsar, and stored up the provision. For every town he stored up provision from the fields around it. Joseph consequently stored corn like the sand of the sea for quantity, the amount was so great that they ceased to measure it, because it was immeasurable. Joseph also had two sons born to him before the years of the famine came. Aseneth, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of An, bore them, and Joseph called the name of the eldest, Manasseh. For God has made me forget all my troubles and all my father's house, but he called the name of the other, Ephraim. For God has enriched me in the land of my wrongs. Then the seven years of the sevens, which were to be in the land of the Mitsarayim, came to an end, and at their end the seven years of famine began, according to the declaration of Joseph, and the famine was upon all the lands, but in the land of the Mitsarayim there was bread. At last the whole country of the Mitsarites hungered, and the people called upon Pharaoh for bread, but Pharaoh replied to all the Mitsarites, Go to Joseph, who will tell you what to do! And as the famine was over the whole surface of the country, Joseph opened the stores which he had by him, and distributed to the Mitsarites. Although the famine raged in the land of the Mitsarayim, yet all the countries came to the Mitsarayim to buy corn from Joseph, for the famine raged over all the countries round. CHAPTER 42 Jacob also learnt there was corn in Mitsarayim, so Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look at each other? He also said, I have heard that there is corn in Mitsarayim, descend to there and buy for us from it, that we may live and not die. Therefore ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy corn from the Mitsarayim, but Jacob did not send Benjamin the other brother of Joseph with his other brothers, for he said, I fear an injury might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel went down to buy corn, together with other travelers, for there was a famine in the land of Canaan. Joseph was then protector over all the country, to distribute to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brothers came and bowed to him, face to the ground. When Joseph saw them he scrutinized and recognized them, but spoke to them harshly and asked, From what country do you come? They replied, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. Although Joseph recognized his brothers they did not recognize But Joseph remembered the dream which he dreamed to himself and said to them, You are spies, come to survey the nakedness of the land! But they replied to him, No, my lord, but your slaves have come to buy food, and all of us are sons of one man. We are honest men, we are not spies. However he replied, No, but you are come to see the nakedness of the country! They then answered, Your slaves were twelve brothers, we are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is at home today, and one is not. But Joseph returned, That is just what I said to you, when I said you are spies. By this I will prove you, by the life of Pharaoh you shall not go from here until you have brought your youngest brother here. Send one of yourselves to take your brother and return, then you will prove your words true about him, and if not, by the life of Pharaoh you are spies! And he further ordered them to be imprisoned three days, but after the third day Joseph said to them, Do this and live, for I fear God. I will select one of you brothers whom I will put into confinement instead of you, and you others take corn for your starving families, but you must bring your younger brother to me and verify your statement, and live and not die. And they did so. But each said to his brother, We suffer for our sins against our brother because we saw the anguish of his soul imploring us to have pity on him and we would not listen. For this distress has come upon us! Then Rubin answered them and said, Did I not speak to you and say, Let us not sin against the loud, and you would not listen to me? And now his blood is sought for! And they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he used an interpreter with them. But he withdrew from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke, and selected Simeon from them, and fettered him before their eyes. Joseph afterwards commanded, and their wagons were loaded with corn, but he caused their money to be returned into the load of each. Then he gave them leave to go, and showed politeness to them. They also loaded corn upon their asses, and set out. But one of them opened a sack of his to give fodder to his ass in the inn, and saw his money, which was placed openly in its mouth. Then he said to his brothers, He has caused my money to be returned, and here it is in my bag! And their hearts stopped, and they trembled each at his brother, exclaiming, What is this that God has done to us? They went, however, to Jacob in the land of Canaan, and reported to him all these proceedings, saying, The man who is master of the country spoke to us harshly, and took us for spies upon the land. But we said to him, We are honest, and are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan. But the man who is master of the country said, By this I will discover, if you are honest, I will select one of your brothers to remain with me, but take for your starving families and go. But you shall bring me your youngest brother, that I may be convinced you are not spies, when I will return the brother I have selected from you, and you may trade in the country. When, however, they were emptying their loads, then each found his money in his cargo, and they were in fear at the finding of the money. Both they and their father were afraid, and Jacob their father said to them, I am bereaved, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you would take from me all there are. Then Reuben replied to his father, saying, Kill my two sons, if I do not bring them back to you, I now place them in your hands as a pledge that I will return them to you. But he answered, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone remains, and an accident might happen to him in the journey that you are going, and you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. The end of chapters thirty-six through forty-two of the book of Genesis. Chapter forty-three through fifty of the book of Genesis from the Holy Bible in modern English. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Mark Penfold. The Holy Bible in modern English, translated by Farar Fenton. The book of Genesis, chapters forty-three through fifty. Chapter forty-three. But the famine oppressed the country, and it arrived that when all the food they had bought from the Mitsorayim ended, that their father said to them, Return and buy us a little food. When Judah replied to him, saying, The man swore to us, a-severating, You shall never see my face unless your brother is with you. If you are wise enough to send our brother with us, we will return and buy food for you to eat. But if you will not send, we will not go down, for the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Israel, however, answered, Why did you wrong me by telling the man that there was another brother to you? And they responded, The man demanded of us about our birthplace asking, Have you a father living? Have you a brother? And we told him straightforwardly about those things. How could we know he would say, Bring your brother down with you? Then Judah exclaimed to Israel, Send the lad. Bad with me, and I will come up and return him alive. And if not kill me, myself as well as my children, I pledge myself for him. From my hand seek him, if I do not bring him back to you, then banish me from your face, for I shall have sinned against you all my days. If you had not hesitated, we should already have returned before now. Therefore Israel, their father, said to him, If it must be, do this. Take some of the productions of this country in your wagons, and go down to the man with a present, some balsam and honey, perfumes and myrrh, nuts and almonds. Also take double money in your hands, and the money that was returned in the mouth of your bags, return with your own hands to him again. Take your brother also and arise, go back to the man, and may the Almighty God give you mercy before the man, and send your brother back with Benjamin. For if I am to be bereaved, I shall be bereaved. Consequently the men took the present, and took double money in their hands, and Benjamin, and arose, and went to Mitsarayim, and appeared before Joseph. And Joseph saw Benjamin with them, and said to the chief of his house, Invite those men to my house, and prepare for a dinner, for those men shall eat with me at noon. The man therefore did as Joseph ordered, and he brought the men to Joseph's house. But the men were afraid at being brought to Joseph's house, and said, It is on account of the money which was returned to our bags last time that we are brought, to have an excuse against us, and to fall upon us, and to take us for his slaves with our asses. Therefore they approached the steward of Joseph's house, and spoke with him in the veranda of the house, and said, By the ever living we came down for the purpose of buying food, but when we returned to the inn and opened our bags, there was our money in the mouth of our bags in full amount, but we have returned with it in our hands. We have also brought other money with us to buy food. We knew not that our money was there in our loads. But he answered, Be quiet, and fear nothing. Your God and the God of your Father has given you that money secretly into your loads. Come with me. Then he brought Simeon to them. The man, the steward of Joseph's house, also went out and ordered water, and they washed their feet. Then he ordered fodder for their asses. They then prepared the present against Joseph's arrival at noon, for they heard they were to dine with him. When Joseph came to the apartment, they presented him the present which they had brought from home, and bowed to the ground before him. Then he asked them about their health, and said, Is your father well, the old man you told me of? Is he alive yet? And they replied, Your slaves are well, and our father is yet alive, and bent and bowed. But he raised his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, the son of his mother, and asked, Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me? Then he added, God show you mercy, my son. Then Joseph hastened, for his affection burned for his brother, and he sought to weep, so he went into his chamber and wept there. But afterwards he washed his face and came again, and restrained himself, and ordered dinner to be served. They therefore served it for him by himself, and to them apart by themselves, for the mitzerites dined by themselves, for the mitzerites are not allowed to eat food with foreigners, for that is disgusting to the mitzerites. But they placed in his presence the eldest according to his age, and youngest according to his youth, and arranged the men each by his relative, and they took dishes from before him to offer to them, but they offered to Benjamin more dishes than to any of the rest, presenting five which they presented and left with him. Chapter 44 Afterwards he commanded his steward, saying, Fill the loads of these men with food as much as they are able to carry, and put the money of each on the top of the carts, and my cup, the cup of silver, place at the top of the load of the youngest with the money for his corn. So they did, as Joseph ordered. At morning light the men went off with their asses. When they had gone not far from the city, Joseph said to his steward, Mountain follow those men, secure them and say to them, Why have you returned evil for good? Where is that my lord drinks from? He is very sharpsighted, he saw what you were doing. So he pursued and said this to them. But they replied, Why has my lord spoken these words accusing your servants of having done such a thing? Do you know we returned to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the top of our loads? We have not stolen silver or gold from the house of your lord. If it is found with any of your servants, kill him, and we also will be slaves to my lord. And he replied, It shall be as you say, therefore with whoever of you it is, he shall be my slave, and you shall be innocent. Then they hastened and each one unloaded his load, and he searched beginning at the eldest to the youngest, and found the cup in Benjamin's load. Then they tore their garments and mounted each man his ass and returned to the city. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house and were again brought in, they fell on their faces to the ground, while Joseph said to them, How has this occurred that you have committed? Did you not know that I observe what happens around me? Then Judah replied, What can I say to my lord? What assert? Or how vindicate myself? God has found out the sin of your slaves in their hands, alas, we are slaves to my lord, both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found. But he answered and said, Far be it from me to act thus, the one in whose possession the cup was found, he shall be a slave to me, but you can go in peace to your father. Then Judah approached him and said, To me, my lord, grant now for your slave to speak to the ears of my lord, and let not your anger burn with your slave, for you are to me like Pharaoh. My lord asked of his slaves, saying, Have you a father or brother living? And we replied to my lord, A father lives with us, an old man, and a lad of his old age, the youngest, but his brother is dead, and beside him there is none from his mother, so his father loves him. Then you said to your slaves, Bring him to me that I may set my eyes on him. But we replied to my lord, The youth is not able to leave his father, for if he leaves his father then he will die. You however said to your slaves, If you do not bring down your youngest brother with you, you shall not again see my face. And when we went up to your slave, my father, he was informed of the demand of my lord, so that when our father said return and buy us a little food, we replied, We cannot go down unless our youngest brother is with us. Even should we descend, we cannot see the face of the man unless our youngest brother is with us. Then your slave, my father, said to us, You know that my wife bore me two lads, and one went from me, and I said, Alas, he has been torn to pieces, and I shall see him no more. And if you take this one from my face and an accident should happen to him, you will bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. So now, if I should go to your slave, my father, and the youth is not with us, whose life is bound to his life, it will be then when he sees that the youth is not with us. He will die, and your slave will cause the gray hairs of your slave, our father, to go down in agony to the grave. Besides, your slave pledged himself for the youth to my father, saying, If we do not bring him back to you, then let me be banished from my father all my days. So now I pray, let your slave remain instead of the youth, a slave to my lord, and let the youth return with his brothers, for if I go up to my father, and the youth is not with me, then I shall see the misery that will come upon my father. Chapter 45 Then Joseph was not able to restrain himself before all the officers around him, and cried, Every man go out for me! So not a man remained with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Then Joseph discovered his language to his brothers, and the Midsarites heard, and it was reported to the House of Pharaoh, and Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph! Does my father yet live? But his brothers were not able to answer him, for they were terrified at the sight of him. Joseph therefore said to his brothers, Come near to me! So they approached when he said, I really am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold to go to Midsar, and I know that with fury and rage in your eyes you sold me. However, God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has encircled the land, and for five years more there will not be plowing or harvest. Therefore God has sent me before you to preserve to you a posterity in the earth, and a secure refuge for your lives. Consequently, it was not you who sent me, but God who appointed me as a father to Pharaoh, and an administrator of all his house, and a governor for all the land of the Midsarite. Therefore arise and go up to my father and say to him, your son Joseph says thus, God has appointed me as administrator of all the Midsarites. So come down to me, do not delay. You shall reside in the land of Goshen and be near to me, you, your children and your children's children, with your sheep and your oxen and all that you have, and I will provide for you there. For there are five years of famine yet, therefore come down yourself and your family and all that you have, so that my eyes may see you and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, and that my mouth may also speak with you. You must also inform my father of all my power among the Midsarite, and all that you have seen and cause your father to mount and come down to here. Then he fell upon the necks of his brothers and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. He also kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and afterwards his brothers conversed with him, and a report was communicated to the palace of Pharaoh saying, Joseph's brothers have come, and it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and of his ministers. Pharaoh therefore said to Joseph, say to your brothers thus, load up all of you from this city and go to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your families and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of the Midsarite, and you shall be fed on the fat of the land. You yourself also command this to be done. Take from the land of Midsar, wagons for your little children and wives and your father and bring them. Care nothing also for the abandonment of your goods, for the best of the land in Midsar shall be yours. The sons of Israel accordingly did so, and Joseph gave them wagons from Pharaoh's arsenal and provided provisions for the journey. He also gave all of them a suit of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pounds and five suits of clothes. To his father he sent in addition 10 he-riding asses, the best in Midsar, and 10 she-riding asses besides, with bread and meat for his father on the way. Thus he sent off his brothers and said to them, do not quarrel on the road. They accordingly went from the Midsarayim and ascended to the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father and reported to him saying, Joseph is yet alive and he is also governor of all the land of the Midsarayim. Then his heart failed, for he could not believe them. Then they related all that Joseph had said to them, but when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry himself, then the spirit of Jacob their father revived and Israel said, It is enough, my son Joseph does live, I will go and see him before I die. Chapter 46 Israel consequently marched and all that were with him and went to the well of the oath and offered offerings to the God of his father Isaac. Then God appeared to Israel in a vision at night and said, Jacob, Jacob! And he replied, I am here. When he answered, I am God, the God of your father Isaac, fear not, go down to the Midsarayim, for you shall become a great nation there. I, the mighty, will be with you in Midsar and I will support you, and Joseph shall place his hands upon your eyes. Jacob afterwards arose from the well of the oath and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father and their children and wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry them in. They also took their herds and the property they had purchased in the land of Canaan and went to the Midsarayim. Jacob and all his race with him, his sons and sons of his sons with him, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his race went with him to the Midsarayim. Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who went to the Midsarayim. Jacob and the eldest son of Jacob, Ruben, and the sons of Ruben, Hanok, and Felwa, and Hetzon, and Karmai. The sons of Simeon, Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ahad, and Joaquin, and Zokar, and Shaul, then Cananith. And the sons of Levi, Gershan, Kohath, and Marari. And the sons of Judah, Ar, and Onan, and Shilak, and Ferez, and Hetzon, and Hamal. And the sons of Issachar, Thola, and Fura, and Job, and Shimron. And the sons of Zebulun, Sered, and Alon, and Jaqlal. These were children from Leah which she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram beside Dinah, his daughter. And the persons of her sons and daughters were 33. And the sons of Gad, Zifion, and Hanai, Shanai, and Atsban, Arai, and Arodai, and Ekalai. And the sons of Asher were Jamna, and Ishna, and Ishur, and Berea, and Seraq, his twin brother. And the sons of Berea, Haber, and Malkiel. These were the children of Zilpha whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and who bore them to Jacob, six and twenty persons. Sons of Rachel, wife of Jacob, were Joseph and Benjamin. But there were born to Joseph in the land of the Mitsarayim, whom Asaneth, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of An, bore, Manasseh, and Ephraim. And the sons of Benjamin, Bila, and Bekher, and Ashbol, Gerah, and Naaman, twins. And Rash, with the twin Mufai, and twin Khufai, and Araad. These were the sons of Rachel, which she bore to Jacob, fourteen persons in all. And the son of Gad was Kushan. And the sons of Naftalai, Jacques, and Gunai, and Jetser, and Shilam. These were the children of Bila, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob, in all seven persons. And the souls who went with Jacob to Mitsar, who sprung from his loins, being men only, sons of Jacob, all the persons were seventy. But the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Mitsar, were two persons, men. So all the persons of the family of Jacob, who came down to Mitsar, were seventy. But he sent Judah before himself to invite Joseph to meet him in Goshen, when he arrived in the land of Goshen. Joseph, accordingly at once, mounted his chariot and went to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen, whom he looked at, and fell upon his neck, and wept on his neck for a long time. And Israel said to Joseph, Let me die at once, after I have seen your face, why should I live longer? Joseph afterwards said to his brothers and to the family of his father, I will go and inform Pharaoh, and tell him that my brothers, and the family of my father, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me, and that the men feed sheep, they have lived with people of the fold, and their sheep and cattle, and all that they have, they have brought. But it must be that when Pharaoh calls you and inquires, what can you do? You must say, your slaves have lived as cattlemen from their youth, until now, both we and our fathers. Grant us to settle in the land of Goshen, for the Mitsarites hate every shepherd of sheep. Chapter 47 Joseph accordingly went and reported to Pharaoh, and said, My father and brothers, and their sheep and cattle, and all that they have, are come from the land of Canaan, and are in the land of Goshen. Then he selected five from his brothers to take and present to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh asked his brothers, What is your business? When they replied to Pharaoh, Your slaves are shepherds of sheep, as we are, so were our fathers. They also said to Pharaoh, We have come to reside in the land, for there is no pasture for your slaves sheep, because the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan, so allow your slaves to live in the land of Goshen. Pharaoh therefore in reply said to Joseph, Your father and your brothers have come to you, the land of the Mitsaraim is before you, so fix your father and brothers in the best of it. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know also a skillful man amongst them, appoint him superintendent of my farms. Joseph afterwards took Jacob his father and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and Pharaoh asked Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life? When Jacob replied to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my stay have been 130 years, few and evil have been the years of the days of my life, and they have not reached to the days of the years my fathers lived and the days of their stay. Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and retired from the presence of Pharaoh. Joseph afterwards settled his father and his brothers, and gave them possession in the land of the Mitsaraim, in the best district of the country of Ramses, as he was commanded. Joseph also provided food for his father and brothers and all their families, according to their children. Bread failed in all the country, for the famine was very severe, and the land of the Mitsaraim and the land of Canaan fainted before the famine. Therefore Joseph gathered up all the money he found in the land of Mitsar and in the land of Canaan, and all the Mitsarites came to Joseph for the corn which they bought, and Joseph brought the money to the treasury of Pharaoh. Thus he collected the money from the land of Mitsaraim and the land of Canaan. Then all the Mitsarites came to Joseph to say, Provide bread for us, so that we may not die before you, for our money is exhausted. Joseph however answered them, Bring your cattle, and I will give you it for your cattle instead of for money. Consequently they brought their cattle to Joseph and he gave them bread for horses and cattle and sheep. For herds of oxen and asses he supplied them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year. But that year ended, so they came to him in the next year and said to him, We have kept back nothing from my lord, we have nothing left before my lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we ourselves die before your eyes? Buy to yourself our land for bread, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. Thus the Mitsarites sold everyone his farm, for the famine was cruel upon them, and the land became Pharaoh's. But he transferred the people upon it to fresh villages, from the one extreme boundary of Mitsar to the other extreme of it, except that he did not buy the lands of the priesthood, for he protected the priesthood by laws from Pharaoh, and they were fed from rations provided for them, therefore he did not buy their lands. Then Joseph proclaimed to the nation, You see I have bought you today and your land for Pharaoh, I will supply seed to you and you can sow the land. But of its produce you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be for yourselves, to sow the fields and to feed you with those you employ, and as food for your children. They thereupon replied, Our lives have found favor in the eyes of my Lord, and we will be slaves of Pharaoh. So Joseph made it the constitution to this day, that the land of the Mitsarites was Pharaoh's for the fifth tax, except the lands of the priesthood which were not to become Pharaoh's. Joseph also settled Israel in the land of the Mitsarayim in the district of Goshen, and they possessed there and flourished and increased greatly. Jacob, however, lived seventeen years in the land of the Mitsarayim, and all the days of the years of Jacob were one hundred and forty seven years, but the day approached for Israel to die, and he called his son Joseph to him and said to him, If now I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and do to me a true kindness, and bury me not among the Mitsarayim, but lay me to sleep with my fathers and carry me from Mitsar and bury me in their burial place. And he replied, I will do as you have said. But he answered, Swear to me. And Israel was reclining on the surface of his bed. Chapter 48 But it was after these events that it was reported to Joseph, your father is ill. So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him, and Jacob was told, Your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel exerted himself and sat up in his bed, and Jacob said to Joseph, The almighty God appeared to me on my departure from the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to me, I will make you flourish and increase your family and make you an assembly of nations, and I will give this land to your race after you as a possession forever. But now for your two sons who have been born to you in the land of the Mitsarayim before I came to you in Mitsar, let then Ephraim and Manasseh be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are mine. But your children whom you have begot after them, they shall be yours. They shall not be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. When I came from Padan, Rachel died from me in the land of Canaan on the journey in Kebrath-Arts, near the pass of Ephraim, and I buried her by the road at Ephraim. Then Israel looked at the sons of Joseph and said, These are mine. But Joseph said to his father, They are the sons which God gave me here, he however replied, I will take them now for myself and bless them. But the eyes of Israel were heavy from age, he was not able to distinguish, so he drew them to him and kissed them and embraced them. Afterwards Israel said to Joseph, I have seen your face unexpectedly, and now God has shown me also your heirs. Then Joseph brought them for his blessing, and they bowed before his face earthward. Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim in his right hand for the left hand of Israel, and Manasseh in his left for the right hand of Israel, and approached him. But Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it upon the head of Ephraim, who was youngest, and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh intentionally, although Manasseh was the eldest. Then he blessed Joseph and said, The God in the presence of whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who appeared to me from of old until this day, the messenger who redeemed me from all misfortune, bless the lads and give them my power, the power of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and pour out their increase to the bounds of the earth. Joseph then discovered that his father had placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it was unpleasing in his eyes, so he took hold of his father's hand to change it from off the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh. Joseph also said to his father, Not thus my father, for this is the eldest, place your right hand on his head. But his father refused, saying, I knew it, my son, I knew it. He also shall be a nation, and he also shall be great, but nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his race shall be a multitude of nations, and when blessing in that period they shall say, the blessing of Israel be upon you, may God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh, and they will place Ephraim above Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, I shall die, but God will be with you, and will return you to the land of your fathers. Therefore I give to you Shechem alone, above your brothers, which I took to me by my hand, from the Amorites, by my sword, and my bow. Assemble, and I will inform you what will befall you in future times. Collect and listen, sons of Jacob, yes, listen to your father, Israel. Ruben, the first of my vigor, you are the crown of my passion, excelling in beauty, excelling in strength, boiling like water, you lost command, for mounting your father's bed, yes, defiling my honors abode. Simeon and Levi are brothers, cruel weapons are hidden with them. To their plotings go not my soul, for honor, join not their clan, for they murdered guiltless men and joyfully murdered a prince. Cursed their crime as great and their transgression, for it sorely troubled Jacob and Israel shamed. Judah, you shall direct your brothers, your hand shall be on the neck of your foes. To you shall the sons of your father bow, a young lion, Judah, for plunder. My son springs from his couch like a lion, and as a lioness, who dare rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, or the giver of law from between his feet, till peace arrive, and the nations obey him, bound to the vine like an ass, and occult the son of a stepper. He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of clusters. His eyes shall be bright as grapes, and his teeth be white as milk. Let Zebulun dwell on the shore of the sea, on the shore of the ships, and extend his legs to the fishery. A strong ass, Issachar, lies in the stall, and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, so he gives his back to the load, and becomes a servant for hire. Dan shall govern his people as a sceptered prince of Israel. Dan is a snake in the path, an adder laid in the road. He will bite the heels of the horses, who will throw their riders backwards, for your victory, trust on the Lord. Gad, a troop, he shall troop, but a troop shall deceive him. For Asher, his food shall be rich, and his are the royal pleasures. Naftali is a nimble stag, as the gift of eloquent speech. Joseph, a fruitful plant, a fruitful plant by a well, with branches spread on the wall. But the master of arrows provoked and shot, and pierced him, but he turned to his powerful bow, and the hands of his arms were quick by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from whom is Israel's guardian stone. May the God of your Father guard you, and the Almighty bless you, with blessings from the sky above, with blessings below of dancing water, with the bliss of the breasts and love. May the blessings of your Father strengthen with the bliss of the fertile veils. May the wealth of the ancient hills be heaped on the head of Joseph, more nobly crowned than his brothers. Benjamin, a wolf, shall eat plunder at morn, and at night shall divide his spoil. All the offshoots of Israel were twelve, and their fathers said this to them, and blessed each with his blessing, with blessings adapted to each. Then he addressed them, and said, I shall be added to my people, bury me with my fathers, in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave which is in the field of Macphela, which is near Mamrah, in the land of Canaan, which field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a place of burial. Abraham is buried there, and Sarah his wife, Isaac is buried there, and Rebecca his wife, and there I buried Leah. The field was bought, and the cave in it, from the sons of Heth. Jacob thus finished instructing his sons, and stretched out his legs upon the bed, and expired, and was added to his people. Chapter 50 Then Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept, and kissed him. Joseph afterwards ordered his servants the physicians to embalm his father. The physicians accordingly embalmed Israel. When the forty days were completed, which the embalming occupies, then the Mitsarites wept for him yet forty days, and at the conclusion of the forty days of mourning, Joseph addressed the court of Pharaoh, and said, If now I have found favor in your sight, speak, I request to the ears of Pharaoh, and say, My father made me swear, saying, When I die, bury me in the tomb which I cut out for myself in the land of Canaan. So now I wish to go up and bury my father, and will return. Pharaoh then replied, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear! Joseph therefore went up to bury his father, and there went up with him all the ministers of Pharaoh, the nobles of his court, and all the nobles of the land of the Mitsarayim, with all the family of Joseph and his brothers, and the families of his father, and except the sheep and cattle which were left in the land of Goshen. There also accompanied him chariots and horsemen, making a very large army. All these marched to Gorenhatar, which is over the Jordan, and mourned there with a great and very heavy mourning, and made a lamentation for his father for seven days. And when the inhabitants of the land of Canaan saw the lamentation at Gorenhatar, they said, This is a great grieving for the Mitsarites. Therefore they called its name Mitsar's lament. It is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he commanded them. So they his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave in the field of Makvila, which field Abraham bought to be a burial place, from Ephron the Hittite, opposite Mamre. Then Joseph returned to Mitsar, himself and his brothers, and all who had accompanied him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. But when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, Joseph will hate us, and will return upon us all the wrong which we heaped upon him. They therefore sent to Joseph and said, Our father commanded us before he died. Say to Joseph this, Forgive I pray your brother's fault and sin in the wrongs they heaped upon you. Consequently we beg of you to forgive the fault of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph however wept at their address to him. Then his brothers went and fell before his face and said, We are your slaves. But Joseph replied to them, Fear nothing, for I am subject to God. Although you set upon me for injury, God turned it to good in order that I might make this nation to give life to many peoples. Go now, do not fear me. I will protect you and your children. Thus he comforted them and spoke to their hearts. This was after Joseph returned to Mitsarayim, he and his father's family. And Joseph lived one hundred and twenty years, and Joseph saw his great grandchildren from Ephraim. Sons also of Makir the son of Manasseh were fondled on the knees of Joseph. At last Joseph said to his relatives, I shall die. However the ever living will visit you and take you up from this country to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then Joseph administered an oath to the sons of Israel to say, When your God visits you, take up my bones from here. Thus Joseph died a hundred and twenty years old, and they embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Mitsarayim.