The World English Bible (WEB) Part 8

35:1 G.o.d said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to G.o.d, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."

35:2 Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign G.o.ds that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments. 35:3 Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to G.o.d, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."

35:4 They gave to Jacob all the foreign G.o.ds which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 35:5 They traveled, and a terror of G.o.d was on the cities that were around them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob.

35:6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 35:7 He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there G.o.d was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 35:8 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.

35:9 G.o.d appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 35:10 G.o.d said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." He named him Israel. 35:11 G.o.d said to him, "I am G.o.d Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. 35:12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you will I give the land."

35:13 G.o.d went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. 35:14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. 35:15 Jacob called the name of the place where G.o.d spoke with him "Bethel."

35:16 They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor. 35:17 When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son."

35:18 It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin. 35:19 Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). 35:20 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. 35:21 Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 35:22 It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 35:23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 35:24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 35:25 The sons of Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid): Dan and Naphtali. 35:26 The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram. 35:27 Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners.

35:28 The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. 35:29 Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

36:1 Now this is the history of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).

36:2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon, the Hitt.i.te; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite; 36:3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. 36:4 Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz. Basemath bore Reuel. 36:5 Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 36:6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, with his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 36:7 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels couldn't bear them because of their livestock. 36:8 Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.

36:9 This is the history of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir: 36:10 these are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, the son of Adah, the wife of Esau; and Reuel, the son of Basemath, the wife of Esau. 36:11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 36:12 Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 36:13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 36:14 These were the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

36:15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 36:16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs who came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 36:17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 36:18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs who came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 36:19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

36:20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 36:21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs who came of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 36:22 The children of Lotan were Hori and Heman. Lotan's sister was Timna. 36:23 These are the children of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 36:24 These are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 36:25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. 36:26 These are the children of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 36:27 These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 36:28 These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 36:29 These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 36:30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan: these are the chiefs who came of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

36:31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the children of Israel. 36:32 Bela, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah. 36:33 Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned in his place. 36:34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

36:35 Husham died, and Hadad, the son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. The name of his city was Avith.

36:36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 36:37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river, reigned in his place.

36:38 Shaul died, and Baal Hanan, the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 36:39 Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place. The name of his city was Pau. His wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

36:40 These are the names of the chiefs who came from Esau, according to their families, after their places, and by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 36:41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 36:42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 36:43 chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

37:1 Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan. 37:2 This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. 37:4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.

37:5 Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 37:6 He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 37:7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf."

37:8 His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 37:9 He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me."

37:10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" 37:11 His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

37:12 His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 37:13 Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am."

37:14 He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 37:15 A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, "What are you looking for?"

37:16 He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock."

37:17 The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'"

Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 37:18 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 37:19 They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes. 37:20 Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams."

37:21 Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life." 37:22 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood.

Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"--that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 37:23 It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; 37:24 and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty.

There was no water in it.

37:25 They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 37:26 Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 37:27 Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him. 37:28 Midianites who were merchants pa.s.sed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

They brought Joseph into Egypt.

37:29 Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 37:30 He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where will I go?" 37:31 They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. 37:32 They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not."

37:33 He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces." 37:34 Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 37:35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning." His father wept for him. 37:36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard.

38:1 It happened at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 38:2 Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her, and went in to her. 38:3 She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. 38:4 She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. 38:5 She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him. 38:6 Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 38:7 Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh killed him. 38:8 Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother." 38:9 Onan knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. 38:10 The thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he killed him also. 38:11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;" for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

38:12 After many days, Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. 38:13 It was told Tamar, saying, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." 38:14 She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife. 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prost.i.tute, for she had covered her face. 38:16 He turned to her by the way, and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"

38:17 He said, "I will send you a kid of the goats from the flock."

She said, "Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?"

38:18 He said, "What pledge will I give you?"

She said, "Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand."

He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. 38:19 She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 38:20 Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he didn't find her. 38:21 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the prost.i.tute, that was at Enaim by the road?"

They said, "There has been no prost.i.tute here."

38:22 He returned to Judah, and said, "I haven't found her; and also the men of the place said, 'There has been no prost.i.tute here.'" 38:23 Judah said, "Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this kid, and you haven't found her."

38:24 It happened about three months later, that it was told Judah, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prost.i.tute; and moreover, behold, she is with child by prost.i.tution."

Judah said, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." 38:25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man, whose these are, I am with child." She also said, "Please discern whose are these--the signet, and the cords, and the staff."

38:26 Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son."

He knew her again no more. 38:27 It happened in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb. 38:28 When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This came out first." 38:29 It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, "Why have you made a breach for yourself?" Therefore his name was called Perez. 38:30 Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

39:1 Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there. 39:2 Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 39:3 His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand. 39:4 Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 39:5 It happened from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Yahweh blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Yahweh was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. 39:6 He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He didn't concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate.

Joseph was well-built and handsome. 39:7 It happened after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph; and she said, "Lie with me."

39:8 But he refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. 39:9 He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against G.o.d?"

39:10 As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn't listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 39:11 About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside.

39:12 She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!"