From the Greek Septuagint text as was used by First Century Christians

Chapter 1

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² But the earth was unsightly and unfinished, darkness covered its depths, and God’s Breath moved over its waters. ³ Then God spoke, saying, ‘May there be light,’ and light came to be. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. Then God created a division between the light and the darkness. ⁵ He called the light day and the darkness night. So came the evening and morning of day one.

⁶ And God spoke, saying, ‘May there be space between all the water, and a dividing of the waters and the waters,’ and that’s what happened. ⁷ God made the space and [He] divided the waters that were under the space from the waters that were over the space. ⁸ And God called that space the sky. And God saw that this was good. So came the evening and morning of day two.

⁹ Then God said, ‘May the waters under the sky be brought together in one place so the land can be seen,’ and that’s what happened. ¹⁰ God called the dry land earth and the collected waters the seas, and God saw that this was good.

¹¹ Then God spoke, saying, ‘May the land sprout with pastures of grasses that bear seeds [each] of its own kind and appearance. And may there be fruit trees that bear fruit with its seeds, [each] of its own kind.’ And that’s what happened. ¹² The ground sprouted with pastures of grass that [each] bore seeds of its own kind and appearance, and the fruit trees bore fruit with their seeds, [each] of its own kind, upon the earth. And God saw that this was good. ¹³ So came the evening and morning of day three.

¹⁴ Then God spoke, saying, ‘May there be lights in the heavenly space to illuminate the earth and to make the division between day and night. And may they serve as signs for the seasons, days, and years. ¹⁵ May they also serve as lights for the space in heaven and on the earth, and that’s what happened. ¹⁶ God made the two huge lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light and stars to rule the night. ¹⁷ And God assigned them space in the heavens to shine on the earth, ¹⁸ to dominate over the day and night, and to make the division between light and darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ So came the evening and morning of day four.

²⁰ And God spoke, saying, ‘Let the water give birth to living, slithering animals, as well as to winged creatures to fly above the earth in the space of the skies.’ And that’s what happened. ²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and the lives of all the slithering animals that come from the water, according to their types, and all feathered flying creatures, according to their types, and God saw that it was good. ²² Then God blest them, saying, ‘Reproduce and multiply in the water until you fill the seas. And let the winged creatures multiply on the earth.’ ²³ So came the evening and morning of day five.

²⁴ And God spoke, saying, ‘Let the land give birth to living animals, each of its own kind… four-footed animals, slithering animals, and wild animals of the earth, each of its own kind.’ And that’s what happened. ²⁵ Then God made the wild animals of the earth, each of its own kind; the herding animals, each of its own kind; and all the earth’s slithering animals, each of its own kind. And God saw that they were good.

²⁶ Then God spoke, saying, ‘Let’s make man like us and in our image. Then [we will] appoint him to be over the fish of the seas, the winged creatures of the skies, the herding animals of the ground, and all the slithering animals that crawl on the ground.’

²⁷ So, God made man. He made him in the image of God. He made them both – the male and the female – ²⁸ and God blest them, saying, ‘Reproduce and multiply… fill the earth and control it. Rule over the fish of the seas, the winged creatures of the skies, all the herding animals of the ground, all the slithering animals that crawl on the ground, and the whole earth.’

²⁹ Then God said, ‘Look, I’ve given you all the seed-bearing plants upon the entire earth for [you to] plant, as well as all the seed-bearing trees for [you to] plant as your food. ³⁰ And [I’ve given] greenish-yellow plants as food to all the earth’s wild animals, all the winged creatures of the sky, and all the slithering animals that crawl on the ground and have the breath of life.’ And that’s what happened.

³¹ Then God viewed everything He made, and {Look!} it was very good. So came the evening and morning of day six.

Chapter 2

¹ So God finished the earth and sky, and all the arranging of them. ² God completed his work of making these things on the sixth day. And on the seventh day, He stopped making them. ³ Then God blest the seventh day and made it holy, because He had finished all the work that He started out to do.

⁴ This was the book of the origins of the earth and the sky – when they became – in the day that God made the earth and sky; ⁵ when all the greenish-yellow plants on it began on the earth, and all the grasses of the fields sprung up.

[Until that time] it had never rained on the earth and there were no men to cultivate it, ⁶ for springs poured from the ground and watered the entire surface of the earth.

⁷ Then God formed man from the dust of the ground, breathed the breath of life against his face, and He became a living creature.

⁸ And thereafter, God planted a Paradise on the east side of Edem, where He put the man who He had formed. ⁹ And it was there that God caused every tree that was attractive to look at and good for food to spring from the ground. [He also] put the Tree of Life in the middle of the Paradise, as well as the tree of the Knowledge Good and Evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed from Edem to water the Paradise, for from there [came the] head [waters] of four [rivers]. ¹¹ The name of the [first river] is Phison. It circles the entire land of Evilat, where there is gold ¹² (and the gold from that land is good). There is also coal and ornamental stone. ¹³ The name of the second river is Geon. It runs around the land of the Blacks. ¹⁴ The third river is the Tigris, which flows over toward the Assyrians; and the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ Then Jehovah God took the man that He had formed and put him in the Paradise of Delights, so He could cultivate and care for it. ¹⁶ And Jehovah God gave these instructions to Adam: ‘You are free to eat from all the trees of Paradise, ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad. Because, on whatever day you eat from it, your life will end and you will die.’

¹⁸ And Jehovah God said: ‘It isn’t good for the man to be alone. Let’s make a helper for him.’

¹⁹ Well, after God made all the wild animals of the plains and all the winged creatures of the skies (from the earth), He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living animal was what its name became. ²⁰ So, Adam named all the cattle, all the winged creatures of the sky, and all the wild animals of the plains. Yet, a suitable helper that was like Adam couldn’t be found.

²¹ God then put Adam into a trance, and while he was sleeping, took one of his ribs and filled the place where it was with flesh. ²² So, God built the rib that He took from Adam into a woman and brought her to Adam. ²³ And Adam said, ‘This is now bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She will be called woman, because she was taken from man. ²⁴ And because of this, a man will leave his father and mother and bond with his wife; and the two will become one flesh.’

Chapter 3

¹ Now, both of them (the man and the woman) were naked and unashamed.

² And the snake was the wiliest animal that Jehovah had made on the earth. Then the snake asked the woman, ‘Why did God tell you that you shouldn’t eat from all the trees of Paradise?’

³ And the woman replied to the snake, ‘We can eat the fruit from the trees of Paradise, but God said that we shouldn’t eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of Paradise – that we shouldn’t even touch it – or we will die.’

⁴ Then the snake told the woman, ‘You won’t stop living and die, ⁵ for God knows that on whatever day you eat from it your eyes will be opened wide and you will be like gods knowing good and evil.’

⁶ Well, the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was a pleasant sight to her eyes, and it was a beautiful thing to think about. So, after picking its fruit, she ate it. Then she gave some to her husband (who was with her), and they ate it [together]. ⁷ And thereafter, the eyes of both of them were opened wide and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made skirts to go around themselves.

⁸ Then they heard the voice of God Jehovah as He walked around in Paradise that afternoon, so Adam and his wife hid from the face of God Jehovah, among the trees of Paradise.

⁹ And Jehovah God called to Adam, saying, ‘Where are you Adam?’

¹⁰ And [Adam] replied to God: ‘I heard Your voice as You were walking through Paradise, but I was afraid because of my nakedness, so I hid myself.’

¹¹ Then God asked him: ‘If you haven’t eaten from the only tree that I commanded you not to eat from, then, who told you that you were naked?’

¹² And Adam replied: ‘That woman You gave me as a companion… she gave me some [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it.’

¹³ Then Jehovah God asked the woman: ‘Why did you do this?’

And the woman replied: ‘The snake deceived me, so I ate it.’

¹⁴ Then Jehovah God said to the snake: ‘Because you did this, you [alone] are doomed to punishment among all the cattle and wild animals of the earth. You will travel on your chest and belly, and you will eat from the ground all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will create hatred between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will watch for your head and you will watch for his heel.’

¹⁶ Then He said to the woman: ‘I will make your sorrow and groaning [much] worse. For, you will give birth to children and groan, and your husband will turn away from you and he will become your master.’

¹⁷ Then He said to Adam: ‘Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from (and from which you went ahead and ate), the work that you will do on the earth is cursed. You will groan as you eat from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ Briars and thistles will grow for you, and your food will be plants in the fields. ¹⁹ You will eat your bread through the sweat on your face until you return to the ground from which you were taken… you were taken from the ground and that’s where you will return!’

²⁰ And thereafter, Adam called his wife’s name Life, because she was the mother of all [human] life.

²¹ Then Jehovah God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife, and dressed them. ²² And God said, ‘Look, Adam has become one of us now in knowing good and evil! So, to prevent him from reaching his hand out to take and eat from the Tree of Life and seeking life for the ages…’ ²³ Then Jehovah God put Adam outside the Paradise of Delights to work the ground that he was taken from. ²⁴ He threw Adam out and made him live next to the Paradise of Delights. Then He stationed the [heavenly] cherubs with their flaming, spinning swords to keep watch over the Tree of Life.

Chapter 4

¹ Adam had [sexual relations] with his wife so she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. And she said, ‘I have gained a man through God.’ ² Then she again gave birth to his brother, Abel. Well, Able [grew up to be] a herder of sheep, while Cain worked the ground.

³ After many days, Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground as a sacrifice to Jehovah, ⁴ while Able brought the first-born of his sheep and of his belongings. And God looked favorably upon Able and his gifts, ⁵ but He didn’t pay attention to Cain and to his sacrifices, so Cain was very sad and his face [reflected] this. ⁶ Then Jehovah God asked Cain: ‘Why are you so sad and why is your face so long? ⁷ Stop being so offended and take your stand for an end to sins, because, [Able] will submit to you and you will [rule] over him!’

⁸ But thereafter, Cain said to his brother Able: ‘Let’s go into the fields.’ Then, while they were in their fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ And when Jehovah God asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother?’ he replied, ‘I don’t know… am I my brother’s bodyguard?’

¹⁰ Then Jehovah asked, ‘What have you done? I hear the blood of your brother calling to me from the ground! ¹¹ Now you are cursed by the earth, which has opened her mouth to [drink] the blood of your brother from your hand. ¹² So, when you work the ground it will [no longer] give you its strength and you will groan and shake on the earth.’

¹³ Then Cain told Jehovah God, ‘My crime is too great for me to [ever] be forgiven. ¹⁴ And Cain said to Jehovah God, ‘If you [drive me away] into the land today – away from Your face today where I will be hidden from You and where I must groan and tremble on the land – then anyone who finds me will kill me!’

¹⁵ And Jehovah God replied, ‘That isn’t so, for whoever kills Cain will pay seven penalties.’ Then Jehovah God put a mark on Cain, so that nobody who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ Then Cain left the presence of God and lived in Nod, which borders Edem.

¹⁷ Next, Cain [had sex] with his wife and she became pregnant, giving birth to Enoch. [Then Cain] built a city, which he named after his son, Enoch. ¹⁸ Enoch fathered GaiDad; GaiDad fathered MalaleEl; MalaleEl fathered MethuSelah; MethuSelah fathered Lamech. ¹⁹ Lamech married two wives; the first was Ada and the second was Sella. ²⁰ Then Ada gave birth to Jobel, who was the ancestor of those who lived in tents and herded cattle. ²¹ And he had a brother named Jubal who invented the lute and the harp. ²² Sella also gave birth to Thobel, who worked iron and brass. And he had a sister, NoEma.

²³ Then Lamech told his wives (Ada and Sella), ‘Listen to me [my] wives! Remember this: I have killed a man, and that has wounded me. [It was] a young person, and that hurts me; ²⁴ because, if the vengeance [for killing] Cain was seven punishments, mine will be seven times that.’

²⁵ Adam [again had sex with] his wife Eue and she became pregnant, giving birth to a son who she named Seth. For she said: ‘God has [provided me with] another son to replace Abel, who was killed by Cain.’

²⁶ Then Seth had a son who he named Enosh. He’s the one who hoped to [start] calling on the Name of God Jehovah.

Chapter 5

¹ This was the book of the early [days] of man, when God made Adam, forming him in [His] image. ² He made both the male and the female and blest them. And in the day that He made them, He called his name Adam.

³ Adam was two hundred and thirty years old when he fathered a son – who was just like him and looked like him – that he named Seth. ⁴ Then after fathering Seth, Adam lived on for seven hundred years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ⁵ So, Adam was nine hundred and thirty years old when he died.

⁶ Now, Seth was two hundred and five years old when he fathered Enos. ⁷ And after fathering Enos, he lived on for seven hundred and seven years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ⁸ So, Seth was nine hundred and twelve years old when he died.

⁹ Enos was a hundred and ninety years old when he fathered Cainen. ¹⁰ Then after fathering Cainen, he lived on for another seven hundred and fifteen years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹¹ So, Enos was nine hundred and five years old when he died.

¹² Cainen was a hundred and seventy years old when he fathered MaleleEl. ¹³ Then after fathering MaleleEl, he lived on for some seven hundred and forty years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So, Cainen was nine hundred and ten years old when he died.

¹⁵ Now, MaleleEl was a hundred and sixty five years old when he fathered Jared. ¹⁶ And after fathering Jared, he lived on for seven hundred and thirty years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So, MaleleEl was eight hundred and ninety-five years old when he died.

¹⁸ Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old when he fathered Enoch. ¹⁹ Then after fathering Enoch, he lived on for another eight hundred years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁰ So, Jared was nine hundred and sixty-two years old when he died.

²¹ Enoch was a hundred and sixty-five years old when he fathered MethuSelah. ²² After fathering MethuSelah, God found Enoch righteous; and he lived on for some two hundred years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ²³ Then (when Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years old) ²⁴ because he pleased God, God transported him and he disappeared.

²⁵ MethuSelah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old when he fathered Lamech. ²⁶ Then after fathering Lamech, he lived on for another seven hundred and eighty-two years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁷ So MethuSelah was nine hundred and sixty-nine years old when he died.

²⁸ Lamech was a hundred and eighty-eight years old when he fathered a son ²⁹ who he named Noah. And he said: ‘He will stop us from doing the things we do, from working with our hands, and from [living on] the ground (which Jehovah has cursed). ³⁰ Then, after fathering Noah, he lived on for some five hundred and sixty-five years, as he fathered other sons and daughters. ³¹ So, Lamech was seven hundred and fifty-three years old when he died.

³² Then, when Noah was five hundred years old, he had fathered three sons; Shem, Ham, and JaPheth.

Chapter 6

¹ Now, as the population of men grew on the earth and they fathered daughters, ² the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful; so they took all whom they chose to be their wives.

³ Then Jehovah God said: ‘I won’t allow My Breath to stay with these men through the the age, for they are fleshly. So their [lives] will only last one hundred and twenty [more] years.’

⁴ And there were giants on the earth in those days; for the sons of God were [having sex] with the daughters of mankind, fathering for themselves [children] who were giants and the famous men of that age.

⁵ Now, Jehovah God saw that all the badness that men were doing on the earth was increasing, and that the entire motivation of their hearts was always twisted toward evil. ⁶ So God became angry over the fact that He had created man on the earth, and He started thinking it over. ⁷ And God said: ‘I will wipe these men that I made off the face of the earth – from men, to cattle, and winged creatures of the sky – for I have reconsidered the fact that I made them.’

⁸ However, Noah found mercy in the eyes of God Jehovah.

⁹ This is the account of Noah’s generation:

Noah was a righteous man… perfect [when compared to] that generation. Noah pleased God well, ¹⁰ and he fathered three sons; Shem, Ham, and JaPheth.

¹¹ As God saw it, the land had become unclean and the earth was filled with unrighteousness. ¹² So when Jehovah God looked at the earth, all He saw was corruption, because all flesh had become dirty in the things they were doing. ¹³ Then Jehovah God told Noah: ‘A season is now before me [that will lead to the end of] all men, because the earth is filled with their unrighteousness. Look! I’m going to destroy both them and the ground! ¹⁴ So, make a chest of square timbers for yourself and [divide the] chest into stalls. Then cover both the inside and outside of it with tar.

¹⁵ ‘This is how you should build the chest: [Make it] five hundred feet long, eighty feet wide, and fifty feet tall. ¹⁶ Then cover it and leave about twenty-inches of headroom. Also, put a door in the side of the chest and make a bottom floor, a second floor, and a third floor inside.

¹⁷ ‘Then {Look!} I’m going to bring a Downpour of water onto the ground to destroy all flesh under the sky that has the breath of life; and whatever is on the ground will end. ¹⁸ Thereafter, I will initiate a Sacred Agreement between you and Me.’

¹⁹ ‘[I want you to] bring all [types of] cattle, slithering animals, and wild animals – all [types of] flesh – into the chest, by pairs of males and females. Then bring in food for them and yourselves. ²⁰ They should all eat with you, both the males and females… all types of winged creatures, all types of cattle, and all types of slithering animals that crawl along the ground. ²¹ Gather all types of food for yourselves, so you all will have something eat.’

²² And Noah did everything that Jehovah God told him to do.

Chapter 7

¹ Then Jehovah God said to Noah: ‘Now, you and your family must go into the chest, because I have found [just] you to be righteous among this generation. ² Take the clean cattle in with you by sevens (males and females), and bring in pairs of unclean cattle (males and females). ³ And [do the same with] the winged creatures of the sky; bring in the clean by sevens (males and females), and [just] pairs of all the unclean winged creatures (males and females), so their seed will remain on the earth. ⁴ For, in just seven days I will bring rain on the earth [that will last for] forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out every creature that I’ve made from the face of the entire earth!’

⁵ So Noah did everything that Jehovah God commanded him.

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the Downpour of water started on the earth. ⁷ Then Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives, went into the chest with him (because of the Downpour of water). ⁸ And the clean winged creatures, the unclean winged creatures, the clean cattle, the unclean cattle, as well as all the things that crawl on the earth, ⁹ came to Noah and entered the chest in pairs of males and females, just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ Then after seven days, the water from the Downpour came to the earth.

¹¹ It was in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, that all the springs under the ground broke open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. ¹² Then it rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights. ¹³ And it started on the very day that Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, JaPheth (the sons of Noah and his wife), and their three wives went into the chest with him.

¹⁴ Also, all the wild animals (each of its kind), all the cattle (each of its kind), all the slithering animals that move on the earth (each of its kind), ¹⁵ and all the winged creatures (each of its kind) went inside the chest to Noah, in pairs of males and females… everything that had the breath of life. ¹⁶ Males and females of all flesh went inside, just as God commanded Noah; then Jehovah God closed the chest from the outside.

¹⁷ Thereafter, the Downpour continued on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and the water got so deep that it lifted the chest high above the ground. ¹⁸ The water dominated and totally covered the earth, and the chest was carried along on top of the water. ¹⁹ Why, the water dominated and covered even the tallest mountains that were under the whole sky… ²⁰ it covered the highest mountains by at least twenty-five feet.

²¹ So, every moving thing on the earth died… all the men, winged creatures, cattle, wild animals, and all the slithering animals that moved across the ground. ²² Everything that lived on land and had the breath of life, died. ²³ God blotted out all His creatures on the face of the earth… men, animals, winged creatures, and slithering animals. He blotted them off the earth. And the only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the chest. ²⁴ Altogether, the water covered the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Chapter 8

¹ But God didn’t forget Noah, or any of the wild animals, cattle, winged creatures, or crawling, slithering animals that were inside the chest. So God sent a wind to the earth that stopped the water… ² the springs that were under the ground closed and the floodgates of the sky and the rain from the skies were held back. ³ Then the water level started to drop, flowing off the ground. And after a hundred and fifty days, the flood was pretty well over, and the chest came to rest on Mount Ararat on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month. ⁴ Well, the water levels kept dropping through the tenth month, ⁵ and on the first day of the tenth month, they could see the mountaintops.

⁶ Then after forty days, Noah opened the window that he had made in the chest, ⁷ and he sent out a raven, which left and didn’t return until the water had dried off the ground. ⁸ And after that, he sent out a dove, to see if the earth was still flooded. ⁹ But the dove couldn’t find a place to rest its feet, because the water was still covering all the ground, and it returned to the chest. So [Noah] stuck out his hand and took [the dove], and brought it to him, back into the chest.

¹⁰ So he waited another week, and then he sent the dove out from the chest again. ¹¹ Then that evening, the dove returned to him with a stem and leaf from an olive tree in its beak. That’s when Noah knew [for sure] that the water had left the ground. ¹² But he waited another week, and then he released the dove once more. However, this time it didn’t return at all.

¹³ In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the water had poured off the earth. So Noah opened the roof that he had made for the chest, and he could see that the water had left the ground. ¹⁴ And by the twenty-second day of the second month, the ground was dry.

¹⁵ Then Jehovah God spoke to Noah and said, ¹⁶ ‘Come out of the chest… you, your wife, your sons, their wives who are with you, ¹⁷ and all the wild animals that are with you. Bring out all flesh that is with you – the winged creatures, the cattle, and the slithering animals that move on the ground – then reproduce and multiply on the earth.’

¹⁸ So Noah, his wife, his sons, and his son’s wives who were with him, came out. ¹⁹ And all the wild animals, all the cattle, all the winged creatures, and all the slithering animals that crawl on the ground (according to their kinds) came out of the chest.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to Jehovah, and he took some of the clean animals as well as some from among all the clean winged creatures, and offered them whole… burning them on the altar. ²¹ And as Jehovah noticed the sweet smell, He thought about it and said, ‘I will never curse the ground again for the bad things that men do. Because, the imagination of men is totally bent toward doing bad things from the time they are young. So, I will never again [destroy] all living flesh as I have just done. ²² And for all the days of the earth, planting and harvesting, heat and cold, spring and summer, day and night, will never be brought to an end.’

Chapter 9

¹ Thereafter, God blest Noah and his sons, and told them, ‘Reproduce and multiply… fill the earth and rule over it. ² All the wild animals of the earth, the winged creatures in the sky, and everything that moves on the earth – including the fish of the sea – will dread and fear you. And I have put you in charge over all of them.

³ ‘All living and slithering animals can serve as meat for you. I have given them all to you as though they were green vegetation. ⁴ But you must not eat flesh with its blood of life. ⁵ Otherwise, I will require your blood at the hand of all the wild animals. I will also require a man’s life at the hand of his brothers. ⁶ For, whoever spills the blood of men will also have their blood spilled, because I made man in the image of God. ⁷ So, reproduce and multiply… fill the earth and rule over it!’

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and his sons (who were with him) and said, ⁹ ‘Look; I am establishing an Agreement between you, Me, with your seed [that comes] after you, ¹⁰ and with everything that lives (the winged creatures, the [domesticated] animals, and all the wild animals of the earth)… with all that are with you and came out of the chest. ¹¹ This is the Agreement that I’m making with you and with all flesh: Never again will a downpour of water kill all flesh, and never again will a water downpour destroy the whole earth.’

¹² Then Jehovah God told Noah: ‘This is the sign that I have set [as a reminder] of the Agreement of the Ages of Generations, between you and Me, and every living creature that is with you: ¹³ I have put My bow in the clouds. This will serve as the sign of the Agreement between the earth and Me. ¹⁴ So, whenever I gather clouds over the earth, My bow will be seen in the clouds. ¹⁵ And this will remind Me of My Agreement between you and Me, and with every living creature and all flesh; that never again will there be a downpour of water that will blot out all flesh. ¹⁶ My bow will be in the clouds, and when I see it I will remember the Agreement of the Ages between the earth and Me, and with every living creature among all flesh that is on the earth.’

¹⁷ Then God told Noah: ‘This is the sign of the Agreement that I have made between all flesh that is on the earth and Myself.’

¹⁸ Now, the sons of Noah (who came out of the chest) were [named] Shem, Ham, and JaPheth (Ham was the father of CanaAn). ¹⁹ And it was from these three sons of Noah that men came to be scattered over all the earth.

²⁰ Well, Noah took up farming and he planted grapes. ²¹ [Then, one day], Noah was drinking some wine, while he was naked in his house, and he got drunk. ²² Meanwhile, Ham (CanaAn’s father) saw his father’s nakedness, and he went outside and told his brothers about it. ²³ So, Shem and JaPheth grabbed a robe, put it over their backs, and walked backward to cover their father’s naked body. And because they were looking away, they didn’t see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴ Well, after Noah recovered from the wine, he realized what his [grand]son had done to him. ²⁵ So he said: ‘The servant CanaAn is cursed, and he will be a slave to his brothers.’ ²⁶ Then he added, ‘May Jehovah, the God of Ham and JaPheth, be praised. But CanaAn will be a servant in their homes. ²⁷ May God make room for JaPheth and allow him to live in the houses of Shem, and may CanaAn become his houseboy.’

²⁸ Well after the Downpour, Noah lived on for another three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹ So he lived for nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.

Chapter 10

¹ Now, these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and JaPheth. And these are the sons that were born to them after the Downpour:

² JaPheth’s sons were Gamer, Magog [the Scythians], Madoi [the Medes], Jovan, EliSa, Thobel [of Tubal], Mosoch [of Meshech], and Thiras [Islands of the Aegean Sea].

³ Gamer’s sons were AsChanaz [Germans], Riphath [of Northwestern Asia Minor], and Thorgama [the Armenians].

⁴ Jovan’s sons were EliShah [of Tyre], Tarshish [of Spain], Cetian [Of Cypress], and Rhodes [of Rhodes]… ⁵ [they settled the] islands, which lands were divided by tribe and nation among the ethnics, each according to his own language.

⁶ Ham’s sons were Cush [blacks], Mesrain [Egyptian tribes], Phud [Libyans], and CanaAn [Palestine].

⁷ The sons of Cush were Saba [Ethiopians], Evila [of the Arabian Peninsula], Sabatha [of Southern Arabia], Rhegma, and Sabathaca [East Africans].

The sons of Rhegma were Saba [of thirteen Arabian Tribes], and Dadan [part of Arabia].

⁸ Cush fathered Nimrod, who became a giant on the earth. ⁹ He was a gigantic hunter before Jehovah God, and that’s why people speak of Nimrod as ‘the gigantic hunter before Jehovah.’ ¹⁰ His kingdom started with Babylon, and then to Orech, Archad, and ChalanNe, which were all in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ Then outside that land [he went to] Assyria and built Nineveh, the cities of RehobOth, Chalach, ¹² and Dase (between Nineveh, and Chalach), which is the great city.

¹³ Mesrain fathered the Lydim [Lydians], the MaphTuhim [Egyptians], the AnaMim [Libyans], the Lehabim [people of Lower Egypt], ¹⁴ the Pathrusim [people of Upper Egypt], the Casluhim [Cretans] (from whom the Philistines descended), and the GaphThoriim [also from the area of Crete].

¹⁵ CanaAn’s first-born son was Sidon. Then there were the Hittites, ¹⁶ the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷ the Evites, the Arukites, the Sinites, the Asenites, ¹⁸ the Aradians, the Samarians, and the Amathites. But the CanaAnites were scattered, ¹⁹ so their territory ran from Sidon to Gerar (near Gaza), to Sodom and GomorRah, to Adama, and Seboim, as far as Dasa.

²⁰ These were the descendents of Ham by tribe, country, language, and nation.

²¹ Shem (who was the ancestor of all the sons of Heber and the brother of [Noah’s] eldest son JaPheth) also had children born to him. ²² Shem’s sons were Elam, Assur, Arphaxad, Lud, Aram, and Cainan.

²³ Aram’s sons were Uz, Ul, Gater, and Mosoch.

²⁴ Arphaxad fathered Cainan, and he fathered Sala, who fathered Heber. ²⁵ Heber had two sons, the first was named Phaled (because the earth became divided in his day), and his brother’s name was Jektan.

²⁶ Jektan fathered ElModad, Saleth, SarMoth, Jarach, ²⁷ OdorRha, AiBel, Decla, ²⁸ Eval, AbimaEl, Saba, ²⁹ Uphir, Evila, and Jobab. These were all the sons of Jektan. ³⁰ Their territory ran from Masse all the way to Saphera, which is a mountain in the east.

³¹ So, those were the sons of Shem by tribe, language, country, and nation. ³² And these were the tribes of the sons of Noah by generations and nations. From them came the people of the islands and nations that were scattered around the earth after the Downpour.

Chapter 11

¹ [At the time], the whole earth shared the same lips, because they all spoke the same language. ² And as they migrated from the east, they found a flat area of land in Shinar, and they started living there. ³ Then one man said to his neighbor, ‘Come on, let’s make some bricks and bake them in an oven.’ So, bricks became their stone, and tar served as their mortar.

⁴ Then they said, ‘Come on; let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches into the sky. And let’s create a name for ourselves, before we end up being scattered all over the face of the earth.’

⁵ Then the Lord came down to see this city and its tower, which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, ‘Look; they are all the same race and they share the same lips, and now they’ve started doing this. [Before long], they will be able to accomplish anything they set out to do. ⁷ So, let’s go down there and change their language so none of them will be able to understand the voice of his neighbor.’

⁸ And the Lord scattered them from there over the entire face of the earth, so they stopped building the city and its tower. ⁹ That is why [the city] is named Confusion (Babylon), because, that’s where Jehovah confused all the languages of the earth and scattered them from there over all the face of the earth.

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem:
Shem was a hundred years old when he became father to Arphaxad, which was in the second year after the Downpour. ¹¹ And after Shem became father to Arphaxad, he lived five hundred more years (fathering other sons and daughters), and then he died. ¹² Arphaxad was a hundred and thirty-five years old when became father to Cainan. ¹³ And after Arphaxad became the father to Cainan, he lived four hundred years more (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died. Cainan was a hundred and thirty years old when he became father to Sala. And after he became father to Sala, he lived three hundred and thirty years (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died.

¹⁴ Sala was a hundred and thirty years old when he became father to Heber. ¹⁵ And after he became father to Heber, he lived three hundred and thirty years more (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died. ¹⁶ Heber was a hundred and thirty-four years old when he became father to Phaleg. ¹⁷ After he became father to Phaleg, he lived two hundred and seventy years (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died. ¹⁸ Phaleg was a hundred and thirty years old when he became father to Ragau. ¹⁹ After he became father to Ragau, he lived two hundred and nine years (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died. ²⁰ Ragau was a hundred and thirty-two years old when he became father to Seruch. ²¹ After he became father to Seruch, he lived two hundred and seven years (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died.

²² Seruch was a hundred and thirty years old when he became father to Nahor. ²³ And after he became father to Nahor, he lived two hundred years (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died. ²⁴ Nahor was a hundred and seventy-nine years old when he became father to Terah. ²⁵ And after he became father to Terah, he lived a hundred and twenty-five years (as he fathered other sons and daughters), and then he died. ²⁶ Terah was seventy years old when he became father to Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ These are the generations of Terah:
Terah became father to Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran became father to Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in the presence of Terah his father, in the land where he was born, the country of the Chaldeans.

²⁹ Both Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarah, and Nahor’s wife was named Malcha. She was the daughter of Haran (the father of Malcha and Jescha).

³⁰ Now, Sara was sterile, so she didn’t have any children.

³¹ Then Terah took Abram (his son), along with Abram’s wife Sarah (his daughter-in-law), his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and carried them from the land of the Chaldeans toward the land of CanaAn. But when they got to Haran, they took up living there. ³² So, Terah lived there in the land of Haran for two hundred and five years, and then he died.

Chapter 12

¹ Then Jehovah said to Abram, ‘Leave this land, your family, and your father’s home, and go to a land that I’m going to show you, ² because I’m going to make a great nation of you. I will praise you, make your name famous, and you will be blest. ³ I will bless those who praise you and curse those who curse you. All nations will be blest because of you.’

⁴ So, Abram did just as Jehovah told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran, ⁵ taking along his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, all the many things that they owned, and all the lives that they had accumulated in Haran, as they traveled to the land of CanaAn. ⁶ Abram traveled down through the land as far as a place called Shechem, where there was a tall tree. And at the time, the CanaAnites were living in the land.

⁷ Then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your seed.’

So Abram built an altar there to Jehovah, who had appeared to him.

⁸ Then he moved on from there to a mountain that was east of BethEl, and he pitched his tent there in BethEl, which was close to the sea and east of AgGai. There he built an altar to Jehovah and started calling on the Name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram left from there and camped in the desert.

¹⁰ Well, there came a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay, because the famine had virtually devastated the land. ¹¹ And as Abram was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sara, ‘You’re a beautiful woman, ¹² [and I’m afraid] that; when the Egyptians see you they will say, [Look at] his wife, and they will kill me; but they will allow you to live. ¹³ So, tell people that you’re my sister. That way, things will go well for me because of you, and my life will be safe because of you.’

¹⁴ And so it happened that; When Abram entered Egypt and the Egyptians saw how beautiful his wife was, ¹⁵ one of Pharaoh’s princes praised her to Pharaoh and brought her into Pharaoh’s [Palace]. ¹⁶ And because of her, Pharaoh treated Abram very well. So, he accumulated sheep, calves, burros, as well as male and female servants, mules, and camels.

¹⁷ However, God cursed Pharaoh and his house with some very serious and difficult problems, because of Sara (Abram’s wife). ¹⁸ So, Pharaoh called Abram and asked, ‘What have you done to me? You didn’t tell me that she’s your wife. ¹⁹ Why did you tell us that she was your sister? Look, I’ve already taken her as my wife. Now, there’s your wife standing before you… she’s yours, so take her and leave quickly!’

²⁰ Then Pharaoh gave his men instructions about Abram, to accompany him and his wife on their way, along with all the things that they had.

Chapter 13

¹ So, Abram left Egypt along with his wife, Lot, and everything that he had, and they traveled into the desert. ² And by now, Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold. ³ So he returned to the place where he had come from (in the desert near BethEl, between BethEl and AgGai, where he had pitched his tent previously), ⁴ to the place where he had earlier built the altar, ⁵ when Abram had called on the Name of the Lord.

⁶ Lot (who left with Abram) also had sheep, oxen, and tents, ⁷ and the land just wasn’t big enough for both of them to live together, because of all their many possessions. ⁸ And since there wasn’t enough land to share, there were problems between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle, the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle, and with the CanaAnites and Pherezites who lived in that land. So, Abram said to Lot: ‘There shouldn’t be problems between you and me, or between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, because we are brothers. ⁹ Look; the whole land lies before you, so leave me and choose your own way. And if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.’

¹⁰ So, Lot surveyed all the country around the Jordan and noticed that it had plenty of water (this was before God overthrew Sodom and GomorRah). It looked like the Paradise of Jehovah and like the land of Egypt up to Zogora. ¹¹ So, Lot chose all the country around the Jordan for himself and he traveled to the east, as the brothers parted ways.

Now, as Abram lived in the land of CanaAn, ¹² Lot [chose] to live in a city among neighbors, and he took up living in Sodom. ¹³ However, the men of Sodom were evil and they were sinning before God.

¹⁴ So, God said to Abram (after Lot had separated from him), ‘Look around from this place where you’re standing… look to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the sea. ¹⁵ I will give all this land that you see before you, to you and your seed through the ages. ¹⁶ And I will make your seed like the dust of the ground. Why, if anyone is able to count all the dust of the earth, he should be able to count your seed. ¹⁷ Get up and walk across the land… across its length and its width. I’m giving all it to you and your seed through the ages!’

¹⁸ Then Abram packed up his tent and took up living by the big tree of Mamre (in Hebron), and he built an altar there to Jehovah.

Chapter 14

¹ It was during the reign of Amarphal (the king of Shinaar) and Arioch (the king of ElLasar), that ChodolLogomor ² (the king of Elam) and Thargal (the king of the Gentiles) went to war against Balla (the king of Sodom), Barsa (the king of GomorRah), Shinar (the king of Adama), Symobor (the king of Seboim), and Segor (the king of Balac). ³ So, they all agreed to meet together at the Salt Valley (which is now the Dead Sea). ⁴ They had been vassals to ChodolLogomor for some twelve years, but in the thirteenth year, they revolted.

⁵ So in the fourteenth year, ChodolLogomor and his allies attacked, cutting the giants in AstarOth and Carnain to pieces, along with the strong nations that were their allies, the Ommeans in the city Saue, ⁶ the ChorRheans in the mountains of Seir, all the way to the turpentine trees of Pharan (in the desert). ⁷ And on their return, they stopped at the Well of Judgment (Cades), where they cut all the princes of Amalec and the Amorites to pieces who were living in AsasonThamar.

⁸ And then the kings of Sodom, GomorRah, Adama, Seboim, and Balac (Segor) went out and set up battle lines against them in the Salt Valley ⁹ – against ChodolLogomor (king of Elam), Thargal (king of the Gentiles), Amarphal (king of Shinaar), and Arioch (the king of ElLasar) – the four against five.

¹⁰ Now, there were slime pits in the Salt Valley, and the kings of Sodom and GomorRah fled and fell into them. And all the rest retreated into the mountains. ¹¹ So they took all the horses and food in Sodom and GomorRah, then left. ¹² However, they also took Abram’s nephew Lot (who lived in Sodom), along with all his possessions.

¹³ Then one of those who had been rescued came and told Abram (the Hebrew) [what had happened], while he was living by the large tree of Mamre. ([Mamre] was an Amorite, the brother of Eschol and Aunan, who were allies of Abram). ¹⁴ And when Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he gathered three hundred and eighteen of his personal home-born servants, and pursued them all the way to Dan. ¹⁵ Then he and his servants caught up with them at night and attacked them, and they pursued them all the way to Choba, which is to the left of Damascus. ¹⁶ Finally, he recovered all the horses of Sodom, his nephew Lot, all of his possessions, the women, and all the rest of the people.

¹⁷ And after he returned from the slaughter of ChodolLogomor and the kings that were with him, the king of Sodom went out to the valley of Saby (the Plain of the King) to meet him.

¹⁸ Then MelchiZedek (the king of Salem) brought him loaves [of bread] and wine. He was the Priest of the Most High God, ¹⁹ and he praised Abram, saying, ‘May Abram of the Most High God who made the heavens and the earth be blest. ²⁰ And may the Most High God who delivered your enemies into your hands be praised.’

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹ And the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Let me take all the men… you can keep the horses for yourself.’

²² And Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I swear by Jehovah the Most High God who made the heavens and the earth, ²³ that I won’t take anything from you – from a piece of string to a shoe lace – so you can’t say, I made Abram rich. ²⁴ [I will take] nothing other that what the young men have eaten, and the share that belongs to the men that went with me… Eschol, Aunan, and Mamre… they will each take a portion.’

Chapter 15

¹ After that, Jehovah sent word to Abram in a vision, saying: ‘Don’t be afraid, Abram, for I am your shield, and You will have a huge reward.’ ² Then, Abram said, ‘Almighty Jehovah; What can You give me, since I’m about to die without a son? EliEzer of Damascus, the son of my home-born female slave Masek, is my heir.’ ³ And Abram continued, ‘I’m so very sad, because You haven’t given me a seed. So, my home-born servant will be my heir.’

⁴ And immediately Jehovah said to him: ‘He won’t be your heir… the one who comes from you will be your heir.’

⁵ Then He took him outside and said, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars… that is, if you can come up with an accurate count.’ And He said, ‘This is how your seed will be.’

⁶ So Abram believed God, and that was counted to him as righteousness.

⁷ Then [God] said to him: ‘I am the God that brought you out of the land of the Chaldeans to give you this land as an inheritance.’

⁸ And [Abram] said: ‘My Lord and Master, how can I know [for sure] that I will inherit it?’

⁹ And He replied: ‘Collect for Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old nanny goat, a three-year-old billy goat, a dove, and a pigeon.’

¹⁰ So, he brought all three of [the animals] to Him, cut them in half, and set them opposite each other. However, he didn’t cut the winged creatures in half. ¹¹ Then birds started landing on the bodies, even on the cut-up parts. And Abram sat down next to them.

¹² It was about sunset that Abram fell into a trance and {Look!} he had an ominous premonition. ¹³ Then Abram was told, ‘You must know this for a fact; Your seed will have to live as aliens in a foreign land where they will be slaves who are treated badly and humbled for four hundred years. ¹⁴ Then I will judge the nation that they are to serve, and following that, [your seed] will return here with many possessions. ¹⁵ However, you will return to your fathers in peace, well fed, at a ripe old age. ¹⁶ Then they will return here after four generations; because, even to this point the sins of the Amorites haven’t reached their climax.’

¹⁷ And as the sun was setting, {look!} there was a flame that looked like a smoking furnace and like lamp fires that moved between the divided pieces [of the animals]. ¹⁸ This was the day when Jehovah made a Sacred Agreement with Abram. He said, ‘I will give this land – from the [Nile] River of Egypt to the great Euphrates River – to your seed, ¹⁹ as well as the Kenites, the Kenezites, the Kedmoneans, the Hittites, the Pherezites, the Raphaim, ²⁰ the Amorites, the CanaAnites, the Evites, the Gergesites and the Jebusites.’

Chapter 16

¹ Sara, Abram’s wife, hadn’t given him any children. However, she had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar. ² And Sara said to Abram: ‘Look; Jehovah has kept me from getting pregnant, so [sleep with] my maid so I can have my children through her.’

Well, Abram accepted Sara’s advice. ³ So Sara (Abram’s wife) took Hagar her Egyptian handmaid (after Abram had lived in the land of CanaAn for ten years) and gave her to her husband Abram, to be his woman. ⁴ Then [Abram] went in to [sleep with] Hagar, and she became pregnant. And when she realized that she was going to have a child, she started being disrespectful to her mistress.

⁵ So Sara said to Abram: ‘I’ve really been hurt by you, for I gave you my handmaid [to sleep with], and when I saw that she was pregnant, she treated me disrespectfully. May Jehovah judge between me and you!’

⁶ Then Abram told Sarah, ‘Look, your handmaid is yours! Treat her any way that seems right to you!’

So, Sara started treating [Hagar] badly, and she ran away.

⁷ Then a messenger from Jehovah found [Hagar] by a spring of water in the desert (the spring on the way to Sur). ⁸ And Jehovah’s messenger said to her, ‘Hagar, Sarah’s maid; Where are you coming from and where are you going?’

And she replied, ‘I’m running away from my mistress, Sara.’

⁹ Then Jehovah’s messenger said: ‘Return to your mistress and obey her.’ ¹⁰ And the messenger of Jehovah told her: ‘I will make your seed grow, and there will be so many that they can’t be counted.’

¹¹ And the messenger of Jehovah said to her: ‘Look; You are pregnant with a child. You will give birth to a son, and you should name him IshMaEl, because Jehovah has noticed how you have been humiliated. ¹² He will be a wild man, for his fists [will be lifted] against everyone, and everyone [will lift] their fists against him. However, he will live in the midst of all his brothers.

¹³ Then she called upon the Name of the Lord God who was speaking to her, saying, ‘You are the God who watches over me,’ adding, ‘because I openly saw the One who appeared to me.’ ¹⁴ [And from that point on], she called the well, ‘the Well of Him Who I Openly Saw.’ Look; it [still can be found] between Cades and Barad!

¹⁵ So, Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named the son that Hagar bore to him IshMaEl. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore IshMaEl to Abram.

Chapter 17

¹ Then, when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to him [again] and said: ‘I am your God. So be pleasing to Me and don’t do anything that you can be blamed for, ² and I will establish a Sacred Agreement between you and Me; and I will also give you great prosperity!’

³ At that, Abram fell with his face [to the ground]. Then God spoke to him [again], saying, ⁴ ‘Look; I am making My Sacred Agreement with you. You will become the father of many nations. And your name will no longer be called Abram… it will be Abraham, ⁵ for I have made you the father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you grow tremendously; I will make nations come from you; and kings will descend from you.

⁷ ‘I will also extend my Sacred Agreement between you and Me to the seed that comes from you, through [all] its generations. It is a Sacred Agreement through the ages that [I] will be your God and the God of the seed that comes from you. ⁸ Also, I will give the land where you are [now] living as an alien, to you and to your seed. This includes the entire land of CanaAn. It will become yours through the ages, and I will be a God to them.’

⁹ Then God told Abraham: ‘You must fully keep my Sacred Agreement… both you and your seed that descends from you, through all their generations.

¹⁰ ‘This is the Sacred Agreement between you and your seed through all its generations, and Me: All of your males must be circumcised. ¹¹ The foreskin of your flesh must be circumcised. This will be the sign of the Sacred Agreement between you and Me. ¹² All of your male children must be circumcised by you when they are eight-days old, throughout all your generations. [This includes all the] servants who are born in your house, those who are bought with money, and it includes the sons of aliens who are not your seed.

¹³ ‘Those who are born in your house and those who are bought with money must surely be circumcised. And My Sacred Agreement will be there in their flesh as [a sign of the] Sacred Agreement through the ages. ¹⁴ As for the uncircumcised males who aren’t circumcised in the flesh of their foreskin on the eighth day; such individuals must be totally destroyed from among their families for breaking My Sacred Agreement!’

¹⁵ Then God told Abraham: ‘Your wife Sara will no longer be called Sara. Sarah will be her name. ¹⁶ For I will bless her and give you a son from her. I will also bless him… nations and kings of nations will come from him.’

¹⁷ With that, Abraham fell to his face and laughed, asking in his heart, ‘Will a hundred-year-old [man] father a child? And will Sarah (who is ninety years old) give birth to it?’

¹⁸ Then Abraham said to God, ‘Accept IshMaEl to [stand] before You.’

¹⁹ But God told Abraham: ‘Look; Your wife Sarah will give birth to your son, and you should name him Isaac. I will make my Sacred Agreement [with you] firm through him… a Sacred Agreement through the ages, that I will be his God and [the God] of his seed that descends from him.

²⁰ ‘As for IshMaEl; {Look!} I have heard you and I have blest him. I will make him grow and multiply tremendously, so he will become the father of twelve nations, and I will make them a great people. ²¹ However, My Sacred Agreement will be established with Isaac, who Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.’

²² Well at that, God stopped talking to him, and He left Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took his son IshMaEl, all of his home-born servants, all those who he had bought with money, and all the males in Abraham’s house, and circumcised their foreskins on that very day, just as God told him. ²⁴ So, Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And his son IshMaEl was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶ Both Abraham and his son IshMaEl were circumcised that very day, ²⁷ along with all the men of his house… those who were born there and those from foreigners who were bought with money.

Chapter 18

¹ God [next] appeared to [Abraham] by the big tree at Mamre, as he was sitting at the entrance to his tent, around noon. ² He looked up and saw three men before him. And when he noticed them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed all the way to the ground.

³ Then he said, ‘Lord, if I have indeed found favor in your sight, don’t pass your servant by. ⁴ ‘[I will have] water brought and [my servants] will wash your feet, so rest here under the tree. ⁵ I will bring some bread for you to eat, and then you can continue your journey. But, [please stop] so your servant can refresh you.’

⁶ And the Lord replied, ‘Do just as you have said.’

So, Abraham ran back to Sarah (who was in the tent) and said to her, ‘Hurry… knead three scoops of fine flour and make [some bread].’

⁷ Then Abraham ran to the pens, where he took a young calf (a nice, tender one) and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it. ⁸ Next, he got some butter, some milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set it all out before them. And they ate as he stood near them under the tree.

⁹ Then the Lord asked, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’

And [Abraham] answered, ‘Look, she’s there in the tent!’

¹⁰ So the Lord said, ‘I will return this way and come to see you during this season [next year], and your wife Sarah will have a son.’

Well, Sarah overheard this as she stood behind him at the entrance of the tent. ¹¹ Of course, Abraham and Sarah were old, and since Sarah was [well beyond the age of child bearing], she laughed inside herself, saying, ¹² ‘This hasn’t happened to me [before], and now my lord is [too] old.’

¹³ And at that, the Lord asked Abraham, ‘Why is Sarah laughing inside herself and asking, Will I give birth? I’m already old.’ ¹⁴ Is there anything that is impossible for Jehovah? I will return to you [next year] in this season and Sarah will have a son!’

¹⁵ However, Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I didn’t laugh.’ But she said this because she was afraid.

And the Lord replied, ‘Oh, but you did laugh.’

¹⁶ Then the men got up and headed toward Sodom and GomorRah, and Abraham traveled along with them to assist in their journey.

¹⁷ And, the Lord asked, ‘Shall I hide the things that I’m about to do from my servant Abraham? ¹⁸ For, Abraham will become a great and highly populated nation, and all the nations of the earth be blest through him. ¹⁹ Because, I know that he will order his sons and the house that is to come from him to keep the ways of Jehovah – to be righteous and just – so that Jehovah can bring all the things to Abraham that He promised to him.’

²⁰ Then the Lord said, ‘The cries that I’m hearing about Sodom and GomorRah keep growing, and their sins are very bad. ²¹ So, I’m going down to see if they are as bad as the cries that I’m hearing say. And if not, at least I will know [for sure].’

²² Then the men departed for Sodom, but Abraham was still there in the Lord’s presence. ²³ So Abraham went up to him and asked, ‘Are you going to destroy the righteous along with the wicked, treating the righteous as though they were wicked? ²⁴ Why, if there are fifty righteous [people] in the city, will you destroy them? Wouldn’t you spare the whole place if there were fifty righteous [people] there? ²⁵ You would never do such a thing as to destroy the righteous with the wicked, and treat the righteous as though they were wicked… no way! Won’t you – the judge of the whole earth – do what’s right?’

²⁶ And the Lord said, ‘If there are fifty righteous [people] in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole city – and the whole place – for their sakes’

²⁷ Then Abraham continued, ‘My Lord; Here I am speaking to you, and all I am, is dirt and ashes. ²⁸ However, what if there weren’t fifty righteous [people] and there were only forty-five. Would you destroy the whole city because of the lack of five?’

And the Lord said, ‘I won’t destroy it if I can find forty-five there.’

²⁹ However, [Abraham] just kept talking to him and said, ‘What if there were only forty? ³⁰ Would you not destroy it for the sake of the forty?’ And he went on, ‘Lord, please don’t hold it against me if I continue to speak, but, what if there were thirty?’

And the Lord replied, ‘I won’t destroy it for the sake of thirty.’

³¹ So he said, ‘Since I am allowed to speak to [my] Lord; What if you can only find twenty?’

And he said, ‘I won’t destroy it if I can only find twenty.’

³² Finally, he said, ‘Lord; Would you hold it against me if I just say one more thing? What if you were to find just ten [righteous people]?’

And he replied, ‘I won’t destroy it for the sake of ten.’

³³ Then the Lord stopped speaking to Abraham and left, and Abraham returned to his [home].

Chapter 19

¹ That evening, the two messengers [of God] arrived at Sodom and they found Lot sitting by the [city] gate. And when Lot saw them, he got up [and went] to meet them, bowing low with his face to the ground. And he said, ² ‘Look here, my lords; come to the house of your servant and rest from your journey. [Then you can] wash your feet and get up early in the morning to continue on your way.’

However, they said, ‘No, we will just sleep in the street.’

³ But [Lot] kept insisting, so they went with him to his house. Then he baked yeast-free bread and made a feast for them, which they ate.

⁴ [Well, that evening], before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom encircled the house… all of them, both the young and the old. ⁵ Then they shouted for Lot and asked him, ‘Where are the men that came to your home this evening? Send them out to us so we can [have sex] with them!’

⁶ So, Lot went out on his porch, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said: ‘Absolutely not, brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! ⁸ I have two daughters who have never [had sex] with a man. I will bring them out to you and you can do whatever you want with them. However, don’t do these men any harm! Why, it was to avoid such a thing that they came under the shelter of my roof!’

⁹ But they replied, ‘Get out of the way! You came to live among us, and are you now our judge? Why, we’re going to harm you more than we will them!’

¹⁰ Then they pushed up against Lot and were ready to break down the door. But the [messengers] reached out and grabbed Lot, dragged him back inside the house, and shut the door. ¹¹ And thereafter, they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both the large and the small. And they finally got tired of trying to find the door.

¹² Then the [messengers] said to Lot: ‘If you have any sons, daughters, sons in law, or any friends in the city, take them out of this place, ¹³ because we’re going to destroy it! A great cry has been raised against [this city] to Jehovah, and [He] has sent us to destroy it.’

¹⁴ So Lot went [back] outside and spoke to his [future] sons-in-law who [were engaged to] his daughters, and said: ‘Get up and leave this place, because Jehovah is about to destroy the city!’

However, to his [future] sons-in-law it seemed as though he was joking.

¹⁵ Then the next morning, the messengers started to hurry Lot along, saying: ‘Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters and go, so you won’t be destroyed with the sins of this city!’

¹⁶ However, they were unsure. So the messengers grabbed his hand, the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters… and that’s how Jehovah saved them.

¹⁷ Then, once they were outside [the city], the [messengers] told them: ‘Now, do whatever you must to save your own lives. Don’t turn around and look back at the things that are behind you… and don’t stay anywhere in the countryside around here. Run to the mountains, so you won’t be [destroyed] with them!’

¹⁸ But Lot said: ‘I beg you, Lord; Your servant has been shown such mercy and you have shown such righteousness in the things you’ve done for me to save my life. ¹⁹ However, I won’t be able to make it to the mountains, because the [destruction] will likely catch up with me and kill me. ²⁰ Look, there’s a nearby city… a small one that I can escape to, where I can be spared. Isn’t this just a little thing? If you [allow] this, you will save my life.’

²¹ And [the messenger] told him: ‘Look; I will respect your wishes about this matter. I won’t destroy the city that you are talking about. ²² But hurry and escape to that [city], because I won’t be able to do anything until you get there.’

And from then on, he called that city Segor (small).

²³ Well, the sun was already up when Lot reached Segor. ²⁴ Then Jehovah poured fire and sulfur from the sky upon Sodom and GomorRah. ²⁵ He destroyed those cities and all the countryside around them… all those who lived in the cities and [even] the plants that grew from the ground. ²⁶ However, [Lot’s] wife looked back and she became an upright block of salt.

²⁷ That morning, Abraham got up early to go to the place where he had stood before Jehovah. ²⁸ But when he looked toward Sodom, GomorRah, and the surrounding country, he saw flames and smoke (like a furnace) coming from the land.

²⁹ So, this is how it all happened. For when God destroyed all the cities around there, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when the Lord overthrew those cities where Lot was living.

³⁰ [Then later], Lot and his daughters left Segor and went to live in the mountains, because he was afraid to live in Segor. So He and his daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ [It was there that] the eldest [daughter] said to the younger: ‘Our father is old, and no one in the land will come to us here where we’re living. ³² So, let’s get our father drunk with wine and sleep with him, so we can have the seed of our father.’

³³ Then that night, they brought their father some wine to drink, and the eldest went in and laid down with him. However, he didn’t know when he went to sleep or when he got up.

³⁴ The next day, the eldest said to the younger, ‘Look; I slept with our father last night. So, let’s get him to drink some wine tonight, then you go in and sleep with him, so we can raise a seed from our father.’

³⁵ So [once again], they got their father to drink wine at night; then the younger went in and slept with her father, and he didn’t know when he went to sleep or when he got up.

³⁶ As the result, the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ And the eldest bore a son she called Moab, saying, ‘He’s of my father.’ ([Moab] is the father of the Moabites to this day).

³⁸ And the younger bore a son who she named Amman, saying, ‘The son of my family.’ ([Amman] is the father of the Ammonites to this day).

Chapter 20

¹ Thereafter, Abraham moved to the southern part of the country and took up living between Cades and Sur, staying for a while in Gerara. ² And [there], Abraham said concerning Sarah his wife, ‘She’s my sister.’ He didn’t want to tell them ‘She’s my wife,’ for fear that the time would come when men of that city would kill him because of her.

So AbiMelech (the king of Gerara) sent for Sarah and took her [to be his wife]. ³ But God came to AbiMelech at night in a dream and told him: ‘Look; You’re going to die because of this woman you’ve taken, because she [already has] a husband!’

⁴ Well, AbiMelech hadn’t touched her [yet], so he replied: ‘Lord, would you destroy a righteous nation that has sinned in ignorance? ⁵ Didn’t he tell me, She’s my sister? And didn’t she tell me, He’s my brother? I’ve done this with righteous hands and with a pure heart.’

⁶ Then God replied to him in his [dream]: ‘Yes, I know that you did this with a pure heart. That’s why I’ve spared you and [kept you from] sinning against Me. And that’s why I kept you from touching her. ⁷ So, return the man’s wife now, because he’s a Prophet. Then he will pray for you and you will keep on living. However, if you don’t return her, you and all that are yours will die.’

⁸ So early the next morning, AbiMelech got up and called all his servants in, then he told them everything that was said, and they were frightened. ⁹ And thereafter, AbiMelech called Abraham in and asked: ‘What have you done to us? [What type of bad] have you seen in me that you should do such a thing? Have we sinned against you in some way so that you would draw my whole kingdom and me into such a great sin? Why, you’ve done something to me that no one should ever do! ¹⁰ And AbiMelech added, ‘What [bad] have you seen in me that you would do such a thing?’

¹¹ Then Abraham replied: ‘[My thinking was] that; this surely couldn’t be a place where they worship God, so they will kill me for my wife. ¹² [And in fact], she really is my sister by my father (but not by my mother), who I took as my wife. ¹³ And when God took me from my father’s house, I told her, I have a righteous thing that I want you to do for me; Wherever we go, tell [people] that I’m your brother.’

¹⁴ Thereafter, AbiMelech returned his wife Sarah, along with a thousand silver coins, as well as sheep, cattle, and male and female servants. ¹⁵ Then AbiMelech said to Abraham, ‘Look, my whole land lies before you, so go wherever you wish.’

¹⁶ Then he told Sarah, ‘Look, I’ve given your brother a thousand silver coins. These are yours as the price of your face, and for all the women who are with you. Always tell the whole truth.’

¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed AbiMelech. [He also healed AbiMelech’s] wife and concubines, and they gave birth to children ¹⁸ (because Jehovah had closed all the wombs in AbiMelech’s house due to Abraham’s wife Sarah).

Chapter 21

¹ Then Jehovah visited Sarah and did as [He had promised] her. ² She became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the exact time that Jehovah specified. ³ And Abraham named the son that was born to him (through Sarah), Isaac. ⁴ Then on the eighth day, Abraham circumcised Isaac, just as God had instructed him.

⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ And Sarah said, ‘Jehovah has created laughter for me, because, everyone who hears [about this] will rejoice with me.’ ⁷ Then she added: ‘Who could tell Abraham that I’m nursing a child, because I’ve given birth in my old age?’

⁸ Thereafter, the child grew, and on the day that he was weaned, Abraham prepared a great feast. ⁹ However, Sarah noticed Hagar’s son (the one who was born to Abraham through the Egyptian [woman]) playfully making fun of their son Isaac. ¹⁰ So she told Abraham: ‘Throw this slave woman and her son out, because I won’t have the son of this slave receive an inheritance with my son, Isaac.’

¹¹ Those words about his son were very difficult for Abraham, ¹² but God said to Abraham, ‘Don’t allow this thing about your son and the slave woman to become too difficult for you. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because Isaac will be the one who is called your seed. ¹³ What’s more, I will make a great nation of this slave woman’s son, because he’s also your seed.’

¹⁴ So the next morning, Abraham got up, gave Hagar some loaves [of bread] and a skin of water, put her son on her shoulders, and sent her away. Then she left there and wandered in the desert near the Well of the Oath. ¹⁵ However, [before long] the skin of water was empty. So she threw her child under a fir tree, ¹⁶ then left him and sat some distance across from him (a bow-shot away), and said, ‘I can’t just watch my child die.’ So she sat there across from him as her child bawled and cried.

¹⁷ Well, God heard the voice of the child from the place where He was, and a messenger from God called from the sky to Hagar, and asked, ‘Why are you concerned, Hagar? Don’t worry, for God has heard the child’s voice from where He is. ¹⁸ Get up and take the child by his hand, because I’m going to make a great nation of him. ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of spring water, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the child a drink.

²⁰ God was with that child, so he grew up living in the desert and became an archer. ²¹ And as he was living there in the desert, his mother found a wife for him in Pharan, Egypt.

²² The time came when AbiMelech, OchoZath (his trusted friend), and Pichol (the head of his army) [came to] Abraham and said, ‘God is with you [and has blest] everything you do. ²³ So, swear to me by God that you won’t harm me, my seed, or my name; because you should deal with me in the same righteous way that I’ve dealt with you in this land that you’re living in.’

²⁴ And Abraham said, ‘I swear.’

²⁵ Then Abraham complained to AbiMelech about some springs of water that his servants had taken from him. ²⁶ And AbiMelech replied, ‘I don’t know who did this thing to you, nor did you tell me about it. Today is the first time I’ve heard about it.’

²⁷ And thereafter, Abraham took some cattle and sheep and gave them to AbiMelech, and they made a treaty. ²⁸ Then Abraham set aside seven female lambs. ²⁹ And AbiMelech asked him, ‘Why have you set those seven female lambs aside?’

³⁰ And Abraham replied: ‘I’m giving my seven female lambs to you as testimony to the fact that I dug this well.’ ³¹ And he named that place ‘The Well of the Oath,’ because that’s where they swore their oath ³² and it’s where they made their treaty. So AbiMelech, his trusted friend OchoZath, and Pichol (the head of his army) got up and returned [home] to the land of the Philistines.

³³ Then Abraham planted a field at The Well of the Oath, and started calling on the Name of the God of the ages, Jehovah, ³⁴. And he stayed there in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Chapter 22

¹ After that, it came about that God tested Abraham. He called to him, saying; ‘Abraham… Abraham!’

And [Abraham] replied, ‘Look! It’s me!’

² Then [God] said, ‘Take your beloved son – this one you love, Isaac – then go to the highlands and offer him there on one of the mountains that I’ll tell you about, as a burnt offering. ³ So Abraham got up in the morning, saddled his burro, and [prepared to] take two servants and his son Isaac with him. Then, after splitting some wood for the offering, he got up and traveled toward the place that God had told him about.

⁴ It was on the third day that Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ Then Abraham told his servants, ‘Stay here with the burro. My son and I will go over there, and after we prostrate ourselves [before God there], we will return to you.’

⁶ So, Abraham took the wood for the offering and laid it on his son Isaac’s [shoulders]; and the two went off together, as he carried both the fire and the knife in his own hands. ⁷

Then Isaac called to his father Abraham, ‘Father.’

And he replied, ‘What is it, son?’

And [Isaac] continued: ‘Look; [we have the] the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the offering?’

⁸ Then Abraham said, ‘God will provide His own sheep for the offering, son.’

So they both traveled on, and they ⁹ finally arrived at the place that God had told [Abraham] about. Then Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood on it, tied his son Isaac’s feet together, and laid him on the wood on top of the altar. ¹⁰ And it was when Abraham reached over to take the knife to kill his son ¹¹ that a messenger of Jehovah called to him from the sky, and said, ‘Abraham… Abraham!’

And he said, ‘Look, it’s me!’

¹² Then [the messenger] said: ‘Don’t lay a hand on the child and don’t do anything to him, because now I know that you fear God. Why, you haven’t even spared your loved son for My sake.’

¹³ And when Abraham looked up, he saw {Look!} a male goat that was caught by its horns in a Sabec bush. So Abraham went over and grabbed the male goat, [then he] offered it as a whole burnt offering instead of his son Isaac.

¹⁴ Abraham thereafter named that place, ‘Jehovah Was Seen.’ [He did that] so people today would say, ‘This is the mountain where Jehovah was seen.’

¹⁵ Then a messenger of Jehovah called Abraham a second time from the sky, and he said, ¹⁶ ‘This is what Jehovah said: I have sworn [an oath] by Myself, that because you’ve done this thing – because you haven’t spared your loved son for Me – ¹⁷ when it comes to blessings, I will bless you, and when it comes to multiplying, I will multiply your seed as the stars in the sky and as the sands on the sea shore. Your seed will inherit the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and all the nations of the earth will be blest by your seed, because you’ve listened to My voice.’

¹⁹ And thereafter, Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and traveled together to the Well of the Oath. Then Abraham lived there at the Well of the Oath.

²⁰ Later on, Abraham received the report: ‘Look! Melcha has given birth to sons by your brother Nahor! ²¹ Uz is the first-born, [then there is] Baux his brother, CamuEl (the father of the Syrians), Chazad, ²² Azav, Phaldes, JelDaph, and BathuEl (BathuEl was Rebecca’s father). ²³ MecCha bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. ²⁴ In addition, his concubine (named RheUma) also gave birth to TaBec, TaAm, Tochos, and Mocha.’

Chapter 23

¹ Well, Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years, ² and then Sarah died in the city of Arboc (Hebron in the land of CanaAn), which is located in a valley. So, Abraham went to Sarah to mourn for her. ³ And as Abraham stood before his dead [wife], he spoke to the sons of Chet, saying, ⁴ ‘I’m just a visitor and a stranger among you, so, [please] allow me to buy a burying-place among [your people], and then I will bury my dead away from [my place].’

⁵ And the sons of Chet replied to Abraham, saying, ‘No Sir! ⁶ Listen; You may live among us, but you’re [really] a king from God; so bury your dead in our best tombs! None of us will ever withhold our tombs to keep you from burying your dead here!’

⁷ Then Abraham arose and bowed low before the people of the land (the sons of Chet). ⁸ And Abraham said to them, ‘If you approve of me burying my dead out of my sight, then listen to what I have to say and [please] speak on my behalf to Ephron, the son SaAr. ⁹ [I want] him to give me the double cave that he owns, which is located in his field. I will [be happy to pay] whatever it’s worth [to buy] a burial-place among you.’

¹⁰ Now, Ephron happened to be sitting there in the midst of the children of Chet, and [he] answered Abraham (speaking where he could be heard by all the sons of Chet and all who were entering the city), saying, ¹¹ ‘Pay attention to me, my lord; Here before all my countrymen [I say], Bury your dead!’

¹² And at that, Abraham bowed low before the people of the land, ¹³ and he told Ephron (before the people of the land): ‘Since you’re on my side, listen to me; Accept the price of the field from me and I’ll bury my dead there.’

¹⁴ However, Ephron answered Abraham, saying, ¹⁵ ‘No, my lord! I’ve heard that the land [is worth] four hundred silver coins, but what value is that between you and me? No, just bury your dead.’

¹⁶ And although Abraham listened to Ephron, he still paid [him] the money, just as he had said before the sons of Chet – four hundred silver coins that had been approved by merchants.

¹⁷ And the double cave that was in the field of Ephron opposite Mamre (both the field and the cave that was in it, as well as every tree in the field and everything that was within its borders), was sold ¹⁸ to Abraham as his possession, there in front of the sons of Chet and everyone [who was] entering the city.

¹⁹ So, Abraham buried his wife Sarah inside the field’s double cave, which is opposite Mamre (Hebron in the land of CanaAn). ²⁰ For the field and its cave were sold to Abraham as his burying place by the sons of Chet.

Chapter 24

¹ By then Abraham was very old, and Jehovah had blest Abraham in everything. ² So Abraham said to his servant (the elder of his house, who was in charge of all his possessions), ‘Put your hand under my thigh, ³ because I want you to swear by Jehovah the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you won’t take a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the CanaAnites, these [people] among whom I am living. ⁴ Rather, I want you to go to my country – to the place where I was born and to my people – to find a wife for my son Isaac.’

⁵ And his servant replied, ‘But if the woman isn’t happy and willing to return with me to this land, then should I carry your son back to the land that you came from?’

⁶ And Abraham said to him, ‘Make sure that you don’t carry my son back there. ⁷ Jehovah – the God of heaven and the God of earth, who took me out of my father’s house and out of the land where I was born, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, I will give this land to you and to your seed – will send His messenger ahead of you, and you must take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ And if the woman isn’t willing to come with you into this land, you will be free from this oath. Just don’t carry my son there again.’

⁹ So, the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore this to him. ¹⁰ Then the servant took ten camels from his master’s herd, and [some of] his master’s valuables, and traveled through MesoPotamia to the city of Nahor.

¹¹ And toward evening, he rested his camels outside the city, by the well where the young women went to draw water. ¹² And he [prayed], ‘O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham; Bless what I’m doing today, and be merciful with my master Abraham. ¹³ {Look!} Here I am standing by the well where the daughters of those who live in this city come to draw water. ¹⁴ And may it be that, whichever virgin to whom I say, Bring down the water jar so that I can have a drink, and she replies, Take a drink, and I will also [pour water] for your camels to drink until they are satisfied, [I will believe that] this is the one You’ve prepared for Your servant Isaac. And it [will be by this sign] that I’ll know whether You’ve been merciful to my master Abraham.’

¹⁵ And before he was even done speaking in his mind, {Look!} Rebecca the daughter of BathuEl (who was the son of Melcha, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother) came there carrying a water jug on her shoulders. ¹⁶ This virgin was very beautiful, and she was in fact a virgin… no man ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the well, filled her water jug, and [walked back] up.

¹⁷ Then [Abraham’s] servant ran to meet her, and said, ‘Give me a little water to drink from your pitcher.’

¹⁸ And she said, ‘Have a drink, Sir.’ So she quickly removed the pitcher [from her head] and allowed him to drink until he was finished. ¹⁹ Then she said, ‘I’ll also draw water for your camels, until they all have enough to drink.’ ²⁰ And she quickly emptied the water jug into the trough, and then ran to the well to draw, until she had drawn enough water for all the camels.

²¹ And the man really paid attention to her, but he didn’t say anything, because he wanted to know whether Jehovah was blessing this or not. ²² And after all the camels were finished drinking, he gave her [two] golden earrings (each weighing about an eighth of an ounce), and he [put] two bracelets on her hands (they weighed about the same as ten gold coins), ²³ and he asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you… tell me! And is there room for us to lodge with your father?’

²⁴ And she replied, ‘I’m the daughter of BathuEl, who is the son of Melcha and whose father was Nahor.’ ²⁵ And she added, ‘We have straw, a lot of fodder, and a place for [you to] rest.’

²⁶ Then the man (who was very happy) bowed low to Jehovah ²⁷ and said, ‘May Jehovah the God of my master Abraham be praised, [because He] hasn’t allowed His righteousness or His truth to fail my master. Jehovah has led me right to the house of my lord’s brother!’

²⁸ Well, the young maiden ran and reported what he said to the household of her mother.

²⁹ Now, Rebecca had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to meet the man, all the way to the well. ³⁰ And when he saw the earrings and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard what his sister Rebecca said about what the man had told her, he went to the man, as he was standing at the well with his camels, ³¹ and said to him, ‘Come on in, you who are blest by Jehovah; Why are you standing outside? I’ve prepared the house and I also made a place for your camels!’

³² So the man went into the house, and [Laban] unloaded the camels, gave them straw and fodder, got water to wash the feet [of Abraham’s servant], as well as the feet of the men who were with him; ³³ then he set loaves of bread before them to eat. However, [Abraham’s servant] said, ‘I’m not going to eat until I’ve told you why I’ve come.’

And [Laban] said, ‘Go ahead and speak.’

³⁴ And he said, ‘I’m a servant of Abraham; ³⁵ and Jehovah has greatly blest my master. He is highly respected and has been given sheep, cattle, silver, gold, male and female servants, camels, and burros. ³⁶ And Sarah, my master’s wife, bore one son to my master after he had grown old; and he gave [this son] everything he has.

³⁷ ‘Now, my master made me swear [an oath], saying, You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the CanaAnites… these [people] among whom I am living. ³⁸ But you should go to the house of my father and to my tribe, and take a wife for my son from there.

³⁹ ‘Then I asked my master, What if the woman is unhappy about coming along?

⁴⁰ ‘And he replied, Jehovah God, who has found me to be acceptable in His presence, will send His messenger along with you, and your journey will be blest. You should take a wife for my son from my tribe and from the house of my father. ⁴¹ Then you will be free from the curse [of your oath]. Because, when you get to my tribe, and if they won’t give her to you, then you will be freed from your oath.

⁴² ‘So, today I came to this well, and I [prayed]: Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham; If you would bless this journey that I’m now on, ⁴³ {Look!} I will stand by this well where the daughters of the people of this city come to draw water. And whichever young woman to whom I will say, Give me a little water to drink out of your pitcher, ⁴⁴ and she replies, Take a drink, and I will also [pour water] for your camels to drink until they are satisfied; this is the wife that Jehovah has prepared for His servant Isaac. And that’s how I will know that You have been merciful to my master Abraham.

⁴⁵ ‘And before I had even finished speaking in my mind, Rebecca arrived with her pitcher on her shoulders. And [after] she went down to the well and drew water, I said to her, Give me a drink; ⁴⁶ then she quickly took the pitcher from her head, and said, Take a drink, and I will also give your camels [something to] drink. So I drank, and she watered the camels.

⁴⁷ ‘Then I asked her, Whose daughter are you… tell me! And she replied, I’m the daughter of BathuEl, who is the son of Melcha and whose father was Nahor. So I put the earrings on her, and the bracelets on her hands.

⁴⁸ ‘All of this made me so happy that I bowed low and praised Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who has truly blest me in such a way that I might take the daughter of my master’s own brother for his son. ⁴⁹ Tell me whether you will be merciful and just with my lord, so I will know which way to turn.’

⁵⁰ And at this, Laban and BathuEl answered, saying, ‘This thing has come from Jehovah, so we won’t be able to answer you either in a bad or a good way. ⁵¹ Look! There’s Rebecca standing before you. Take her and go. Let her be the wife of your master’s son, just as Jehovah has said.’

⁵² And when Abraham’s servant heard these words, he bowed to the ground to Jehovah. ⁵³ Then he brought out jewelry of silver and gold, as well as clothing, and gave it to Rebecca. He also gave gifts to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴ And afterward, both he and the men who were with him ate and drank; then they went to sleep.

Well, when he got up in the morning, he said to them, ‘Now allow me to leave, so I can return to my master.’

⁵⁵ And her brothers and mother said, ‘Let the virgin stay here with us for about ten more days, and then she can go.’

⁵⁶ But he replied to them, ‘Don’t hold me back, because Jehovah has blest my journey. Send me away, so I can return to my master!’

⁵⁷ And they said, ‘Let’s call the girl and ask [what she wants to do]. ⁵⁸ So they called Rebecca and asked, ‘Will you go with this man?’

And she replied, ‘I’ll go.’

⁵⁹ So they [agreed to] send their sister Rebecca and all her possessions along with Abraham’s servant and his attendants. ⁶⁰ Then they [gave] Rebecca a blessing, saying to her, ‘You are our sister; now become ten thousands of thousands, and may your seed own the cities of their enemies.’

⁶¹ Thereafter, Rebecca and her female attendants mounted the camels and went along with the man. And the servant, on having received Rebecca, departed.

⁶² Now, Isaac had traveled through the desert toward the Well of the Vision, and he lived in the southern portion of that land. ⁶³ And toward evening, Isaac went out into the plains to meditate. And when he looked up, he saw camels coming.

⁶⁴ Also, Rebecca looked up and saw Isaac. So she quickly dismounted the camel ⁶⁵ and asked the servant, ‘Who is that man who is walking across the plains to meet us?’

And the servant said, ‘This is my master.’ So she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶ Thereafter, the servant told Isaac everything that he had done. ⁶⁷ And Isaac went to the house of his mother and took Rebecca, so she became his wife… and he loved her… and Isaac was given comfort for [the death of] Sarah his mother.

Chapter 25

¹ Then Abraham married again, and his wife’s name was ChetTura. ² She bore to him Zombran, Jezan, Madal, Midian, Jesboc, and SoYe.

³ Jezan fathered Saba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were the Assyrians, the Latusians, and the Laomim.

⁴ The sons of Midian were Gephar, Aphir, Enoch, AbeIda, and ElDaga.

These were all the sons of ChetTura. ⁵ However, Abraham gave all of his possessions to his son Isaac ⁶ (he [just] gave gifts to the sons of his concubines). Then (while he was still living) he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward, to an eastern country.

⁷ Abraham lived to be a hundred and seventy-five years old. ⁸ But Abraham [eventually found himself in] failing health and he died at a ripe old age… an old man whose days were full. Then he was [buried] with his family.

⁹ Isaac and IshMaEl, his sons, buried him in the double cave that was in the field of Ephron (the son of SaAr the Chettite), which is across from Mamre. ¹⁰ [So they buried] Abraham and his wife Sarah in the field, inside the cave that Abraham bought from the sons of Chet.

¹¹ And after Abraham died, God blest his son Isaac. Then Isaac lived by the Well of the Vision.

¹² These are the generations of IshMaEl the son of Abraham, who Hagar the Egyptian handmaid of Sarah bore to Abraham, ¹³ and these are the names of IshMaEl’s sons by each of their generations: The firstborn of IshMaEl was NabaiOth, then Kedar, NabDeEl, MasSam, ¹⁴ MasMa, Duma, MasSe, ¹⁵ ChodDan, ThaEman, Jetur, Naphes, and Kedma. ¹⁶ Those are IshMaEl’s sons, whose names that are on their tents and dwellings… twelve princes of their nations.

¹⁷ And this is how long IshMaEl lived: a hundred and thirty-seven years. Then [his health started to] fail and he died and was [buried with] his family.

¹⁸ [IshMaEl] lived [in the area] between Evilat and Sur, [which runs from the land] opposite Egypt, all the way to Assyria. He lived there among all of his family.

¹⁹ And these are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham: ²⁰ Abraham fathered Isaac. And when Isaac was forty years old, he took Rebecca (the daughter of BathuEl, the Syrian of Syrian MesoPotamia, the sister of Laban the Syrian) as his wife.

²¹ Then Isaac prayed to Jehovah about his wife Rebecca, because she was sterile, and Jehovah heard him; so then his wife (Rebecca) got pregnant. ²² And [then one day], the babies that were inside her jumped. And she asked, ‘If this happened to me, then why did it happen?’

So, she went to ask Jehovah, ²³ and Jehovah told her: ‘There are two nations in your womb, and two races will be separated from your belly. One race will become greater than the other, and the older one will serve the younger.’

²⁴ Finally, when it came time for her to deliver, she [found that] she had twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red and covered with hair all over his skin; and she named him Esau. ²⁶ And after this, his brother was born while holding onto the heel of Esau with his hand. She named him Jacob. (Isaac was sixty years old when Rebecca bore them).

²⁷ These boys grew up, and Esau became a skilled hunter who lived in the country, while Jacob was a simple man who lived in a house. ²⁸ And although Isaac loved Esau (because he enjoyed venison), Rebecca loved Jacob.

²⁹ Then [one day], Jacob had cooked up some stew. And when Esau came in from the plains tired and weak, ³⁰ he said to Jacob, ‘Let me have a taste of that red stew, because I’m weak.’ (That’s when he started to be called Edom [or Red]).

³¹ And Jacob replied to Esau, ‘Then sell me your right [to be the firstborn]… right now!’

³² And Esau said, ‘Look, I’m about to die! What good does this right [of the firstborn] mean to me?’

³³ And Jacob said to him, ‘Swear to me right now!’ And he swore to him.

So, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, ³⁴ then Jacob gave Esau bread and some lentil stew. He ate it and drank, and then he got up and left. And that’s how Esau [showed little regard for] his birthright.

Chapter 26

¹ There came a famine in the land, which was greater than past famines in the time of Abraham, So Isaac went to Gerara to [see] AbiMelech, the king of the Philistines. ² And there the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Don’t go to Egypt, but live in the land that I’m going to tell you about. ³ Stay in this land and I will be with you and bless you, because I’m going to give all this land to you and to your seed. And I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham, ⁴ for I will increase your seed as the stars in the sky; I will give all of this land to your seed; and all the nations of the earth will be blest by your seed, ⁵ because Abraham your father listened to My voice and did what I said… He obeyed My Commandments, rules, and Laws.’

⁶ So Isaac started living in Gerara. ⁷ And when the men there asked him about Rebecca his wife, he told them, ‘She’s my sister;’ because he was afraid to say, ‘She’s my wife,’ so the men there wouldn’t kill him for Rebecca (because she was very pretty).

⁸ Well, he had lived there a long time, when AbiMelech (the king of Gerara) leaned over to look out his window, and saw Isaac playing with Rebecca his wife. ⁹ So, AbiMelech called Isaac and asked him, ‘Is she your wife? [And if so, then] why did you say she’s your sister?’

And Isaac replied, ‘Well, I said this so that I wouldn’t be killed on account of her.’

¹⁰ And AbiMelech said, ‘Why would you do such a thing to us? Before long, one of my relatives would have had [sex] with your wife, and you would have brought a sin upon us in our ignorance!’

¹¹ So, AbiMelech gave a command to all his people, saying, ‘Any man who touches this man or his wife will die!’

¹² Then Isaac planted grain in the land, and that year the barley produced a hundred times [more than what he had planted]. So, Jehovah had blest him.

¹³ This man was highly regarded and he continued to prosper, so he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He owned many sheep, cattle, and many tillable lands, and the Philistines [started to] envy him. ¹⁵ So the Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in his father’s time, and filled them with dirt.

¹⁶ Then AbiMelech told Isaac: ‘[I want you to] leave us, because you’ve become much greater than us.’

¹⁷ So Isaac left there, stopping to rest in the valley of Gerara, where [he decided to] live.

¹⁸ And once more, Isaac dug the [same type of] wells that his father Abraham’s servants had dug, which the Philistines stopped up after his father Abraham’s death. And he gave them each names, using the names that his father had used.

¹⁹ And when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley of GeraRa, they found a live well of water. ²⁰ However, the shepherds of GeraRa argued with Isaac’s shepherds, claiming that the water was theirs. So they named the well Injury, because [they claimed] injury over this matter.

²¹ As the result, he left that place and dug another well, and they started claiming [that it was theirs too]. So he named it Hatred. ²² And he left that place and dug another well, which no one else claimed to be theirs; so he named it Space, saying, ‘Because Jehovah has made space for us, and He has made us prosper on the earth.’

²³ Then he traveled to the Well of the Oath. ²⁴ And Jehovah appeared to him [there] that night and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! And because of your father Abraham, I will bless you, and your seed will increase.’

²⁵ So he built an altar there, and named it Jehovah. Then he pitched his tent, and Isaac’s servants dug a well there in the valley of GeraRa.

²⁶ Later, AbiMelech came to him from [the City of] GeraRa, with his trusted friend OchoZath, and with Phichol, the commander of his army. ²⁷ And Isaac asked them, ‘Why have you come to me here; since you hated me and sent me away from you?’

²⁸ And they replied, ‘We have surely seen that Jehovah is with you. So we said, May there be an oath between us and you… and we [wish to] make a treaty with you; ²⁹ that you won’t do any wrong to us, and we won’t hate you. And because we have treated you well by sending you away peacefully, you are now blest by Jehovah.’

³⁰ So [Isaac] prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ And when they got up the next morning, they each swore [an oath] to his neighbor. Then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in safety.

³² However, that very same day, Isaac’s servants came and [gave him news about] the well that they had dug. They said, ‘We’ve found water!’ ³³ So, he named it and the city, Oath. This is why that city is called the Well of Oath to this day.

³⁴ Then, when Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, the daughter of BeOch the Chettite, and BasEmath (the daughter of Helon the Chettite). ³⁵ And they made life very difficult for Isaac and Rebecca.

Chapter 27

¹ Well when Isaac got old, his eyes became so dim that he couldn’t see. Then he called Esau, his eldest son, and said to him, ‘Son!’

And [Esau] replied, ‘Look, here I am!’

² And [Isaac] said, ‘{Look!} I’m old and I don’t know when I will die. ³ Now, go get your weapons, both your bow and your quiver, and go into the plain and get me some venison. ⁴ Then prepare the meat for me just the way I like it, and bring it to me so I can eat it. Then my life can give you my blessing before I die.’

⁵ However, Rebecca overheard Isaac speaking to his son Esau. And after Esau went out to the plains to get some venison for his father, ⁶ Rebecca told her younger son Jacob: ‘{Look!} I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau. And he told him, ⁷ Bring me venison and prepare the meat so I can eat it and bless you in front of Jehovah before I die.

⁸ ‘Now, listen my son and do what I tell you! ⁹ Go out to the animals and bring two young goats to me ([make sure they’re] tender and good), and I’ll prepare the meat for your father the way he likes it. ¹⁰ Then you take it to your father so he can eat it, and he will bless you [instead], before he dies.’

¹¹ But Jacob said to his mother Rebecca: ‘My brother Esau is covered with hair, while [my body] is smooth. ¹² So if my father should [reach out] and feel me, it will look to him as though I’m doing a bad thing, and that would bring a curse on me, not a blessing!’

¹³ However, his mother said to him: ‘May I receive your curse, son. Just listen to what I’ve told you to do, and bring [the young goats] to me.’

¹⁴ So he went out and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared the meat just the way his father liked it. ¹⁵ Then Rebecca took some of her eldest son Esau’s finest clothes that she had there in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ And she covered his arms and the bare parts of his neck with the skins of the young goats. ¹⁷ Then she put the meat and the bread that she had prepared into the hands of her son Jacob, ¹⁸ and he brought it to his father.

Then he said, ‘Father.’

And [Jacob] replied, ‘Look, it’s me! Who are you, son?’

¹⁹ And Jacob said to his father, ‘It’s me, Esau your first-born! I’ve done what you told me, so get up and sit [here] to eat my venison… then you can bless me with your life.’

²⁰ But Isaac asked his son, ‘What did you find so quickly?’

And he replied, ‘It’s what Jehovah your God set in front of me.’

²¹ Then Isaac told Jacob, ‘Come close to me so I can feel you son, [too see] whether you are my son Esau!’

²² And Jacob drew close to his father, and Isaac felt him and said, ‘Your voice is that of Jacob, but your hands are the hands of Esau.’

²³ So he didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of his brother Esau. Thus [Isaac] blest [Jacob]. ²⁴ Then [Isaac] asked, ‘Are you my son Esau?’

And [Jacob] replied, ‘It’s me.’

²⁵ And he said, ‘Bring your venison over here and I’ll eat it son, so I can bless you with my life.’

Then he brought [the food] to him and he ate it, along with some wine, which he drank. ²⁶ And Isaac (his father) said to him, ‘Come close and kiss me, son.’

²⁷ So [Jacob] went over and kissed him; and [Isaac] then sniffed the odor of his clothes, and blest him, saying, ‘{Look!} This is the odor of my son. It has the smell of a wonderful field that has been blest by Jehovah. ²⁸ So, may God give you of the dew of the skies, the fatness of the land, and plenty of grain and wine. ²⁹ May the nations serve you and may princes bow before you. May you be the lord over your brother, and your father’s sons will show you respect. May anyone who curses you be cursed, and may all who bless you be blest.’

³⁰ Well, after Isaac had blest his son Jacob – immediately after Jacob had left the presence of Isaac his father – his brother Esau returned from his hunt. ³¹ He had also prepared some meat and brought it to his father, and he said, ‘Get up father. Sit up and eat some of your son’s venison, so you can bless me with your life.’

³² And his father Isaac asked, ‘Who are you?’

And he said, ‘I’m your first-born son Esau.’

³³ Well Isaac was shocked, and asked, ‘Then who was it that [just] got the venison and brought it to me? Why, I ate it all before you got here, and I blest him… and he will be blest!’

³⁴ And when Esau heard what his father Isaac said, he shouted loudly and bitterly, ‘I beg you; Bless me too, father!’

³⁵ And [Isaac] told him, ‘Your brother slyly took your blessing.’

³⁶ Then [Esau] said, ‘He is well named Jacob, because {Look!} this is the second time has he taken what was mine. He took my right as the firstborn, and now he has taken my blessing!’

And again, Esau asked his father, ‘Don’t you have a blessing left for me father?’

³⁷ And Isaac replied to Esau, ‘If I’ve already made him your lord, and all of your brothers his servants, and I empowered him with wine and grain; what can I give you, son?’

³⁸ But Esau asked his father, ‘Don’t you have just one blessing father? I beg you father, bless me too!’

Well, this really bothered Isaac, because Esau was shouting and crying. ³⁹ So (his father) Isaac answered and said, ‘Look; Your home will be in the fatness of the ground and in the dew of the skies above. ⁴⁰ You will indeed live by your sword and you will serve your brother. However, the time will come when you will loosen and break his yoke from your neck.’

⁴¹ Well, Esau was very angry with Jacob over the blessing that his father had given him. And Esau said in his mind, ‘May the days of my father’s mourning come quickly, so I can kill my brother Jacob!’

⁴² Then these words of Esau (her eldest son) were reported to Rebecca; so she sent for her younger son Jacob, and said to him, ‘{Look!} Your brother Esau has threatened to kill you! ⁴³ So now listen to me, my son; Get up and quickly leave for MesoPotamia. Go to Laban my brother in Haran ⁴⁴ and live with him until all of your brother’s anger ⁴⁵ and rage against you is over and he forgets what you’ve done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. For, I don’t want to be saddened over both of you in the same day.’

⁴⁶ Then Rebecca said [to Isaac], ‘I’m so tired of my life because of the daughters of the sons of Chet. And if Jacob were [also] to take a wife from the daughters of this land, where would I live?’

Chapter 28

¹ So then Isaac called for Jacob… he blest him and told him: ‘You must not take a wife from among the daughters of the CanaAnites. ² Get up and go quickly to MesoPotamia, to the house of my father-in-law BathuEl, and find yourself a wife among the daughters of your mother’s brother Laban. ³ May my God bless you, prosper you, and make you increase; for you will become a gathering of nations. ⁴ And may He give the blessing of my father Abraham to you and to your seed that comes after you, to inherit the land that you are staying in, which God gave to Abraham.’

⁵ So then, Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to [stay with] Laban, the son of BethuEl the Syrian, who was the brother of Rebecca (the mother of Jacob and Esau), in MesoPotamia.

⁶ Now, Esau knew that Isaac had blest Jacob, and that after he blest him, he sent him away to MesoPotamia of Syria, to find a wife there. [And he also knew that Jacob] was told not to take a wife from the daughters of the CanaAnites… ⁷ and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and went to MesoPotamia of Syria. ⁸ So Esau also recognized that his father Isaac viewed the daughters of CanaAn as evil, ⁹ thus he went to see IshMaEl (the son of Abraham) and took MaEleth (IshMaEl’s daughter and NabeOth’s sister) to be a wife (in addition to his other wives).

¹⁰ So Jacob left the Well of the Oath, and traveled to Haran. ¹¹ Then, when he reached a certain place, he decided to sleep there, since the sun had gone down. So chose a stone and put it under his head, then lay down to sleep in that place, ¹² and [he started to] dream.

Well, {Look!} [in the dream] there was a stairway fastened to the ground and its top reached into heaven. And the messengers of God were ascending and descending it. ¹³ Then Jehovah stood on it and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. Don’t be afraid, because I will give the ground that you’re laying on to you and to your seed. ¹⁴ And your seed will be like the sand on the ground, and it will spread from the sea to the north, to the south, and to the east. And through you and your seed all the tribes of the earth be blest. ¹⁵ And look; I am with you! [I will] always keep you safe wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I’ve done everything that I said I will do for you.’

¹⁶ And when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, ‘Jehovah is here and I didn’t realize it.’ ¹⁷ That frightened him, and he said, ‘What a fearful place! This is nothing other than the house of God and the gate to heaven!’

¹⁸ And after Jacob got up in the morning, he took the stone on which he had laid his head and he set it up as a pillar, then he poured oil over it. ¹⁹ And he named that place the House of God (BethEl). But before that, the city had been called UlamLuz.

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If Jehovah God will be with me and guard me throughout this journey, and give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, ²¹ and bring me back safely to the house of my father, then Jehovah will be my God. ²² And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be a House of God to me. And [I agree that] I will give a tenth of everything You give me as a tithe to You.’

Chapter 29

¹ So Jacob [resumed his journey] eastward toward the land of Laban, the son of BathuEl the Syrian, and the brother of Rebecca (the mother of Jacob and Esau).

² [Finally], [Jacob] saw {Look!} a well in the plain; and there were three flocks of sheep resting there. [This was] the well where they watered the flocks; and there was a large stone covering it. ³ For when all the flocks had gathered there, they had to roll the stone away from the mouth of the well to water the flocks, then push the stone back over the mouth of the well again.

⁴ So Jacob asked, ‘Brothers, where are you from?’

And they replied, ‘We’re from Haran.’

⁵ And he asked, ‘Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?’

And they answered, ‘We do!’

⁶ And he asked, ‘Is he well?’

And they replied, ‘He is well. Look, his daughter Rachel [is coming] with his sheep!’

⁷ And Jacob said, ‘It’s still mid-day… it isn’t time for the flocks to be gathered yet. So water the flocks, then take them out to graze.’

⁸ And they said, ‘We can’t, until all the shepherds get here. They will roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and then we will water the flocks.’

⁹ And while he was still speaking to them, {Look!} Laban’s daughter Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, because she was in charge of feeding them. ¹⁰ And when Jacob saw Rachel (the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother), and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered Laban’s sheep.

¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and shouted loudly, as he [started to] cry… ¹² for he explained to Rachel that he was a close relative of her father, and that he was the son of Rebecca. So she ran and told her father what he said. ¹³ And when Laban heard the name of Jacob (his sister’s son), he ran to meet him and hugged and kissed him, then brought him into his house.

So then [Jacob] told Laban everything [that had happened]. ¹⁴ And Laban said, ‘You are my own flesh and bones!’ So [Jacob] stayed with [Laban] for a full month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob: ‘Surely you aren’t going to serve me for nothing; why, you’re my brother! Tell me how I can reward you.’

¹⁶ Now, Laban had two daughters. The name of the eldest was Leah, and the younger was called Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah head weak eyes, but Rachel was beautiful and had a very pretty face. ¹⁸ And because Jacob loved Rachel, he replied: ‘I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.’

¹⁹ And Laban said to him: ‘It’s better for me to give her to you than to some other man. So, come and live with me.’

²⁰ Well, Jacob served [Laban] seven years for Rachel. But to him it was like just a few days, because he loved her so much. ²¹ Then Jacob told Laban: ‘Give me my wife so I can [have her], because I’ve served my time.’

²² And Laban brought all the men together and prepared a wedding banquet. ²³ Then that evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob went inside with her. ²⁴ Laban also gave his servant Zelpha to his daughter Leah, to be her handmaid.

²⁵ Well, it was [the next] morning before [Jacob realized] that it was Leah. So Jacob [went to] Laban and asked, ‘What have you done to me? Didn’t I serve you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?’

²⁶ And Laban answered: ‘In our country, it isn’t proper to give the younger before the eldest. ²⁷ Serve me for seven [more years] and I’ll give her to you also in return for your labor of seven more years.’

²⁸ So, that’s what Jacob did… he served for seven [more years]. Then Laban also gave his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ²⁹ And Laban gave his servant Balla to be his daughter’s handmaid.

³⁰ Thereafter, [Jacob] went inside to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah… that’s why [he was willing] to serve him for seven more years.

³¹ And when Jehovah God saw that Leah wasn’t attractive [to Jacob], he opened her womb. However, Rachel was sterile. ³² So Leah got pregnant and bore a son to Jacob, who she named Reuben. She said, ‘[This is] because Jehovah has seen my humiliation and given me a son. Now my husband will love me.’

³³ Then she got pregnant again and bore a second son to Jacob. [This time] she said, ‘Because Jehovah has heard that I’m hated, He has also given me this one.’ So she named him Simeon.

³⁴ Then she got pregnant a third time and bore a son, and said, ‘Now my husband will stay with me, because I’ve born three sons to him.’ So she named him Levi.

³⁵ Thereafter she got pregnant again and bore a son. And she said, ‘I give thanks to Jehovah once more.’ So she named him Judah. And after that, she didn’t have any more children.

Chapter 30

¹ Well, when Rachel realized that she wasn’t bearing children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, for if you don’t, I’ll die!’

² This made Jacob very angry with Rachel, so he asked: ‘Am I in the position of God who has deprived you of the fruit of your womb?’

³ Then Rachel told Jacob, ‘Look; Here’s my handmaid Balla. [Sleep] with her, and she will give birth [to children] on my knees… I will have children by her.’

⁴ So she gave him Balla her maid to be his wife, and Jacob went in [and slept with] her. ⁵ So Balla, Rachel’s maid, got pregnant and bore a son to Jacob. ⁶ Then Rachel said, ‘God has given me justice and listened to my voice, for He has given me a son.’ So she named him Dan.

⁷ Then Balla, Rachel’s maid, got pregnant again and bore a second son to Jacob. ⁸ And Rachel said, ‘God has helped me… I fought with my sister and won.’ So she named him NaphTali.

⁹ Well, when Leah saw that she was no longer bearing children, she took Zelpha her maid and gave her to Jacob as a wife, and he went in to [sleep with] her. ¹⁰ So Zelpha, Leah’s maid, got pregnant and bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ And Leah said, ‘[I’m] happy.’ So she named him Gad.

¹² Then Zelpha, Leah’s maid, got pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ This time Leah said, ‘I am blest, because the women will call me blest.’ So she named him Asher.

¹⁴ Well, when it came time to harvest the barley, Reuben went out to the field and found some mandrake apples [growing] there, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to her sister, ‘Give me some of your son’s mandrakes!’

¹⁵ And Leah replied, ‘Isn’t it enough that you’ve taken my husband… would you also take my son’s mandrakes?’

And Rachel said, ‘No; [I’ll] allow you to [sleep] with [Jacob] tonight for your son’s mandrakes.’

¹⁶ Then that evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to meet him, and said: ‘You will [sleep] with me tonight, because I’ve hired you for my son’s mandrakes.’

So he slept with her that night, ¹⁷ and God listened to Leah, and she got pregnant and bore a fifth son to Jacob. ¹⁸ And Leah said, ‘God has rewarded me for giving my maid to my husband.’ So she named him IsSachar (which means, Reward).

¹⁹ Then Leah got pregnant again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰ And Leah said, ‘God has given me a fine gift this time. My husband will choose me, because I’ve given him six sons.’ So she named him ZebuLon.

²¹ And after that, she gave birth to a daughter who she named Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel… He heard her and opened her womb. ²³ So she got pregnant and bore Jacob a son. And Rachel said, ‘Jehovah has removed my disgrace.’ ²⁴ So she named him Joseph, saying, ‘May God give me another son.’

²⁵ Well after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, ‘[Allow] me to leave so I can return to my country and my home. ²⁶ Free my wives and children that I served you for, so I can leave. Because, you are aware of the service that I’ve given you.’

²⁷ And Laban replied: ‘If I’ve found favor in your eyes, it’s a good sign for me, because Jehovah has blest me by your coming here. ²⁸ Now, tell me how much I owe you, and I’ll pay it.’

²⁹ And Jacob said, ‘You know how many ways I’ve served you and how many of your cattle I’ve [taken care of]. ³⁰ You didn’t have many before I got here, and now there are many! So Jehovah God has blest you since I came. Now, when can I set up my own house?’

³¹ Then Laban asked, ‘What should I give you?’

And Jacob replied: ‘Don’t give me anything, just do this one thing for me: I will watch over your flocks and tend to them, ³² and as your sheep pass by each day, set aside the grey sheep and the speckled and spotted goats… let them be my reward! ³³ So, tomorrow my righteousness will answer for me, because this will be my reward from you. But you can steal any goats that aren’t spotted or speckled, and any sheep that aren’t grey.’

³⁴ And Laban agreed, saying, ‘May it be as you’ve said.’

³⁵ However, that same day [Laban craftily] separated the spotted and speckled billy goats and nanny goats, and all the grey sheep from those that were white, and he gave them to his sons. ³⁶ Then he sent [them away] on a three-day journey from Jacob, while he was tending the cattle that were left behind.

³⁷ So then; Jacob gathered green rods from storax, walnut, and sycamore trees, and alternately peeled them [to create the look of] white and green stripes, which gave a [spotted] appearance to the rods. ³⁸ Then he laid the rods he had peeled at the bottom of the watering troughs, so that when the cattle came to drink, they would see the rods and become pregnant there in front of the rods. ³⁹ And the cattle did get pregnant at the rods, and they gave birth to [young with] speckles, streaks, and ash-colored spots.

⁴⁰ And thereafter, Jacob would separate the lambs and set aside the speckled goats and the [spotted, streaked, and striped] lambs for himself. And he wouldn’t allow them to mingle with Laban’s sheep.

⁴¹ So, when the cattle became pregnant and gave birth, Jacob [continued] to put the rods in the troughs before the cattle, so they would get pregnant in front of the rods. ⁴² And whenever the cattle gave birth, [he gave] the unmarked ones to Laban, but the marked ones were his. ⁴³ And [before long], he became very rich with many cattle, oxen, [male] and female servants, camels, and burros.

Chapter 31

¹ Then Jacob overheard Laban’s sons saying, ‘Jacob has taken everything that belongs to our father and all our father’s property… all his glory!’ ² And {Look!} Jacob realized that Laban [wasn’t happy to see him anymore].

³ Then Jehovah said to Jacob: ‘Return to your family and to your father’s land, and I will be with you.’

⁴ So, Jacob sent for Leah and Rachel, [who were] out in the plains with the flocks, ⁵ and said to them: ‘I see that your father isn’t [happy when he sees me], but the God of my father is with me. ⁶ You know that I’ve served your father with all my might, ⁷ but your father deceived me and changed what he owed me to [just] ten lambs… yet God didn’t allow him to [do me wrong]. ⁸ For if he said, The speckled will be your reward, then all the cattle would give birth to speckled. And if he would have said, The white will be your reward, then all the cattle would have born white. ⁹ So God has taken all these cattle from your father and given them to me.

¹⁰ ‘It was while the cattle were pregnant with their young that, while I was sleeping, {Look!} I saw billy goats and rams jumping on the nanny goats and sheep. And they were all speckled, striped, and spotted with ash-colored spots. ¹¹ Then a messenger from God called me in the dream, saying, Jacob! And I said, What is it? ¹² And he said, Look up and see the billy goats and rams jumping on the nanny goats and sheep, and they are all speckled, striped, and spotted with ash-colored spots.

‘Now, I have seen all things that Laban did to you, ¹³ for I am the God that appeared to you at BethEl where you poured oil on a pillar to Me, and [where you] vowed an oath to Me. So now, get up and leave this land. Return to the land of your birth, and I will be with you.’

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah asked, ‘What about our inheritance in the house of our father? ¹⁵ Does he now consider us strangers? Why, he sold us and then used our money! ¹⁶ So, all the wealth and glory that God has taken from our father belongs to our children and to us. Therefore, do whatever God told you to do!’

¹⁷ Then Jacob got up and mounted his wives and children upon camels, ¹⁸ along with all the possessions and provisions he had obtained in MesoPotamia, and all [the servants and animals] that belonged to him, to return to his father Isaac in the land of CanaAn. ¹⁹ And while Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s idols. ²⁰ So Jacob didn’t let Laban the Syrian know that he was running away; ²¹ and he and all that belonged to him left and crossed the river, traveling to Mount Gilead.

²² It wasn’t until three days later that Laban the Syrian was told that Jacob had gone. ²³ But then he gathered his brothers and chased after them, catching up with them after seven days at Mount Gilead. ²⁴ However, God came to Laban the Syrian in his sleep that night and said to him, ‘Be very careful not to say anything bad about Jacob.’

²⁵ So when Laban caught up with Jacob (for Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain), Laban stationed his brothers on the mountain, ²⁶ and he asked Jacob: ‘What have you done… why did you run away secretly, steal from me, and use swords to take my daughters as captives? ²⁷ If you had told me first, I would have happily sent you away with singing, tambourines, and harps. ²⁸ Didn’t you think that I was worthy to hug my children and my daughters before you did such a foolish thing?

²⁹ ‘And now; though I have enough power in my hands to harm you, the God of your father spoke to me yesterday and said, Be very careful that you never say anything bad about Jacob. ³⁰ So go your way, because you really wanted to return to the house of your father. However, why have you stolen my gods?’

³¹ And Jacob replied to Laban, ‘[I did this] because I was afraid that you would take your daughters and all my possessions from me!’ ³² Then Jacob added, ‘And whoever you find that has [stolen] your gods won’t [be allowed to] live in the presence of our family. Look around for anything I might have that’s yours and take it!’

[Well, Laban did this], but he couldn’t find anything. Yet, Jacob didn’t realize that his wife Rachel had stolen [the idols].

³³ Laban went in and searched Leah’s room, then Jacob’s room, then the room of the two female servants, and he found nothing. And finally he entered Rachael’s room, ³⁴ but Rachel had taken the idols and hidden them among the camel’s packs, and she was sitting on them. ³⁵ Then she told her father, ‘Don’t be impudent, Sir! I can’t get up and stand before you, because it isn’t my way and it isn’t customary for women!’

Well, Laban searched throughout the [camp] and couldn’t find the idols. ³⁶ And all [of this] made Jacob very angry, so he argued with Laban, asking him: ‘What wrong have I done to you and what is my sin that caused you to chase after me ³⁷ and then search all the furniture in my home? What have you found [that is part of] the furniture of your house? Lay it out here between your relatives and mine, and let them decide!

³⁸ ‘Why, I’ve been with you for twenty years, and your sheep and nanny goats haven’t failed to give birth, nor did I eat any of the rams of your cattle; ³⁹ all that I took was the wild animals that I didn’t bring to you. Why, I myself [paid] for anything that was stolen during the day or during the night, ⁴⁰ yet I was dried out with heat during the day, and [chilled] by frost during the night, so I seldom ever slept.

⁴¹ ‘During these twenty years that I stayed in your house, I served you for fourteen years for your two daughters, and [then I spent the next] six years among your sheep… just to have you falsely set my wages as ten lambs! ⁴² Why, if it weren’t for the God of my father Abraham and for Isaac’s fear [of God], you would have sent me away empty-handed! Yet, God saw how I was humiliated and how hard I’ve worked, and He [paid you back for that] yesterday.’

⁴³ Then Laban replied: ‘These are my daughters and my sons; the cattle are mine; and everything you see belongs to me and my daughters! However, what should I do to them today, or to their children? ⁴⁴ Come; let’s conclude a treaty between you and me that will serve as a witness between us. Look, nobody else is here, so {Look!} God is the witness between you and me.’

⁴⁵ Then Jacob found a [large] stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob told his family, ‘Gather some stones.’ So they brought stones and made a pile, then they [shared bread] on top of the pile.

And thereafter, Laban said: ‘This [pile of stones] is the witnesses between you and me today.’ ⁴⁷ And Laban called it The [Stone] Pile of Testimony, while Jacob referred to it as The Witness [Stone] Pile.

⁴⁸ And Laban said to Jacob: ‘Look at this pile and pillar that I’ve erected between you and me… this Witness [Stone] Pile and this [Stone] Pile of Testimony. We will call them the [Stone] Pile Witnesses.’

⁴⁹ And [Laban] spoke this vision: ‘May God keep an eye on you and me, because we are about to leave each other. ⁵⁰ If you humble my daughters by taking wives in addition to them, you will see that someone is with us who is watching. For, God is the witness between you and me.’

⁵¹ Then Laban continued, ‘Look! This pile of stones and this pillar are witnesses ⁵² that I won’t come to you, and you won’t come to me, beyond this pillar to do anything bad. ⁵³ May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us!’

Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and he offered a sacrifice on the mountain. He called his family together and they ate and drank, then they went to sleep on the mountain. ⁵⁵ And when Laban got up in the morning, he kissed his daughters and [their] sons and blest them, and then Laban turned around and went back home.

Chapter 32

¹ Jacob also left on his journey. Then he looked up and saw the camp of the army of God, and a messenger of God [coming to] meet him. ² And when Jacob saw them, he said: ‘Why, this [place] is the campground of God!’ So he named that place The Campgrounds.

³ Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir in the country of Edom. ⁴ And he told them to say this to Esau (his lord): ‘This is what your servant Jacob has said: I have visited with Laban and stayed there until now. ⁵ And [during this time] oxen, burros, sheep, and male and female servants were born to me. Now, I’ve sent [messengers] to tell you, my lord Esau, to help your servant find kindness in your eyes.’

⁶ Then the messengers returned to Jacob and said: ‘We reached your brother Esau, and {Look!} he’s coming to meet you with four hundred men.’

⁷ Well, Jacob was terrified and very upset by this. So he divided the people that were with him, as well as the cattle, camels, and sheep, into two camps. ⁸ And Jacob said, ‘If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the other camp will survive.’

⁹ And Jacob [prayed], ‘God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac – O Lord – You’re the One who told me, Return quickly to the land where you were born, and I will treat you well. ¹⁰ So, may there be enough of all the justice and truth that You have brought about through Your servant. Because, with this my staff I crossed the Jordan [River], and now I [have been divided into] two camps. ¹¹ Save me from the hands of my brother – from the hands of Esau – because I’m afraid of him, since [he may be] happy to come and strike me down [along with] the mothers and the children. ¹² But you said: I will treat you well and will make your seed as the sands of the sea… so many that they can’t be counted.’

¹³ Well, he slept there that night, [then he selected] the gifts to be carried to his brother Esau. ¹⁴ [There were] two hundred nanny goats, twenty billy goats, two hundred sheep, twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milk camels and their foals, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty burros, and ten colts. ¹⁶ Then he gave them to his servants and told them: ‘Go ahead of me and put a space between each of the animal herds.’

¹⁷ Then he told the first group: ‘If you meet my brother Esau, and he asks, Who do you [work for], where are you going, and whose animals are [being herded] in front of you? ¹⁸ you should say, [We work for] your servant Jacob. He has sent these as gifts to my lord Esau… and {Look!} he’s [traveling] behind us.’

¹⁹ And the same instructions that he gave to the first [group], he gave to the second and the third… to everyone who traveled ahead of him (following the herds), he said, ‘This what you should tell Esau when you find him, ²⁰ say, Look! Your servant Jacob is following us.’

[For, Jacob said]: ‘I want to [sooth Esau’s feelings] with the gifts that [are being carried] ahead of me; then I can look him in the face and hope that he will accept me.’

²¹ So the presents went out ahead of him, as he spent the night in the camp.

²² Then during the night, he got up and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and [crossed the river] at the ford of Jaboch… ²³ he took them and all his possessions, and crossed through the raging river.

²⁴ It was there that, while Jacob was all by himself, a man came and wrestled with him until the next morning. ²⁵ [And when the man] saw that he wasn’t going to win, he touched the upper part of Jacob’s thigh, and his thigh became numb during the wrestling match. ²⁶ And [the man] told [Jacob]: ‘Let me go, because the sun is coming up!’

But [Jacob] said: ‘I’m not going to let you go until you give me a blessing!’

²⁷ So [the man] asked: ‘What’s your name?’

And he answered: ‘Jacob.’

²⁸ And [the man] told him: ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob. Rather, Israel will be your name, and you’ll be mighty among men, because you’ve won with God.’

²⁹ Then Jacob said: ‘Tell me your name.’

And he said: ‘Why do you [have to] ask my name?’

Then he blest him there. ³⁰ And Jacob named that place, the Face of God, because he said: ‘I’ve seen God face to face and survived.’

³¹ Well, the sun had risen on him when he passed the face of God, and [God] stopped him by his thigh. ³² And this is why the children of Israel, even to this day, will never eat that part of meat that was numbed (the upper part of the thigh), because [God’s messenger] touched that part of the thigh on Jacob.

Chapter 33

¹ Well, when Jacob looked up, he saw {Look!} his brother Esau coming with four hundred men. So Jacob divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. ² Then he put the two female servants and their children out in front, followed by Leah and her children, then Rachel, and [finally, himself] at the rear. ³ But then he walked ahead of them all and bowed to the ground seven times, as he got closer to his brother.

⁴ However, Esau ran up to meet him, hugged him, fell around his neck, and kissed him. Then they both cried.

⁵ And when Esau noticed the women and children, he asked, ‘What [relation] are they to you?’

And Jacob replied: ‘These are the children that God has so mercifully blest your servant with.’

⁶ Then the female servants and their children came up and bowed low, ⁷ followed by Leah and her children, who also came up and bowed low. And then Rachel [arrived] and bowed low with Joseph.

⁸ So [Esau] asked: ‘Then, what did all those groups that I met have to do with you?’

And [Jacob] replied: ‘This was done so that your servant might find favor in your eyes, my lord.’

⁹ Then Esau said: ‘But I [already own] a lot, my brother. Keep what is yours!’

¹⁰ And Jacob said: ‘If I’ve found favor in your eyes, take the gifts from my hands. For seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, if you are happy with me. ¹¹ Take the blessings that I’ve brought to you, because God has been merciful to me, and I have everything.’

And he kept insisting, so [Esau] took them. ¹² And he said, ‘Now, let’s head back.’

¹³ But [Jacob] said: ‘My lord; You know that the children are frail, and the flocks and herds that I’ve brought also have [many] young ones; so if I drive them hard today, all the cattle will die. ¹⁴ Therefore, my lord; go on ahead of your servant. I will take it easy along the way, so [I will have] enough strength [to make the long journey] ahead of me, and so the children will have enough strength. Then I will travel until I come to my lord at Seir.’

¹⁵ And Esau said: ‘Then I’ll leave some of the people that I brought with me.’

And [Jacob] asked: ‘Why? It’s enough that I’ve found your favor, my lord!’

¹⁶ So, Esau returned to Seir that day, ¹⁷ and Jacob returned to the tents that he had set up to live in, and he built stalls for his cattle. So he named that place, The Stalls.

¹⁸ Finally, Jacob got to Salem, a city of Shechem in the land of CanaAn, after traveling from MesoPotamia of Syria. He went to [the city gate] there ¹⁹ and bought the field where he had pitched his tent, from Hamor (the father of Shechem) for a hundred lambs. ²⁰ And there he set up an altar, where he called upon Israel’s God.

Chapter 34

¹ Well, Dinah, the daughter that Leah bore to Jacob, went to see the daughters of the local people. ² And Shechem, the son of Emmor the Evite and the ruler of the land, noticed her. Then he humiliated her by taking her and [having sex] with her.

³ Yet, he was bound to the life of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter… he loved the girl and spoke kindly to her. ⁴ So Shechem told his father Emmor: ‘Get this young woman for me, to be my wife.’

⁵ Well, when Jacob heard that Emmor’s son had violated his daughter Dinah, he sent for his sons who were with his cattle in the fields. And Jacob didn’t say a word until they got there.

⁶ Then Emmor, Shechem’s father, went over to talk to Jacob, ⁷ just as Jacob’s sons were returning from the fields. And when they heard [what had happened], they were very upset. It really hurt them, because he had made a joke of Israel by [having sex] with Jacob’s daughter… it just shouldn’t have happened.

⁸ But Emmor spoke to them and said, ‘My son Shechem has decided in his heart to marry your daughter; so give her to him to be his wife, ⁹ and marry among us. Give us your daughters, and take our daughters for your sons, ¹⁰ and live among us! Look, there’s plenty of room for you, so live here in this land… trade [with us] and prosper here.’

¹¹ Then Shechem said to [Dinah’s] father and brothers: ‘I will do whatever is necessary to find your favor, and we will give whatever you ask. ¹² Raise the bride price several times, and I will pay whatever you say. Just give me this young woman to be my wife.’

¹³ However, Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Emmor cunningly, because he had violated their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ So Dinah’s brothers (Simeon and Levi) said to them, ‘We won’t be able to give our sister to someone who isn’t circumcised, because that would dishonor us. ¹⁵ The only way we can do what you say and live among you, is if you will become as we are… all your males have to be circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters as our wives, and live with you as one race. ¹⁷ But if you refuse to listen and won’t get circumcised, we will take our [sister] and leave.’

¹⁸ Well, what they said was agreeable to Emmor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹ And the young man didn’t delay when it came to doing this thing, because he was really attached to Jacob’s daughter. Why, he was the most honorable person in his father’s house.

²⁰ So Emmor and his son Shechem walked to the city gate and told the men there, ²¹ ‘These are peaceable people, so let them live with us in our land and trade in it. Look, there’s a lot of land before them, so we will take their daughters to be our wives, and we will give them our daughters. ²² The only thing that they require to live among us as one people, is that all our males have to be circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ And then, won’t their cattle, their herds, and their possessions be ours? So, let’s do what they say and they will live among us!’

²⁴ Well, everyone who was there at the gate of their city listened to Emmor and his son Shechem, and the foreskins of all the males were circumcised. ²⁵ But on the third day, while they were all aching in pain, Jacob’s two sons (Dinah’s brothers) Simeon and Levi each took his sword, sneaked into the city, and killed every male. ²⁶ They killed Emmor and his son Shechem with their swords, and then they took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left.

²⁷ And when Jacob’s [other] sons came upon those who were wounded, they ravaged the city where Dinah (their sister) had been violated… ²⁸ they took all the sheep, oxen, burros, and everything in the city, as well as everything that was in their fields. ²⁹ Then they took all the people as captives, as well as all their provisions and their wives, and they looted whatever was left in their city and in their homes.

³⁰ Well afterward, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: ‘You have made me an evil and hated [person] among the people who live in this land… both among the CanaAnites and the Pherezites. Why, there are only a few of us, so they will band against me and cut me to pieces… destroying both me and my house!’

³¹ And they replied, ‘Not so! Would [you rather] they treated our sister as a whore?’

Chapter 35

¹ Then God told Jacob: ‘Get up and go up to the place [you named] BethEl, and live there. Then build an altar to the God that appeared to you there, when you were running from your brother Esau.’

² So Jacob told his family and everyone that lived with him: ‘Get rid of the strange gods that you have, then wash yourselves, change your clothes, ³ and get ready; because, we’re going up to BethEl, where [we’re] going to build an altar to the God who listened to me, was with me, and preserved me throughout my journey during the difficult time [that I had to endure].’

⁴ Then they gave Jacob all the strange gods that they owned, as well as the earrings in their ears. Then Jacob buried [these things] under a turpentine tree at Secima, where they’ve remained destroyed down to this day. ⁵ Then Israel left Secima, and the cities around them had the fear of God in them, so they didn’t chase after the children of Israel.

⁶ Finally, Jacob and all the people that were with him arrived at Luza in the land of CanaAn, which [he had earlier named] BethEl. ⁷ It was there that he had built an altar and then named the place BethEl, because that’s where God appeared to him when he was running from his brother Esau.

⁸ Well thereafter, Rebecca’s nurse Deborah died, and she was buried under an oak tree in BethEl that Jacob named The Oak of Mourning.

⁹ God had appeared again to Jacob at Luza, while he was on his way back from MesoPotamia of Syria. And that’s when God blest him, ¹⁰ for God said to him: ‘You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel will be your name.’ So He called him Israel.

¹¹ Then God said to him: ‘I am your God. So now prosper and grow, because nations and groups of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your loins. ¹² I have given this land to you that I gave to Abraham and Isaac; and eventually I will give this land to the seed that will descend from you.’

¹³ Then God left him, there in the place where He spoke to him. ¹⁴ And Jacob set up a [stone] pillar in that place where God spoke to him, and he offered a drink upon it and poured oil over it. ¹⁵ That’s when Jacob named this place where God had spoken to him, BethEl.

¹⁶ [Well, after Deborah died], Jacob left BethEl and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Gader. And as they were getting close to ChabRatha, on their way to EphRatha, Rachel had birth pains and then went into hard labor. ¹⁷ And it was while she was in hard labor that the midwife told her, ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to have this son!’

¹⁸ Then, as she was giving up her life (she was dying), she named him Son of My Pain, but his father named him BenJamin ([Son of the Right Hand]).

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried along the road to EphRatha (BethLehem). ²⁰ And Jacob set up a pillar on her tomb, [which is called] The Pillar of Rachel’s Tomb to this day.

²¹ It was while Israel was living in this land that Reuben went and [had sex] with Balla, his father Jacob’s concubine. And when Israel heard about this, it really upset him.

²² Now, there were twelve sons of Jacob. ²³ The sons of Leah were Jacob’s first-born Reuben, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, IsSachar, and ZebuLon. ²⁴ The sons of Rachel were Joseph and BenJamin. ²⁵ The sons of Balla (Rachel’s handmaid) were Dan and NaphTali. ²⁶ And the sons of Zelpha (Leah’s handmaid) were Gad and Asher. [Most of] these sons were born to Jacob in MesoPotamia of Syria.

²⁷ Then Jacob returned to his father Isaac in Mamre, to a city of the plains [called] Hebron (in the land of CanaAn), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ²⁸ Altogether, Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ Then Isaac stopped breathing and he died, and he was placed beside his family [after living] a long and full life. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.

Chapter 36

¹ And these are the generations of Esau (or Edom). ² Esau took these [women] as wives from the daughters of the CanaAnites: There was Ada, the daughter of AiLom the Chettite, OliBema, the daughter of Ana [who was] the son of Sebegon the Evite, ³ and BasEmath, the daughter of IshMaEl and the sister of NabaiOth.

⁴ Ada bore EliPhas to him, BasEmath bore RaguEl, ⁵ And OliBema bore Jeus, Jeglom, and Core. These were Esau’s sons that were born to him in the land of CanaAn.

⁶ Then Esau took his wives, sons, and daughters; everyone in his house, as well as all his possessions, all his cattle; everything that he had and absolutely everything that he had acquired in the land of CanaAn; and he left the land of CanaAn [to get away from] his brother Jacob. ⁷ This is because they had both acquired so much that they could no longer live close to each other, and the land where they were staying couldn’t hold them, because they owned so much. ⁸ So Esau [went to live] at Mount Seir (Esau is Edom).

⁹ These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites, when [he lived at] Mount Seir. ¹⁰ And these are the names of Esau’s [grand]sons through EliPhas (Ada’s son), and RaguEl (BasEmath’s son).

¹¹ The [grand]sons of Ada through EliPhas were ThaEman, Omar, Sophar, Gothom, and Kenez. ¹² Also, Thamna (EliPhas’ concubine) bore Amalec to him.

¹³ The [grand]sons of BasEmath through RaguEl were NachOth, Zare, Some, and Moze.

¹⁴ These are the sons of Esau’s wife OliBema (the daughter of Ana, who was the son of Sebegon): She bore Jeus, Jeglom, and Core to Esau.

¹⁵ These are the chiefs of EliPhas, the first-born of Esau: Chief ThaEman, Chief Omar, Chief Sophar, Chief Kenez, ¹⁶ Chief Core, Chief Gothom, and Chief Amalec. They are the chiefs of [the family of] EliPhas (the sons of Ada), in the land of Edom.

¹⁷ And these are the chiefs of RaguEl, the son of Esau: Chief NachOth, Chief Zare, Chief Some, and Chief Moze. They are the chiefs of [the family of] RaguEl (the sons of BasEmath) in the land of Edom.

¹⁸ And these are the chiefs of OliBema (the daughter of Ana), Esau’s wife: Chief Jeus, Chief Jeglom, and Chief Core.

¹⁹ These were the sons of Esau. They are [all] chiefs, and they are [all] the sons of Edom.

²⁰ These are the sons of Seir the Chorrhite who lived in the land: Lotan, Sobal, Sebegon, Ana, ²¹ Deson, Asar, and Rison. And these are the chiefs of the son of Seir the Chorrhite, in the land of Edom: ²² The sons of Lotan (and Lotan’s sister, Thamna) were Chorrhi and Haeman. ²³ The sons of Sobal were Golam, ManaChath, Gaebel, Sophar, and Omar. ²⁴ The sons of Sebegon were Aie, and Ana (this is the same Ana who found Jamin in the wilderness when he was tending his father Sebegon’s animals).

²⁵ Ana’s children were Deson (his son) and OliBem (his daughter).

²⁶ Deson’s sons were Amada, Asban, Ithran, and Charrhan. ²⁷ Asar’s sons were BalaAm, Zucam, and Jucam. ²⁸ Rison’s sons were Hos, and Aran.

²⁹ These are the chiefs of the Chorrites: Chief Lotan, Chief Sobal, Chief Sebegon, Chief Ana, ³⁰ Chief Deson, Chief Asar, and Chief Rison. They are the chiefs of the Chorrites in their own principalities in the land of Edom.

³¹ These are the kings that reigned in Edom before [the time of] the kings of Israel: ³² Balac (the son of Beor) reigned in Edom, and his [capital] city was DenNaba. ³³ After Balac died, Jobab (the son of Zara from BosorRha) reigned in his stead. ³⁴ After Jobab died, Asom (from the land of the ThaEmanites) reigned in his stead. ³⁵ After Asom died, Adad (the son of Barad, who cut off Midian in the plain of Moab) reigned in his stead. And his [capital] city was GetThaim.

³⁶ After Adad died, Samada of MasSecca reigned in his stead. ³⁷ After Samada died, Saul of RhoObOth by the River reigned in his stead. ³⁸ After Saul died, BalLenon (the son of Achobor) reigned in his stead. ³⁹ After BalLenon died, Arad (the son of Barad) reigned in his stead. The name of his [capital] city was Phogor; and the name of his wife was MeteBeel (the daughter of MatraIth, who was the son of MaiZoOb).

⁴⁰ These are the names of the tribal chiefs of Esau in their areas, countries, and nations: Chief Thamna, Chief Gola, Chief Jether, ⁴¹ Chief OliBema, Chief Helas, Chief Phinon, ⁴² Chief Kenez, Chief ThaEman, Chief Mazar, ⁴³ Chief MagediEl, and Chief Zaphoin. They are the chiefs of Edom in the areas where they live and in the land that they own. And this is Esau, the father of [all] Edom.

⁴⁴ However, Jacob lived in the land where his father stayed, the land of CanaAn.

Chapter 37

¹ And these are the generations of Jacob.

² Joseph was seventeen years old, and [he was out] feeding his father’s sheep with his brothers (because he was so young), who were the sons of his father’s wives Balla and Zelpha. And it was because of Joseph that they were speaking of their father Israel in an evil way, ³ since Jacob loved Joseph more than the rest of his sons (he was the son of his old age), and he had made him a multi-colored coat.

⁴ Now, his brothers could see that his father loved him more than them, so they hated him and never spoke to him in a peaceful way. ⁵ Then Joseph had a dream, and he told his brothers about it. ⁶ He said, ‘Listen to what I dreamed about: ⁷ I saw you bundling stalks of grain in the middle of the field, when my bundle stood straight up and your bundles turned around and bowed low to mine.’

⁸ Then his brothers asked, ‘So, are you going to rule over us, and are you going to be our master?’ And they hated him even more because of his dreams and the things he said.

⁹ Then [Joseph] dreamed another dream, and he told his father and brothers about it, saying, ‘{Look!} I had another dream in which the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me.’

¹⁰ But his father scolded him and asked, ‘What kind of a dream is that? Do you think that your mother, brothers, and I will come and bow to the ground before you?’

¹¹ Anyhow, although his brothers were jealous of him, his father paid attention to what he said.

¹² Then his brothers went to Shechem to feed their father’s sheep. ¹³ And Israel asked Joseph, ‘Are your brothers feeding the flocks at Shechem? I want to send you to them.’

And he replied, ‘Look, here I am.’

¹⁴ And Israel said, ‘Go see if your brothers and the sheep are doing well, then come back and report to me.’ So, he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, to Shechem.

¹⁵ Then a man found him wandering in the field there and asked him, ‘What are you looking for?’

¹⁶ And he said, ‘I’m looking for my brothers. Tell me; where are they feeding [their flocks]?’

¹⁷ And the man said, ‘They’ve left here. I heard them say, Let’s go to Dothaim.’

So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothaim.

¹⁸ However, they spotted him in the distance before he got there, and they met together and wickedly started talking about killing him. ¹⁹ They were saying to each other, ‘Look, here comes the dreamer! ²⁰ Come on, let’s kill him and then throw his [body] into a deep crevice. And we can say, An evil wild animal ate him. Then we will see what his dreams amount to.’

²¹ But when Reuben heard this, he saved [Joseph] from them by saying, ‘Let’s not kill him.’ ²² Then [he suggested], ‘Don’t shed [his] blood, let’s throw him into one of these deep crevices in the desert… but don’t lay a hand on him.’ ([Rubin] said this, so that he could save [Joseph] from them, and then return him to his father).

²³ And so, when Joseph reached his brothers, they took off the multi-colored coat that Joseph was wearing, ²⁴ then they took him and threw him into a deep crevice… [fortunately], the crevice was empty and didn’t have any water. ²⁵ Then they sat down to eat some bread. And when they looked up, they noticed {Look!} an IshMaElite caravan that was coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded down with spices, resin, and myrrh that they were carrying to Egypt.

²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers: ‘What profit would it bring us if we kill our brother and cover up [the murder]? ²⁷ Let’s sell him to these IshMaElites. We don’t want to lay a hand on him, because he’s our brother and our own flesh.’ And his brothers listened.

²⁸ Then, as the merchants of Midian were traveling through, [his brothers] pulled Joseph out of the crevice and sold him to the IshMaElites for twenty gold coins, and [the IshMaElites] took Joseph down to Egypt.

²⁹ Well, when Reuben returned to the crevice and saw that Joseph wasn’t there, he started ripping his clothes. ³⁰ Then he went to his brothers and said, ‘The boy isn’t [there]. So, where do I have to go?’

³¹ Then they took Joseph’s coat, killed a young goat, and dipped the coat in its blood. ³² And they took the multi-colored coat and brought it to their father, saying, ‘We found this… do you recognize it as your son’s coat or not?’

Well, he recognized it and said, ‘It is my son’s coat! An evil wild animal has eaten him… a wild animal has carried off Joseph!’

³³ Then Jacob tore his clothes and covered the lower part of his body with sackcloth, and he mourned for his son a long time. ³⁴ All of his sons and daughters went there to comfort him, but he didn’t want to be comforted. He said, ‘I will go to my grave mourning my son.’ And his father kept crying over him.

³⁵ Well, when they got to Egypt, the Midianites sold Joseph to Petephres, Pharaoh’s eunuch and the captain of his guard.

Chapter 38

¹ After Judah left his brothers, [he had traveled] some distance when he [ran into] a man from OdolLam, whose name was Iras. ² And it was there that Judah found the daughter of a CanaAnite man named Sava. He [married] her, [slept] with her, ³ and she got pregnant. Then she gave birth to a son who she named Er. ⁴ Then she got pregnant and gave birth to another son, who she named Aunan. ⁵ And she gave birth to a [third] son and named him Selom. She was living in Chasbi when she gave birth to them.

⁶ Then Judah took a woman named Tamar to be the wife of his first-born, Er. ⁷ But, Er was wicked before Jehovah, so God killed him. ⁸ Then Judah told Aunan, ‘Go and [have sex] with your brother’s wife; and since you’re her brother-in-law, marry her so [she can] raise a seed for your brother.’

⁹ However, Aunan knew that the seed wouldn’t be [counted as] his. So, when he [had sex with] his brother’s wife, he spilled [his semen] on the ground, so his brother’s wife wouldn’t [get pregnant]. ¹⁰ And his doing this appeared evil to God, so He also killed him.

¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, ‘Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Selom grows up… for fear that he will die like his brothers.’ So, Tamar left and stayed in her father’s home.

¹² And after several years, Judah’s wife Sava died. So, while Judah was looking for comfort, he went to see his sheep shearers at Thamna, along with his Shepherd, Iras the OdolLamite.

¹³ And when his daughter-in-law Tamar was told, ‘{Look!} Your father-in-law is going up to Thamna to shear his sheep,’ ¹⁴ she took off her widow’s clothes, put on a veil and made up her face. Then she sat at the gate of [the town of] AiNan, by the road that leads to Thamna. She did this because [Judah’s son] Selom had already grown up, and [Judah] hadn’t given [Tamar] to be his son’s wife.

¹⁵ Well when Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had her face covered (and he didn’t recognize her). ¹⁶ So he stopped and said to her (not knowing that she was his daughter-in-law), ‘Let me [have sex with] you.’

And she asked, ‘What will you give me to [have sex] with me?’

¹⁷ And he said, ‘I’ll send you a young goat from my flock.’

And she told him, ‘Then you have to provide some assurance that you’ll send it.’

¹⁸ Then he asked, ‘What kind of assurance can I give you?’

And she said, ‘Give me your ring, your bracelet, and the staff you’re holding.’

So he gave them to her, [had sex with] her, and she got pregnant by him. ¹⁹ Then she got up and left; and she took off her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

²⁰ Well, Judah sent the young goat with his shepherd the OdolLamite, to get back the things that he had left with the woman, but he couldn’t find her. ²¹ So he asked the local men, ‘Where’s that prostitute who used to sit by the road [here at] AiNan?’

And they replied, ‘There was no prostitute here.’

²² So he returned to Judah and said, ‘I couldn’t find her, and the local men say there wasn’t any prostitute there.’

²³ And Judah told him, ‘Then let her have [those things]. I sent the young goat and you couldn’t find her, so, let’s not leave ourselves open to ridicule.’

²⁴ Well after three months, Judah was told, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the whore… and now look; she’s pregnant by her whoring!’

So Judah said, ‘Then drag her out and have her burned!’

²⁵ And as they were dragging her out, she called for her father-in-law, and said: ‘I’m pregnant by the man who owns these things… just whose ring, bracelet, and staff are these?’

²⁶ Well, Judah recognized them and said, ‘Tamar is innocent… but not me, because I didn’t give her to my son Selom.’ And that was the last time [Judah had sex] with her.

²⁷ While she was in labor, she had twins in her womb. ²⁸ And as they were being born, one pushed his hand out. So, the midwife took hold of the hand and tied some scarlet [thread around it], and said, ‘This is the firstborn.’

²⁹ But then he drew his hand back and his brother came out immediately thereafter. And she asked, ‘Why have you broken the barrier between you?’ So she named him Phares.

³⁰ It was then that his brother (around whose hand the scarlet thread was tied) was born. And she named him Zara.

Chapter 39

¹ Well, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And there he was purchased from the IshMaElites who carried him there, by an Egyptian named Petephres, [who was] Pharaoh’s eunuch and captain of the guard.

² However, Jehovah was with Joseph and He blest him. So [Joseph] lived in the house of his Egyptian master, ³ who recognized that Jehovah was with him and that Jehovah blest everything he did. ⁴ So Joseph was treated kindly by him, and [Joseph did everything he could to] please his master well. And soon Joseph was put in charge of his [master’s] house… he was appointed to be in charge of everything that [his master] owned. ⁵ And because he put Joseph in charge of his house and over everything that he owned, Jehovah blest the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake. Jehovah blest everything that he had in his house and in his field, ⁶ because he had entrusted everything he had into Joseph’s hands. So he didn’t even know what belonged to him, other than the bread he ate.

Well, Joseph was extremely attractive… he had an excellent body and a very handsome face. ⁷ And so, after he had been [put in charge of the house], his master’s wife eyed Joseph, and said, ‘[Have sex] me.’

⁸ But he wouldn’t. He told his master’s wife, ‘Why, it’s because of me that my master doesn’t even know what’s going on in his own house! He has put everything that he owns into my hands, ⁹ and nobody in this house is over me, nor has anything been withheld from me, except you. Why, you’re his wife! So, how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’

¹⁰ Still, she pleaded with Joseph every day. But he wouldn’t listen to her requests to sleep [and have sex] with her.

¹¹ Then one day, Joseph entered the house to do his work, and found that none of the household staff was there. ¹² That’s when she grabbed him by his clothes, and said, ‘[Have sex] me.’ But he left his clothes there in her hands and ran out of the house.

¹³ Then, when she saw that he left his clothes in her hands and ran away, ¹⁴ she called [the family] and said: ‘You see; He has brought in a Hebrew slave to make fun of us! Why, he came in and said, [Have sex] me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ And when he heard me scream, he left his clothes here and ran out, leaving the house.’

¹⁶ So she kept the clothes beside her until [her husband] returned home. ¹⁷ And she said to him, ‘This Hebrew servant that you brought to us came here to make fun of me, and said to me, I going to [have sex] you. ¹⁸ But after he heard me scream, he left his clothes with me and ran away, leaving the house.’

¹⁹ Well, after his master heard everything his wife said, he told her, ‘Then he did it to me!’

²⁰ He was very angry, so his master took Joseph and had him thrown in prison… into the place where the king’s prisoners were kept.

²¹ Well, Jehovah was with Joseph and He was very merciful to him. So He helped him find favor in the eyes of the prison’s warden. ²² And the warden put Joseph in charge of the prison and all the prisoners who were there. He was put in charge of everything they did, ²³ so the warden was unaware of what was going on there, because everything was in Joseph’s hands. And Jehovah continued to bless everything he was doing.

Chapter 40

¹ It was some time after this that the king’s chief cupbearer and his chief baker had wronged their lord, the king of Egypt. ² Well, Pharaoh was furious with his two eunuchs (his chief cupbearer, and his chief baker), ³ so he had them locked up in prison… in the same place where Joseph was kept. ⁴ Then the prison warden left them with Joseph, who stood guard over them.

And after they had spent some time in the prison, ⁵ they both had a dream one night. Each man had his own dream and each dream had its own interpretation.

⁶ Well, the next morning, Joseph went in and saw them, and they were quite disturbed. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s eunuchs who were there in the prison with him, ‘Why are you so sad today?’

⁸ And they replied, ‘We have [both] seen [visions] in our dreams, and nobody knows what they mean.’

Then Joseph said, ‘Doesn’t the interpretation of [dreams come] through God? Tell [me what you saw].’

⁹ And the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said: ‘In my dream [I saw] a vine ¹⁰ that had three stems that budded and put out blossoms; then [it formed] clusters of grapes that ripened. ¹¹ And after that, [I found] Pharaoh’s cup in my hands. So I took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup, and gave the cup to Pharaoh.’

¹² And Joseph said to him, ‘This is what [the dream] means: The three stems are three days. ¹³ So in three days, Pharaoh will remember what you did and he will give back your position as chief cupbearer. Then you will [once again] put Pharaoh’s cup in his hands, in the same high position that you once had as his cupbearer.’

¹⁴ [Then he continued], ‘Now, remember me when things are going well for you… be merciful to me and mention me to Pharaoh, so I can be released from this dungeon. ¹⁵ You see; I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews. And although I’ve done nothing wrong here, I was thrown into this hole.’

¹⁶ Well, when the chief baker saw that he had given the right interpretation, he said to Joseph, ‘I also had a dream. I remember looking up, and I found three baskets of bakery on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket there were all the kinds of things that Pharaoh enjoys. But birds in the sky came and ate them out of the basket that was on my head.’

¹⁸ Then Joseph told him, ‘This is what it means: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ So in three days Pharaoh will cut your head off and hang you on a tree. There the birds of the sky will eat your flesh.’

²⁰ Well, three days later it was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he held a banquet for all his servants. It was then that he remembered the offices that the cupbearer and the baker held among his servants. ²¹ So he restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he again put Pharaoh’s cup in his hands. ²² But he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph foretold. ²³ However, the chief cupbearer soon forgot about Joseph.

Chapter 41

¹ It was a full two years later that Pharaoh also had a dream. He dreamed that he was standing next to a river. ² Then {Look!} he saw seven fat and good-looking cows come up out of the water to feed at the river’s edge. ³ And seven more cows, which were skinny and ugly, also came up out of the river to feed along its banks. ⁴ Then the seven skinny, ugly cows ate the seven fat and good-looking cows… and that’s when Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ Then he had another dream. {Look!} There were seven large and good-looking [heads] of grain that grew on a single stalk. ⁶ And {Look!} they were followed by [a stalk] with seven thin and windblown [heads] that grew up alongside them. ⁷ Then the [stalk] with the seven thin and windblown [heads] ate the ones with the seven large, good-looking [heads]… and that’s when Pharaoh woke up… and it was just a dream.

⁸ It was now morning, and his life was bothered [by the dreams]. So he sent for all the [dream] interpreters of Egypt and all the wise men. Then Pharaoh told them of his dreams, but no one could tell Pharaoh what they meant. ⁹ And that’s when Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer told him: ‘I just remembered something that I’m to blame for. ¹⁰ [You were once] quite angry with your servants and you had us imprisoned in the house of the captain of the guard… both me and the chief baker. ¹¹ Then we had a dream in the same night, both him and me, but we each had our own dream. ¹² And there was a young man with us there, a Hebrew servant of the captain of the guard. And we each told him [our dreams], and he interpreted [them] to us. ¹³ And everything that he said would happen, happened… I was restored to my office and [the baker] was hanged.’

¹⁴ So Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they took him from the prison, shaved him, and changed his clothes; then he went in to Pharaoh. ¹⁵ And Pharaoh told Joseph, ‘I’ve had a vision that no one can interpret; and I’ve heard it said that you have listened to dreams and could interpret them.’

¹⁶ But Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ‘Without God, [I can’t] give a safe answer to Pharaoh.’

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh told Joseph: ‘In my dream I was standing by the bank of the river. ¹⁸ And out of the river came seven fat and good-looking cows that fed along the river’s edge. ¹⁹ Then {Look!} seven more cows came up out of the river that were evil, skinny, and ugly; the likes of which I’ve never seen worse in the entire land of Egypt. ²⁰ And the seven skinny, ugly cows ate the seven fat and good-looking cows. ²¹ They swallowed them down, but I couldn’t see that they had gone into their stomachs, because they still looked as ugly as they did before.

‘And after I woke up, I went to sleep again. ²² Then I saw what looked like seven large and good-looking [heads] of grain growing from a single stalk. ²³ Then [I saw] seven more [heads] that were thin and windblown, coming up next to them. ²⁴ And the seven thin and wind-blown [heads] ate the seven large, good-looking [heads]… I told all this to the [dream] interpreters, but none of them could explain it to me.’

²⁵ Then Joseph told Pharaoh: ‘Both of your dreams are the same, for God has shown Pharaoh what He’s going to do.

²⁶ ‘The seven good-looking cows mean seven years, and the seven good-looking [grain heads] mean seven years. So Pharaoh’s dreams are both the same. ²⁷ Also, the seven skinny cattle that came up after them mean seven years, and the seven thin and windblown [heads] mean seven years… that is, there will be seven years of famine.

²⁸ ‘Now [remember]; I told Pharaoh that God intends to show you what He is going to do. ²⁹ So {Look!}, seven years are coming when there will be a great abundance throughout the land of Egypt. ³⁰ But they will then be followed by seven years of famine that will be so bad that the abundance Egypt once had will be forgotten, and famine will consume the land. ³¹ The abundance in the land will be gone because of the famine that will follow, since it’s going to be a very bad one. ³² And the fact that Pharaoh saw the dream twice, proves that the things I’m telling you (which will come from God) are true, for God will cause it to happen quickly.

³³ ‘So, search for a wise and discerning man, and put him in charge over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Also, Pharaoh should appoint local governors over the land who must collect a fifth of all the produce in the land of Egypt during the seven abundant years. ³⁵ Gather all the food that’s coming during these seven good years, and have all the grain gathered into the hands of Pharaoh, but store the food in each city. ³⁶ This stored food will [protect] the land during the seven years of famine that are coming upon the land of Egypt, so [the country] won’t be totally destroyed by the famine.’

³⁷ Well, what [Joseph] said appeared good to Pharaoh and all his servants. ³⁸ Then [he] asked his servants, ‘Where will we find such a man as this… someone who has the Breath of God in him?’

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown all these things to you; is there a man who is wiser or more discerning than you? ⁴⁰ So, I’m appointing you to be over my house, and all my people must do whatever you say. Only I will be greater than you on the throne.’

⁴¹ Then Pharaoh told Joseph: ‘{Look!} Today I’m putting you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.’ ⁴² So Pharaoh took the ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, put a robe of fine linen on him, and a gold necklace around his neck.

⁴³ Next, he put [Joseph] on his second-best chariot, and a herald walked in front of him to proclaim that he had been appointed over all the land of Egypt.’

⁴⁴ And Pharaoh said to Joseph: ‘I am Pharaoh; but nobody will lift his hand anywhere in the land of Egypt without [your instructions].’

⁴⁵ Then Pharaoh renamed Joseph Psonthom Phanech, and he gave him Aseneth (the daughter of Petephres, the priest of the City of the Sun) to be his wife.

⁴⁶ Well, Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

Then Joseph left the presence of Pharaoh and traveled throughout the entire the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ And the land did produce well during the seven years of abundance… by the handfuls. ⁴⁸ So during those seven years, he gathered the food (because there was so much of it in the land of Egypt) and he stored the food in the cities. He took the food that grew in the fields around each city and stored it there. ⁴⁹ Why, the grain that Joseph put in storage was like the sands of the sea, because there was so much that it couldn’t be calculated.

⁵⁰ Now, Joseph had two sons born to him before the seven years of famine came, that Aseneth (the daughter of Petephres, the priest of The City of the Sun) gave birth to. ⁵¹ And Joseph named his firstborn ManasSeh, for he said, ‘God has made me forget all my hard work, and even the house of my father’.

⁵² Then he named his second son EphraIm, for he said, ‘God has caused me to grow in the land where I was humiliated.’

⁵³ Well, the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt passed, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph said. And although there was a famine in the entire earth, there was plenty [in Egypt]. ⁵⁵ So as the people of Egypt got hungry, they called to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to [them]: ‘Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.’

⁵⁶ The famine soon covered the entire land, so Joseph opened all the granaries and sold it to the Egyptians. ⁵⁷ And all the countries came to Egypt to buy [food] from Joseph, because the famine was [everywhere].

Chapter 42

¹ Now, Jacob had noticed that they were selling [grain] in Egypt. So he said to his sons, ‘Why aren’t you doing something? ² Look; I’ve heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go there and buy us a little food, so we don’t starve to death.’

³ Then Joseph’s ten brothers went down to Egypt to purchase grain. ⁴ But Joseph’s brother BenJamin wasn’t sent along with his brothers, for [the reason Jacob gave] was: ‘So he doesn’t get sick.’

⁵ Thus, the Sons of Israel went there to buy [grain] along with many others who traveled there, because the famine had affected the entire land of CanaAn.

⁶ Now, Joseph was the ruler of the land, and it was he who sold [food] to all the people in the land. So, Joseph’s brothers then came and bowed to the ground before him. ⁷ And when Joseph saw his brothers, though he recognized them, he hid himself in front of them and spoke harshly to them, asking: ‘Where did you come from?

And they replied: ‘[We came from] the land of CanaAn, to buy food.’

⁸ Well, though Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him. ⁹ Then Joseph remembered his dreams and the things that he saw. And he said to them: ‘You are spies! You’ve come here to spy in our land!’

¹⁰ But they said: ‘No Sir; we’re your servants who have come to buy food! ¹¹ We’re all the sons of one man. We are peace loving… your servants aren’t spies!’

¹² And he said to them: ‘No, you’ve come to spy [in our] land!’

¹³ And they replied: ‘Your servants are twelve brothers from the land of CanaAn. Why, the youngest [of us] is with our father right now, but the other one is no more.’

¹⁴ Then Joseph argued, ‘It’s just as I said; you’re spies! ¹⁵ Here is how it will be proven: By the health of Pharaoh, you aren’t going to leave until your younger brother comes here. ¹⁶ One of you can go get your brother; but the rest of you will stay in prison until what you said can be [proven]… whether you’re telling the truth or not. And if not, then by the health of Pharaoh, you really are spies!’

¹⁷ So he had them all locked in prison for three days. ¹⁸ And on the third day, he said: ‘Do this and you will live, because I fear God: ¹⁹ If you really are peace loving, I’ll allow just one of your brothers to be held in prison. So now, go and carry the grain you’ve bought [to your home]. ²⁰ Then, bring your younger brother to me, and I will believe what you said. But if don’t, you will die.’

And that’s what they did.

²¹ Well, each was saying his brother: ‘Yes, we are to blame when it comes to our brother. We didn’t pay attention to the anguish that he was going through. And when he looked to us, we didn’t listen to him. That’s why this bad thing is happening to us!’

²² Then Reuben said: ‘Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn’t listen to me! Now look, his blood is [being avenged].’

²³ However they didn’t realize that Joseph was standing there before them, because an interpreter stood between them.

²⁴ Well at that, Joseph left them and started crying. Then he returned and spoke to them, and took Simeon and had him bound before their eyes.

²⁵ Then Joseph gave orders to fill their [sacks] with grain, and to return the money to each one’s sack… and give them permission to leave. And that’s what happened. ²⁶ The grain was loaded on their burros, and they left.

²⁷ Well, when they stopped somewhere to rest, one of them opened his sack to feed the burros, and he saw his bundle of money lying in the top of his sack. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers: ‘They’ve returned my money. Look, its here in my sack!’

Well, they were all dumbfounded and felt sick at heart. And they asked each other: ‘What has God has done to us?’

²⁹ And when they got back to their father Jacob (in the land of CanaAn), they told him everything that had happened to them, saying: ³⁰ ‘This man who is the lord of the land spoke harshly to us and had us put in prison as spies. ³¹ But we told him, We are peaceful men… we aren’t spies. ³² We are twelve brothers; the sons of our father. One [of us] is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of CanaAn.

³³ ‘However, this man (the lord of the land) said to us, Here’s how I will know that you are peaceful: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take the grain you bought and return to your family. ³⁴ Then bring your younger brother to me, and I will know that you aren’t spies, but men of peace. Thereafter I will return your brother and you can trade in this land.

³⁵ ‘But as we were emptying our sacks, each man found his bundle of money in his sack.’ Then they [showed] their father their bundles of money, and they were all frightened.

³⁶ So their father Jacob said to them: ‘You have made me very sad, for Joseph is no more, and neither is Simeon. So, are you now going to take BenJamin? All these [bad] things have come upon me.’

³⁷ Then Reuben said to his father, ‘You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Give him to me, and I’ll bring him back!’

³⁸ But [Jacob] said: ‘I won’t allow my son to go with you, because his brother is already dead, and he’s the only one left. What if something happens to him on the way? Then you will bring sorrow upon me in my old age that will take me to my grave.’

Chapter 43

¹ However, the famine continued in the land. ² And so, when they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father told them: ‘Go there to buy us a little food again.’

³ But Judah said to him, ‘That man who’s the lord of the country absolutely warned us, You won’t see my face again unless you have your younger brother with you. ⁴ So, if you’ll send our brother with us, we will go and buy you food. ⁵ But if you won’t send our brother with us, we won’t go.’

⁶ And Israel asked, ‘Then, why did you do so much harm to me by telling the man that you had a brother?’

⁷ And they replied, ‘The man asked a lot of questions about our family. He asked, Is your father still alive? and, Do you have you a brother? And all we did was answer his questions. How could we know that he would tell us to bring our brother?’

⁸ Then Judah said to his father Israel, ‘Send the boy with me and we’ll go, so we don’t all [starve] to death! ⁹ I’ll be responsible for him, and you can hold me to blame if anything happens to him. If I don’t return him and stand him before you, I will be guilty before you through the age. ¹⁰ Why, if we hadn’t waited, we would already have returned there a second time!’

¹¹ And their father Israel said to them: ‘If that’s the case, do this; Take along the fruit of the earth in your sacks. Carry gifts of gum, honey, frankincense, oil of myrrh, turpentine, and walnuts to the man. ¹² Also, carry twice as much money – in addition to the money that was put back in your sacks – just in case that was a mistake. ¹³ Then take your brother along and go down to the man. ¹⁴ May my God allow you to find favor in the eyes of that man, so he sends you home with your other brother and BenJamin. For I have been saddened, and I’m sad now.’

¹⁵ So the men loaded up their gifts and took twice as much money, as well as BenJamin, and headed down to Egypt. And there they stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ Well, when Joseph saw them and his brother BenJamin (who was born to the same mother), he told his house manager: ‘Bring the men into [my] house, then butcher some animals and prepare them, because these men are to eat bread with me at noon.’

¹⁷ So the man did as Joseph said, and brought them into Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ Well, when they realized that they had been taken to the house of Joseph, they said: ‘We’ve been brought here because of the money that was returned to our sacks the first time. [This is being done] so witnesses can be called and we can be charged [with a crime]. Then they will confiscate our burros and take us as slaves!’

¹⁹ So they went up to the man who was in charge of Joseph’s house, and talked to him out on the porch. ²⁰ They said, ‘We are begging you, sir… we just came the first time to buy food. ²¹ But when we were unloading and opened our sacks, [we found] this money in each sack. We have the full amount of money in our hands [and we wish] to return it. ²² And we’ve brought more money along to buy food with… we don’t know who put the money in our sacks!’

²³ And he replied: ‘May God be merciful with you. Don’t be afraid; your God and the God of your ancestors put the treasures in your sacks. Why, I have enough of your good money!’

Then he brought Simeon out to them; ²⁴ he brought water to wash their feet; and he provided fodder for their burros.

²⁵ And after that, they started preparing their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they heard he was going to eat there. ²⁶ So when Joseph came home, they brought him the gifts that they had carried into the house. And then they bowed with their faces to the ground. ²⁷ And he asked them: ‘How are you? Is your father, the old man that you spoke of, well? Is he still living?’

²⁸ And they replied, ‘Our father, your servant, is well. And yes, he’s still alive.’

And he said: ‘May that man of God be blest!’

Then they bowed and showed him respect.

²⁹ Thereafter, Joseph looked up and saw his brother BenJamin (who was born to the same mother) and asked: ‘Is this the younger brother that you said you would bring to me?’ And he said, ‘May God have mercy on you, my son.’

³⁰ Well, Joseph’s emotions overcame him, because he missed his brother so much, and he wanted to cry. So he went into his inner room and cried there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and regained his composure, then he came out and said: ‘Bring on the bread!’

³² So they set out bread for Joseph, for his servants, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him, but not for [his brothers], because the Egyptians considered it dishonorable to eat bread with Hebrews. ³³ So they sat there in front of him, in the order of their ages, from the first-born to the youngest. And the brothers looked with at each other in amazement.

³⁴ Then Joseph gave them their portions to eat by themselves. However, BenJamin received five times as much as the rest. Then they drank with him until they were all full.

Chapter 44

¹ Thereafter, Joseph gave instructions to his house manager, saying: ‘Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put the money of each one in the top of his sack. ² Also, put my silver cup in the sack that belongs to the youngest, as well as the price of his grain.’ And he did exactly as Joseph said.

³ Then the next morning, the men and their burros were sent away. ⁴ And after they left the city, but hadn’t traveled too far, Joseph told his house manager: ‘Get up and chase after those men; and when you catch up with them, ask, Why have you returned evil for good? ⁵ Why have you stolen my silver cup? Isn’t this the [cup] that our lord drinks from? It’s also the one that he uses to foretell the future; so you’ve done an evil thing!’

⁶ Well, he caught up with them and said what [Joseph] told him to say. ⁷ And they replied, ‘Why is our lord saying such things? Your servants wouldn’t do anything like that. ⁸ If we returned the money to you that we found in our sacks all the way from the land of CanaAn, why would we steal silver or gold from the house of your lord? ⁹ Whichever of your servants that you find with the cup, let him die, and then we will be our lord’s slaves!’

¹⁰ And [Joseph’s house manager] said, ‘May it be just as you’ve said. Whoever is found with the cup will be my slave, but the rest of you can go free.’

¹¹ And each man quickly took down his sack and put in on the ground. Then they each opened their sacks, ¹² and he started his search starting with the eldest until he came to the youngest, and then he found the cup in BenJamin’s sack. ¹³ Well, they all started ripping their clothes. Then each man put his sack back on his burro, and they returned to the city.

¹⁴ So Judah and his brothers went to see Joseph while he was [still at home]. Then they fell to the ground before him, ¹⁵ and Joseph asked, ‘What have you done? Didn’t you realize that a man like me can see the future?’

¹⁶ And Judah replied, ‘What can we say to you, our lord? What can we say that will justify us? God has uncovered the unrighteousness of your servants. Look; We are now our lord’s slaves, both us and the one who was found with your cup!’

¹⁷ So Joseph said: ‘I wouldn’t do a thing like that… just the man who was found with my cup will be my slave. [The rest of you] may return home safely to your father.’

¹⁸ Then Judah came up to him and said: ‘I beg you, sir; Allow your servant to say something to you, and don’t get angry, because you are next to Pharaoh. ¹⁹ Sir, you once asked your servants whether we have a father or a brother. ²⁰ And we replied, Yes, Lord, we have a father who is an old man, and he has a young son in his old age. [The boy’s] brother is dead, so he’s the only one left who came from his mother, and his father loves him.

²¹ ‘Then you said to your servants: Bring him down to me, and I will take care of him. ²² And we said to our lord: The child can’t leave his father; because, if he leaves his father, [his father] will die. ²³ But you told your servants: Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you won’t see my face again. ²⁴ And so, when we went up to your servant our father, we told him what our lord said.

²⁵ ‘And when our father said, Return and buy a little food for us, ²⁶ we said, We can’t return, unless our younger brother goes with us. We can go there, but we won’t be able to see the man unless we bring our younger brother along! ²⁷ And your servant (our father) said to us: You know that my wife gave birth to two [sons] for me. ²⁸ Now, one [of the two] is gone from me. You told me that wild animals ate him, and I haven’t seen him since. ²⁹ So, if you take this one away from me also and something should happen to him along the road, the sorrow will bring me to the grave in my old age.

³⁰ ‘So, if I should return to your servant (our father) and the boy doesn’t return with us (remember that his life depends on this [boy’s] life), ³¹ well, when he sees that the boy isn’t with us, he will die. And then your servants [will be responsible for] bringing your servant (our elderly father) to his grave in his sorrow. ³² For I (your servant) took the boy from his father, and said: If I don’t return him to you and stand him before you, I will be guilty to my father through the age.

³³ ‘Now, may I stay here as your slave instead of the boy. I will work in my lord’s house, but let the boy [return home] with his brothers. ³⁴ For, how could I return to my father without the boy and cause evil things to happen to him?’

Chapter 45

¹ However, Joseph couldn’t restrain himself when they were all standing there with him, so he said, ‘Everyone is dismissed.’ So nobody [was there guarding] Joseph when he told his brothers who he was. ² And as he spoke, he was crying. Well, all the Egyptians heard about this, and it was reported to the house of Pharaoh. ³ For Joseph said to his brothers: ‘I’m Joseph! Is my father still alive?’

Well, his brothers couldn’t answer him, because they were shocked.

⁴ Then Joseph told his brothers, ‘Come closer to me,’ and they all came up to him. And he said, ‘I’m your brother Joseph who you sold into Egypt! ⁵ But don’t be upset, and don’t feel guilty that you sold me here, because [it was] God who sent me ahead of you so you would live. ⁶ For this [is just] the second year of the famine on the earth, and there are still five years to come when there will be no plowing or mowing. ⁷ So [it was] God that sent me ahead you that there would be some of you left on the earth, and in order to feed the remaining ones of your crowd.

⁸ ‘Now, you didn’t send me here, God did! And he has made me like a father to Pharaoh… the master of his whole house and the ruler of the entire land of Egypt. ⁹ So, hurry and return to my father, and tell him that this is what your son Joseph has said: God has made me the lord of the entire land of Egypt. So, come here to me, and don’t delay! ¹⁰ You will live in the land of Gesem in Arabia, where you will be close me… you, your sons, your grandsons, your sheep, your cattle, and everything that’s yours. ¹¹ And I will feed you there; because the famine is going to last for five more years, so that nothing you own will be lost… not your sons or any of your possessions!

¹² ‘Look at me and see! And [you], my brother BenJamin; use your eyes [and recognize] that it’s my mouth that’s speaking to you! ¹³ So, report to my father about all the glory that I have in Egypt, and about everything that you’ve seen. Then hurry and bring my father down here.’

¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother BenJamin’s neck and cried, and BenJamin cried on his neck. ¹⁵ Then he kissed all his brothers and cried over them, and his brothers [were finally able to] speak to him.

¹⁶ Well, the report of this was carried to the house of Pharaoh, for he was told: ‘Joseph’s brothers have come.’ And this made Pharaoh and his household very happy.

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: ‘Tell your brothers to [get] wagons and return to the land of CanaAn ¹⁸ to get your father and all their possessions, and come to me. I will give them all the good things of Egypt, and they will eat from the [best] of our land.

¹⁹ ‘Now, you give them these instructions: They are to take wagons from the land of Egypt to get their wives, their children, and your father, and come here. ²⁰ [Tell them] not to worry about their property, because all the good things of Egypt will be theirs.’

²¹ Well, that’s what the children of Israel did. Joseph gave them wagons, just as Pharaoh the king said, and he gave them the things they would need for the journey. ²² He also gave each of them two suits of clothes, but he gave BenJamin five suits of clothes, plus three hundred gold coins. ²³ And he sent the same gifts to his father, plus ten burros that carried a sampling of all the good things of Egypt, and ten mules that carried [provisions] for their journey.

²⁴ So he dismissed his brothers and they left. But before they left, he told them: ‘Don’t leave angry.’

²⁵ Then they left Egypt and returned to the land of CanaAn and to their father Jacob. ²⁶ There they reported everything to him, saying, ‘Your son Joseph is ALIVE, and he’s now the ruler of the entire land of Egypt!’

Well, this was so amazing to Jacob that he didn’t believe them. ²⁷ But they told him everything that Joseph said, no matter what it was that he said to them. Then he noticed the chariots that Joseph had sent to pick him up, and that’s when their father Jacob could finally catch his breath. ²⁸ And Israel said, ‘If my son Joseph is still alive, that’s wonderful! I want to go see him before I die!’

Chapter 46

¹ So Israel left with everything he had. And when he got to the Well of the Oath, he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. ² And God spoke to Israel in a vision that night. He said: ‘Jacob! Jacob!’

And he asked, ‘What is it?’

³ And [God] said to him, ‘I am the God of your ancestors. Don’t be afraid to go down to Egypt, because I will make a great nation of you there. ⁴ I will also go down to Egypt with you, and I will bring you back. For Joseph will lay his hands over your eyes.’

⁵ Then Jacob left the Well of the Oath, and Israel’s sons carried their father, their baggage, and their wives on the wagons that Joseph sent to them. ⁶ They also brought along the goods and property that they had obtained in the land of CanaAn, and they went to the land of Egypt – Jacob and all his descendants; ⁷ his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters – he brought all of his seed to Egypt.

⁸ These are the names of the grandsons of Israel that went to Egypt with their father Jacob: The sons of Jacob’s first-born, Reuben, were ⁹ Enoch, Phallus, Asron, and Charmi. ¹⁰ The sons of Simeon were JemuEl, Jamin, Aod, Achin, SaAr, and Saul (the son of a CanaAnite woman). ¹¹ The sons of Levi were Gerson, Cath, and MeraRi. ¹² The sons of Judah were Er, Aunan, Selom, Phares, Zara, and Er, but Aunan died in the land of CanaAn. ¹³ Phares’ sons were Esron and JemuEl. The sons of IsSachar were Thola, Phua, Asum, and Sambran. ¹⁴ The sons of ZebuLun were, Sered, AlLon, and AchoEl.

¹⁵ These were the sons that Leah gave birth to (for Jacob) in MesoPotamia of Syria, and of Dina his daughter. All together, the sons and daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad were Saphon, Angis, Sannis, ThasoBan, Aedis, AroEdis, and AreElis. ¹⁷ The sons of Asher were Jemna, JesSua, Jeul, Baria, and their sister, Sarah. Baria’s sons were Chobor, and MelchiIl.

¹⁸ These were the sons that Zelpha (who Laban gave to his daughter Leah) had given birth to for Jacob, sixteen people.

¹⁹ The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel were Joseph and BenJamin. ²⁰ And the sons that were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt through Aseneth (the daughter of Petephres, the priest of The City of the Sun) were ManasSeh, and EphraIm. And the son that was born to ManasSeh by his Syrian concubine was Machir. Then Machir fathered GalaAd.

EphraIm’s sons were SutalaAm and TaAm. SutalaAm’s son was Edom.

²¹ The sons of BenJamin were Bala, Bochor, and Asbel. Bala’s sons were Gera, Noeman, Anchis, Ros, and Mamphim. Then Gera fathered Arad.

²² These were the sons that Rachel gave birth to for Jacob. All together, there were eighteen people.

NaphTali’s sons were AsiEl, Goni, IsSaar, and SolLem. ²³ These were the sons that Balla (who Laban gave to his daughter Rachel) gave birth to for Jacob. All [together], there were seven people.

²⁴ So, all the descendants of Jacob that came with him to Egypt (other than his wives and his sons) totaled sixty-six. ²⁵ And the sons of Joseph who were born in the land of Egypt totaled nine. So all the people of the house of Jacob who were with Joseph in Egypt totaled seventy-five.

²⁶ Now, [Jacob] had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to [tell him to] meet him at the City of Heroes in the land of Ramses. ²⁷ So Joseph got his chariots ready and went to meet his father Israel at the City of Heroes. And when he got there, [Joseph] fell on [Jacob’s] neck and cried profusely.

²⁸ Then Israel said to Joseph: ‘Now that I’ve seen your face I can die happy, because you’re still alive!’

²⁹ And Joseph told his brothers: ‘I will go to Pharaoh and tell him, My brothers and my father’s household, who came from the land of CanaAn, have arrived. ³⁰ These men are shepherds and cattlemen, and they’ve brought along all their cattle, herds, and all their property. ³¹ So if Pharaoh calls you and asks, What is you occupation? ³² you must answer, Your servants have been shepherds since our youth… both we and our fathers. [You must say this] so you can live in the land of Gesem in Arabia, because, the Egyptians dislike shepherds.’

Chapter 47

¹ So Joseph went and told Pharaoh: ‘My father and brothers have arrived from the land of CanaAn with all their cattle, oxen, and all their possessions. And {Look!} they are now in the land of Gesem.’

² Then he took five of his brothers and brought them before Pharaoh. ³ And when Pharaoh asked them, ‘What is your occupation?’ they replied, ‘Your servants (both we and our father) are shepherds.’

⁴ Then they said to Pharaoh: ‘We have come to stay in [your] land, because there is no pasture for your servant’s flocks, due to the famine in the land of CanaAn. So, now we are living in the land of Gesem.’

And Pharaoh told Joseph: ‘Let them live in the land of Gesem. And if you know any among them who are capable, put them in charge of my cattle also.’

So that’s how Jacob and his sons came to Egypt (to Joseph). And when Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) heard about that, ⁵ he told Joseph: ‘[Now that] your father and brothers have come to you, ⁶ {Look!} the whole land of Egypt is before you. Choose the best land for your father and brothers to settle in!’

⁷ Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blest Pharaoh. ⁸ Then Pharaoh asked Jacob, ‘How old are you?’

⁹ And Jacob replied to Pharaoh: ‘The years of my life that I’ve lived are a hundred and thirty. But these years have been too few and too troubled. I haven’t reached the age that my ancestors [achieved], back in the days when they lived.’

¹⁰ And Jacob [again] blest Pharaoh, and left.

¹¹ So, just as Pharaoh commanded, Joseph gave his father and brothers a tract of land as their possession, and settled them there in the land of Egypt. It was prime ground in the land of Ramses. ¹² Then Joseph provided grain for his father, brothers, and his father’s entire household.

¹³ However, there was no grain [growing on] the land, because the famine was terrible. So in the land of Egypt and in the land of CanaAn, people were weak from the famine. ¹⁴ As the result, Joseph collected all the money that there was in the land of Egypt and the land of CanaAn for the grain that they were buying. And Joseph took all the money to the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁵ And soon there was no more money in the land of Egypt or in the land of CanaAn. So all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, ‘Give us bread! Do you want us to die here before you? Why, all our money is gone!’

¹⁶ And Joseph replied to them: ‘If all your money is gone, then bring me your cattle, and I’ll give you bread in exchange for them.’

¹⁷ So they brought their cattle to Joseph, and he gave them bread in exchange for their horses, sheep, oxen, and burros. And Joseph kept them alive with bread that year, in exchange for their cattle.

¹⁸ Well, that year passed, and they came to him the second year and said: ‘Must we be consumed before you, our lord? For our money has failed, and we’ve brought all our possessions and our cattle to you, our lord; now we don’t have anything left, other than our bodies and our land. ¹⁹ And so that we won’t die before you, and so that our land isn’t devastated; buy our land and us for bread. Then we and our land will be Pharaoh’s servants. Give us seeds to grow, so we can live and not die, and so our land won’t be devastated!’

²⁰ As the result, Joseph bought all the land of the Egyptians for Pharaoh… they sold it all to Pharaoh, because the famine was so bad. So, the entire land became Pharaoh’s, ²¹ and the people became his servants from one end of Egypt to the other… ²² that is, except the land of the priests. Joseph didn’t buy that, because Pharaoh gave [grain] as gifts to the priests. So they ate what Pharaoh gave them, and they didn’t have to sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph told all the Egyptians: ‘{Look!} I have purchased both you and your land today for Pharaoh. So take the seeds and plant the land. ²⁴ And when it produces, you must give a fifth of its produce to Pharaoh. You can keep the rest for yourselves, as seeds for planting and as food for you and for all that are in your homes.’

²⁵ And they said: ‘You have saved us! We have found favor before you, our lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants!’

²⁶ So, Joseph passed a law that we still have today; a fifth part [of the produce of the land of Egypt] was to be [given to] Pharaoh. The only exception was the land of the priests… that wasn’t Pharaoh’s.

²⁷ Well, Israel lived in the land of Gesem in Egypt, and they owned an allotment there, so the [family] grew rapidly and profusely.

²⁸ Thereafter, Jacob survived seventeen more years in the land of Egypt, until he reached a hundred and forty-seven years old. ²⁹ And as the time for Israel to die neared, he called his son Joseph, and said to him: ‘If I’ve found favor before you, put your hand under my thigh and [swear] to me mercifully and truthfully that you won’t bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but that I will sleep with my ancestors. [Swear that] you will carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.’

And he said, ‘I will do what you’ve asked.’

³¹ But [Jacob] said, ‘Swear to me!’ And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed, as he leaned on his cane.

Chapter 48

¹ Well, sometime after that, the report came to Joseph: ‘{Look!} Your father is ill!’ So he took his two sons, ManasSeh and EphraIm, and went to [see] Jacob.

² And when Jacob was told, ‘{Look!} Your son Joseph has come to see you,’ Israel straightened himself up and sat on his bed. ³ And [he] said to Joseph: ‘My God appeared to me in Luza in the land of CanaAn and blest me. ⁴ And he said to me, {Look!} I will make you grow and increase, and I will make many nations come from you. I will also give this land to you and to your seed that comes after you, as an inheritance through the ages.

⁵ ‘Now, your two sons, EphraIm and ManasSeh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came here, are my [sons], the same as Reuben and Simeon are my [sons]. ⁶ And any children that you have from this point on will share in the names of their brothers. Because, [the lands that they will] inherit will be named after them.

⁷ ‘And as for me; After I left MesoPotamia of Syria, your mother Rachel died in the land of CanaAn during the evening, near the ChabRatha racetrack, as we were coming to EphRatha (or BethLehem). So I buried her along the road at the racetrack of BethLehem.’

⁸ And when Israel noticed Joseph’s sons, he asked: ‘Who are they?’

⁹ And Joseph replied to his father, ‘They’re the sons that God has given me here.’

And Jacob said, ‘Bring them here so I can bless them.’

¹⁰ Now, Israel’s eyes were weak due to his age, so he couldn’t see. But he drew them close, and hugged and kissed them. ¹¹ Then Israel said to Joseph: ‘{Look!} I haven’t been deprived of seeing your face, and now {Look!} God has also shown me your seed.’

¹² Then Joseph brought them out from [between] his [father’s] knees, and they bowed to [Israel] with their faces to the ground.

¹³ And Joseph took his two sons, EphraIm at his right hand (but on the left of Israel), and ManasSeh at his left hand (but on the right of Israel), and brought them near to him again. ¹⁴ However, Israel stuck out his right hand and laid it on EphraIm’s head (he was younger), and put his left hand on ManasSeh’s head, with his arms crossed. ¹⁵ Then he blest them and said: ‘The God who found my fathers Abraham and Isaac pleasing; the God who fed me from my youth until now; ¹⁶ the messenger who protects me from all that is evil; bless these boys, and may they be called by my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow to a vast number on the earth.’

¹⁷ Well, when Joseph noticed that his father had put his right hand on EphraIm’s head, that seemed wrong to him. So Joseph took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from EphraIm’s head to ManasSeh’s head. ¹⁸ And Joseph said: ‘[Wait], father! This is the first-born; lay your right-hand on his head!’

¹⁹ But he wouldn’t. He said, ‘I know, son, I know. [Your eldest son] will be a [tribe of] people, and he will be important. However, his younger brother will be greater, and his seed will become many nations.’

²⁰ So he blest them that day, saying, ‘Israel will be blest by you.’ Then he added, ‘May God make you like EphraIm and ManasSeh… and he put EphraIm before ManasSeh.’

²¹ And Israel said to Joseph: ‘Look, I’m dying! God will be with you and He will return you to the land of your fathers. ²² I leave you Sicima, a better portion than your brothers, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.’

Chapter 49

¹ Then Jacob called his sons and said to them, ² ‘Gather here so I can tell you what will happen to you in later years. Gather and listen to me, sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel! Listen to your father!

³ ‘Reuben; You’re my firstborn and my strength. You’re the first of my children, but you’re hard to endure, [pig headed], ⁴ and as unruly as water; so bring an end to your violence! Why, you climbed up on your father’s bed and dirtied the couch that you climbed on.

⁵ ‘Simeon and Levi; You are brothers who are good at the injustices that separated you. ⁶ May my life not pay attention to the things you say, and may my feelings never have any part in your conspiracies. For you have killed men in anger, and in your passion you’ve cut off the feet of bulls. ⁷ May your anger be cursed, because it was willful and cruel. So I will separate you in [the land of] Jacob and scatter you in Israel.

⁸ ‘Judah; Your brothers have spoken well you, so your hands will stay on the backs of your enemies, and your father’s sons will bow to you, ⁹ for Judah is a lion’s cub. My son, you’ve grown from the tender plant [that you once were], and now you’re a young lion. So, who will upset you? ¹⁰ There will be a ruler from Judah and a prince from his loins until the thing that is awaiting him arrives… because nations are expecting him. ¹¹ [He will] tie his foal to a vine and his burro’s foal to a branch. He will wash his robe in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. ¹² His eyes will bring more cheer than wine, and his teeth [will be] whiter than milk.

¹³ ‘ZebuLun will live on the coast, near a shipping port that reaches to Sidon.

¹⁴ ‘IsSachar has desired the best thing; to rest among the [other] inheritances. ¹⁵ And [when he finds] the resting place good and the land fertile, he will put his shoulders to work and became a farmer.

¹⁶ ‘Dan will judge his people as a single tribe in Israel. ¹⁷ So, let Dan be a snake on the road that blocks the path and bites at the hooves of horses, causing riders to fall, ¹⁸ while he awaits the salvation of Jehovah.

¹⁹ ‘A group of plunderers will plunder Gad. However, he will also follow and plunder them.

²⁰ ‘Asher will have plenty of bread, and he will provide delicious things to princes.

²¹ ‘NaphTali is a spreading vine [that will bear] beautiful fruit.

²² ‘Joseph is a son that has grown… [yes], my dearly-loved son has grown. Turn to me, my youngest son… ²³ the one that evil men have spoken against, plotted against, and who archers [have tried to shoot]. ²⁴ But their bows and arrows were quickly destroyed, and the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob weakened the muscles in their arms, for he’s the one that brought the strength of God to his father Israel.

²⁵ ‘My God has helped you and blest you with the blessings that come from skies above. They are the blessings of the earth that owns everything, because they are the blessings of the breasts and the womb. ²⁶ They are the blessings of your father and mother, which last longer than the blessings of the eternal mountains and hills. These [blessings] will be on the head of Joseph and upon the heads of the brothers over whom he took the lead.

²⁷ ‘BenJamin is a hungry wolf that eats throughout the morning and provides food in the evening.’

²⁸ All these are the twelve sons of Jacob, and that’s what their father said to them. He blest them… he blest each of them by the blessings they would receive. ²⁹ Then he said to them, ‘I’m going to my people, so bury me with my ancestors in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Chettite. ³⁰ It’s the double cave across from Mamre in the land of CanaAn. Abraham bought the cave as a tomb from Ephron the Chettite. ³¹ Then they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah there, as well as Isaac, and his wives Rebecca and Leah, ³² there in that part of the field where the cave of the sons of Chet is located.’

³³ Then Jacob stopped giving instructions to his sons, and he lifted his feet on the bed and died, and was buried with his people.

Chapter 50

¹ Well at that, Joseph fell over his father’s face, cried over him, and kissed him. ² Then Joseph told his servants (the embalmers) to [handle] his father’s body, and the embalmers mummified Israel. ³ The process took forty days, because that’s how long it takes to mummify someone. And Egypt mourned over him for seventy days.

⁴ Then, when the days of mourning were finished, Joseph spoke to the Pharaoh’s princes and asked, ‘If I’ve found favor in your eyes, talk to Pharaoh for me, and say, ⁵ ‘My father made me swear, saying, I want you to bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of CanaAn. So I wish to go there and bury my father, and then I’ll be back.’

⁶ And Pharaoh said to Joseph: ‘Go and bury your father, just as he made you to swear.’

⁷ So Joseph went up [to the land of CanaAn] to bury his father, and all of Pharaoh’s servants, all the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt traveled with him, ⁸ as well as the households of Joseph and his brothers, and the household of his father and his relatives. However, they left the sheep and oxen behind in the land of Gesem. ⁹ The entourage also included chariots and horsemen, and a large crowd of others.

¹⁰ And after they arrived at the threshing-floor of Atad (which is beyond the Jordan), they wailed for him with a very deep grief, and they mourned for his father there for seven days.

¹¹ Well, when the people of the land of CanaAn saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said: ‘This is a huge mourning to the Egyptians.’ So after that, they named the place The Mourning of Egypt Beyond the Jordan.

¹² Yes, that’s what his sons did for him. ¹³ His sons carried him up into the land of CanaAn and buried him in the double cave that Abraham bought as his own burying place from Ephron the Chettite, opposite Mamre. ¹⁴ Then Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt, along with all those who had come with him to bury his father.

¹⁵ It was after Joseph’s brothers realized that their father was dead that they said: ‘Let’s be aware [of the fact] that Joseph may decide to get even with us and pay us back at any time for all the evil things that we did to him.’

¹⁶ So they went to Joseph and said: ‘Before his death, your father made us swear. He told us ¹⁷ to tell Joseph this: Forgive us for the bad things we’ve done and for our sins, because we’ve really done an evil thing to you. Now, forgive the injustice of the servants of the God of your father.’

Well, Joseph started to weep while they were talking to him. ¹⁸ Then they came up to him and said, ‘We are your servants.’

¹⁹ And Joseph said, ‘Don’t be afraid, for I [belong to] God. ²⁰ You met and talked about doing evil things to me, but God made what you said about me [turn out] for good. And that’s why things happened as they have today; so that many people might be fed.’

²¹ Then he said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid; I’ll take care of you and your families.’ And he consoled them and spoke kindly to them.

²² Well, Joseph continued to live in Egypt, along with his brothers and his father’s family, and he lived a hundred and ten years. ²³ Joseph [lived to] see EphraIm’s children through the third generation, and the sons of Machir (ManasSeh’s son) were born at his side.

²⁴ Then Joseph told his [family]: ‘I’m dying. But God will surely come to you and take you from this land into the land that God swore to our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ Then Joseph made the Sons of Israel swear, saying: ‘When God comes to you, you must carry my bones back with you.’

²⁶ So Joseph died at a hundred and ten years old, and they prepared his body and put him in a [sarcophagus] in Egypt.

Notes

This was the Book #1

The words, ‘this was the book’ implies that the previous words were pre-recorded literature. When was it written? Its dialect indicates that it was written near to Moses’ time. For it appears as though Moses transcribed it into his dialect from documents that were written much earlier (such as during the time of Noah’s son Shem). There is some indication that this first part of the Book of Genesis was originally written poetically to be sung as a song.

For more information, see the linked document, The Bible’s Internal Proofs of its Authentic History

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This was the Book #2

The words, ‘this was the book’ implies that this was also a piece of pre-recorded literature. When was it written? Apparently, sometime before the lifetime of Moses. However, the references to post-flood nations (Assyrians and Ethiopia) indicate that it was written after the Downpour, and the dialect it is written in dates it to near the time of Moses. For it appears as though Moses transcribed it into his dialect from documents that were written much earlier (such as during the time of Noah’s son Shem).

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Edem

Don’t confuse this name (Ed-em) with Edom (Ed-om), although they both have similar meanings, referring to something that is red. For Edom is the name of the land that belonged to Isaac’s son Esau, and Edem is the name of the land in the east where the Garden of God was located, and from which we get the name Eden.

Notice that, different from the Hebrew text which refers to the Garden of Eden, the Greek text says the garden was called the Paradise of Delights, and that it was just located on the east side of the land of Edem. This description, which is more involved than what is found in the Hebrew text, is one of several that give these translators the opinion that the Greek texts are likely more accurate than the existing Hebrew texts.

Some think that the Greek text is in error when it describes one of the rivers of Edem as flowing around the land of Ethiopia, where the Hebrew text says that it flowed from the land of Cush. However, there is no error here, for Cush means Black, and Ethiopia is just the Greek word for the Land of Blacks. So when the Bible says that the headwaters of the Geon were in Ethiopia, it isn’t necessarily referring to the same land east of Egypt that we call Ethiopia today. Rather, it refers to the land of the descendants of Cush, wherever they were living at the time.

Notice that; it appears as though Moses gave the location of pre-Downpour lands by using post-Downpour locations and peoples (such as the Assyrians). So, describing the ‘Paradise of Delights’ as being located on the east side of the land of Edem provides us a physical location, and that location must still have been something that was known after the Downpour. Where is that?

A people called the Sons of Edem are mentioned in other scriptures, such as 2 Kings 19:12 (4 Kings 19:12 Sept.), where the Assyrians were taunting the people of Jerusalem by bragging about the cities they had conquered. In the Septuagint, it says the Sons of Edem were conquered at ‘Thaesthen’ (‘Tel Assar’ in Hebrew), meaning, the Hill of Blacks. This is consistent with the Bible’s description of the people who lived in that land as being the descendants of Cush.

Since this conquest of Edem is mentioned along with the conquests of Golan, Haran, and Rezeph (cities of MesoPotamia), it can be assumed that this land is located somewhere west of Assyria. And recent research indicates that the land of Edem (or Eden) may well have been north of where most people think of it as being (in southern Iraq). For, its location is likely where you’ll find the headwaters of the Tigris, Euphrates, and two other rivers (that are probably the Geon and the Phison, since they have similar names today), near the foot of Mt. Ararat in modern Iran, SW of Tabriz in Azerbaijan, a place that was inhabited by the Medes in the 7th Century B.C.E.

Notice that the Bible account does speak of the ‘heads’ of these rivers all coming together in Edem (or Eden, which most people think of as being the garden), but a geographical map shows that this has never been true. And the Hebrew words that are usually translated as saying that the rivers come together in four heads, may also be translated as saying that the headwaters of these four rivers are found in the land in which the Garden was located (Edem), so we have translated it that way.

Then, is the present country of Ethiopia the original location of the headwaters of the River Geon that flowed into Edem (Eden)? Not only is that unlikely geologically and geographically, but the Bible’s account about the sons of Edem and the location of the Hill of Blacks indicates that the descendants of Cush who live there today originally settled in areas of modern Iran and Iraq, and they were then relocated to Ethiopia, perhaps after their defeat by the Assyrians. The fact that Cush’s son Nimrod founded many cities in that area bears this thought out.

Was there a man named Edem, from whom the land in Iran at the foot of Mt. Ararat derives its name? That could be, but since Edem appears to mean red earth, the term sons of Edem could also mean sons of the red earth, after the bright red ochre soil which is found in that area. It is interesting that the name Adam also seems to imply Red Earth, so the Septuagint spelling of the land (Edem) appears to be correct, and soil from that area (SW of Ararat) could also be the dust of the ground from which Adam was made.

By the way; There may also be another mention of the land of Edem (in the Septuagint) at Amos 1:5, which reads, ‘The tribe of the men of Edem I’ll cut to pieces, and the best men of Assyria will be captured, says Jehovah.’

However; although the Hebrew texts somewhat agree by describing the people there as the House of Eden, other Septuagint versions speak of them as being the men of Charran.

For more information, see the attached document, ‘The Bible’ s Internal Proof of Its Authentic History.’

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Eve or Life?

There seems to be a contradiction between the Hebrew and Greek texts over the name of the first woman. In fact, there is even an apparent contradiction between the Greek texts, because she is referred to as Life (Greek: Zoe – pronounced zoe-ay) at Genesis 3:20, but as Eue or Euan (pronounced Eu-eh or Eu-wan) at Genesis 4:25. However, there is no contradiction, just a difference in languages. The Greek word found at Genesis 3:21 (Zoe) means Life and the Hebrew word (אֶת־חַוָּה or HHawah) found at Genesis 4:1 (Hebrew text only) also means Life. It’s hard to understand how Hhawah came to be pronounced Eve in English, but this probably comes from a later corrupted spelling, Eue, and is mispronounced as Eve in English, possibly because the Greek letter u looks like a v (ευαν). So her English name should be Life, but the Hebrew name Eve has become the common mispronunciation.

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Breath

The Greek word pneuma (as in pneumonia, a breathing disease) means breath or wind – the movement of air. In other Bible translations, this word is often translated as spirit or ghost – as in Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. However, spirit is just a shortened form of the Latin word spiritu, which just means breath in Latin. And ghost conveys another meaning altogether.

The most common use of the word pneuma in the Bible is to imply an unseen force (such as breath or wind). And the problem with translating it as spirit or ghost is that many people have started believing that the unseen force that is called [God’s] Holy Breath herein, is another God-like person and part of a Divine ‘Trinity.’ This can’t be true, because the only scripture that can be used to support this theory (that is, where the Father, the Son, and the Holy Breath are supposed to be ‘one’) is found at Matthew 28:19, which simply says that baptism should be done ‘in the name of’ (or, in recognition of) these three. All other scriptures that are used to prove the Trinity theory fail to mention the Holy Breath as part of that group. And the King James wording of 1 John 5:7 (which was used for years to attempt to prove the Trinity) is spurious (something that was added to the Bible). In fact, the reference to the Holy Breath at Matthew 28:19 may also be spurious, and if so, then there are no actual Bible references that mention God’s Holy Breath along with the Father and the Son.

So to prevent confusion, the Greek word pneuma is frequently translated as breath herein. However, there are exceptions, as in instances where the Bible refers to demons as ‘spirits.’ Translating pneuma as breath in these cases, although correct, might just be confusing. There are also places where we have left pneuma translated as spirit, when the word implies a person's tendency (or spirit). And, since the nuance implied by the word Spirit in the English language (an unseen power) is correct, we recently changed back to translating pneuma as Spirit in several places, when referring to God’s Holy Spirit. However, recognize that pneuma is often best defined by calling it [God’s] Holy Breath. For an example, see the Note Worshiping God In Spirit and Truth.

Another important use of the word pneuma is in the phrase, ‘Breath of Life.’ This phrase means more than just breathing; it refers to the entire mechanics of life itself. It’s the unseen force of life for all creatures… it’s what makes each cell alive. However, nowhere does the Bible describe the ‘pneuma’ as immortal, nor is it the same