¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

²Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so. ⁸God called the expanse “sky.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so. ¹²The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

¹³And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years. ¹⁵And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so.

¹⁶God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.

¹⁷God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, ¹⁸to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” ²¹So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²²Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

²³And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

²⁷So God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. ²And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.

³Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made them.

⁵Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ⁶But springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

⁷Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

⁸And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. ⁹Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters:

¹¹The name of the first river is the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.

¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria.

And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

¹⁶And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

¹⁸The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh. ²²And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. ²³And the man said:

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for out of man she was taken.”

²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

²The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, ³but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴“You will not surely die,” the serpent told the woman. ⁵“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

⁷And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

¹¹“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and every beast of the field!

On your belly will you go,

and dust you will eat,

all the days of your life.

¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman He said:

“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;

in pain you will bring forth children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷And to Adam He said:

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten from the tree

of which I commanded you not to eat,

cursed is the ground because of you;

through toil you will eat of it

all the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.”

²⁰And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.

²¹And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”

²³Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.

“With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said.

²Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil.

³So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD, ⁴while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock.

And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

⁵but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶“Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.”

⁸Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵“Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.

¹⁶So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

¹⁸Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech. ¹⁹And Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and raise livestock. ²¹And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.

²²And Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, a forger of every implement of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Then Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

wives of Lamech, listen to my speech.

For I have slain a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

²⁴If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

²⁵And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

²⁶And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh.

At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

¹This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness. ²Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them “man.”

³When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth. ⁴And after he had become the father of Seth, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

⁶When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh. ⁷And after he had become the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸So Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

⁹When Enosh was 90 years old, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰And after he had become the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

¹²When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³And after he had become the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶And after he had become the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹And after he had become the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰So Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

²¹When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. ²²And after he had become the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³So Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

²⁴Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.

²⁵When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶And after he had become the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

²⁸When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. ²⁹And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.” ³⁰And after he had become the father of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

³²After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, ²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

³So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

⁵Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. ⁶And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

⁸Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

⁹This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence. ¹²And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.

¹³Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.

¹⁴Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. ¹⁶You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

¹⁷And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish. ¹⁸But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you. ²⁰Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”

²²So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.

¹Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ²You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate; ³and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth. ⁴For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”

⁵And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

⁶Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth. ⁷And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground ⁹came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

¹⁰And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth. ¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹²And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons— ¹⁴they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature. ¹⁵They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life. ¹⁶And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

¹⁷For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹Finally, the waters completely prevailed upon the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.

²⁰The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits. ²¹And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind. ²²Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.

²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.

¹But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside. ²The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained. ³The waters receded steadily from the earth, and after 150 days the waters had gone down.

⁴On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵And the waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark ⁷and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.

⁸Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹But the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth. So he reached out his hand and brought her back inside the ark.

¹⁰Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

¹²And Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time she did not return to him.

¹³In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was fully dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶“Come out of the ark, you and your wife, along with your sons and their wives. ¹⁷Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”

¹⁸So Noah came out, along with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves upon the earth—came out of the ark, kind by kind.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

²²As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
shall never cease.”

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. ²The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. ³Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. ⁴But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. ⁵And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:

⁶Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man his blood will be shed;
for in His own image
God has made mankind. ⁷But as for you,
be fruitful and multiply;
spread out across the earth
and multiply upon it.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, ⁹“Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark. ¹¹And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

¹⁴Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.”

¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”

¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.

²⁰Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. ²¹But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

²³Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!

A servant of servants

shall he be to his brothers.”

²⁶He also declared:

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!

May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

²⁷May God expand the territory of Japheth;
may he dwell in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

¹This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.

²The sons of Japheth:

Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

³The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴And the sons of Javan:

Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites.

⁵From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.

⁶The sons of Ham:

Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush:

Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.

And the sons of Raamah:

Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” ¹⁰His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, ¹²and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.

¹³Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites, ¹⁴the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites.

¹⁵And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, ¹⁶the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

Later the Canaanite clans were scattered,

¹⁹and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.

²¹And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.

²²The sons of Shem:

Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

²³The sons of Aram:

Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.

²⁵Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.

²⁶And Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. ³⁰Their territory extended from Mesha to Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

³¹These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.

³²All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.

¹Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. ²And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

³And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

⁴“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

⁵Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. ⁶And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. ⁷Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

⁸So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

¹⁰This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. ¹¹And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. ²¹And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. ²³And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

²⁹And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰But Sarai was barren; she had no children.

³¹And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. ³²Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

¹Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.

²I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you;
and all the families of the earth
will be blessed through you.”

⁴So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan.

When they came to the land of Canaan,

⁶Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.

⁷Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

⁸From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

⁹And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman, ¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”

¹⁴So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh. ¹⁶He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

¹⁷The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

²⁰Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.

¹So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him. ²And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.

³From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched, ⁴to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

⁵Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist. ⁷And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.

⁸So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are kinsmen. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

¹⁰And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.

¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. ¹³But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

¹⁴After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west, ¹⁵for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

¹In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim ²went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

³The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea ). ⁴For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert. ⁷Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.

¹¹The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way. ¹²They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since Lot was living in Sodom.

¹³Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram. ¹⁴And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.

¹⁵During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.

¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹⁸Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High — ¹⁹and he blessed Abram and said:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth,

²⁰and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.”

²²But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²³that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share for the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.”

¹After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield,

your very great reward.”

²But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

⁷The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

⁸But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”

⁹And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.

¹³Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions. ¹⁵You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses. ¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

¹Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. ²So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.”

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. ⁴And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

⁷Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. ⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁹So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD proceeded:

“Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son.

And you shall name him Ishmael,

for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man,
and his hand will be against everyone,
and everyone’s hand against him;
he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”

¹³So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless. ²I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

³Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.

⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

⁸And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you. ¹⁰This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring. ¹³Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah. ¹⁶And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”

¹⁹But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

²²When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.

²⁴So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵and his son Ishmael was thirteen; ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷And all the men of Abraham’s household—both servants born in his household and those purchased from foreigners—were circumcised with him.

¹Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. ²And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³“My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. ⁴Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.”

“Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

⁷Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked.

“There, in the tent,” he replied.

¹⁰Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!”

Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent.

¹¹And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. ¹²So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵But Sarah was afraid, so she denied it and said, “I did not laugh.”

“No,” replied the LORD, “but you did laugh.”

¹⁶When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.

¹⁷And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous, ²¹I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”

²²And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

²³Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there? ²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

²⁶So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”

²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes— ²⁸suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?”

He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?”

He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?”

He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”

³¹And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?”

He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³²Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?”

And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”

³³When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

¹Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown, ²and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house. ⁵They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”

⁶Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him. ⁷“Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing! ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹“Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them.

¹⁷As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please! ¹⁹Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. ²⁰Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”

²¹“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate. ²²Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.

²³And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave.

³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth. ³²Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”

³³So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

³⁵So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

¹Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar, ²Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

³One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

⁴Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? ⁵Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”

⁶Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and all who belong to you.”

⁸Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified.

⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.” ¹⁰Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do such a thing?”

¹¹Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’ ¹²Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife. ¹³So when God had me journey from my father’s house, I said to Sarah, ‘This is how you can show your loyalty to me: Wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.” ¹⁶And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”

¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children— ¹⁸for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.

¹Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised. ²So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

³And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him. ⁴When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.” ⁷She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

⁹But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son, ¹⁰and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”

¹¹Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned. ¹³But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies. ¹⁸Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer. ²¹And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. ²³Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”

²⁴And Abraham replied, “I swear it.”

²⁵But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized, ²⁶Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.”

²⁷So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. ²⁸Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock, ²⁹and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?”

³⁰He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.” ³¹So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. ³²After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. ³⁴And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

¹Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

³So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.

⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.

⁷Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!”

“Here I am, my son,” he replied.

“The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.

⁹When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

¹³Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ¹⁶saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

²⁰Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”

²³And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. ²⁴Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

¹Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ²She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.

³Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, ⁴“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”

⁷Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸“If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, ¹¹“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

¹²Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.

¹⁷So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over ¹⁸to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

¹By now Abraham was old and well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. ²So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh, ³and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling, ⁴but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there. ⁷The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”

⁹So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim. ¹¹As evening approached, he made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town at the time when the women went out to draw water.

¹²“O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Here I am, standing beside the spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Now may it happen that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. ¹⁶Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin who had not had relations with any man. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again.

¹⁷So the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jar.”

¹⁸“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and she quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

¹⁹After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.” ²⁰And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, until she had drawn water for all his camels.

²¹Meanwhile, the man watched her silently to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey a success.

²²And after the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring weighing a beka, and two gold bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels. ²³“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

²⁴She replied, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.” ²⁵Then she added, “We have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place for you to spend the night.”

²⁶Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, ²⁷saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

²⁸The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring. ³⁰As soon as he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and heard Rebekah’s words, “The man said this to me,” he went and found the man standing by the camels near the spring.

³¹“Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” said Laban. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³²So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were brought to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of his companions.

³³Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.”

So Laban said, “Please speak.”

³⁴“I am Abraham’s servant,” he replied. ³⁵“The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.

³⁷My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred to take a wife for my son.’

³⁹Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’

⁴⁰And he told me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house. ⁴¹And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

⁴²So when I came to the spring today, I prayed: O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only You would make my journey a success! ⁴³Here I am, standing beside this spring. Now if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jar,’ ⁴⁴and she replies, ‘Drink, and I will draw water for your camels as well,’ may she be the woman the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.

⁴⁵And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

⁴⁶She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.

⁴⁷Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’

She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

⁴⁸Then I bowed down and worshiped the LORD; and I blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right road to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

⁴⁹Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; but if not, let me know, so that I may go elsewhere.”

⁵⁰Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter. ⁵¹Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.”

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. ⁵³Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night there.

When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”

⁵⁵But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so. After that, she may go.”

⁵⁶But he replied, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷So they said, “We will call the girl and ask her opinion.”

⁵⁸They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”

“I will go,” she replied.

⁵⁹So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

“Our sister, may you become the mother

of thousands upon thousands.

May your offspring possess

the gates of their enemies.”

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶²Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev. ⁶³Early in the evening, Isaac went out to the field to meditate, and looking up, he saw the camels approaching.

⁶⁴And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel ⁶⁵and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

“It is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done.

⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

¹Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah, ²and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

³Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites.

⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah.

All these were descendants of Keturah.

⁵Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

⁷Abraham lived a total of 175 years. ⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

⁹His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. ¹⁰This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

¹¹After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

¹²This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

¹⁶These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes. ¹⁷Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.

¹⁸Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.

¹⁹This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

²²But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD, ²³and He declared to her:

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

²⁴When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. ²⁵The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau. ²⁶After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ²⁸Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished. ³⁰He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

³¹“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied.

³²“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

³³“Swear to me first,” Jacob said.

So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright.

³⁴Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

¹Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

²The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you. ³Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, ⁵because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”

⁸When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

¹⁰“What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

¹²Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, ¹³and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy. ¹⁴He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

¹⁶Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”

¹⁷So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.

¹⁹Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh water there. ²⁰But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.

²¹Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.

²²He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

²³From there Isaac went up to Beersheba, ²⁴and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

²⁵So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.

²⁶Later, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

²⁷“Why have you come to me?” Isaac asked them. “You hated me and sent me away.”

²⁸“We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you ²⁹that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”

³⁰So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

³²On that same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We have found water!” they told him. ³³So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

¹When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

“Here I am,” Esau replied.

²“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death. ³Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me. ⁴Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau, ⁷‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’

⁸Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you. ⁹Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves. ¹⁰Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”

¹¹Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned. ¹²What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”

¹³His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”

¹⁴So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved. ¹⁵And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.

¹⁸So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”

²⁰But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”

“Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied.

²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”

²²So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

²⁴Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

And he replied, “I am.”

²⁵“Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.”

Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said:

“Ah, the smell of my son

is like the smell of a field

that the LORD has blessed.

²⁸May God give to you the dew of heaven
and the richness of the earth—
an abundance of grain and new wine. ²⁹May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
May you be the master of your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed,
and those who bless you be blessed.”

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ³¹He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

³²But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?”

“I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.

³³Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”

³⁴When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”

³⁵But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

³⁶So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

³⁷But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

³⁹His father Isaac answered him:

“Behold, your dwelling place shall be

away from the richness of the land,

away from the dew of heaven above.

⁴⁰You shall live by the sword
and serve your brother.
But when you rebel,
you will tear his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴²When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. ⁴³So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. ⁴⁴Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides— ⁴⁵until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

¹So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded. ²“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ³May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,” ⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, ⁹Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.

¹⁰Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

¹²And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder. ¹³And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie. ¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁶When Jacob woke up, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.” ¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!”

¹⁸Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it, ¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear, ²¹so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God. ²²And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”

¹Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. ²He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?”

“We are from Haran,” they answered.

⁵“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked.

“We know him,” they replied.

⁶“Is he well?” Jacob inquired.

“Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”

⁷“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

⁸But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹²He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.

¹⁴Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.”

After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. ¹⁷Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. ¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.” ²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

²¹Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”

²²So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast. ²³But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. ²⁷Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”

²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ²⁹Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

³⁵And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

³Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.”

⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her, ⁵and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

¹²When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, ¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?”

“Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. ¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

²¹After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb, ²³and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. ²⁴She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

²⁵Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland. ²⁶Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care. ³⁰Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”

³¹“What can I give you?” Laban asked.

“You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks.

³²Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages. ³³So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”

³⁴“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

³⁵That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons. ³⁶Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches. ³⁸Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches. ⁴²But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

⁴³Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

¹Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” ²And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

³Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, ⁵and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. ⁹Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

¹⁰When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. ¹¹In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’

And I replied, ‘Here I am.’

¹²‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”

¹⁴And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. ¹⁶Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

¹⁹Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. ²⁰Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. ²¹So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

²²On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. ²³So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! ²⁷Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. ²⁸But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing.

²⁹I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. ³²If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.

³⁵Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me? ³⁷You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us.

³⁸I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! ⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”

⁴³But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, ⁴⁶and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.”

Therefore the place was called Galeed.

⁴⁹It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other. ⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me. ⁵²This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me. ⁵³May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.”

So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.

¹Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”

⁷In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

⁹Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. ¹²But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

¹³Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, ¹⁵30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. ¹⁶He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

¹⁷He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ ¹⁸then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”

¹⁹He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. ²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

²⁴So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. ²⁶Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

²⁸Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

²⁹And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. ²He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. ³But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

⁴Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

⁵When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”

Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. ⁷Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

⁸“What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau.

“To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

⁹“I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.”

¹⁰But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably. ¹¹Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”

¹³But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

¹⁵“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said.

But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir, ¹⁷but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

¹⁸After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city. ¹⁹And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. ²⁰There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

¹Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. ³And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly. ⁴So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

⁵Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned. ⁶Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob. ⁷When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.

⁸But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.”

¹¹Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹²Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”

¹³But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully. ¹⁴“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males. ¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.”

¹⁸Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹The young man, who was the most respected of all his father’s household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city: ²¹“These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them. ²²But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are. ²³Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.”

²⁴All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised.

²⁵Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.

²⁷Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field. ²⁹They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

³¹But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. ³Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.

⁵As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. ⁶So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he fled from his brother.

⁸Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.

⁹After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

¹¹And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you. ¹²The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

¹³Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. ¹⁵Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

¹⁶Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. ¹⁷During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”

¹⁸And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.

²¹Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. ²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

²³The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher.

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

²⁷Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

²⁸And Isaac lived 180 years. ²⁹Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom). ²Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite, ³and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath gave birth to Reuel, ⁵and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Later, Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the people of his household, along with his livestock, all his other animals, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob. ⁷For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir.

⁹This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir.

¹⁰These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹²Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹³These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁴These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah (daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon) whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the chiefs among the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. They are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Adah.

¹⁷These are the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. They are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

¹⁹All these are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and they were their chiefs.

²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.

²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Timna was Lotan’s sister.

²³These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.)

²⁵These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

²⁶These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their divisions in the land of Seir.

³¹These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:

³²Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

³³When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.

³⁴When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith.

³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.

³⁷When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place.

³⁸When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

³⁹When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadad reigned in his place. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

⁴⁰These are the names of Esau’s chiefs, according to their families and regions, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was the father of the Edomites.

¹Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan.

²This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors. ⁴When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁵Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”

⁸“Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.

⁹Then Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.

¹²Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem. ¹³Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.”

“I am ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.”

So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,

¹⁵a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him. ¹⁹“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. ²⁰“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said. ²²“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.

²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing— ²⁴and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.

²⁵And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.

²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed. ²⁸So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes, ³⁰returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

³¹Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. ³²They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

³³His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

¹About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite. ²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her. ³So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er. ⁴Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan. ⁵Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death. ⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. ¹⁰What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.

¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah. ¹³When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. ¹⁶Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”

“What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.

¹⁷“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered.

But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”

¹⁸“What pledge should I give you?” he asked.

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

¹⁹Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again.

²⁰Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her. ²¹He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered.

²²So Hirah returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, ‘No shrine prostitute has been here.’”

²³“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”

²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.”

“Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”

²⁵As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?”

²⁶Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.

²⁷When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. “This one came out first,” she announced. ²⁹But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez. ³⁰Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.

¹Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. ²And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

³When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did, ⁴Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant.

Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned.

⁵From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field. ⁶So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,

⁷and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

⁸But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. ⁹No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁰Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. ¹¹One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. ¹²She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

¹³When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. ¹⁵When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁶So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, ¹⁸but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined.

While Joseph was there in the prison,

²¹the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²²And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. ²³The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

¹Some time later, the king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. ²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant.

After they had been in custody for some time,

⁵both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. ⁷So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”

⁸“We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand.”

¹²Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. ¹³Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. ¹⁵For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ²¹Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²²But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.

²³The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.

¹After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile, ²when seven cows, sleek and well-fed, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds. ³After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside the well-fed cows on the bank of the river. ⁴And the cows that were sickly and thin devoured the seven sleek, well-fed cows.

Then Pharaoh woke up,

⁵but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk. ⁶After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind. ⁷And the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, ripe ones. Then Pharaoh awoke and realized it was a dream.

⁸In the morning his spirit was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I recall my failures. ¹⁰Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guard. ¹¹One night both the chief baker and I had dreams, and each dream had its own meaning. ¹²Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them for us individually. ¹³And it happened to us just as he had interpreted: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”

¹⁴So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the dungeon. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he went in before Pharaoh.

¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶“I myself cannot do it,” Joseph replied, “but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.”

¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸when seven cows, well-fed and sleek, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds. ¹⁹After them, seven other cows—sickly, ugly, and thin—came up. I have never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt! ²⁰Then the thin, ugly cows devoured the seven well-fed cows that were there first. ²¹When they had devoured them, however, no one could tell that they had done so; their appearance was as ugly as it had been before. Then I awoke.

²²In my dream I also saw seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, growing on a single stalk. ²³After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind. ²⁴And the thin heads of grain swallowed the seven plump ones.

I told this dream to the magicians, but no one could explain it to me.”

²⁵At this, Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning. ²⁷Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind—they are seven years of famine.

²⁸It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, ³⁰but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land. ³¹The abundance in the land will not be remembered, since the famine that follows it will be so severe.

³²Moreover, because the dream was given to Pharaoh in two versions, the matter has been decreed by God, and He will carry it out shortly.

³³Now, therefore, Pharaoh should look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities. ³⁶This food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine to come upon the land of Egypt. Then the country will not perish in the famine.”

³⁷This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his officials. ³⁸So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?”

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people are to obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”

⁴¹Pharaoh also told Joseph, “I hereby place you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, with men calling out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴And Pharaoh declared to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission, no one in all the land of Egypt shall lift his hand or foot.”

⁴⁵Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Now Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully. ⁴⁸During those seven years, Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In every city he laid up the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.

⁵⁰Before the years of famine arrived, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” ⁵²And the second son he named Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt. ⁵⁵When extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

⁵⁶When the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷And every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

¹When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”

²“Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”

⁵So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.

⁶Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

⁸Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

¹⁰“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”

¹²“No,” he told them. “You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

¹³But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

¹⁴Then Joseph declared, “Just as I said, you are spies! ¹⁵And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be confined so that the truth of your words may be tested. If they are untrue, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

¹⁷So Joseph imprisoned them for three days, ¹⁸and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live: ¹⁹If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households. ²⁰Then bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be verified, that you may not die.”

And to this they consented.

²¹Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

²²And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

²³They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.

²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out, ²⁶and they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed.

²⁷At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack. ²⁸“My silver has been returned!” he said to his brothers. “It is here in my sack.”

Their hearts sank, and trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them: ³⁰“The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

³¹But we told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

³³Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go. ³⁴But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’”

³⁵As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.

³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I fail to bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him.”

³⁸But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

¹Now the famine was still severe in the land. ²So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

³But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶“Why did you bring this trouble upon me?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man you had another brother?”

⁷They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

⁸And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our children. ⁹I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life. ¹⁰If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.”

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹²Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³Take your brother as well, and return to the man at once. ¹⁴May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷The man did as Joseph had commanded and took the brothers to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸But the brothers were frightened that they had been taken to Joseph’s house. “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time,” they said. “They intend to overpower us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”

¹⁹So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food. ²¹But when we came to the place we lodged for the night, we opened our sacks and, behold, each of us found his silver in the mouth of his sack! It was the full amount of our silver, and we have brought it back with us. ²²We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.”

²³“It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, gave you the treasure that was in your sacks. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And the steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided food for their donkeys.

²⁵Since the brothers had been told that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. ²⁶When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him.

²⁷He asked if they were well, and then he asked, “How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸“Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.

²⁹When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he declared, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

³⁰Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep. ³¹Then he washed his face and came back out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.”

³²They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them. ³³They were seated before Joseph in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴When the portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of the others. So they feasted and drank freely with Joseph.

¹Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack. ²Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.”

So the steward did as Joseph had instructed.

³At daybreak, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’”

⁶When the steward overtook them, he relayed these words to them.

⁷“Why does my lord say these things?” they asked. “Your servants could not possibly do such a thing. ⁸We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and the rest will become slaves of my lord.”

¹⁰“As you say,” replied the steward. “But only the one who is found with the cup will be my slave, and the rest of you shall be free of blame.”

¹¹So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹²The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest—and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they all tore their clothes, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.

¹⁴When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.

¹⁵“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”

¹⁶“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found with the cup.”

¹⁷But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.”

¹⁸Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

²⁰And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

²¹Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’

²²So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’

²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

²⁴Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him.

²⁵Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’

²⁶But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’

²⁷And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. ²⁹Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’

³⁰So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life, ³¹sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³²Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’

³³Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!”

So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

²But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it.

³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”

But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so.

“I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt!

⁵And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. ⁶For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. ¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. ¹¹And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’

¹²Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. ¹³Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

¹⁴Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. ¹⁵Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do as follows: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back. ²⁰But pay no regard to your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹So the sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²²He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.

²⁴Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!”

²⁵So the brothers went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶“Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!”

But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

²⁷However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived.

²⁸“Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”

¹So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said.

“Here I am,” replied Jacob.

³“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.”

⁵Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives. ⁶They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.

⁷Jacob took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.

⁸Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron.

¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three.

¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah.

The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸These are the sons of Jacob born to Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.

¹⁹The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

²¹The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

²²These are the sons of Rachel born to Jacob—fourteen in all.

²³The son of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵These are the sons of Jacob born to Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.

²⁶All those belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons. ²⁷And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.

²⁸Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When Jacob’s family arrived in the land of Goshen, ²⁹Joseph prepared his chariot and went there to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, embraced him, and wept profusely.

³⁰Then Israel said to Joseph, “Finally I can die, now that I have seen your face and know that you are still alive!”

³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh: ‘My brothers and my father’s household from the land of Canaan have come to me. ³²The men are shepherds; they raise livestock, and they have brought their flocks and herds and all that they own.’

³³When Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

¹So Joseph went and told Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.”

²And he chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.

³“What is your occupation?” Pharaoh asked Joseph’s brothers.

“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied, “both we and our fathers.”

⁴Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live in the land for a time, because there is no pasture for the flocks of your servants, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please allow your servants to settle in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you, ⁶the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They may dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any talented men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸“How many years have you lived?” Pharaoh asked.

⁹“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from his presence.

¹¹So Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²Joseph also provided his father and brothers and all his father’s household with food for their families.

¹³There was no food, however, in all that region, because the famine was so severe; the lands of Egypt and Canaan had been exhausted by the famine. ¹⁴Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain they were buying, and he brought it into Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁵When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our funds have run out!”

¹⁶“Then bring me your livestock,” said Joseph. “Since the money is gone, I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks and herds, and their donkeys. Throughout that year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

¹⁸When that year was over, they came to him the second year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord that our money is gone and all our livestock belongs to you. There is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. ¹⁹Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Purchase us and our land in exchange for food. Then we, along with our land, will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”

²⁰So Joseph acquired for Pharaoh all the land in Egypt; the Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields because the famine was so severe upon them. The land became Pharaoh’s, ²¹and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²However, he did not acquire the priests’ portion of the land, for it had been given to them by Pharaoh. They ate the rations that Pharaoh supplied; so they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh this day, here is seed for you to sow in the land. ²⁴At harvest time, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and food for yourselves and your households and children.”

²⁵“You have saved our lives,” they said. “We have found favor in our lord’s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶So Joseph established a law that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh, and it is in effect in the land of Egypt to this day. Only the priests’ land does not belong to Pharaoh.

²⁷Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the length of his life was 147 years.

²⁹When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me with them.”

Joseph answered, “I will do as you have requested.”

³¹“Swear to me,” Jacob said.

So Joseph swore to him, and Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.

¹Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me ⁴and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

⁵And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit.

⁷Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

⁸When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”

⁹Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.”

So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”

¹⁰Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹“I never expected to see your face again,” Israel said to Joseph, “but now God has let me see your children as well.”

¹²Then Joseph removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown.

¹³And Joseph took both of them—with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand—and brought them close to him. ¹⁴But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵Then he blessed Joseph and said:

“May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—
may He bless these boys.
And may they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. ¹⁸“Not so, my father!” Joseph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰So that day Jacob blessed them and said:

“By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing:

‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²²And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

²Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might,
and the beginning of my strength,
excelling in honor,
excelling in power. ⁴Uncontrolled as the waters,
you will no longer excel,
because you went up to your father’s bed,
onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their swords are weapons of violence. ⁶May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For they kill men in their anger,
and hamstring oxen on a whim. ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers shall praise you.
Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹Judah is a young lion—
my son, you return from the prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the staff from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes
and the allegiance of the nations is his. ¹¹He ties his donkey to the vine,
his colt to the choicest branch.
He washes his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes. ¹²His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore
and become a harbor for ships;
his border shall extend to Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey,
lying down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵He saw that his resting place was good
and that his land was pleasant,
so he bent his shoulder to the burden
and submitted to labor as a servant.

¹⁶Dan shall provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷He will be a snake by the road,
a viper in the path
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider tumbles backward.

¹⁸I await Your salvation, O LORD.

¹⁹Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.

²⁰Asher’s food will be rich;
he shall provide royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.

²²Joseph is a fruitful vine—
a fruitful vine by a spring,
whose branches scale the wall. ²³The archers attacked him with bitterness;
they aimed at him in hostility. ²⁴Yet he steadied his bow,
and his strong arms were tempered
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you,
with blessings of the heavens above,
with blessings of the depths below,
with blessings of the breasts and womb. ²⁶The blessings of your father have surpassed
the blessings of the ancient mountains
and the bounty of the everlasting hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder.”

²⁸These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

²⁹Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. ³⁰The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. ³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

³³When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

¹Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.

²And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him, ³taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

⁴When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that ⁵my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”

⁶Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Egypt— ⁸along with all of Joseph’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen.

⁹Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession. ¹⁰When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.

¹¹When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.

¹²So Jacob’s sons did as he had charged them. ¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

¹⁴After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.”

¹⁶So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, ¹⁷‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”

When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

¹⁸His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”

¹⁹But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people. ²¹Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.

²²Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110. ²³He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ²⁵And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

²⁶So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.

¹These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

⁴Dan and Naphtali;

Gad and Asher.

⁵The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.

⁶Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, ⁷but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

⁸Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us. ¹⁰Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

¹¹So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

¹³They worked the Israelites ruthlessly ¹⁴and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”

¹⁷The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”

²⁰So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”

¹Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, ²and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.

³But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it. ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

⁸“Go ahead,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. And the girl went and called the boy’s mother.

⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him.

¹⁰When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹²After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

¹³The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”

¹⁴But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock.

¹⁸When the daughters returned to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹“An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they replied. “He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰“So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. ²²And she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

²³After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.

²⁴So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵God saw the Israelites and took notice.

¹Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. ³So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²“I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

¹⁶Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’

¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.

²¹And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed. ²²Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

¹Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

²And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

⁴“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁶Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.

⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD.

So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

⁸And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. ⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

¹³But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.”

“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

¹⁹Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” ²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

²¹The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

²²Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, ²³and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”

²⁴Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

²⁶So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

²⁷Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses.

And Moses performed the signs before the people,

³¹and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

¹After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”

²But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

³“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!” ⁵Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would be stopping them from their labor.”

⁶That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen: ⁷“You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw. ⁸But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”

¹⁰So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am no longer giving you straw. ¹¹Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it; but your workload will in no way be reduced.’”

¹²So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

¹⁴Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

¹⁵So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? ¹⁶No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

¹⁷“You are slackers!” Pharaoh replied. “Slackers! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ ¹⁸Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your daily quota of bricks.” ²⁰When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.

²¹“May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!”

²²So Moses returned to the LORD and asked, “Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me? ²³Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and You have not delivered Your people in any way.”

¹But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²God also told Moses, “I am the LORD. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them. ⁴I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. ⁵Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant.

⁶Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”

⁹Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

¹⁰So the LORD said to Moses, ¹¹“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.”

¹²But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am unskilled in speech?”

¹³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These were the heads of their fathers’ houses:

The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, by their clans.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.

These were the clans of the Levites according to their records.

²⁰And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

²¹The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³And Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the clans of the Korahites.

²⁵Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas.

These were the heads of the Levite families by their clans.

²⁶It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.” ²⁷Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

²⁸Now on the day that the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹He said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”

³⁰But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “Since I am unskilled in speech, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

¹The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ²You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴Pharaoh will not listen to you.

Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

⁵And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. ⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

¹¹But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts. ¹²Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.

¹³Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. ¹⁷This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood. ¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”

¹⁹And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood. ²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. ²³Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart. ²⁴So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.

²⁵And seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ²But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. ³The Nile will teem with frogs, and they will come into your palace and up to your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. ⁴The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

⁵And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”

⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

⁷But the magicians did the same thing by their magic arts, and they also brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”

⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me. When shall I pray for you and your officials and your people that the frogs (except for those in the Nile) may be taken away from you and your houses?”

¹⁰“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh answered.

“May it be as you say,” Moses replied, “so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.

¹¹The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

¹²After Moses and Aaron had left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD for help with the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³And the LORD did as Moses requested, and the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. ¹⁴They were piled into countless heaps, and there was a terrible stench in the land.

¹⁵When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

¹⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’”

¹⁷This they did, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, gnats came upon man and beast. All the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

¹⁸The magicians tried to produce gnats using their magic arts, but they could not. And the gnats remained on man and beast.

¹⁹“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

²⁰Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ²¹But if you will not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies upon you and your officials and your people and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground where they stand will be full of flies.

²²But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be found there. In this way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land. ²³I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.’”

²⁴And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies.

²⁵Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within this land.”

²⁶But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable before the Egyptians, will they not stone us? ²⁷We must make a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He commands us.”

²⁸Pharaoh answered, “I will let you go and sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

²⁹“As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will pray to the LORD, so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceitfully again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the LORD.”

³⁰Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD, ³¹and the LORD did as Moses requested. He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not one fly remained. ³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ²But if you continue to restrain them and refuse to let them go, ³then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. ⁴But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”

⁵The LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.” ⁶And the next day the LORD did just that. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. ⁷Pharaoh sent officials and found that none of the livestock of the Israelites had died. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the people go.

⁸Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the furnace; in the sight of Pharaoh, Moses is to toss it into the air. ⁹It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on man and beast throughout the land.”

¹⁰So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast. ¹¹The magicians could not stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and on all the Egyptians.

¹²But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses.

¹³Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ¹⁴Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.

¹⁵For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth. ¹⁶But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.

¹⁸Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹So give orders now to shelter your livestock and everything you have in the field. Every man or beast that remains in the field and is not brought inside will die when the hail comes down upon them.’”

²⁰Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their servants and livestock to shelter, ²¹but those who disregarded the word of the LORD left their servants and livestock in the field.

²²Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.”

²³So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation.

²⁵Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree. ²⁶The only place where it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.

²⁷Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. ²⁸Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”

²⁹Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. ³⁰But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the LORD our God.”

³¹(Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom; ³²but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.)

³³Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.

³⁴When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart—he and his officials. ³⁵So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them, ²and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.”

³So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ⁴But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow. ⁵They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields. ⁶They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’”

Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁷Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”

⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” he said. “But who exactly will be going?”

⁹“We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”

¹⁰Then Pharaoh told them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil. ¹¹No, only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been requesting.” And Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.”

¹³So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.

¹⁴The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be. ¹⁵They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. ¹⁷Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”

¹⁸So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD. ¹⁹And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.

²⁰But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

²¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”

²²So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings.

²⁴Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your little ones may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”

²⁵But Moses replied, “You must also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God. ²⁶Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind, for we will need some of them to worship the LORD our God, and we will not know how we are to worship the LORD until we arrive.”

²⁷But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. ²⁸“Depart from me!” Pharaoh said to Moses. “Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”

²⁹“As you say,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt one more plague. After that, he will allow you to leave this place. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out completely. ²Now announce to the people that men and women alike should ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”

³And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.

⁴So Moses declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, ⁵and every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl behind the hand mill, as well as the firstborn of all the cattle. ⁶Then a great cry will go out over all the land of Egypt. Such an outcry has never been heard before and will never be heard again. ⁷But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’

Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

⁸And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.”

And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the Israelites go out of his land.

¹Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ²“This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.

³Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household. ⁴If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly.

⁵Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. ⁷They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

⁸They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts. ¹⁰Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.

¹¹This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.

¹²On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come. ¹⁵For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.

¹⁷So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come. ¹⁸In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel. ²⁰You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²²Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning.

²³When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.

²⁶When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ²⁷you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’”

Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

²⁸And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.

³⁰During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.

³¹Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. ³²Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.”

³³And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing.

³⁵Furthermore, the Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing. ³⁶And the LORD gave the people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they granted their request. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

³⁹Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt. ⁴²Because the LORD kept a vigil that night to bring them out of the land of Egypt, this same night is to be a vigil to the LORD, to be observed by all the Israelites for the generations to come.

⁴³And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it. ⁴⁴But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover.

⁴⁶It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of the bones.

⁴⁷The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it. ⁴⁸If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it. ⁴⁹The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”

⁵⁰Then all the Israelites did this—they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.”

³So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.

⁴Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. ⁵And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month.

⁶For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten during those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, nor shall leaven be found anywhere within your borders.

⁸And on that day you are to explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰Therefore you shall keep this statute at the appointed time year after year.

¹¹And after the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as He swore to you and your fathers, ¹²you are to present to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. ¹³You must redeem every firstborn donkey with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. And every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.

¹⁴In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹⁵And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of man and beast. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’ ¹⁶So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, though it was shorter. For God said, “If the people face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt arrayed for battle.

¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear a solemn oath when he said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones with you from this place.”

²⁰They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night. ²²Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon.

³For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’ ⁴And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

So this is what the Israelites did.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

⁶So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. ⁷He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

⁸And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly. ⁹The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD. ¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. ¹⁴The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

¹⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. ¹⁶And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. Then I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army and chariots and horsemen. ¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I am honored through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided, ²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.

²³And the Egyptians chased after them—all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen—and followed them into the sea. ²⁴At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion. ²⁵He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea. ²⁸The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁹But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. ³¹When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:

“I will sing to the LORD,

for He is highly exalted.

The horse and rider

He has thrown into the sea.

²The LORD is my strength and my song,
and He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise Him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

³The LORD is a warrior,
the LORD is His name. ⁴Pharaoh’s chariots and army
He has cast into the sea;
the finest of his officers
are drowned in the Red Sea. ⁵The depths have covered them;
they sank there like a stone.

⁶Your right hand, O LORD,
is majestic in power;
Your right hand, O LORD,
has shattered the enemy. ⁷You overthrew Your adversaries
by Your great majesty.
You unleashed Your burning wrath;
it consumed them like stubble. ⁸At the blast of Your nostrils
the waters piled up;
like a wall the currents stood firm;
the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy declared,
‘I will pursue, I will overtake.
I will divide the spoils;
I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword;
my hand will destroy them.’ ¹⁰But You blew with Your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.

¹¹Who among the gods is like You, O LORD?
Who is like You—majestic in holiness,
revered with praises,
performing wonders? ¹²You stretched out Your right hand,
and the earth swallowed them up. ¹³With loving devotion You will lead
the people You have redeemed;
with Your strength You will guide them
to Your holy dwelling.

¹⁴The nations will hear and tremble;
anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia. ¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed;
trembling will seize the leaders of Moab;
those who dwell in Canaan will melt away, ¹⁶and terror and dread will fall on them.
By the power of Your arm
they will be as still as a stone
until Your people pass by, O LORD,
until the people You have bought pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of Your inheritance—
the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling,
the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.

¹⁸The LORD will reign forever and ever!”

¹⁹For when Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

²⁰Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang back to them:

“Sing to the LORD,

for He is highly exalted;

the horse and rider

He has thrown into the sea.”

²²Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water. ²³And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)

²⁴So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” ²⁵And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened.

There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,

²⁶saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.

¹On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of Israel set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. ²And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”

⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions. ⁵Then on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning you will see the LORD’s glory, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. For who are we, that you should grumble against us?”

⁸And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of Israel, ‘Come before the LORD, for He has heard your grumbling.’”

¹⁰And as Aaron was speaking to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the desert, and there in a cloud the glory of the LORD appeared.

¹¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹²“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”

¹³That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.

¹⁶This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. You may take an omer for each person in your tent.’”

¹⁷So the Israelites did this. Some gathered more, and some less. ¹⁸When they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall. Each one gathered as much as he needed to eat.

¹⁹Then Moses said to them, “No one may keep any of it until morning.” ²⁰But they did not listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

²¹Every morning each one gathered as much as was needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

²²On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food—two omers per person —and all the leaders of the congregation came and reported this to Moses. ²³He told them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Then set aside whatever remains and keep it until morning.’”

²⁴So they set it aside until morning as Moses had commanded, and it did not smell or contain any maggots. ²⁵“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you will not find anything in the field. ²⁶For six days you may gather, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, it will not be there.”

²⁷Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find anything. ²⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and instructions? ²⁹Understand that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He will give you bread for two days. On the seventh day, everyone must stay where he is; no one may leave his place.”

³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³²Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of manna for the generations to come, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

³³So Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with an omer of manna. Then place it before the LORD to be preserved for the generations to come.” ³⁴And Aaron placed it in front of the Testimony, to be preserved just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³⁵The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. ³⁶(Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”

³But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!”

⁵And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.”

So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

⁸After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses had instructed him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed. ¹²When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

¹³So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner. ¹⁶“Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

¹Now Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about all that God had done for Moses and His people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

²After Moses had sent back his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro had received her, ³along with her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.” ⁴The other son was named Eliezer, for Moses had said, “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

⁵Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’ wife and sons, came to him in the desert, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. ⁶He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and went into the tent. ⁸Then Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships they had encountered along the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.

⁹And Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had rescued from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰Jethro declared, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for He did this when they treated Israel with arrogance.”

¹²Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

¹³The next day Moses took his seat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning until evening. ¹⁴When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning till evening?”

¹⁵“Because the people come to me to inquire of God,” Moses replied. ¹⁶“Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me to judge between one man and another, and I make known to them the statutes and laws of God.”

¹⁷But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their causes to Him. ²⁰Teach them the statutes and laws, and show them the way to live and the work they must do.

²¹Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

²²Have these men judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you any major issue, but all minor cases they can judge on their own, so that your load may be lightened as they share it with you.

²³If you follow this advice and God so directs you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people can go home in peace.”

²⁴Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. ²⁵So Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²⁶And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.

²⁷Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own land.

¹In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. ²After they had set out from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

³Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, “This is what you are to tell the house of Jacob and explain to the sons of Israel: ⁴‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. ⁶And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”

⁷So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. ⁸And all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the LORD has spoken.”

So Moses brought their words back to the LORD.

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in you.”

And Moses relayed to the LORD what the people had said.

¹⁰Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes ¹¹and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

¹²And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. ¹³No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows—whether man or beast, he must not live.’

Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

¹⁴When Moses came down from the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵“Be prepared for the third day,” he said to the people. “Do not draw near to a woman.”

¹⁶On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled. ¹⁷Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. ¹⁹And as the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

²⁰The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the summit. So Moses went up, ²¹and the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD, lest many of them perish. ²²Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.”

²³But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, for You solemnly warned us, ‘Put a boundary around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”

²⁴And the LORD replied, “Go down and bring Aaron with you. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, or He will break out against them.”

²⁵So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

¹And God spoke all these words:

²“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

⁸Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

¹²Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³You shall not murder.

¹⁴You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵You shall not steal.

¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance. ¹⁹“Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰“Do not be afraid,” Moses replied. “For God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, to keep you from sinning.” ²¹And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

²²Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. ²³You are not to make any gods alongside Me; you are not to make for yourselves gods of silver or gold.

²⁴You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it. ²⁶And you must not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’

¹“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:

²If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. ³If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. ⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’ ⁶then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.

⁷And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. ⁸If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her. ⁹And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter. ¹⁰If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife. ¹¹If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.

¹²Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death. ¹³If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

¹⁴But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.

¹⁵Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.

¹⁶Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.

¹⁷Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.

¹⁸If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, ¹⁹then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, as long as the other can get up and walk around outside with his staff. Nevertheless, he must compensate the man for his lost work and see that he is completely healed.

²⁰If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished. ²¹However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.

²²If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows. ²³But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life— ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.

²⁶If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. ²⁷And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.

²⁸If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.

²⁹But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death. ³⁰If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

³¹If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.

³²If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

³³If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.

³⁵If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal. ³⁶But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.

¹“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

²If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed. ³But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed.

A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.

⁴If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—he must pay back double.

⁵If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and allows them to stray so that they graze in someone else’s field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard.

⁶If a fire breaks out and spreads to thornbushes so that it consumes stacked or standing grain, or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.

⁷If a man gives his neighbor money or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. ⁸If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property.

⁹In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.

¹⁰If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any other animal to be cared for by his neighbor, but it dies or is injured or stolen while no one is watching, ¹¹an oath before the LORD shall be made between the parties to determine whether or not the man has taken his neighbor’s property. The owner must accept the oath and require no restitution.

¹²But if the animal was actually stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner.

¹³If the animal was torn to pieces, he shall bring it as evidence; he need not make restitution for the torn carcass.

¹⁴If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies while its owner is not present, he must make full restitution. ¹⁵If the owner was present, no restitution is required. If the animal was rented, the fee covers the loss.

¹⁶If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged in marriage and sleeps with her, he must pay the full dowry for her to be his wife. ¹⁷If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, the man still must pay an amount comparable to the bridal price of a virgin.

¹⁸You must not allow a sorceress to live.

¹⁹Whoever lies with an animal must surely be put to death.

²⁰If anyone sacrifices to any god other than the LORD alone, he must be set apart for destruction.

²¹You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²²You must not mistreat any widow or orphan. ²³If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry. ²⁴My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.

²⁵If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

²⁶If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset, ²⁷because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

²⁸You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

²⁹You must not hold back offerings from your granaries or vats. You are to give Me the firstborn of your sons. ³⁰You shall do likewise with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day you are to give them to Me.

³¹You are to be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs.

¹“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.

²You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. ³And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

⁴If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

⁵If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it.

⁶You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. ⁷Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

⁸Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

⁹Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, ¹¹but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

¹²For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

¹³Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

¹⁴Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

¹⁵You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

¹⁶You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field.

And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

¹⁷Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.

¹⁸You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.

¹⁹Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.

You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²⁰Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.

²²But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. ²³For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.

²⁴You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

²⁵So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you. ²⁶No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run. ²⁸I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

²⁹I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you. ³⁰Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.

³¹And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. ³²You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. ³³They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance. ²Moses alone shall approach the LORD, but the others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”

³When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD.

Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.

⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splattered on the altar. ⁷Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

⁸So Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.

¹²Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

¹³So Moses set out with Joshua his attendant and went up on the mountain of God. ¹⁴And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute can go to them.”

¹⁵When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, ¹⁶and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. ¹⁷And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.

¹⁸Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive My offering from every man whose heart compels him. ³This is the offering you are to accept from them:

gold, silver, and bronze;

⁴blue, purple, and scarlet yarn;

fine linen and goat hair;

⁵ram skins dyed red and fine leather;

acacia wood;

⁶olive oil for the light;

spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

⁷and onyx stones and gemstones to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

⁸And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. ⁹You must make the tabernacle and design all its furnishings according to the pattern I show you.

¹⁰And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ¹¹Overlay it with pure gold both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.

¹²Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other. ¹³And make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, in order to carry it. ¹⁵The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed. ¹⁶And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.

¹⁷And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ¹⁸Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat, ¹⁹one cherub on one end and one on the other, all made from one piece of gold. ²⁰And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.

²¹Set the mercy seat atop the ark and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark.

²²And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

²³You are also to make a table of acacia wood two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. ²⁴Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. ²⁵And make a rim around it a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim.

²⁶Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners at its four legs. ²⁷The rings are to be close to the rim, to serve as holders for the poles used to carry the table. ²⁸Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them.

²⁹You are also to make the plates and dishes, as well as the pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them out of pure gold.

³⁰And place the Bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.

³¹Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.

³²Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. ³³There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extend from the lampstand.

³⁴And on the lampstand there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals. ³⁵For the six branches that extend from the lampstand, a bud must be under the first pair of branches, a bud under the second pair, and a bud under the third pair. ³⁶The buds and branches are to be all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

³⁷Make seven lamps and set them up on the lampstand so that they illuminate the area in front of it. ³⁸The wick trimmers and their trays must be of pure gold. ³⁹The lampstand and all these utensils shall be made from a talent of pure gold.

⁴⁰See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

¹“You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains of finely spun linen, each with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and cherubim skillfully worked into them. ²Each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide —all curtains the same size.

³Five of the curtains are to be joined together, and the other five joined as well. ⁴Make loops of blue material on the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and do the same for the end curtain in the second set.

⁵Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the second set, so that the loops line up opposite one another. ⁶Make fifty gold clasps as well, and join the curtains together with the clasps, so that the tabernacle will be a unit.

⁷You are to make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven curtains in all. ⁸Each of the eleven curtains is to be the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.

⁹Join five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another. Then fold the sixth curtain over double at the front of the tent.

¹⁰Make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding curtain in the second set. ¹¹Make fifty bronze clasps and put them through the loops to join the tent together as a unit.

¹²As for the overlap that remains of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over shall hang down over the back of the tabernacle. ¹³And the tent curtains will be a cubit longer on either side, and the excess will hang over the sides of the tabernacle to cover it.

¹⁴Also make a covering for the tent out of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of fine leather.

¹⁵You are to construct upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ¹⁶Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ¹⁷Two tenons must be connected to each other for each frame. Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way.

¹⁸Construct twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle, ¹⁹with forty silver bases under the twenty frames—two bases for each frame, one under each tenon.

²⁰For the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, make twenty frames ²¹and forty silver bases—two bases under each frame.

²²Make six frames for the rear of the tabernacle, the west side, ²³and two frames for the two back corners of the tabernacle, ²⁴coupled together from bottom to top and fitted into a single ring. These will serve as the two corners. ²⁵So there are to be eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

²⁶You are also to make five crossbars of acacia wood for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, ²⁷five for those on the other side, and five for those on the rear side of the tabernacle, to the west.

²⁸The central crossbar in the middle of the frames shall extend from one end to the other. ²⁹Overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. Also overlay the crossbars with gold.

³⁰So you are to set up the tabernacle according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

³¹Make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it. ³²Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood, overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. ³³And hang the veil from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the veil. So the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

³⁴Put the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place. ³⁵And place the table outside the veil on the north side of the tabernacle, and put the lampstand opposite the table, on the south side.

³⁶For the entrance to the tent, you are to make a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. ³⁷Make five posts of acacia wood for the curtain, overlay them with gold hooks, and cast five bronze bases for them.

¹“You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.

³Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots for removing ashes, its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its meat forks, and its firepans. ⁴Construct for it a grate of bronze mesh, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the mesh. ⁵Set the grate beneath the ledge of the altar, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar.

⁶Additionally, make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. ⁷The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried.

⁸Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

⁹You are also to make a courtyard for the tabernacle. On the south side of the courtyard make curtains of finely spun linen, a hundred cubits long on one side, ¹⁰with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and silver hooks and bands on the posts.

¹¹Likewise there are to be curtains on the north side, a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. ¹²The curtains on the west side of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits wide, with ten posts and ten bases.

¹³The east side of the courtyard, toward the sunrise, is to be fifty cubits wide. ¹⁴Make the curtains on one side fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases, ¹⁵and the curtains on the other side fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

¹⁶The gate of the courtyard shall be twenty cubits long, with a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It shall have four posts and four bases.

¹⁷All the posts around the courtyard shall have silver bands, silver hooks, and bronze bases. ¹⁸The entire courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide, with curtains of finely spun linen five cubits high, and with bronze bases. ¹⁹All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, including all its tent pegs and the tent pegs of the courtyard, shall be made of bronze.

²⁰And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

²¹In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.

¹“Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. ²Make holy garments for your brother Aaron, to give him glory and splendor.

³You are to instruct all the skilled craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, to make garments for Aaron’s consecration, so that he may serve Me as priest. ⁴These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make these holy garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so that they may serve Me as priests. ⁵They shall use gold, along with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.

⁶They are to make the ephod of finely spun linen embroidered with gold, and with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. ⁷It shall have two shoulder pieces attached at two of its corners, so it can be fastened. ⁸And the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod must be of one piece, of the same workmanship—with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen.

⁹Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: ¹⁰six of their names on one stone and the remaining six on the other, in the order of their birth. ¹¹Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings. ¹²Fasten both stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear their names on his two shoulders as a memorial before the LORD.

¹³Fashion gold filigree settings ¹⁴and two chains of pure gold, made of braided cord work; and attach these chains to the settings.

¹⁵You are also to make a breastpiece of judgment with the same workmanship as the ephod. Construct it with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen. ¹⁶It must be square when folded over double, a span long and a span wide.

¹⁷And mount on it a setting of gemstones, four rows of stones:

In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald;

¹⁸in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;

¹⁹in the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;

²⁰and in the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.

Mount these stones in gold filigree settings.

²¹The twelve stones are to correspond to the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

²²For the breastpiece, make braided chains like cords of pure gold. ²³You are also to make two gold rings and fasten them to the two corners of the breastpiece. ²⁴Then fasten the two gold chains to the two gold rings at the corners of the breastpiece, ²⁵and fasten the other ends of the two chains to the two filigree settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front.

²⁶Make two more gold rings and attach them to the other two corners of the breastpiece, on the inside edge next to the ephod.

²⁷Make two additional gold rings and attach them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, on its front, near its seam just above its woven waistband. ²⁸The rings of the breastpiece shall be tied to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue yarn, so that the breastpiece is above the waistband of the ephod and does not swing out from the ephod.

²⁹Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he shall bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of judgment, as a continual reminder before the LORD.

³⁰And place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece of judgment, so that they will also be over Aaron’s heart whenever he comes before the LORD. Aaron will continually carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD.

³¹You are to make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth, ³²with an opening at its top in the center. Around the opening shall be a woven collar with an opening like that of a garment, so that it will not tear.

³³Make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn all the way around the lower hem, with gold bells between them, ³⁴alternating the gold bells and pomegranates around the lower hem of the robe.

³⁵Aaron must wear the robe whenever he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he enters or exits the sanctuary before the LORD, so that he will not die.

³⁶You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal:

HOLY TO THE LORD.

³⁷Fasten to it a blue cord to mount it on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. ³⁸And it will be worn on Aaron’s forehead, so that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate with regard to all their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be acceptable before the LORD.

³⁹You are to weave the tunic with fine linen, make the turban of fine linen, and fashion an embroidered sash. ⁴⁰Make tunics, sashes, and headbands for Aaron’s sons, to give them glory and splendor.

⁴¹After you put these garments on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them so that they may serve Me as priests.

⁴²Make linen undergarments to cover their bare flesh, extending from waist to thigh. ⁴³Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants.

¹“Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish, ²along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, ³put them in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams.

⁴Then present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. ⁵Take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastplate. Fasten the ephod on him with its woven waistband. ⁶Put the turban on his head and attach the holy diadem to the turban. ⁷Then take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head.

⁸Present his sons as well and clothe them with tunics. ⁹Wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and tie headbands on them. The priesthood shall be theirs by a permanent statute. In this way you are to ordain Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰You are to present the bull at the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ¹¹And you shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹²Take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

¹⁵Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ¹⁶You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and splatter it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁷Cut the ram into pieces, wash the entrails and legs, and place them with its head and other pieces. ¹⁸Then burn the entire ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.

¹⁹Take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ²⁰Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. ²¹And take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, as well as on his sons and their garments. Then he and his garments will be consecrated, as well as his sons and their garments.

²²Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh (since this is a ram for ordination), ²³along with one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. ²⁴Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering. ²⁵Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar atop the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma before the LORD; it is a food offering to the LORD.

²⁶Take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it before the LORD as a wave offering, and it will be your portion. ²⁷Consecrate for Aaron and his sons the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the heave offering that is lifted up from the ram of ordination. ²⁸This will belong to Aaron and his sons as a regular portion from the Israelites, for it is the heave offering the Israelites will make to the LORD from their peace offerings.

²⁹The holy garments that belong to Aaron will belong to his sons after him, so they can be anointed and ordained in them. ³⁰The son who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place must wear them for seven days.

³¹You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³²At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. ³³They must eat those things by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no outsider may eat them, because these things are sacred. ³⁴And if any of the meat of ordination or any bread is left until the morning, you are to burn up the remainder. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.

³⁵This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all that I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. ³⁶Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.

³⁸This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old. ³⁹Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight. ⁴⁰With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. ⁴¹And offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.

⁴²For the generations to come, this burnt offering shall be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you. ⁴³I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory. ⁴⁴So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests.

⁴⁵Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. ⁴⁶And they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.

I am the LORD their God.

¹“You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense. ²It is to be square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high. Its horns must be of one piece. ³Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it. ⁴And make two gold rings below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it. ⁵Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

⁶Place the altar in front of the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony —before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you. ⁷And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps. ⁸When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he must burn the incense perpetually before the LORD for the generations to come. ⁹On this altar you must not offer unauthorized incense or a burnt offering or grain offering; nor are you to pour a drink offering on it.

¹⁰Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹²“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered. ¹³Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.

¹⁴Everyone twenty years of age or older who crosses over must give this offering to the LORD. ¹⁵In making the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives, the rich shall not give more than a half shekel, nor shall the poor give less. ¹⁶Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will serve as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD to make atonement for your lives.”

¹⁷And the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁸“You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Set it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it, ¹⁹with which Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet. ²⁰Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD, they must wash with water so that they will not die. ²¹Thus they are to wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this shall be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”

²²Then the LORD said to Moses, ²³“Take the finest spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half that amount (250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane, ²⁴500 shekels of cassia —all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. ²⁵Prepare from these a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer; it will be a sacred anointing oil.

²⁶Use this oil to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, ²⁷the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, ²⁸the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. ²⁹You are to consecrate them so that they will be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. ³⁰Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.

³¹And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘This will be My sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. ³²It must not be used to anoint an ordinary man, and you must not make anything like it with the same formula. It is holy, and it must be holy to you. ³³Anyone who mixes perfume like it or puts it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures, ³⁵and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. ³⁷You are never to use this formula to make incense for yourselves; you shall regard it as holy to the LORD. ³⁸Anyone who makes something like it to enjoy its fragrance shall be cut off from his people.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship, ⁴to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, ⁵to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every craft.

⁶Moreover, I have selected Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, as his assistant.

I have also given skill to all the craftsmen, that they may fashion all that I have commanded you:

⁷the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat upon it, and all the other furnishings of the tent— ⁸the table with its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, ⁹the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand— ¹⁰as well as the woven garments, both the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons to serve as priests, ¹¹in addition to the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

¹²And the LORD said to Moses, ¹³“Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. ¹⁴Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who profanes it must surely be put to death. Whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death.

¹⁶The Israelites must keep the Sabbath, celebrating it as a permanent covenant for the generations to come. ¹⁷It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”

¹⁸When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

¹Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”

²So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

³Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

⁶So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁹The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. ¹³Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”

¹⁴So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

¹⁵Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. ¹⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “The sound of war is in the camp.”

¹⁸But Moses replied:

“It is neither the cry of victory nor the cry of defeat;

I hear the sound of singing!”

¹⁹As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

²¹“What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?”

²²“Do not be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil. ²³They told me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!’

²⁴So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, let him take it off,’ and they gave it to me. And when I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!”

²⁵Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies. ²⁶So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.”

And all the Levites gathered around him.

²⁷He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

²⁸The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell dead.

²⁹Afterward, Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for service to the LORD, since each man went against his son and his brother; so the LORD has bestowed a blessing on you this day.”

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

³¹So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves. ³²Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”

³³The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book. ³⁴Now go, lead the people to the place I described. Behold, My angel shall go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ²And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ³Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one put on any of his jewelry. ⁵For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I should go with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’”

⁶So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it at a distance outside the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting, and anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. ⁸Then, whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand at the entrances to their own tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹As Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance, and the LORD would speak with Moses. ¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up and worship, each one at the entrance to his own tent.

¹¹Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun would not leave the tent.

¹²Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’ ¹³Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.”

¹⁴And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵“If Your Presence does not go with us,” Moses replied, “do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸Then Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.”

¹⁹“I will cause all My goodness to pass before you,” the LORD replied, “and I will proclaim My name—the LORD—in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

²⁰But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”

²¹The LORD continued, “There is a place near Me where you are to stand upon a rock, ²²and when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ²Be ready in the morning, and come up on Mount Sinai to present yourself before Me on the mountaintop. ³No one may go up with you; in fact, no one may be seen anywhere on the mountain—not even the flocks or herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

⁴So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the originals. He rose early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hands, he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him.

⁵And the LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD. ⁶Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out:
“The LORD, the LORD God,
is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger,
abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, ⁷maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations,
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished;
He will visit the iniquity of the fathers
on their children and grandchildren
to the third and fourth generations.”

⁸Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped. ⁹“O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

¹⁰And the LORD said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in any nation in all the world. All the people among whom you live will see the LORD’s work, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you.

¹¹Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ¹²Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst. ¹³Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles. ¹⁴For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

¹⁵Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. ¹⁶And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

¹⁷You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.

¹⁸You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹The first offspring of every womb belongs to Me, including all the firstborn males among your livestock, whether cattle or sheep. ²⁰You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.

²²And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. ²⁴For I will drive out the nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God.

²⁵Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything leavened, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

²⁶Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.

You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷The LORD also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

²⁸So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

²⁹And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD. ³⁰Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses, and behold, his face was radiant. And they were afraid to approach him.

³¹But Moses called out to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³²And after this all the Israelites came near, and Moses commanded them to do everything that the LORD had told him on Mount Sinai.

³³When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵and the Israelites would see that the face of Moses was radiant. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

¹Then Moses assembled the whole congregation of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do: ²For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death. ³Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

⁴Moses also told the whole congregation of Israel, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ⁵Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the LORD:

gold, silver, and bronze;

⁶blue, purple, and scarlet yarn;

fine linen and goat hair;

⁷ram skins dyed red and fine leather;

acacia wood;

⁸olive oil for the light;

spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

⁹and onyx stones and gemstones to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

¹⁰Let every skilled craftsman among you come and make everything that the LORD has commanded:

¹¹the tabernacle with its tent and covering, its clasps and frames, its crossbars, posts, and bases;

¹²the ark with its poles and mercy seat, and the veil to shield it;

¹³the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the Bread of the Presence;

¹⁴the lampstand for light with its accessories and lamps and oil for the light;

¹⁵the altar of incense with its poles;

the anointing oil and fragrant incense;

the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle;

¹⁶the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils;

the basin with its stand;

¹⁷the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the gate of the courtyard;

¹⁸the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, along with their ropes;

¹⁹and the woven garments for ministering in the holy place—both the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.”

²⁰Then the whole congregation of Israel withdrew from the presence of Moses. ²¹And everyone whose heart stirred him and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.

²²So all who had willing hearts, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings, rings and necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry. And they all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.

²³Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, or articles of fine leather, brought them. ²⁴And all who could present an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the LORD. Also, everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the service brought it.

²⁵Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen. ²⁶And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair.

²⁷The leaders brought onyx stones and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece, ²⁸as well as spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

²⁹So all the men and women of the Israelites whose hearts prompted them brought a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.

³⁰Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship, ³²to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, ³³to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every artistic craft.

³⁴And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and as weavers—as artistic designers of every kind of craft.

¹“So Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person are to carry out everything commanded by the LORD, who has given them skill and ability to know how to perform all the work of constructing the sanctuary.”

²Then Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person whom the LORD had gifted—everyone whose heart stirred him to come and do the work. ³They received from Moses all the contributions that the Israelites had brought to carry out the service of constructing the sanctuary.

Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning,

⁴so that all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work ⁵and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD has commanded us to do.”

⁶After Moses had given an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing more, ⁷since what they already had was more than enough to perform all the work.

⁸All the skilled craftsmen among the workmen made the ten curtains for the tabernacle. They were made of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim skillfully worked into them. ⁹Each curtain was twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide; all the curtains were the same size. ¹⁰And he joined five of the curtains together, and the other five he joined as well.

¹¹He made loops of blue material on the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and also on the end curtain in the second set. ¹²He made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the second set, so that the loops lined up opposite one another. ¹³He also made fifty gold clasps to join the curtains together, so that the tabernacle was a unit.

¹⁴He then made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven curtains in all. ¹⁵Each of the eleven curtains was the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. ¹⁶He joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another. ¹⁷He made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding curtain in the second set. ¹⁸He also made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a unit.

¹⁹Additionally, he made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of fine leather.

²⁰Next, he constructed upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ²¹Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ²²Two tenons were connected to each other for each frame. He made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way.

²³He constructed twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁴with forty silver bases to put under the twenty frames—two bases for each frame, one under each tenon.

²⁵For the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty frames ²⁶and forty silver bases—two bases under each frame.

²⁷He made six frames for the rear of the tabernacle, the west side, ²⁸and two frames for the two back corners of the tabernacle, ²⁹coupled together from bottom to top and fitted into a single ring. He made both corners in this way. ³⁰So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

³¹He also made five crossbars of acacia wood for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, ³²five for those on the other side, and five for those on the rear side of the tabernacle, to the west.

³³He made the central crossbar to run through the center of the frames, from one end to the other. ³⁴And he overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. He also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

³⁵Next, he made the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.

³⁶He also made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold, along with gold hooks; and he cast four silver bases for the posts.

³⁷For the entrance to the tent, he made a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, ³⁸together with five posts and their hooks.

He overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold, and their five bases were bronze.

¹Bezalel went on to construct the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ²He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. ³And he cast four gold rings for its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other. ⁴Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵He inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry it.

⁶He constructed a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ⁷He made two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat, ⁸one cherub on one end and one on the other, all made from one piece of gold. ⁹And the cherubim had wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the mercy seat.

¹⁰He also made the table of acacia wood two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. ¹¹He overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding around it. ¹²And he made a rim around it a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim.

¹³He cast four gold rings for the table and fastened them to the four corners at its four legs. ¹⁴The rings were placed close to the rim, to serve as holders for the poles used to carry the table. ¹⁵He made the poles of acacia wood for carrying the table and overlaid them with gold.

¹⁶He also made the utensils for the table out of pure gold: its plates and dishes, as well as its bowls and pitchers for pouring drink offerings.

¹⁷Then he made the lampstand out of pure hammered gold, all of one piece: its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals. ¹⁸Six branches extended from the sides, three on one side and three on the other. ¹⁹There were three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extended from the lampstand.

²⁰And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals. ²¹A bud was under the first pair of branches that extended from the lampstand, a bud under the second pair, and a bud under the third pair. ²²The buds and branches were all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

²³He also made its seven lamps, its wick trimmers, and trays of pure gold. ²⁴He made the lampstand and all its utensils from a talent of pure gold.

²⁵He made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high. Its horns were of one piece. ²⁶And he overlaid with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns. Then he made a molding of gold around it.

²⁷He made two gold rings below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it. ²⁸And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

²⁹He also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

¹Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²He made a horn at each of its four corners, so that the horns and altar were of one piece, and he overlaid the altar with bronze.

³He made all the altar’s utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks, and firepans. ⁴He made a grate of bronze mesh for the altar under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom.

⁵At the four corners of the bronze grate he cast four rings as holders for the poles. ⁶And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. ⁷Then he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. He made the altar with boards so that it was hollow.

⁸Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁹Then he constructed the courtyard. The south side of the courtyard was a hundred cubits long and had curtains of finely spun linen, ¹⁰with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. ¹¹The north side was also a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver. ¹²The west side was fifty cubits long and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver. ¹³And the east side, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits long.

¹⁴The curtains on one side of the entrance were fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases. ¹⁵And the curtains on the other side were also fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases as well. ¹⁶All the curtains around the courtyard were made of finely spun linen. ¹⁷The bases for the posts were bronze, the hooks and bands were silver, and the plating for the tops of the posts was silver. So all the posts of the courtyard were banded with silver.

¹⁸The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It was twenty cubits long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits high, ¹⁹with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks were silver, as well as the bands and the plating of their tops. ²⁰All the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

²¹This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. ²²Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the LORD had commanded Moses. ²³With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.

²⁴All the gold from the wave offering used for the work on the sanctuary totaled 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.

²⁵The silver from those numbered among the congregation totaled 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel— ²⁶a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.

²⁷The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent per base.

²⁸With the 1,775 shekels of silver he made the hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and supplied bands for them.

²⁹The bronze from the wave offering totaled 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. ³⁰He used it to make the bases for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grating, all the utensils for the altar, ³¹the bases for the surrounding courtyard and its gate, and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and its surrounding courtyard.

¹From the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn they made specially woven garments for ministry in the sanctuary, as well as the holy garments for Aaron, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²Bezalel made the ephod of finely spun linen embroidered with gold, and with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. ³They hammered out thin sheets of gold and cut threads from them to interweave with the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen—the work of a skilled craftsman. ⁴They made shoulder pieces for the ephod, which were attached at two of its corners, so it could be fastened. ⁵And the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod was of one piece with the ephod, of the same workmanship—with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁶They mounted the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved like a seal with the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷Then they fastened them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the LORD had commanded Moses.