Genesis 35

The Return to Bethel

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at oncet to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”s2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you.t Purify yourselves and change your clothes.s

3 Let us go up at oncet to Bethel. Then I will maket an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distresst and has been with me wherever I went.”t
4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possessiont and the rings that were in their ears.s Jacob buried thems under the oakt near Shechem

5 and they started on their journey.t The surrounding cities were afraid of God,t and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6 Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.t7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethels because there God had revealed himselft to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

8 (Deborah,s Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was namedt Oak of Weeping.)t
9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him.10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel.ts11 Then God said to him, “I am the sovereign God.t Be fruitful and multiply! A nation – even a company of nations – will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants!ts12 The land I gavet to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendantst I will also give this land.”13 Then God went up from the placet where he spoke with him.14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him.t He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it.t

15 Jacob named the places where God spoke with him Bethel.t
16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away,t Rachel went into labort – and her labor was hard.17 When her labor was at its hardest,t the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.”s18 With her dying breath,t she named him Ben-Oni.s But his father called him Benjamin instead.ts19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).s

20 Jacob set up a markert over her grave; it ist the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day.
21 Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder.s

22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations withts Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.
Jacob had twelve sons:

23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

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

26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher.
These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27 So Jacob came back to his father Isaac in Mamre,t to Kiriath Arbat (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.t28 Isaac lived to be 180 years old.t

29 Then Isaac breathed his last and joined his ancestors.t He died an old man who had lived a full life.t His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 36

The Descendants of Esau

1 What follows is the account of Esau (also known as Edom).s
2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites:t Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughtert of Zibeon the Hivite,

3 in addition to Basemath the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel,

5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the people in his household, his livestock, his animals, and all his possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan and went to a land some distance away fromt Jacob his brother7 because they had too many possessions to be able to stay together and the land where they had settledt was not able to support them because of their livestock.

8 So Esau (also known as Edom) lived in the hill country of Seir.t

9 This is the account of Esau, the fathers of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir.

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

11 The sons of Eliphaz were:
Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

12 Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sonst of Esau’s wife Adah.

13 These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sonst of Esau’s wife Basemath.

14 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughtert of Zibeon: She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Esau.
15 These were the chiefst among the descendantst of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,

16 chief Korah,s chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These were the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sonst of Adah.

17 These were the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these were the sonst of Esau’s wife Basemath.

18 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These were the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

19 These were the sons of Esau (also known as Edom), and these were their chiefs.
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite,s who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the descendantst of Seir in the land of Edom.

22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam;t Lotan’s sister was Timna.

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

24 These were the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah (who discovered the hot springst in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon).

25 These were the childrent of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

26 These were the sons of Dishon:t Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

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

28 These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 These were the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,

30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chief lists in the land of Seir.

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

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

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

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

35 When Husham died, Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the land of Moab, reigned in his place; the name of his city was Avith.

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

37 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth by the Rivert reigned in his place.

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

39 When Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor died, Hadads reigned in his place; the name of his city was Pau.t His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.
40 These were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,

43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlementst in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Genesis 37

Joseph’s Dreams

1 But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,t in the land of Canaan.s

2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son,t was taking care oft the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngstert working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives.t Joseph brought back a bad report about themts to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sonsts because he was a son born to him late in life,t and he made a specialt tunic for him.

4 When Joseph’st brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them,t they hated Josepht and were not able to speak to him kindly.t
5 Josepht had a dream,t and when he told his brothers about it,s they hated him even more.t6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:t7 There we were,t binding sheaves of grain in the middle of the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright and your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed downt to it!”

8 Then his brothers asked him, “Do you really think you will rule over us or have dominion over us?”t They hated him even moret because of his dream and because of what he said.s
9 Then he had another dream,t and told it to his brothers. “Look,”t he said. “I had another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”10 When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had?s Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?”t

11 His brothers were jealouss of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said.t
12 When his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brotherst are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I will send you to them.” “I’m ready,”s Joseph replied.t

14 So Jacobt said to him, “Go now and check ont the welfaret of your brothers and of the flocks, and bring me word.” So Jacobt sent him from the valley of Hebron.
15 When Joseph reached Shechem,t a man found him wanderingt in the field, so the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Please tellt me where they are grazing their flocks.”

17 The man said, “They left this area,t for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 Now Joseph’s brotherst saw him from a distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.19 They said to one another, “Here comes this master of dreams!t

20 Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wildt animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!”t
21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Josepht from their hands,s saying,t “Let’s not take his life!”t

22 Reuben continued,t “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.”s (Reuben said thist so he could rescue Josepht from themt and take him back to his father.)
23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped himt of his tunic, the special tunic that he wore.

24 Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. (Now the cistern was empty;t there was no water in it.)
25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked upt and sawt a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt.t26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him,t for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed.t

28 So when the Midianites merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulledt himt out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelitest then took Joseph to Egypt.
29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it!t He tore his clothes,30 returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?”31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a young goat,s and dipped the tunic in the blood.

32 Then they brought the special tunic to their fathert and said, “We found this. Determine now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”
33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him!s Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth,t and mourned for his son many days.

35 All his sons and daughters stood byt him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.”t So Joseph’st father wept for him.

36 Nowt in Egypt the Midianitess sold Josepht to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.s