Genesis 32–41

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them, “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: Your servant Jacob says, ‘I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. Now I send this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’” When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you—with four hundred men.” In great fear and distress, Jacob divided the people with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps.

Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, You who said to me, ‘Return to your country and your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I fear him. Yet You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper.’” Jacob spent the night there and selected gifts from his possessions for Esau: goats, sheep, camels, cows, bulls, and donkeys. He sent them ahead in separate droves, saying, “I will appease him with the gifts that go before me; after that, perhaps he will receive me.”

That night Jacob arose, took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he had not prevailed against Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it. Then the man said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with four hundred men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the maidservants, and he himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Jacob urged Esau to accept the gifts, saying, “Please accept my blessing that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me.” So Esau accepted.

Esau offered to travel with Jacob, but Jacob declined and journeyed at his own pace to Succoth, and then to Shechem in the land of Canaan. There he bought a piece of land, pitched his tent, and erected an altar called El-Elohe-Israel.

Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite saw her, he took her and violated her. But his heart was drawn to Dinah, and he spoke tenderly to her. Hamor and Shechem came to Jacob and his sons asking that Dinah be given in marriage, and Jacob’s sons answered deceitfully that the men of the city must be circumcised first.

The men of Shechem agreed and were circumcised. On the third day, while they were still in pain, Simeon and Levi took their swords, killed all the males in the city, and rescued Dinah. Jacob later rebuked them, saying they had made him odious among the inhabitants of the land.

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob told his household to put away the foreign gods among them, purify themselves, and change their garments. They buried the foreign gods under the oak near Shechem. God appeared to Jacob again at Bethel, blessed him, and said, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob. Your name will be Israel.” God reaffirmed the promises of nation, kings, and land.

As they journeyed from Bethel, Rachel went into labor and gave birth to Benjamin, but she died and was buried on the way to Ephrath. Reuben lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. The twelve sons of Jacob were listed, and Isaac died at Mamre, and Esau and Jacob buried him.

This is the account of Esau, who is Edom. Esau took wives from the daughters of Canaan and from Ishmael’s line. He separated from Jacob because their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. His descendants became chiefs and kings in the land of Edom, including many named clans and rulers before any king reigned over the Israelites.

Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojourning, in the land of Canaan. Joseph, seventeen years old, was tending the flock with his brothers. Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made him a robe of many colors. Joseph had a dream in which his brothers’ sheaves bowed to his sheaf, and another dream in which the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. His brothers hated him even more, but his father kept the matter in mind.

When Joseph went to seek his brothers near Shechem and Dothan, they saw him from a distance and plotted to kill him. Reuben persuaded them not to shed blood, intending to rescue him later. But Judah suggested selling him to Ishmaelite traders, and they sold Joseph for twenty shekels of silver. So Joseph was taken down to Egypt.

The brothers dipped Joseph’s robe in goat’s blood and brought it to Jacob, who believed that a wild animal had devoured him. Jacob mourned deeply, refusing to be comforted. Meanwhile the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.

At that time Judah left his brothers and married the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. She bore him Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er was wicked in the LORD’s sight and was put to death. Onan refused to raise up offspring for his brother through Tamar, so he also died. Judah then told Tamar to remain a widow in her father’s house until Shelah grew up.

After Judah’s wife died, Tamar disguised herself and sat by the road where Judah would pass. Judah went in to her, not knowing who she was, and gave her his seal, cord, and staff as a pledge. Tamar conceived by Judah and returned home.

When Tamar was found to be pregnant, Judah initially said she should be burned. But Tamar produced the seal, cord, and staff, and Judah declared, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” Tamar later bore twins, Perez and Zerah. Perez emerged as the firstborn after a struggle at birth.

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, bought him from the Ishmaelites. But the LORD was with Joseph, and he prospered. Potiphar saw that the LORD gave him success in everything, and Joseph found favor in his eyes and was put in charge of all Potiphar’s household.

Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But Joseph refused, saying that he could not sin against God or betray his master. Day after day she pressured him, and one day she seized his garment. Joseph fled, but she used the garment to accuse him falsely, and Potiphar had him thrown into prison.

But while Joseph was there in prison, the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. The warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, and whatever was done there, Joseph was responsible for it.

After some time, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker offended their master and were put in the same prison where Joseph was confined. Each had a dream on the same night. Joseph noticed their troubled faces and said, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” He interpreted the cupbearer’s dream to mean restoration in three days and asked him to remember him when he was restored.

Joseph interpreted the baker’s dream to mean execution in three days, and it happened exactly as Joseph had said on Pharaoh’s birthday. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

After two full years, Pharaoh dreamed of seven fat cows being devoured by seven gaunt cows, and seven healthy ears of grain being swallowed by seven thin ears. None of Egypt’s magicians could interpret the dreams. Then the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh. Joseph was quickly brought from the dungeon, shaved, and changed his clothes. Joseph said, “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Joseph explained that the two dreams were one: seven years of great abundance would be followed by seven years of severe famine. He advised Pharaoh to appoint a discerning man to store grain during the years of plenty.

Pharaoh said, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God resides?” So Pharaoh set Joseph over all the land of Egypt, gave him his signet ring, fine linen, a gold chain, and the name Zaphenath-paneah. Joseph gathered grain during the years of abundance. He married Asenath and had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Then the famine came over all the earth, but Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, and people from all lands came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.