The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
Abraham said about Sarah his wife, âShe is my sister.â Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, âBehold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a manâs wife.â
God said to him in the dream, âYes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didnât allow you to touch her.
Now therefore, restore the manâs wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you donât restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.â
Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, âWhat have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!â
Abimelech said to Abraham, âWhat did you see, that you have done this thing?â
Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
Therefore she said to Abraham, âCast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.â
Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelechâs servants had violently taken away.
Jacob said, âSwear to me first.â He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, âShe is my sister,â for he was afraid to say, âMy wifeâ, lest, he thought, âthe men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.â
When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
Abimelech called Isaac, and said, âBehold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, âShe is my sister?ââ Isaac said to him, âBecause I said, âLest I die because of her.ââ
Abimelech said, âWhat is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!â
Now all the wells which his fatherâs servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.â
His mother said to him, âLet your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.â
He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.
Jacob said to his father, âI am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.â
Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, âThe voice is Jacobâs voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.â
He said, âAre you really my son Esau?â He said, âI am.â
As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
Isaac his father said to him, âWho are you?â He said, âI am your son, your firstborn, Esau.â
He said, âYour brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.â
He said, âIsnât he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.â He said, âHavenât you reserved a blessing for me?â
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, âThe days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.â
The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, âBehold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
until your brotherâs anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?â
In the evening, he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her.
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, âGive me children, or else I will die.â
She said, âBehold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.â
She gave him Bilhah her servant as wife, and Jacob went in to her.
Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, âYou must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my sonâs mandrakes.â He lay with her that night.
Jacob saw the expression on Labanâs face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.
Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her fatherâs.
Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didnât tell him that he was running away.
Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your fatherâs house, but why have you stolen my gods?â
Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.â For Jacob didnât know that Rachel had stolen them.
Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camelâs saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didnât find them.
Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, âWhat is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?
Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.
Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, âGet me this young lady as a wife.â
Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.
The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacobâs daughter; a thing ought not to be done.
The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
and said to them, âWe canât do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.
Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;
But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone.â
Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamorâs son.
The young man didnât wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacobâs daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.
Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.
All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacobâs sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinahâs brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechemâs house, and went away.
Jacobâs sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.
Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, âYou have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.â
They said, âShould he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?â
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his fatherâs concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esauâs son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esauâs wife.
This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his fatherâs wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.
His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldnât speak peaceably to him.
Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.
His brothers said to him, âWill you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?â They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words.
They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.
They said to one another, âBehold, this dreamer comes.
Come now therefore, and letâs kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, âAn evil animal has devoured him.â We will see what will become of his dreams.â
Reuben said to them, âShed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on himââthat he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.
When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him;
and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.
Judah said to his brothers, âWhat profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, and letâs sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.â His brothers listened to him.
Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt.
Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasnât in the pit; and he tore his clothes.
They took Josephâs coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in the blood.
They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, âWe have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your sonâs coat or not.â
The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaohâs, the captain of the guard.
Judah saw there a certain Canaanite man named Shuaâs daughter. He took her, and went in to her.
Er, Judahâs firstborn, was wicked in Yahwehâs sight. Yahweh killed him.
Onan knew that the offspring wouldnât be his; and when he went in to his brotherâs wife, he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother.
The thing which he did was evil in Yahwehâs sight, and he killed him also.
She took off her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasnât given to him as a wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
He turned to her by the way, and said, âPlease come, let me come in to you,â for he didnât know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, âWhat will you give me, that you may come in to me?â
He said, âI will send you a young goat from the flock.â She said, âWill you give me a pledge, until you send it?â
He said, âWhat pledge will I give you?â She said, âYour signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.â He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him.
Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the womanâs hand, but he didnât find her.
Then he asked the men of her place, saying, âWhere is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?â They said, âThere has been no prostitute here.â
He returned to Judah, and said, âI havenât found her; and also the men of the place said, âThere has been no prostitute here.ââ
Judah said, âLet her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this young goat, and you havenât found her.â
About three months later, Judah was told, âTamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute. Moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution.â Judah said, âBring her out, and let her be burned.â
When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, âBy the man, whose these are, I am with child.â She also said, âPlease discern whose are theseâthe signet, and the cords, and the staff.â
Judah acknowledged them, and said, âShe is more righteous than I, because I didnât give her to Shelah, my son.â He knew her again no more.












