Chapters 9
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1 01 - Genesis 1-10 38:02
Chapters 1-10 of the Book of Genesis from the Basic Bible, Old Testament.
Chapter One. At the first, God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was waste and without form, and it was dark on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good. And God made a division between the light and the dark, naming the light day and the dark night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters. And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it, and it was so.
And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen. And it was so. And God gave the dry land the name of Earth, and the waters together in their place were named Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit trees giving fruit in which is their seed after their sort. And it was so. And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit in which is its seed of its sort. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years, and let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night. And he made the stars. And God put them in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth, to have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.
And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird. And God saw that it was good. And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile, and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort.
And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image. Like us, and let him have rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth. And God made man in his image. In the image of God he made him. Male and female he made them. And God gave them his blessing, and said to them, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full, and be masters of it. Be rulers over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing moving on the earth. And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed.
They will be for your food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and every living thing moving on the face of the earth, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything which he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
Chapter Two And the heaven and the earth and all things in them were complete. And on the seventh day God came to the end of all his work. And on the seventh day he took his rest from all the work which he had done. And God gave his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he took his rest from all the work which he had made and done. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were made. In the day when the Lord God made earth and heaven, there were no plants of the field on the earth, and no grass had come up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to do work on the land. But a mist went up from the earth, watering all the face of the land, and the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And the Lord God made a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had made. And out of the earth the Lord made every tree to come, delighting the eye and good for food, and in the middle of the garden the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden, giving water to the garden, and from there it was parted and became four streams. The name of the first is Pishon, which goes round about all the land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is Gud. There is Bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon. This river goes round all the land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, which goes to the east of Assyria.
And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do work in it and take care of it. And the Lord God gave the man orders, saying, You may freely take of the fruit of every tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take, for on the day when you take of it death will certainly come to you. And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be by himself. I will make one like himself as a help to him. And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them, and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.
And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field, But Adam had no one like himself as a help. And the Lord God sent a deep sleep on the man, and took one of the bones from his side while he was sleeping, joining up the flesh again in its place. And the bone which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and took her to the man. And the man said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. Let her name be Woman, because she was taken out of man. For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife, and they will be one flesh. And the man and his wife were without clothing, and they had no sense of shame.
Chapter Three. Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden? And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you. And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you. For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and gave it to her husband.
And their eyes were open, and they were conscious that they had no clothing. And they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together. And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening wind. And the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God. And the voice of the Lord God came to the man, saying, Where are you? And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden, I was full of fear, because I was without clothing, and I kept myself from your eyes. And he said, Who gave you the knowledge that you were without clothing? Have you taken of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take? And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I took it.
And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake, and I took it. And the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and every beast of the field. You will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life. And there will be war between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. By him will your head be crushed, and by you his foot will be wounded. To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth. In sorrow will your children come to birth. Still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master. And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife, and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account.
In pain you will get your food from it all your life. Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food. With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken. For dust you are. And to the dust you will go back. And the man gave his wife the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all who have life. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skin for their clothing. And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil. And now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, He will go on living forever. So the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from which he was taken.
So he sent the man out, and at the east of the Garden of Eden he put winged ones and a flaming sword, turning every way to keep the way to the tree of life.
Chapter Four And the man had connection with Eve his wife, and she became with child, and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have got a man from the Lord. Then again she became with child, and gave birth to Abel his brother, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a farmer. And after a time Cain gave to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth, and Abel gave an offering of the young lambs of his flock. And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering, but in Cain and his offering he had no pleasure. And Cain was angry, and his face became sad. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why is your face sad? If you do well, will you not have honor? And if you do wrong, sin is waiting at the door, desiring to have you.
But do not let it be your master. And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field. And when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death. And the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I have no idea. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the earth. And now you are cursed from the earth, whose mouth is open to take your brother's blood from your hand. No longer will the earth give you her fruit as the reward of your work. You will be a wanderer in flight over the earth. And Cain said, My punishment is greater than my strength. You have sent me out this day from the face of the earth and from before your face.
I will be a wanderer in flight over the earth, and whoever sees me will put me to death. And the Lord said, Truly, if Cain is put to death, seven lives will be taken for his. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one might put him to death. And Cain went away from before the face of the Lord, and made his living place in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain had connection with his wife, and she became with child, and gave birth to Enoch. And he made a town, and gave the town the name of Enoch after his son. And Enoch had a son, Erod. And Erod became the father of Mahujael. And Mahujael became the father of Methushael. And Methushael became the father of Lamech. And Lamech had two wives.
The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of such as are living in tents and keep cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all players on instruments of music. And Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who was the father of every maker of cutting instruments of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah. And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Give ear to my voice. You wives of Lamech, give attention to my words, for I would put a man to death for a wound, and a young man for a blow. If seven lives are to be taken as punishment for Cain's death, seventy-seven will be taken for Lamechs. And Adam had connection with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name of Seth.
For she said, God has given me another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain put to death. And Seth had a son, and he gave him the name of Enosh. At this time, men first made use of the name of the Lord in worship.
Chapter Five. This is the Book of the Generations of Adam. In the day when God made man, he made him in the image of God. Male and female he made them, naming them man, and giving them his blessing on the day when they were made. Adam had been living for a hundred and thirty years when he had a son like himself after his image, and gave him the name of Seth. And after the birth of Seth, Adam went on living for eight hundred years and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Adam's life were nine hundred and thirty, and he came to his end. And Seth was a hundred and five years old when he became the father of Enosh. And he went on living after the birth of Enosh for eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.
And all the years of Seth's life were nine hundred and twelve, and he came to his end. And Enosh was ninety years old when he became the father of Kenan. And after the birth of Kenan, Enosh went on living for eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Enosh were 905, and he came to his end. And Kenan was 70 years old when he became the father of Mahalal-el. And after the birth of Mahalal-el, Kenan went on living for 840 years and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Kenan's life were 910, and he came to his end. And Mahalal-el was 65 years old when he became the father of Jared. And after the birth of Jared, Mahalalel went on living for eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters.
And all the years of Mahalalel's life were eight hundred and ninety-five, and he came to his end. And Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old when he became the father of Enoch. And Jared went on living after the birth of Enoch for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Jared's life were 962, and he came to his end. And Enoch was 65 years old when he became the father of Methuselah, and after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch went on in God's way for 300 years and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Enoch's life were 365, and Enoch went on in God's ways, and he was not seen again. For God took him. And Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old when he became the father of Lamech.
And after the birth of Lamech, Methuselah went on living for seven hundred and eighty-two years and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Methuselah's life were nine hundred and sixty-nine, and he came to his end. And Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old when he had a son, and he gave him the name of Noah, saying, Truly he will give us rest from our trouble, and the hard work of our hands, because of the earth which was cursed by God. And after the birth of Noah, Lamech went on living for five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. And all the years of Lamech's life were seven hundred and seventy-seven, and he came to his end. And when Noah was five hundred years old, He became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Chapter Six. And after a time when men were increasing on the earth and had daughters, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them. And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man forever, for he is only flesh. So the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years. There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days, and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children. These were the great men of old days, the men of great name. And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.
And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart. And the Lord said, I will take away man whom I have made from the face of the earth, even man and beast, and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air, for I have sorrow for having made them. But Noah had grace in the eyes of God. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was an upright man, and without sin in his generation he went in the ways of God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the earth was evil in God's eyes and full of violent ways. And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil, for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come.
The earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out. And this is the way you are to make it. It is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. You are to put a window in the ark, a cubit from the roof. And a door in the side of it. And you are to make it with a lower, and second, and third floors. For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything on the earth will come to an end. But with you I will make an agreement, and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you. They will be male and female. Two of every sort of bird and cattle, and of every sort of living thing which goes on the earth will you take with you to keep them from destruction, and make a store of every sort of food for yourself and them. And all these things Noah did. As God said, so he did.
Chapter 7 And the Lord said to Noah, Take all your family and go into the ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright. Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female, and of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth. For after seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights for the destruction of every living thing which I have made on the face of the earth. And Noah did everything which the Lord said he was to do. And Noah was six hundred years old when the waters came flowing over all the earth.
And Noah, with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the flowing of the waters. Of clean beasts, and of beasts which are not clean, and of birds, and of everything which goes on the earth, in twos, male and female, they went into the ark with Noah, as God had said. And after the seven days, the waters came over all the earth. In the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, All the fountains of the great deep came bursting through, and the windows of heaven were open, and rain came down on the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the same day Noah, with Shem, Ham, and Japheth his sons, and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark, and with them every sort of beast and cattle, and every sort of thing which goes on the earth, and every sort of bird.
They went with Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. Male and female of all flesh went in, as God had said, and the ark was shut by the Lord. And for forty days the waters were over all the earth, and the waters were increased so that the ark was lifted up high over the earth. And the waters overcame everything, and were increased greatly on the earth, and the ark was resting on the face of the waters. And the waters overcame everything on the earth, and all the mountains under heaven were covered. The waters went fifteen cubits higher till all the mountains were covered, and destruction came on every living thing moving on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and everything which went on the earth, and every man.
Everything on the dry land in which was the breath of life came to its end. Every living thing on the face of all the earth Man, and cattle, and things moving on the face of the earth, and birds of the air, came to destruction. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark were kept from death. And the waters were over the earth a hundred and fifty days.
Chapter Eight. And God kept Noah in mind, and all the living things and the cattle which were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters went down, and the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were shut, and the rain from heaven was stopped. And the waters went slowly back from the earth, and at the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters were lower. And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And still the waters went on falling, till on the first day of the tenth month The tops of the mountains were seen. Then, after forty days, through the open window of the ark which he had made, Noah sent out a raven which went this way and that till the waters were gone from the earth.
And he sent out a dove to see if the waters had gone from the face of the earth. But the dove saw no resting place for her foot, and came back to the ark, for the waters were still over all the earth. And he put out his hand and took her into the ark. And after waiting another seven days, he sent the dove out again, and the dove came back at evening, and in her mouth was an olive leaf broken off. So Noah was certain that the waters had gone down on the earth. And after seven days more, he sent the dove out again, but she did not come back to him. And in the six hundred and first year, On the first day of the first month, the waters were dry on the earth, and Noah took the cover off the ark and saw that the face of the earth was dry.
And on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry. And God said to Noah, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives. Take out with you every living thing which is with you. Birds and cattle and everything which goes on the earth, so that they may have offspring and be fertile and be increased on the earth. And Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, and every beast and bird and every living thing of every sort which goes on the earth went out of the ark. And Noah made an altar to the Lord, and from every clean beast and bird he made burned offerings on the altar. And when the sweet smell came up to the Lord, he said in his heart, I will not again put a curse on the earth because of man, for the thoughts of man's heart are evil from his earliest days.
Never again will I send destruction on all living things as I have done. While the earth goes on, seed-time and the getting in of the grain, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not come to an end.
Chapter Nine. And God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons, and said, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full, and the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air. Everything which goes on the land and all the fishes of the sea are given into your hands. Every living and moving thing will be food for you. I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things. But flesh with the lifeblood in it you may not take for food. And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment. From every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother man. Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken.
Because God made man in His image. And now be fertile and have increase, have offspring on the earth, and become great in number. And God said to Noah and to his sons, Truly I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you, and with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you. And I will make my agreement with you. Never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters. Never again will the waters come over all the earth for its destruction. And God said, This is the sign of the agreement which I make between me and you and every living thing with you for all future generations. I will put my bow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of the agreement between me and the earth.
And whenever I make a cloud come over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will keep in mind the agreement between me and you and every living thing. And never again will there be a great flow of waters causing destruction to all flesh. And the bow will be in the cloud, and looking on it, I will keep in mind the eternal agreement between God and every living thing on the earth. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the agreement which I have made between me and all flesh on the earth. And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Ham is the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from them all the earth was peopled. In those days Noah became a farmer, and he made a vine-garden.
And he took of the wine of it, and was overcome by drink, and he was uncovered in his tent. And Ham the father of Canaan saw his father unclothed, and gave news of it to his two brothers outside. And Shem and Japheth took a robe, and, putting it on their backs, went in with their faces turned away, and put it over their father, so that they might not see him unclothed. And awaking from his wine, Noah saw what his youngest son had done to him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan. Let him be a servant of servants to his brothers. And he said, Praise to the Lord, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant. May God make Japheth great, and let his living place be in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.
And Noah went on living three hundred and fifty years after the great flow of waters. All the years of his life were nine hundred and fifty, and he came to his end.
Chapter 10. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These are the sons which they had after the great flow of waters. The sons of Japheth, Gomer and Magog and Madai, And Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan, Elisha and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim. From these came the nations of the sea lands with their different families and languages. And the sons of Ham, Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. And the sons of Cush, Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Rahamah, and Sabtecha, and the sons of Rahamah, Sheba, and Dadan. And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first of the great men of the earth.
He was a very great bowman, so that there is a saying, Like Nimrod, a very great bowman. And at the first, his kingdom was Babel and Erek, And Akkad and Kalna in the land of Shinar. From that land he went out into Assyria, building Nineveh with its wide streets, and Kala and Rezin between Nineveh and Kala, which is a very great town. And Mizraim was the father of the Ladim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Kasluhim, and Kaphturim, from whom came the Philistines. And Canaan was the father of Zidon, who was his oldest son, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Archite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemurite, and the Hamathite.
After that, the families of the Canaanites went far and wide in all directions, their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza in the direction of Gerar, and to Lasha in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah. and Adma and Zeboim. All these, with their different families, languages, lands, and nations, are the offspring of Ham. And Shem, the older brother of Japheth, the father of the children of Eber, had other sons in addition. These are the sons of Shem, Elam and Ashur, and Arpakshad, and Lud, and Aram, and the sons of Aram, Az, and Hul, and Gether, And Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber. And Eber had two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, because in his time the peoples of the earth became separate, and his brother's name was Jaktan.
And Jaktan was the father of Almodad, and Sheleth, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, All these were the sons of Joktan, and their country was from Mesha in the direction of Sefar, the mountain of the east. These, with their families and their languages and their lands and their nations, are the offspring of Shem. These are the families of the sons of Noah in the order of their generations and their nations. From these came all the nations of the earth. After the great flow of waters.
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2 02 - Genesis 11-20 35:58
Chapters 11-20 of the Book of Genesis, from the Basic Bible, Old Testament, translated by S. H. Hook. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Mark Penfold. Chapter XI. And all the earth had one language and one tongue. And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, And there they made their living place. And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth. And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven, and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.
And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building. And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language, and this is only the start of what they may do. And now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs. Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another. So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth, and they gave up building their town. So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages, and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth. These are the generations of Shem.
Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Ar-Pakshad, two years after the great flow of waters. And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years and had sons and daughters. And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah. And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years and had sons and daughters. And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber. And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for 403 years and had sons and daughters. And Eber was 34 years old when he became the father of Peleg. And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for 430 years and had sons and daughters.
And Peleg was 30 years old when he became the father of Reu. And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for 209 years and had sons and daughters. And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serag. And after the birth of Serag, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years and had sons and daughters. And Serag was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor. And after the birth of Nahor, Serag went on living for two hundred years and had sons and daughters. And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah. And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for 119 years and had sons and daughters, and Terah was 70 years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
These are the generations of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot. And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. And Sarai had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram. And they went out from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran, and were there for some time. And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five, and Terah came to his end in Haran.
Chapter 12 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country, and from your family, and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide, and I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great. And you will be a blessing. To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse, and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth. So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, And they went out to go to the land of Canaan.
And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were still living in the land. And the Lord came to Abram and said, I will give all this land to your seed. Then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him. And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, he put up his tent. Having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east, and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord. And he went on, journeying still to the south. And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt. Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, Truly you are a fair woman and beautiful to the Ai, and I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife.
And they will put me to death and keep you. Say then that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account. And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair. And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house. And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses and men-servants and women-servants and camels. And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Then Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, What have you done to me? Why did you not say that she was your wife?
Why did you say that she was your sister, so that I took her for my wife? Now take your wife and go on your way. And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.
Chapter 13. And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the south. Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold, and traveling on from the south he came to Beth-el to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai. To the place where he had made his first altar. And there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord. And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land was not wide enough for the two of them. Their property was so great that there was not room for them together. And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle. At that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.
Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers. Is not all the land before you? Then let us go our separate ways. If you go to the left, I will go to the right, or if you take the right, I will go to the left. And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking on the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere. Before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt on the way to Zoar. So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan and went to the east, and they were parted from one another. Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.
Now the men of Sodom were evil and great sinners before the Lord. And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are, take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, for all the land which you see I will give to you. Come, go through all the land from one end to the other. For I will give it to you. And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.
Chapter Fourteen Now in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Ariach king of Elassar, Kederloamer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim, They made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Bersha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these came together in the valley of Sidim, which is the salt sea. For twelve years they were under the rule of Keter Lorimer, but in the thirteenth year they put off his control. And in the fourteenth year, Kederloamer and the kings who were on his side overcame the Rephaim in Ashtaroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shabek-Kiriathayim, and the Horites in their mountain Seir, driving them as far as El-Paran, which is near the wasteland.
Then they came back to En-Mishpat, which is Kadesh, making waste all the country of the Amalekites and of the Amorites living in Hazazon-Tamar. And the king of Sodom, with the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela , went out and put their forces in position in the valley of Sidim against Cederloamer, Now the valley of Sidim was full of holes of sticky earth. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were put to flight and came to their end there, but the rest got away to the mountain. And the four kings took all the goods and food from Sodom and Gomorrah and went on their way. And in addition they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, and all his goods.
And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram. And Abram, hearing that his brother's son had been made a prisoner, took a band of his trained men, three hundred and eighteen of them, sons of his house, and went after them as far as Dan. And separating his forces by night, he overcame them, putting them to flight and going after them as far as Hobah, which is on the north side of Damascus. And he got back all the goods, and lot his brother's son, with his goods and the women and the people. And when he was coming back after putting to flight Keter Lorimer and the other kings, he had a meeting with the king of Sodom in the valley of Shaveh, that is, the king's valley.
And Melchisedec, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine, and blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram, and let the Most High God be praised, who has given into your hands those who were against you. Then Abram gave him a tenth of all the goods he had taken. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the prisoners, and take the goods for yourself. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, Maker of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours, so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram. Give me nothing but the food which the fighting men who went with me have had, but let Aner and Eshcol and Mamre have their part of the goods.
Chapter 15. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Have no fear, Abram. I will keep you safe, and great will be your reward. And Abram said, What will you give me? For I have no child. And this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me. And Abram said, You have given me no child, and a servant in my house will get the heritage. Then said the Lord, This man will not get the heritage, but a son of your body will have your property after you. And he took him out into the open air, and said to him, Let your eyes be lifted to heaven, and see if the stars may be numbered. Even so will your seed be. And he had faith in the Lord, and it was put to his account as righteousness.
And he said to him, I am the Lord who took you from Ur of the Khalees to give you this land for your heritage. And he said, O Lord God, how may I be certain that it will be mine? And he said, Take a young cow of three years old. And a she-goat of three years old, and a sheep of three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon. All these he took, cutting them in two, and putting one half opposite the other, but not cutting the birds in two. And evil birds came down on the bodies, but Abram sent them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep came on Abram, and a dark cloud of fear. And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years.
But I will be the judge of that nation whose servants they are, and they will come out from among them with great wealth. As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace. At the end of a long life you will be put in your last resting place, and in the fourth generation they will come back here. For at present the sin of the Amorite is not full. Then when the sun went down and it was dark, he saw a smoking fire and a flaming light which went between the parts of the bodies. In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram and said, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite. And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.
Chapter 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had given him no children, and she had a servant, a woman of Egypt, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, See, the Lord has not let me have children. Go into my servant. For I may get a family through her. And Abram did as Sarai said. So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, and gave her to Abram for his wife. And he went into Hagar, and she became with child. And when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for her master's wife. And Sarai said to Abram, May my wrong be on you. I gave you my servant for your wife, and when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for me.
May the Lord be judge between you and me. And Abram said, The woman is in your power. Do with her whatever seems good to you. And Sarai was cruel to her, so that she went running away from her. And an angel of the Lord came to her by a fountain of water in the wasteland, by the fountain on the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going? And she said, I am running away from Sarai, my master's wife. And the angel said to her, Go back and put yourself under her authority. And the angel of the Lord said, Your seed will be greatly increased so that it may not be numbered. And the angel of the Lord said, See, you are with child, and will give birth to a son, to whom you will give the name Ishmael, because the ears of the Lord were open to your sorrow, and he will be like a mountain ass among men.
His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him, and he will keep his place against all his brothers. And to the Lord who was talking with her she gave this name, You are a God who is seen. For she said, Have I not even here in the wasteland had a vision of God and am still living? So that mountain was named Fountain of Life and Vision. It is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar gave birth to a child, the son of Abram, to whom Abram gave the name of Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Chapter 17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him and said, I am God, ruler of all. Go in my ways and be upright in all things, and I will make an agreement between you and me, and your offspring will be greatly increased. And Abram went down on his face on the earth, and the Lord God went on talking with him and said, As for me, my agreement is made with you. And you will be the father of nations without end. No longer will your name be Abram, but Abraham, for I have made you the father of a number of nations. I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you, and kings will be your offspring. And I will make between me and you and your seed after you through all generations an eternal agreement to be a god to you and to your seed after you.
And to you and to your seed after you I will give the land in which you are living, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal heritage, and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, On your side you are to keep the agreement, you and your seed after you, through all generations. And this is the agreement which you are to keep with me, you and your seed after you. Every male among you is to undergo circumcision. In the flesh of your private parts you are to undergo it as a mark of the agreement between me and you. Every male among you, from one generation to another, is to undergo circumcision when he is eight days old, with every servant whose birth takes place in your house, or for whom you gave money to someone of another country, and not of your seed.
He who comes to birth in your house, and he who is made yours for a price, All are to undergo circumcision, so that my agreement may be marked in your flesh, an agreement for all time. And any male who does not undergo circumcision will be cut off from his people. My agreement has been broken by him. And God said, As for Sarai, your wife, from now her name will not be Sarai, but Sarah, and I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her. Truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will be her offspring. Then Abraham went down on his face, and laughing, said in his heart, May a man a hundred years old have a child? Will Sarah at ninety years old give birth?
And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael's life might be your care. And God said, Not so. But Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him forever and with his seed after him. As for Ishmael, I have given ear to your prayer. Truly I have given him my blessing, and I will make him fertile and give him great increase. He will be the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation. But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time. And having said these words, God went up from Abraham. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all whose birth had taken place in his house, and all his servants whom he had made his for a price, every male of his house.
And on that very day he gave them circumcision in the flesh of their private parts, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he underwent circumcision. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he underwent circumcision. Abraham and Ishmael his son underwent circumcision on that very day. And all the men of his house, those whose birth had taken place in the house, and those whom he had got for money from men of other lands, underwent circumcision with him.
Chapter 18 Now the Lord came to him by the holy tree of Mamre, when he was seated in the doorway of his tent in the middle of the day, and lifting up his eyes, he saw three men before him, and seeing them, he went quickly to them from the door of the tent, and went down on his face to the earth, and said, My Lord, if now I have grace in your eyes, do not go away from your servant. Let me get water for washing your feet, and take your rest under the tree, and let me get a bit of bread to keep up your strength, and after that you may go on your way, for this is why you have come to your servant. And they said, Let it be so. Then Abraham went quickly into the tent and said to Sarah, Get three measures of meal straight away and make cakes.
And running to the herd, he took a young ox, soft and fat, and gave it to the servant. And he quickly made it ready. And he took butter and milk and the young ox which he had made ready, and put it before them, waiting by them under the tree while they took food. And they said to him, Where is Sarah, your wife? And he said, She is in the tent. And he said, I will certainly come back to you in the spring, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son. And his words came to the ears of Sarah, who was at the back of the tent door. Now Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was past the time for giving birth. And Sarah, laughing to herself, said, Now that I am used up, am I still to have pleasure, my husband himself being old?
And the Lord said, Why was Sarah laughing and saying, Is it possible for me, being old, to give birth to a child? Is there any wonder which the Lord is not able to do? At the time I said, in the spring, I will come back to you, and Sarah will have a child. Then Sarah said, I was not laughing, for she was full of fear. And he said, No, but you were laughing. And the men went on from there in the direction of Sodom. And Abraham went with them on their way. And the Lord said, Am I to keep back from Abraham the knowledge of what I do, seeing that Abraham will certainly become a great and strong nation, and his name will be used by all the nations of the earth as a blessing? For I have made him mine, so that he may give orders to his children and those of his line after him, to keep the ways of the Lord, to do what is good and right, so that the Lord may do to Abraham as he has said.
And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is very great, and their sin is very evil, I will go down now and see if their acts are as bad as they seem from the outcry which has come to me, and if they are not... I will see. And the men turning from that place went on to Sodom, but Abraham was still waiting before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, Will you let destruction come on the upright with the sinners? If by chance there are fifty upright men in the town, will you give the place to destruction and not have mercy on it because of the fifty upright men? Let such a thing be far from you, to put the upright to death with the sinner. Will not the judge of all the earth do right?
And the Lord said, If there are fifty upright men in the town, I will have mercy on it because of them. And Abraham answering said, Truly, I, who am only dust, have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord, if by chance there are five less than fifty upright men. Will you give up all the town to destruction because of these five? And he said, I will not give it to destruction if there are forty-five. And again he said to him, By chance there may be forty there? And he said, I will not do it if there are forty. And he said, Let not the Lord be angry with me if I say, What if there are thirty there? And he said, I will not do it if there are thirty. And he said, See now, I have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord.
What if there are twenty there? And he said, I will have mercy because of the twenty. And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will say only one word more. By chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten. And the Lord went on his way when his talk with Abraham was ended, and Abraham went back to his place.
Chapter 19 And at nightfall the two angels came to Sodom, and Lot was seated at the way into the town. And when he saw them he got up and came before them, falling down on his face to the earth. And he said, My masters, come now into your servant's house, and take your rest there for the night. And let your feet be washed, and early in the morning you may go on your way. And they said, Not so, but we will take our night's rest in the street. But he made his request more strongly, so they went with him into his house. And he got food ready for them, and made unleavened bread, of which they took. But before they had gone to bed, the men of the town, all the men of Sodom, came round the house, young and old, from every part of the town.
And crying out to Lot, they said, Where are the men who came to your house this night? Send them out to us, so that we may take our pleasure with them. And Lot went out to them in the doorway, shutting the door after him. And he said, My brothers, do not this evil. See now, I have two unmarried daughters. I will send them out to you, so that you may do to them whatever seems good to you. Only do nothing to these men, for this is why they have come under the shade of my roof. And they said, Give way there! This one man, they said, came here from a strange country, and will he now be our judge? Now we will do worse to you than to them. And pushing violently against Lot, they came near to get the door broken in.
But the men put out their hands and took Lot into the house to them, shutting the door again. But the men who were outside the door they made blind, all of them small and great. Then the men said to Lot, And Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were married to his daughters, Come, let us go out of this place, for the Lord is about to send destruction on the town. But his sons-in-law did not take him seriously, and when morning came, the angels did all in their power to make Lot go, saying, Get up quickly and take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go, for fear that you come to destruction in the punishment of the town. But while he was waiting, the men took him and his wife and his daughters by the hand.
For the Lord had mercy on them, and put them outside the town. And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in the lowland. Go quickly to the mountain, or you will come to destruction. And Lot said to them, Not so, O my lord. See now, your servant has had grace in your eyes, and great is your mercy in keeping my life from destruction. But I am not able to get as far as the mountain before evil overtakes me, and death. This town now is near, and it is a little one. Oh, let me go there. Is it not a little one, so that my life may be safe? And he said, See, I have given you your request in this one thing more. I will not send destruction on this town.
Go there quickly, for I am not able to do anything till you have come there. For this reason, the town was named Zoar. The sun was up when Lot came to Zoar. Then... The Lord sent fire and flaming smoke raining down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, and he sent destruction on those towns, with all the lowland and all the people of those towns, and every green thing in the land. But Lot's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had been talking with the Lord. And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven. So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of the lowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living.
Then Lot went up out of Zoar to the mountain, and was living there with his two daughters, for fear kept him from living in Zoar. And he and his daughters made their living place in a hole in the rock. And the older daughter said to her sister, Our father is old, and there is no man to be a husband to us in the natural way. Come, let us give our father much wine, and we will go into his bed, so that we may have offspring by our father. And that night they made their father take much wine, and the older daughter went into his bed, and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away. And on the day after the older daughter said to the younger, Last night I was with my father. Let us make him take much wine this night again, and do you go to him, so that we may have offspring by our father?
And that night again they made their father take much wine. And the younger daughter went into his bed, and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away. And so the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father. And the older daughter had a son, and she gave him the name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day, and the younger had a son, and gave him the name Ben-Ami. From him come the children of Ammon to this day.
Chapter 20 And Abraham went on his way from there to the land of the south, and was living between Kadesh and Shur in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream in the night, and said to him, Truly you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Now Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, Lord, will you put to death an upright nation? Did he not say to me himself, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my brother? With an upright heart and clean hands have I done this. And God said to him in the dream, I see that you have done this with an upright heart, and I have kept you from sinning against me.
For this reason I did not let you come near her. So now give the man back his wife, for he is a prophet, and let him say a prayer for you, so your life may be safe. But if you do not give her back, be certain that death will come to you and all your house. So Abimelech got up early in the morning and sent for all his servants and gave them word of these things, and they were full of fear. Then Abimelech sent for Abraham and said, What have you done to us? What wrong have I done you that you have put on me and on my kingdom so great a sin? You have done to me things which are not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, Why did you do this thing? And Abraham said, Because it seemed to me that there was no fear of God in this place, and that they might put me to death because of my wife.
And in fact, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. And when God sent me wandering from my father's house, I said to her, Let this be the sign of your love for me. Wherever we go, say of me, He is my brother. Then Abimelech gave to Abraham sheep and oxen and men-servants and women-servants, and gave him back his wife Sarah. And Abimelech said, See, all my land is before you. Take whatever place seems good to you. And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of silver, so that your wrong may be put right. Now your honor is clear in the eyes of all. Then Abraham made prayer to God, and God made Abimelech well again, and his wife and his women servants, so that they had children.
For the Lord had kept all the women of the house of Abimelech from having children, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
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3 03 - Genesis 21-30 50:21
Chapters 21-30 of the Book of Genesis, from the Basic Bible, Old Testament, translated by S. H. Hooke. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Mark Penfold. Chapter Twenty-One. And the Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and did to her as he had undertaken. And Sarah became with child, and gave Abraham a son when he was old. At the time named by God. And Abraham gave to his son, to whom Sarah had given birth, the name Isaac. And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham made him undergo circumcision as God had said to him. Now Abraham was a hundred years old when the birth of Isaac took place. And Sarah said, God has given me cause for laughing, and everyone who has news of it will be laughing with me.
And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would have a child at her breast? For see, I have given him a son now when he is old. And when the child was old enough to be taken from the breast, Abraham made a great feast, and Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with Isaac. So she said to Abraham, Send away that woman and her son, for the son of that woman is not to have a part in the heritage with my son Isaac. And this was a great grief to Abraham because of his son. But God said, Let it not be a grief to you because of the boy and Hagar his mother. Give ear to whatever Sarah says to you, because it is from Isaac that your seed will take its name, and I will make a nation of the son of your servant-woman, because he is your seed.
And early in the morning Abraham got up and gave Hagar some bread and a water-skin, and put the boy on her back, and sent her away. And she went wandering in the wasteland of Beersheba. And when all the water in the skin was used up, she put the child down under a tree, and she went some distance away, about an aeroflight. And seating herself on the earth, she gave way to bitter weeping, saying, Let me not see the death of my child. And the boy's cry came to the ears of God, and the angel of God said to Hagar from heaven, Hagar, why are you weeping? Have no fear, for the child's cry has come to the ears of God. Come, take your child in your arms, for I will make of him a great nation. Then God made her eyes open, and she saw a water spring.
And she got water in the skin and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy, and he became tall and strong, and he became a bowman living in the wasteland. And while he was in the wasteland of Paran, his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt. Now at that time Abimelech and Phichol, the captain of his army, said to Abraham, I see that God is with you in all you do. Now then, give me your oath in the name of God, that you will not be false to me or to my sons after me, but that, as I have been good to you, so you will be to me and to this land where you have been living. And Abraham said, I will give you my oath. But Abraham made a protest to Abimelech because of a waterhole which Abimelech's servants had taken by force.
But Abimelech said, I have no idea who has done this thing. You never gave me word of it, and I had no knowledge of it till this day. And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement together. And Abraham put seven young lambs of the flock on one side by themselves. Then Abimelech said, What are these seven lambs which you have put on one side? And he said, Take these seven lambs from me as a witness that I have made this waterhole. So he gave that place the name Beersheba, because there the two of them had given their oaths. So they made an agreement at Beersheba, and Abimelech and Phichol, the captain of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.
And Abraham, after planting a holy tree in Beersheba, gave worship to the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. And Abraham went on living in the land of the Philistines, as in a strange country. Chapter 22 Now after these things God put Abraham to the test, and said to him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said to him, Take your son, your dearly loved only son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and give him as a burned offering on one of the mountains of which I will give you knowledge. And Abraham got up early in the morning, and made ready his ass, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac his son. And after the wood for the burnt offering had been cut, he went on his way to the place of which God had given him word.
And on the third day Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw the place a long way off. Then he said to his young men, Keep here with the ass, and I and the boy will go on and give worship and come back again to you. And Abraham put the wood for the burnt offering on his son's back, and he himself took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them went on together. Then Isaac said to Abraham, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, We have wood and fire here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, God himself will give the land for the burnt offering. So they went on together, and they came to the place of which God had given him knowledge. And there Abraham made the altar and put the wood in place on it, and having made tight the bands round Isaac his son, he put him on the wood on the altar.
And stretching out his hand, Abraham took the knife to put his son to death. But the voice of the angel of the Lord came from heaven, saying, Abraham! Abraham! And he said, Here am I. And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him, for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me. And lifting up his eyes, Abraham saw a sheep fixed by its horns in the brushwood, and Abraham took the sheep and made a burnt offering of it in place of his son. And Abraham gave that place the name Yahweh Yira, As it is said to this day, In the mountain the Lord is seen. And the voice of the angel of the Lord came to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying, I have taken an oath by my name, says the Lord, because you have done this and have not kept back from me your dearly loved only Son, that I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside.
Your seed will take the land of those who are against them, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do. Then Abraham went back to his young men, and they went together to Beersheba, the place where Abraham was living. After these things, Abraham had news that Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, had given birth to children, Uz, the oldest, and Buzz, his brother, and Chemuel, the father of Aram, And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaf, and Bethuel. Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. These eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother. And his servant Reumah gave birth to Teba, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Ma'aka.
Chapter 23 Now the years of Sarah's life were a hundred and twenty-seven. And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah. And Abraham came from his dead, and said to the children of Heth, I am living among you as one from a strange country. Give me some land here as my property, so that I may put my dead to rest. And in answer the children of Heth said to Abraham, My lord. Truly you are a great chief among us. Take the best of our resting places for your dead. Not one of us will keep back from you a place where you may put your dead to rest. And Abraham got up and gave honor to the children of Heth, the people of that land.
And he said to them, If you will let me put my dead to rest here, make a request for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he will give me the hollow in the rock named Machpelah. Now Ephron was seated among the children of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite gave Abraham his answer in the hearing of the children of Heth, and of all those who came into his town, saying, No, my lord, I will give you the field with the hollow in the rock. Before all the children of my people will I give it to you for a resting place for your dead. And Abraham went down on his face before the people of the land, and Abraham said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, If only you will give ear to me, I will give you the price of the field.
Take it and let me put my dead to rest there. So Ephron said to Abraham, My lord, give ear to me. The value of the land is four hundred shekels. What is that between me and you? So put your dead to rest there. And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money. So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, with the hollow in the rock and all the trees in the field and round it, became the property of Abraham before the eyes of the children of Heth and of all who came into the town. Then Abraham put Sarah his wife to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
And the field and the hollow rock were handed over to Abraham as his property by the children of Heth.
Chapter 24 Now Abraham was old and far on in years, and the Lord had given him everything in full measure. And Abraham said to his chief servant, the manager of all his property, Come now, put your hand under my leg, and take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living, but that you will go into my country and to my relations and get a wife there for my son Isaac. And the servant said, If by chance the woman will not come with me into this land, am I to take your son back again to the land from which you came? And Abraham said, Take care that you do not let my son go back to that land.
The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and made an oath to me, saying, To your seed I will give you this land. He will send his angel before you and give you a wife for my son in that land. And if the woman will not come with you, then you are free from this oath. Only do not take my son back there. And the servant put his hand under Abraham's leg, and gave him his oath about this thing. And the servant took ten of his master's camels, and all sorts of good things of his master's, and went to Mesopotamia, to the town of Nahor. And he made the camels take their rest outside the town by the water-spring in the evening, at the time when the women came to get water.
And he said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, let me do well in what I have undertaken this day, and give your mercy to my master Abraham. See, I am waiting here by the water-spring, and the daughters of the town are coming out to get water. Now may the girl to whom I say, Let down your vessel and give me a drink, and who says in answer, Here is a drink for you, and let me give water to your camels. May she be the one marked out by you for your servant Isaac. So may I be certain that you have been good to my master Abraham. And even before his words were ended, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water vessel on her arm.
She was a very beautiful girl, a virgin, who had never been touched by a man. And she went down to the spring to get water in her vessel. And the servant came running to her, and said, Give me a little water from your vessel. And she said, Take a drink, my lord. And quickly letting down her vessel onto her hand, she gave him a drink. And having done so, she said, I will get water for your camels till they have had enough. And after turning the water from her vessel into the animal's drinking place, she went quickly back to the spring and got water for all the camels. And the man, looking at her, said nothing. waiting to see if the lord had given his journey a good outcome. And when the camels had had enough, the man took a gold nose-ring, half a shekel in weight, and two ornaments for her arms of ten shekels weight of gold, and said to her, Whose daughter are you?
Is there room in your father's house for us? And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, Nahor's wife. And she said, We have a great store of dry grass and cattle food, And there is room for you. And with bent head the man gave worship to the Lord, and said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has given a sign that he is good and true to my master, by guiding me straight to the house of my master's family. So the girl went running and took the news of these things to her mother's house. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he came out quickly to the man at the water-spring. And when he saw the nose-ring and the ornaments on his sister's hands, and when she gave him word of what the man had said to her, then he went out to the man who was waiting with the camels by the water-spring, and he said to him, Come in, you on whom is the blessing of the Lord!
Why are you waiting outside? For I have made the house ready for you, and a place for the camels. Then the man came into the house, and Laban took their cords off the camels, and gave them dry grass and food. And he gave to him and the men who were with him water for washing their feet. And meat was put before him. But he said, I will not take food till I have made my business clear to you. And they said, Do so. And he said, I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has given my master every blessing, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and men servants and women servants and camels and asses. And when Sarah, my master's wife, was old, she gave birth to a son, to whom he has given all he has.
And my master made me take an oath, saying, Do not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living, but go to my father's house and to my relations for a wife for my son. And I said to my master, What if the woman will not come with me? And he said, The Lord, whom I have ever kept before me, will send his angel with you. He said, I came to the water-spring, and I said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if it is your purpose to give a good outcome to my journey, let it come about that while I am waiting here by the water-spring. If a girl comes to get water, and I say to her, Give me a little water from your vessel, and she says, Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels.
Let her be the woman marked out by the Lord from my master's son. And even while I was saying this to myself, Rebecca came out with her vessel on her arm, and she went down to the spring to get water, and I said to her, Give me a drink, and straightaway she took down her vessel from her arm, and said, Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels. And questioning her, I said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, and Milcah his wife. Then I put the ring on her nose and the ornaments on her hands, and with bent head I gave worship and praise to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, by whom I had been guided in the right way to get the daughter of my master's brother for his son.
And now say if you will do what is good and right for my master or not, in order that it may be clear to me what I have to do. Then Laban and Bethuel said in answer, This is the Lord's doing. It is not for us to say yes or no to you. See, here is Rebekah. Take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has said. And at these words, Abraham's servant went down on his face and gave praise to the Lord. Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah. And he gave things of value to her mother and her brother. Then he and the men who were with him had food and drink, and took their rest there that night. And in the morning he got up and said, Let me now go back to my master.
But her brother and her mother said, Let the girl be with us a week or ten days, and then she may go. And he said, Do not keep me. The Lord has given a good outcome to my journey. Let me now go back to my master. And they said, We will send for the girl, and let her make the decision. And they sent for Rebekah, and said to her, Are you ready to go with this man? And she said, I am ready. So they sent their sister Rebekah and her servant with Abraham's servant and his men. And they gave Rebekah their blessing, saying, O sister, may you be the mother of thousands and ten thousands, And may your seed overcome all those who make war against them. So Rebekah and her servant-women went with the man seated on the camels.
And so the servant took Rebekah and went on his way. Now Isaac had come through the wasteland to Beer-Lahai-Roi, for he was living in the south. And when the evening was near, he went wandering out into the fields, and lifting up his eyes, he saw camels coming. And when Rebekah, looking up, saw Isaac, she got down from her camel and said to the servant, Who is that man coming to us through the field? And the servant said, It is my master. Then she took her veil, covering her face with it. Then the servant gave Isaac the story of all he had done, and Isaac took Rebekah into his tent, and she became his wife. And in his love for her, Isaac was comforted after his father's death.
Chapter 25 And Abraham took another wife named Keturah. She became the mother of Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shua. And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asherim, and Letushim, and Leumim. And from Midian came Ephah, and Ephar, and Hanok, and Abidah, And El-Da'ah. All these were the offspring of Keturah. Now Abraham gave all his property to Isaac, but to the sons of his other women he gave offerings and sent them away, while he was still living, into the east country. Now the years of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five, and Abraham came to his death, an old man full of years, and he was put to rest with his people.
And Isaac and Ishmael his sons put him to rest in the hollow rock of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, near Mamre, the same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth. There Abraham was put to rest with Sarah his wife. Now after the death of Abraham, the blessing of God was with Isaac his son. Now these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian, the servant of Sarah. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their generations. Ishmael's first son was Nebaioth, then Kedar, and Adbiel, and Mibsam, and Mishmah, and Dumah, and Massah, Hadad, and Temah, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names in their towns and their tent circles, twelve chiefs with their peoples.
And the years of Ishmael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven. And he came to his end, and was put to rest with his people. And their country was from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. They took their place to the east of all their brothers. Now these are the generations of Abraham's son, Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan Aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife, because she had no children. And the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child. And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this?
So she went to put her question to the Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you. The one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger. And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body. And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau. And after him his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot. And he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. And the boys came to full growth. And Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman. But Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste.
But Rebekah had more love for Jacob. And one day Jacob was cooking some soup. When Esau came in from the fields in great need of food, and Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food. For this reason he was named Adam. And Jacob said, First of all, give me your birthright. And Esau said, Truly, I am at the point of death. What profit is the birthright to me? And Jacob said, First of all, give me your oath. And he gave him his oath, handing over his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave him bread and soup, and he took food and drink and went away, caring little for his birthright.
Chapter 26 Then came a time of great need in the land, like that which had been before in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. And the Lord came to him in a vision and said, Do not go down to Egypt. Keep in the land of which I will give you knowledge. Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing. For to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham. I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands. And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because Abraham gave ear to my voice, and kept my words, my rules, my orders, and my laws.
So Isaac went on living in Gerar. And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister, fearing to say, She is my wife, for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah. And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah, his wife. And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife. Why then did you say, she is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her. Then Abimelech said, What have you done to us? One of the people might well have had connection with your wife, and the sin would have been ours. And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.
Now Isaac, planting seed in that land, got in the same year fruit a hundred times as much, for the blessing of the Lord was on him, and his wealth became very great, increasing more and more. For he had great wealth of flocks and herds, and great numbers of servants, so that the Philistines were full of envy. Now all the waterholes which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines. And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are. So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living place there. And he made again the water-holes which had been made in the days of Abraham his father, and which had been stopped up by the Philistines, and he gave them the names which his father had given them.
Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water. But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours! So he gave the spring the name of Essek, because there was a fight about it. Then they made another waterhole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitna. Then he went away from there, and made another waterhole, about which there was no fighting. So he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land. And from there he went on to Beersheba. That night the Lord came to him in a vision, and said, I am the God of your father Abraham.
Have no fear, for I am with you, blessing you, and your seed will be increased because of my servant Abraham. Then he made an altar there, and gave worship to the name of the Lord. And he put up his tents there, and there his servants made a waterhole. And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar with Ahuzath his friend and Phicol the captain of his army. And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you? And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with you. So we said, Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make an agreement with you, that you will do us no damage, even as we put no hand on you, and did you nothing but good, and sent you away in peace.
And now the blessing of the Lord is on you. Then he made a feast for them, and they all had food and drink. And early in the morning they took an oath, one to the other. Then Isaac sent them away, and they went on their way in peace. And that day Isaac's servants came to him, and gave him word of the waterhole which they had made, and said to him, We have come to water! And he gave it the name of Sheba. So the name of that town is Beersheba to this day. And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives, Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basimath, the daughter of Elan the Hittite. And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.
Chapter 27 Now when Isaac was old, and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau his first son, and said to him, My son. And he said, Here am I. And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time. So take your arrows and your bow, and go out to the field and get meat for me, and make me food good to the taste such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me. Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat, and Rebekah said to Jacob her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing, Go and get some rose meat, and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death.
Now, my son, do what I say. Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats. And I will make of them a meal to your father's taste, and you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair. While I am smooth, if by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing. And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son. Only do as I say, and go and get them for me. So he went and got them and took them to his mother, and she made a meal to his father's taste. And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she gave into the hand of Jacob her son the meat and the bread which she had made ready. And he came to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I. Who are you, my son? And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son. I have done as you said. Come now, be seated, and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing. And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way. And Isaac said, Come near, so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not. And Jacob went near his father Isaac, and he put his hands on him, and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands. So he gave him a blessing. And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Put it before me, and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him, and he took it, and he gave him wine, and he had a drink. And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss. And he came near and gave him a kiss. And smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come. May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure.
Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you. Be Lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you. A curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing. And when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field, and he made ready a meal good to the taste, and took it to his father, and said to him, Let my father get up and take of his son's meat, so that you may give me a blessing. And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your oldest son Esau. And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be?
And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father. And he said, Your brother came with deceit and took away your blessing. And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? For he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me? And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants. I have made him strong with grain and wine. What then am I to do for you, my son? And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? Give a blessing to me, even me!
And Esau was overcome with weeping. Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living place be. By your sword will you get your living, and you will be your brother's servant. But when your power is increased, his yoke will be broken from off your neck. So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing, and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near. Then I will put my brother Jacob to death. Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death. So now, my son, do what I say.
Go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban, and be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away, till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry. Then I will send word for you to come back. Are the two of you to be taken from me in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?
Chapter 28 Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan. But go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. And may God, the ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples. And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage. So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan Aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him, and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan, and that Jacob had done as his father and mother said, and had gone to Paddan Aram, It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan.
So Esau went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. So Jacob went out from Beersheba to go to Haran, and coming to a certain place, he made it his resting place for the night, for the sun had gone down. And he took one of the stones which were there, And putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place. And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping.
Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. You and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth. And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land. And I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you. And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly the Lord is in this place, and I was not conscious of it. And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place. This is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven. And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar, and put oil on it.
And he gave that place the name of Beth-el. But before that time the town was named Luz. Then Jacob took an oath and said, If God will be with me and keep me safe on my journey and give me food and clothing to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God, and this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house, and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.
Chapter 29 Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the east, and there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep. And on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone, and all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole. Then Jacob said to the herdman, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran. And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have. And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel, his daughter, coming with the sheep.
Then Jacob said, The sun is still high, and it is not time to get the cattle together. Get water for the sheep, and go and give them their food. And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together, and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the waterhole. Then we will get water for the sheep. While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them. Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near. And rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock. And weeping for joy, Jacob gave Rachel a kiss. And Rachel, hearing from Jacob that he was her father's relation, and that he was the son of Rebekah, went running to give her father news of it.
And Laban, hearing news of Jacob, his sister's son, came running, and took Jacob in his arms, and kissing him, made him come into his house. And Jacob gave him news of everything. And Laban said to him, Truly you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother, are you to be my servant for nothing? Say now, what is your payment to be? Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah's eyes were clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form. And Jacob was in love with Rachel, and he said, I will be your servant seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.
And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man. Go on living here with me. And Jacob did seven years' work for Rachel, and because of his love for her, it seemed to him only a very little time. Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, so that I may have her, for the days are ended. And Laban got together all the men of the place and gave a feast. And in the evening he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him, and he went into her. And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah to be her waiting-woman. And in the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah, and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? Was I not working for you so that I might have Rachel? Why have you been false to me?
And Laban said, In our country... We do not let the younger daughter be married before the older. Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end, and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years. And Jacob did so, and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife, and Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman. Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah. And he went on working for Laban for another seven years. Now the Lord, seeing that Leah was not loved, gave her a child, while Rachel had no children. And Leah was with child, and gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Reuben.
For she said, The Lord has seen my sorrow. Now my husband will have love for me. Then she became with child again, and gave birth to a son, and said, Because it has come to the Lord's ears that I am not loved, he has given me this son in addition. And she gave him the name Simeon. And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son, and said, Now at last my husband will be united to me, because I have given him three sons. So he was named Levi. And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son. And she said, This time I will give praise to the Lord. So he was named Judah. After this she had no more children for a time.
Chapter 30 Now Rachel, because she had no children, was full of envy of her sister, and she said to Jacob, If you do not give me children, I will not go on living. But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit? Then she said, Here is my servant Bilhah. Go into her, so that she may have a child on my knees, and I may have a family by her. So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went into her. And Bilhah became with child, and gave birth to a son. Then Rachel said, God has been my judge, and has given ear to my voice, and has given me a son. So he was named Dan. And again Bilhah, Rachel's servant, was with child, and gave birth to a second son.
And Rachel said, I have had a great fight with my sister, and I have overcome her. And she gave the child the name Naphtali. When it was clear to Leah that she would have no more children for a time, she gave Zilpah, her servant, to Jacob as a wife. And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a son. And Leah said, It has gone well for me. And she gave him the name Gad, and Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a second son, and Leah said, Happy am I, and all women will give witness to my joy, and she gave him the name Asher. Now at the time of the grain cutting, Reuben saw some love-fruits in the field and took them to his mother Leah, and Rachel said to her, Let me have some of your son's love-fruits.
But Leah said to her, Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband from me, and now would you take my son's love-fruits? Then Rachel said, You may have him tonight in exchange for your son's love-fruits. In the evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to him and said, Tonight you are to come to me, for I have given my son's love-fruits as a price for you. And he went in to her that night. And God gave ear to her, and she became with child, and gave Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, God has made payment to me for giving my servant-girl to my husband. So she gave her son the name Issachar. And again Leah became with child, and she gave Jacob a sixth son. And she said, God has given me a good bride-price.
Now at last will I have my husband living with me. For I have given him six sons. And she gave him the name Zebulun. After that she had a daughter, to whom she gave the name Dina. Then God gave thought to Rachel, and hearing her prayer, he made her fertile. And she was with child, and gave birth to a son. And she said, God has taken away my shame. And she gave him the name Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son. Now after the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go away to my place and my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have been your servant, and let me go, for you have knowledge of all the work I have done. And Laban said, If you will let me say so, do not go away, for I have seen by the signs that the Lord has been good to me because of you.
Say then what your payment is to be, and I will give it. Then Jacob said, You have seen what I have done for you, and how your cattle have done well under my care. For before I came you had little, and it has been greatly increased, and the Lord has given you a blessing in everything I have done. But when am I to do something for my family? And Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything, but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me. Let me go through all your flock today. "'Taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or colored or black, and all the marked or colored goats, these will be my payment. And so you will be able to put my honor to the test in time to come."
If you see among my flocks any goats which are not marked or colored, or any sheep which is not black, you may take me for a thief. And Laban said, Let it be as you say. So that day he took all the he-goats which were banded or colored, and all the she-goats which were marked or colored or had white marks, and all the black sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons, and sent them away three days' journey away. And Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flock. Then Jacob took young branches of trees, cutting off the skin so that the white wood was seen in bands. And he put the banded sticks in the drinking-places where the flock came to get water. And they became with young when they came to the water.
And because of this the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of color. These lambs Jacob kept separate, and he put his flock in a place by themselves, and not with Laban's flock. And whenever the stronger ones of the flock became with young, Jacob put the sticks in front of them in the drinking places, so that they might become with young when they saw the sticks. But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put the sticks before them. So that the feebler flocks were Laban's, and the stronger were Jacob's. So Jacob's wealth was greatly increased. He had great flocks and women-servants and men-servants and camels and asses.
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4 04 - Genesis 31-40 43:54
Now it came to the ears of Jacob that Laban's sons were saying, Jacob has taken away all our father's property, and in this way he has got all this wealth. And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relations, and I will be with you. And Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him in the field among his flock. And he said to them, It is clear to me that your father's feeling is no longer what it was to me, but the God of my father has been with me. And you have seen how I have done all in my power for your father, but your father has not kept faith with me. And ten times he has made changes in my payment, but God has kept him from doing me damage.
If he said, All those in the flock which have marks are to be yours, then all the flock gave birth to marked young. And if he said, All the banded ones are to be yours, then all the flock had banded young. So God has taken away your father's cattle and has given them to me. And at the time when the flock were with young, I saw in a dream that all the he-goats which were joined with the she-goats were banded and marked and colored. And in my dream the angel of the Lord said to me, Jacob. And I said, Here am I. And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and colored? For I have seen what Laban has done to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you put oil on the pillar and took an oath to me.
Now then, come out of this land and go back to the country of your birth. Then Rachel and Leah said to him in answer, What part or heritage is there for us in our father's house? Are we not as people from a strange country to him? For he took a price for us, and now it is all used up. For the wealth which God has taken from him is ours and our children's. So now, whatever God has said to you, do. Then Jacob put his wives and his sons on camels, and sending on before him all his cattle and his property which he had got together in Paddan Aram, he made ready to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. Now Laban had gone to sea to the cutting of the wool of his sheep. So Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house.
And Jacob went away secretly, without giving news of his flight to Laban the Aramean. So he went away with all he had, and went across the river in the direction of the hill-country of Gilead. And on the third day Laban had news of Jacob's flight. And taking the men of his family with him, he went after him for seven days, and overtook him in the hill-country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob. Now when Laban overtook him, Jacob had put up his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers put up their tents in the hill country of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war?
Why did you make a secret of your flight, not giving me word of it, so that I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with melody and music? You did not even let me give a kiss to my sons and my daughters. This was a foolish thing to do. It is in my power to do you damage. But the god of your father came to me this night, saying, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob. And now it seems you are going because your heart's desire is for your father's house. But why have you taken my gods? And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force. As for your gods, If any one of us has them, let him be put to death. Make search before us all for what is yours, and take it.
For Jacob had no knowledge that Rachel had taken them. So Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there. And he came out of Leah's tent, and went into Rachel's. Now Rachel had taken the images, and had put them in the camel's basket, and was seated on them. And Laban, searching through all the tent, did not come across them. And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry, because I do not get up before you, for I am in the common condition of women. And with all his searching he did not come across the images. Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion?
Now that you have made search through all my goods, what have you seen which is yours? Make it clear now before my people and your people, so that they may be judges between us. These twenty years I have been with you. Your sheep and your goats have had young without loss. Not one of your he-goats have I taken for food. Anything which was wounded by beasts I did not take to you, but myself made up for the loss of it. You made me responsible for whatever was taken by thieves by day or by night. This was my condition. Wasted by heat in the day, and by the bitter cold at night, and sleep went from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house. I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed.
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back. Then Laban answering said, These women are my daughters, and these children my children. The flocks and all you see are mine. What now may I do for my daughters and for their children? Come, let us make an agreement, you and I, and let it be for a witness between us. Then Jacob took a stone and put it up as a pillar, and Jacob said to his people, Get stones together. And they did so, and they had a meal there by the stones. And the name Laban gave it was Jagar-Sahaduthah, but Jacob gave it the name of Galid.
And Laban said, These stones are a witness between you and me today. For this reason its name was Galid. And Mizpah, for he said, May the Lord keep watch on us when we are unable to see one another's doings. If you are cruel to my daughters, or if you take other wives in addition to my daughters, then though no man is there to see, God will be the witness between us. And Laban said, See these stones and this pillar which I have put between you and me? They will be witness that I will not go over these stones to you, and you will not go over these stones or this pillar to me for any evil purpose. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, be our judge. Then Jacob took an oath by the fear of his father Isaac.
And Jacob made an offering on the mountain, and gave orders to his people to take food. So they had a meal, and took their rest that night on the mountain. And early in the morning Laban, after kissing and blessing his daughters, went on his way back to his country.
Chapter 32 And on his way Jacob came face to face with the angels of God. And when he saw them, he said, This is the army of God. So he gave that place the name of Mahanaim. Now Jacob sent servants before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Adam, and he gave them orders to say these words to Esau. Your servant Jacob says, Till now I have been living with Laban, and I have oxen and asses and flocks and men servants and women servants. And I have sent to give my lord news of these things, so that I may have grace in his eyes. When the servants came back, they said, We have seen your brother Esau, and he is coming out to you, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was in great fear and trouble of mind, and he put all the people and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups, and said, If Esau, meeting one group, makes an attack on them, the others will get away safely.
Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, Go back to your country and your family, and I will be good to you. I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me, your servant. For with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies. Be my savior from the hand of Esau, my brother, for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child. And you said, Truly I will be good to you, and make your seed like the sand of the sea which may not be numbered. Then he put up his tent there for the night, and from among his goods he took as an offering for his brother Esau two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep, thirty camels with their young ones, forty cows, ten oxen, twenty asses, and ten young asses.
These he gave to his servants, every herd by itself. And he said to his servants, Go on before me, and let there be a space between one herd and another. And he gave orders to the first, saying, When my brother Esau comes to you and says, Whose servant are you, and where are you going, and whose are these herds? Then say to him, These are your servant Jacob's. They are an offering from my lord, for Esau, and he himself is coming after us. And he gave the same orders to the second and the third and to all those who were with the herds, saying, This is what you are to say to Esau when you see him, and you are to say further, Jacob your servant is coming after us. For he said to himself, I will take away his wrath by the offering which I have sent on, and then I will come before him.
It may be that I will have grace in his eyes. So the servants with the offerings went on in front. And he himself took his rest that night in the tents with his people. And in the night he got up, and taking with him his two wives and the two servant-women and his eleven children, he went over the river Jabbok. He took them and sent them over the stream with all he had. Then Jacob was by himself, and a man was fighting with him till dawn. But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.
Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome. Then Jacob said, What is your name? And he said, What is my name to you? Then he gave him a blessing. And Jacob gave that place the name of Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and still I am living. And while he was going past Peniel, the sun came up, and he went with unequal steps because of his damaged leg. For this reason the children of Israel, even today, never take that muscle in the hollow of the leg as food, because the hollow of Jacob's leg was touched.
Chapter 33 Then Jacob, lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. So he made a division of the children between Leah and Rachel and the two women servants. He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph at the back. And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother. Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss, and the two of them were overcome with weeping. Then Esau, lifting up his eyes, saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God in his mercy has given to your servant.
Then the servants and their children came near and went down on their faces, and Leah came near with her children. And then Joseph and Rachel, and they did the same. And he said, What were all those herds which I saw on the way? And Jacob said, They were an offering so that I might have grace in my Lord's eyes. But Esau said, I have enough. Keep what is yours, my brother, for yourself. And Jacob said, Not so. But if I have grace in your eyes, take them as a sign of my love. For I have seen your face, as one may see the face of God, and you have been pleased with me. Take my offering, then, with my blessing, for God has been very good to me, and I have enough. So at his strong request he took it, and he said, Let us go on our journey together, and I will go in front.
But Jacob said, My lord may see that the children are only small, and there are young ones in my flocks and herds, One day's overdriving will be the destruction of all the flock. Do you, my lord, go on before your servant. I will come on slowly, at the rate at which the cattle and the children are able to go, till I come to my lord at Seir. And Esau said, Then keep some of my men with you. And he said, What need is there for that, if my lord is pleased with me? So Esau, turning back that day, went on his way to Seir. And Jacob went on to Sukkoth, where he made a house for himself, and put up tents for his cattle. For this reason the place was named Sukkoth. So Jacob came safely from Paddan Aram to the town of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and put up his tents near the town.
And for a hundred bits of money he got from the children of Hamor, the builder of Shechem, the field in which he had put up his tents. And there he put up an altar, naming it El, the God of Israel.
Chapter 34 Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country. And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her. Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her. And Shechem said to Hamor his father, Get me this girl for my wife. Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter, but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came. Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, came out to have a talk with Jacob. Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter.
And they said, Such a thing is not to be done. But Hamor said to them, Shechem, my son, is full of desire for your daughter. Will you then give her to him for a wife, and let our two peoples be joined together? Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you. Do trade and get property there." And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, If you will give ear to my request, whatever you say, I will give to you. However great you make the bride price in payment, I will give it. Only let me have the girl for my wife. But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father because of what they had done to Dina, their sister.
And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us. But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you. If every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision, Then we will give our daughters to you, and take your daughters to us, and go on living with you as one people. But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go. And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem. And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house. Then Hamor and Shechem his son went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town, It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us.
Let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us, and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us Undergoes circumcision as they have done. Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? So let us come to an agreement with them, so that they may go on living with us. Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son, and every male in the town underwent circumcision. But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dina's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise, and put all the males to death.
And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dina from Shechem's house and went away. And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded, and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister. They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields, and all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives. Everything in their houses they took and made them waste. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And because we are small in number, they will come together against me and make war on me, and it will be the end of me and all my people.
But they said, were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?
Chapter 35 And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Bethel, and make your living place there. And put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau. Then Jacob said to all his people, Put away the strange gods which are among you, and make yourselves clean, and put on a change of clothing, and let us go up to Beth El, and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went. Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears. And Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem. So they went on their journey, and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.
And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan, which is the same as Bethel, he and all his people. And there he made an altar, naming the place El-Beth-El, because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother. And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Bethel, under the holy tree. And they gave it the name of Alon-Bakuth. Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan Aram, God came to him again, and blessing him, said, Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer. From now your name will be Israel. So he was named Israel. And God said to him, I am God, the ruler of all. Be fertile and have increase.
A nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land. Then God went up from him in the place where he had been talking with him. And Jacob put up an altar in the place where he had been talking with God, and put a drink offering on it and oil. And he gave to the place where God had been talking with him the name of Beth El. So they went on from Beth El, and while they were still some distance from Ephraath, the pains of birth came on Rachel, and she had a hard time. And when her pain was very great, the woman who was helping her said, Have no fear.
For now you will have another son. And in the hour when her life went from her, for death came to her, she gave the child the name Ben-Oni, but his father gave him the name of Benjamin. So Rachel came to her end and was put to rest on the road to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob put up an altar on her resting place, which is named the pillar of the resting place of Rachel to this day. And Israel went journeying on and put up his tents on the other side of the tower of the flock. Now while they were living in that country, Reuben had connection with Bilhah, his father's servant-woman, and Israel had news of it. Now Jacob had twelve sons. The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's first son, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant, Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant, Gad and Asher. These are the sons whom Jacob And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living. And Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old. Then Isaac came to his end, and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life. And Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting place.
Chapter 36 Now these are the generations of Esau, that is to say, Edom. Esau's wives were women of Canaan. Adah, the daughter of Elan the Hittite, And Oholibamah, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion the Hivite, and Basimath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. Adah had a son, Eliphaz, and Basimath was the mother of Reuel. Oholibamah was the mother of Jeosh, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, whose birth took place in the land of Canaan. Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the people of his house, And his beasts and his cattle and all his goods, which he had got together in the land of Canaan, and went into the land of Seir, away from his brother Jacob.
For their wealth was so great that the land was not wide enough for the two of them and all their cattle. So Esau made his living place in the hill-country of Seir. Esau is Adam. And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Adamites in the hill-country of Seir. These are the names of Esau's sons. Eliphaz, the son of Esau's wife Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau's wife Basimath. The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatham, and Kenaz. And Eliphaz, the son of Esau, had connection with a woman named Timnah, who gave birth to Amalek. All these were the children of Esau's wife Adah. And these are the sons of Reuel, Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Misa. They were the children of Esau's wife, Basimath.
And these are the sons of Esau's wife, Oholibamah, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion. She was the mother of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the chiefs among the sons of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, Esau's first son, Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatham, Amalek. All these were chiefs in the land of Edom, the offspring of Eliphaz, the seed of Adah. And these are the sons of Esau's son Reuel. Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizah. These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom, the children of Esau's wife Basimath. And these are the sons of Esau's wife Aholibamah, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the chiefs who came from Esau's wife Aholibamah, daughter of Anna. These were the sons of Esau, that is, Adam, and these were their chiefs.
These are the sons of Seir, the Horite, who were living in that country, Lotan, Shobal, Zibion, Anna, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, offspring of Seir in the land of Adam. The children of Lotan were Hori and Homem. Lotan's sister was Timna. And these are the children of Shobal, Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. And these are the children of Zibion, Aiya and Anna, that same Anna who made the discovery of the water-springs in the wasteland when he was looking after the asses of his father Zibion. And these are the children of Anna, Dishon and Aholibama his daughter. These are the children of Dishon, Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. These are the children of Ezer, Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
These are the children of Dishan, Uz and Aran. These were the Horite chiefs. Lotan, Shobal, Zibion, Anna, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. Such were the Horite chiefs in their order in the land of Seir. And these are the kings who were ruling in the land of Edom before there was any king over the children of Israel. Bela, son of Beor, was king in Edom, and the name of his chief town was Din-Habah. At his death, Jobab, son of Zerah of Bozrah, became king in his place. And at the death of Jobab, Husham, from the country of the Temanites, became king in his place. And at the death of Husham, Hadad, son of Bidad, who overcame the Midianites in the field of Moab, became king. His chief town was named Avif.
And at the death of Hadad, Samlah of Mazrekah became king. And at the death of Samlah, Shaul of Rehoboth by the river became king in his place. And at the death of Shaul, Baal-Hanan, son of Akbor, became king. And at the death of Baal-Hanan, Hadar became king in his place. His chief town was named Pau, and his wife's name was Mehet-Ab-El. She was the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab. These are the names of the chiefs of Esau in the order of their families and their places.
These are the Edomite chiefs in their places in their heritage. This is Esau, the father of the Adamites. Chapter 37 Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph gave their father a bad account of them. Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man, and he had a long coat made for him. And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.
Now Joseph had a dream, and he gave his brothers an account of it, which made their hate greater than ever. And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream. We were in the field, getting the grain-stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine. And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? Will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever. Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream. The sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honor to me. And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers, but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this?
Am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you? And his brothers were full of envy, but his father kept his words in mind. Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I. And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well, and how the flock is. Then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a man saw him wandering in the country, and said to him, What are you looking for? And he said, I am looking for my brothers. Please give me word of where they are keeping their flock.
And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dauphin. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dauphin. But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death, saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer. Let us now put him to death, and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams. But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life. Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes. This he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on, and they took him and put him in the hole. Now the hole had no water in it. Then seating themselves, they took their meal, and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels. And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood? Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him. And some traders from Midian went by. So pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.
Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there, and giving signs of grief, he went back to his brothers and said, The child is gone! What am I to do? Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death. And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this. Is it your son's coat or not? And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat. An evil beast has put him to death. Without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end. Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day. And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld, to my son.
So great was his father's sorrow for him. And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.
Chapter 38 Now at that time Judah went away from his brethren, and became the friend of a man of Adulam named Hira. And there he saw the daughter of a certain man of Canaan named Shua, and took her as his wife. And she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Er. And again she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Onan. Then she had another son, to whom she gave the name Shelah, She was at Chezeb when the birth took place. And Judah took a wife for his first son, Er, and her name was Tamar. Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, Go into your brother's wife, and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do.
Make her your wife, and get offspring for your brother. But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother. And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death like his brother. Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to your father's house, and keep yourself as a widow till my son Shelah becomes a man. For he had in his mind the thought that death might come to him as it had come to his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father's house. And after a time, Bathsheua, Judah's wife, came to her end. And after Judah was comforted for her loss, he went to Timnah, where they were cutting the wool of his sheep.
And his friend Hira of Adulam went with him. And when Tamar had news that her father-in-law was going up to Timnah to the wool-cutting, She took off her widow's clothing, and covering herself with her veil, she took her seat near An-Naim on the road to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah was now a man, but she had not been made his wife. When Judah saw her, he took her to be a loose woman of the town because her face was covered, and turning to her by the roadside, he said to her, Let me come in to you, for he had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me as my price? And he said, I will give you a young goat from the flock. And she said, What will you give me as a sign till you send it?
And he said, What would you have? And she said, Your ring and its cord and the stick in your hand. So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she became with child by him. Then she got up and went away and took off her veil and put on her widow's clothing. Then Judah sent his friend Hira with the young goat to get back the things which he had given as a sign to the woman, but she was not there. And he put questions to the men of the place, saying, Where is the loose woman who was in Anayim by the wayside? And they said, There was no such woman there. So he went back to Judah and said, I have not seen her, and the men of the place say that there is no such woman there. And Judah said, Let her keep the things, so that we may not be shamed.
I sent the young goat, but you did not see the woman. Now about three months after this, word came to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had been acting like a loose woman, and was with child. And Judah said, Take her out, and let her be burned! And while she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, The man whose property these things are is the father of my child. Say then, Whose are this ring and this cord and this stick? Then Judah said openly that they were his, and said, She is more upright than I am, for I did not give her to Shailah, my son. And he had no more connection with her. And when the time came for her to give birth, it was clear that there were two children in her body, and while she was in the act of giving birth, one of them put out his hand, And the woman who was with her put a red thread round his hand, saying, This one came out first.
But then he took his hand back again, and his brother came first to birth. And the woman said, What an opening you have made for yourself! So he was named Perez. And then his brother came out with the red thread round his hand, and he was named Zerah.
Chapter 39 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well. And he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian, and his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well. And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house, and gave him control over all he had. And from the time when he made him overseer, and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field.
And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face, and after a time his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover. But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control, so that no one has more authority in this house than I have. He has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife. How then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God? And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover. But he would not give ear to her.
Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and not one of the men of the house was inside. And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed. But slipping out of his coat, he went running away, and when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat, she sent for the men of her house, and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make a sport of us. He came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry. And hearing it, he went running out without his coat, and she kept his coat by her till his master came back. Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me, and when I gave a loud cry, he went running out without his coat.
And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry, and Joseph's master took him and put him in prison. In the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house. But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend. And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there. And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him. And the Lord made everything he did go well.
Chapter 40 Now after these things the chief servant who had the care of the wine, and the chief bread-maker in Pharaoh's house, did something against Pharaoh's orders. And Pharaoh was angry with his two servants, with the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker. And he put them in prison under the care of the captain of the army, in the same prison where Joseph himself was shut up. And the captain put them in Joseph's care, and he did what was needed for them, and they were kept in prison for some time. And these two had a dream on the same night, the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison. The two of them had dreams with a special sense. And in the morning, when Joseph came to them, he saw that they were looking sad.
And he said to the servants of Pharaoh, who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad? Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? What was your dream? Then the chief wine-servant gave Joseph an account of his dream, and said, In my dream I saw a vine before me, and on the vine were three branches, and it seemed as if it put out buds and flowers, and from them came grapes ready for cutting. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, and, crushing them into Pharaoh's cup, gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream. The three branches are three days.
After three days Pharaoh will give you honor and put you back into your place, and you will give him his cup as you did before when you were his wine-servant. But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me, and say a good word for me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison, for truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews, and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison. Now when the chief bread-maker saw that the first dream had a good sense, he said to Joseph, I had a dream, and in my dream there were three baskets of white bread on my head, and in the top basket were all sorts of cooked meats for Pharaoh, and the birds were taking them out of the baskets on my head.
Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream. The three baskets are three days. After three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison. Hanging you on a tree, so that your flesh will be food for birds. Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his servants, and he gave honor to the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker among the others. And he put the chief wine-servant back in his old place, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. But the chief bread-maker was put to death by hanging, as Joseph had said. But the wine-servant did not keep Joseph in mind, or give a thought to him.
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5 05 - Genesis 41-50 49:54
Now, after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream, and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile. And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass. And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin, and they were by the side of the other cows. And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep. But he went to sleep again, and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem. And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind. And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake, he saw it was a dream.
And in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them. But no one was able to give him the sense of it. Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now. Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker. And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense. And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them. And it came about as he said, I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.
Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison. And when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it. Now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you. Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile, and out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass. Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt. And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first, and even with the fat cows inside them, they seemed as bad as before.
And so I came out of my sleep, and again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem, and then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them, And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads, and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it. Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense. God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The two have the same sense. The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years, and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.
As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do. Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt, and after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food. And the memory of the good years will go from men's minds, and the land will be made waste by the bad years. And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter. And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about. And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years, and let them get together all the food in those good years, and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it, and let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt, so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.
And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God? And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you. You then are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word. Only as king will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck. And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages.
And they went before him, crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-Paneah, and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt. Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses, and Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns.
The produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town. So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea, So great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured. And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, gave birth. And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house. And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow. And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end. Then came the first of the seven years of need, as Joseph had said.
And in every other land they were short of food, but in the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it. And everywhere on the earth they were short of food. Then Joseph, opening all his storehouses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money. So great was the need of food in the land of Egypt. And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.
Chapter 42 Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another? And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours. So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him. And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain, for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.
And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were. But he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan to get food. Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was. Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is. And they said to him, Not so, my lord. Your servants have come with money to get food. We are all one man's sons. We are true men. We have not come with any secret purpose. And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is. Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan.
The youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead. And Joseph said, It is as I said. You have come with some secret purpose, but in this way will you be put to the test. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison so that your words may be tested to see if you are true. If not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret. So he put them in prison for three days, and on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives, for I am a God-fearing man. If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison while you go and take grain for the needs of your families, and come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death.
This is what you are to do. And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers. That is why this trouble has come on us. And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, do the child no wrong? But you gave no attention. So now punishment has come on us for his blood. They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language. And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping. Then he went on talking to them again, and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey, which was done.
Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away. Now at their night's resting place, one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag, and he said to his brothers, My money has been given back! It is in my bag! Then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another, they said, What is this which God has done to us? So when they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying, The man who was the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose. And we said to him, We are true men. We have no evil designs.
We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan. And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men. Let one of you be kept here with me while you go and take grain for the needs of your families, and come back to me with your youngest brother. Then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land. And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag. And when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear. And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me.
Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away? All these things have come on me. And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him. Let him be in my care, and I will give him safely back to you. And he said, I will not let my son go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is all I have. If evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.
Chapter 43 Now the land was in bitter need of food, and when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food. And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother. If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you. And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother? And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living?
Have you another brother? And we had to give him answers. How were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother? Then Judah said to Israel his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction. Put him into my care, and make me responsible for him. If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin forever. Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now. Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this. Take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts, and take twice as much money with you.
That is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error, and take your brother and go back to the man. And may God, the ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me, there is no help for it. So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day. And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.
Now the men were full of fear, because they had been taken into Joseph's house, and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time. He is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use. So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house, and said, O my Lord, we only came down the first time to get food, and when we came to our night's resting place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight. Then the servant said, Even the God of your father has put wealth in your bags for you. I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.
And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet, and he gave their asses food. And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day, for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there. And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him. And he said, How are you? Is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? Is he still living? And they said, Your servant our father is well. He is still living. And they went down on their faces before him. Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you gave me word?
And he said, God be good to you, my son. Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping. Then, after washing his face, he came out, and, controlling his feelings, said, Put food before us. And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves, because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean. And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest, so that they were looking at one another in wonder. And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others, and they took wine freely with him.
Chapter 44 Then he gave orders to the servant who was over his house, saying, Put as much food into the men's bags as will go into them, and put every man's money in the mouth of his bag, and put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag with his money. So he did as Joseph said. And at dawn the men with their asses were sent away. And when they had gone only a little way out of the town, Joseph said to the servant who was over his house, Go after them, and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you done evil in reward for good? Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine, and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly you have done evil. So he overtook them and said these words to them.
And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan. How then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house? If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants. And he said, Let it be as you say. He in whose bag it is seen will become my servant, and you will not be responsible. Then every man quickly got his bag down and undid it. And he made a search, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was in Benjamin's bag. Then in bitter grief they put the bags on the asses again and went back to the town.
So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there, and they went down on their faces before him. And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? Had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret? And Judah said, What are we to say to my Lord? How may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants. Now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen. Then he said, Ha! Far be it from me to do so. But the man who had my cup will be my servant, and you may go back to your father in peace. Then Judah came near him and said, Let your servant say a word in my Lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant, for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us.
My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother? And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old. His brother is dead, and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father. And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him. And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go, for if he went away his father would come to his death. But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again. And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words, and our father said, Go again and get us a little food.
And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down, for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us. And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons. The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death, and from that time I have not seen him. If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my gray head go down in sorrow to the underworld. If then I go back to your servant my father without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one, when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death. And our father's greyhead will go down in sorrow to the underworld.
For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin forever. So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers. For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?
Chapter Forty-Five Then Joseph, unable to keep back his feelings before those who were with him, gave orders for everyone to be sent away. And no one was present when he made clear to his brothers who he was. And so loud was his weeping that it came to the ears of the Egyptians and all Pharaoh's house. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to give him an answer, for they were troubled before him. Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me. And they came near, and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sent into Egypt. Now do not be troubled or angry with yourselves for sending me away, because God sent me before you to be the savior of your lives, for these two years have been years of need.
And there are still five more years to come, in which there will be no plowing or cutting of grain. God sent me before you to keep you and yours living on earth, so that you might become a great nation. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Now go quickly to my father, and say to him, Your son Joseph says, God has made me ruler over all the land of Egypt. Come down to me straight away. The land of Goshen will be your living place, and you will be near me, you and your children, and your children's children, and your flocks and herds, and all you have. And there I will take care of you, so that you and your family may not be in need, for there are still five bad years to come.
Now truly your eyes see. And the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth which says these things to you. Give my father word of all my glory in Egypt and of all you have seen, and come back quickly with my father. Then weeping, he took Benjamin in his arms, and Benjamin himself was weeping on Joseph's neck. Then he gave a kiss to all his brothers, weeping over them, and after that his brothers had no fear of talking to him. And news of these things went through Pharaoh's house, and it was said that Joseph's brothers were come, and it seemed good to Pharaoh and his servants. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts, and go back to the land of Canaan, and get your father and your families, and come back to me, and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, and the fat of the land will be your food.
And say to them, This you are to do. Take carts from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come back. And take no thought for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did as he said, and Joseph gave them carts as had been ordered by Pharaoh, and food for their journey. To every one of them he gave three changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred bits of silver and five changes of clothing. And to his father he sent ten asses with good things from Egypt on their backs, and ten she-asses with grain and bread and food for his father on the journey. And he sent his brothers on their way, and said to them, See that you have no argument on the road.
So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob, and they said to him, Joseph is living and is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And at this word Jacob was quite overcome, for he had no faith in it. And they gave him an account of everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent for them, his spirit came back to him. And Israel said, It is enough. Joseph, my son, is still living. I will go and see him before my death.
Chapter 46 And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beersheba, where he made offerings to the god of his father Isaac. And God said to Israel in a night vision, Jacob! Jacob! And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of your father. Go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes. Then Jacob went on from Beersheba, and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them. And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed, his sons and his sons' sons.
His daughters and his daughters' sons, and all his family he took with him into Egypt. And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons. Reuben, Jacob's oldest son, and the sons of Reuben, Hanach, and Palu, and Hezron, and Carmi, and the sons of Simeon, Jemuel, and Jammin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan. And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the sons of Judah, Er and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah. But Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar, Tola, and Puah, and Job, and Shimron. And the sons of Zebulun, Sered, and Elan, and Jalil.
And these, together with his daughter Dina, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan Aram. They were thirty-three in number. And the sons of Gad, Ziphion, and Hagi, Shuni, and Esbon, Eri, and Erodi, and Ereli. And the sons of Asher, Jemna, and Ishva, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister, and the sons of Beriah, Heber and Malkiel. These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her, the sons of Jacob's wife Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin. And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On. And the sons of Benjamin were Bela, and Beker and Ashbel, Gerah and Naaman, Ahi and Rosh, Muppim and Hopim and Ard.
All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons. And the son of Dan was Hushim, and the sons of Naphtali, Jaziel and Guni and Jezer and Shelem. These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, Seven persons. All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons. And the sons of Joseph, whom he had in Egypt, were two. Seventy persons of the family of Jacob came into Egypt. Now he had sent Judah before him to Goshen to get word from Joseph, and so they came to the land of Goshen. And Joseph got his carriage ready and went to Goshen for the meeting with his father, and when he came before him, he put his arms round his neck, weeping.
And Israel said to Joseph, Now that I have seen you living again, I am ready for death. And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh and say to him, My brothers and my father's people from the land of Canaan have come to me. And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have. Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business? You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers. In this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves. Because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.
Chapter 47 Then Joseph went to Pharaoh and said, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds and all they have, are come from Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen. And he took five of his brothers to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us. And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to make a living in this land, because we have no grass for our flocks in the land of Canaan. So now let your servants make a place for themselves in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Let them have the land of Goshen, and if there are any able men among them, put them over my cattle. And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, And when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you.
All the land of Egypt is before you. Let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting place. Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing. And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you? And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty. Small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers. And Joseph gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him. And Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers, and gave them a heritage in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, the land of Ramesses, as Pharaoh had given orders. And Joseph took care of his father and his brothers and all his father's people, giving them food for the needs of their families.
Now there was no food to be had in all the land, so that all Egypt and Canaan were wasted from need of food. And all the money in Egypt and in the land of Canaan which had been given for grain came into the hands of Joseph, and he put it in Pharaoh's house. And when all the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, Give us bread! Would you have us come to destruction before your eyes? For we have no more money. And Joseph said, Give me your cattle. I will give you grain in exchange for your cattle if your money is all gone. So they took their cattle to Joseph, and he gave them bread in exchange for their horses and flocks and herds and asses. So all that year he gave them food in exchange for their cattle.
And when that year was ended, They came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge, that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's. There is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land. Are we to come to destruction before your eyes, we and our land? Take us and our land, and give us bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh, and give us seed, so that we may have life. And the land may not become waste. So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. For every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food because of their great need. So all the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he made servants of them, town by town, from one end of Egypt to the other.
Only he did not take the land of the priests, for the priests had their food given them by Pharaoh, and having what Pharaoh gave them, they had no need to give up their land. Then Joseph said to the people, I have made you and your land this day the property of Pharaoh. Here is seed for you to put in your fields, and when the grain is cut, you are to give a fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts will be yours for seed and food, and for your families and your little ones. And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death. May we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. Then Joseph made a law which is enforced this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth part. Only the land of the priests did not become his.
And so Israel was living among the Egyptians in the land of Goshen, and they got property there, and became very great in numbers and in wealth. And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years. So the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg, and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt. But when I go to my fathers, you are to take me out of Egypt, and put me to rest in their last resting place. And he said, I will do so. And he said, Take an oath to me. And he took an oath to him, and Israel gave worship on the bed's head.
Chapter 48 Now after these things word came to Joseph that his father was ill, and he took with him his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you. Then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed, and Jacob said to Joseph, God, the ruler of all, came to me in a vision at Luz in the land of Canaan, and gave me his blessing, and said to me, Truly I will make you fertile, and give you increase, and will make of you a great family of nations, and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage forever. And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are, and any other offspring which you have after them will be yours, and will be named after their brothers in their heritage.
And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Death overtook Rachel on the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath, and I put her to rest there on the road to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. Then Israel, looking at Joseph's sons, said, Who are these? And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Let them come near me, and I will give them a blessing. Now, because Israel was old, his eyes were no longer clear, and he was not able to see. So he made them come near to him, and he gave them a kiss, folding them in his arms. And Israel said to Joseph, I had no hope of seeing your face again. But God, in his mercy, has let me see you and your children.
Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth. Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him. And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older. And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, the angel who has been my savior from all evil, send his blessing on these children, and let my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be given to them, and let them become a great nation in the earth.
Now, when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him, and lifting his father's hand, he would have put it on the head of Manasseh. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older. Put your right hand on his head. But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son. He will certainly become a nation and a great one. But his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations. So he gave him his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
Then Israel said to Joseph, Now my death is near. But God will be with you, guiding you back to the land of your fathers. And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.
Chapter 49 And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times. Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father. Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power. But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours. For you went up to your father's bed, even his bride bed, and made it unclean. Simeon and Levi are brothers. Deceit and force are their secret designs. Take no part in their secrets, O my soul. Keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings. For in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded.
A curse on their passion, for it was bitter, and on their wrath, for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel. To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise. Your hand will be on the neck of your haters. Your father's sons will go down to the earth before you. Judah is a young lion. Like a lion full of meat, you have become great, my son. Now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion. By whom will his sleep be broken? The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a lawgiver till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule, knotting his ass's cord to the vine and his young ass to the best vine.
Washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk. The resting place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbor for ships. The edge of his land will be by Zidon. Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks. And he saw that rest was good, and the land was pleasing, so he let them put weights on his back and become a servant. Dan will be the judge of his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall. I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord. Gad. An army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight.
Asher's bread is fat. He gives delicate food for kings. Naphtali is a row let loose, giving fair young ones. Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain. He was troubled by the archers. They sent out their arrows against him. But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the strength of Jacob, by the name of the stone of Israel, even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth. Blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body. Blessings of sons old and young to the father. Blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills.
Let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers. Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat. In the morning he takes his food. And in the evening he makes division of what he has taken.
These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and these are the words their father said to them, blessing them. To every one he gave his blessing. And he gave orders to them, saying, Put me to rest with my people and with my fathers in the hollow of the rock in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the rock in the field of Machpelah. Near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham got from Ephron the Hittite to be his resting place. There Abraham and Sarah his wife were put to rest, and there they put Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I put Leah to rest, in the rock in the field which was got for a price from the people of Heth. And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit and went the way of his people.
Chapter 50 And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him. And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices. And they did so. And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by, and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days. And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh. My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting place, and I will come back again.
And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him. So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting place, and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house, and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt, and all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people. Only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen. And carriages went up with him, and horsemen, a great army. And they came to the grain floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan. And there they gave the last honors to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days. And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians.
So the place was named Abel Mizraim on the other side of Jordan. So his sons did as he had given them orders to do, for they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field for a resting place from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre. And when his father had been put to rest, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone with him went back to Egypt. Now after the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said to themselves, It may be that Joseph's heart will be turned against us, and he will give us punishment for all the evil which we did to him. So they sent word to Joseph, saying, Your father, before his death, gave us orders, saying, You are to say to Joseph, Let the wrongdoing of your brothers be overlooked.
And at these words Joseph was overcome with weeping. Then his brothers went, and falling at his feet, said, Truly, we are your servants. And Joseph said, Have no fear. Am I in the place of God? As for you, it was in your mind to do me evil. But God has given a happy outcome, the salvation of numbers of people, as you see today. So now have no fear, for I will take care of you and your little ones. So he gave them comfort with kind words. Now Joseph and all his father's family went on living in Egypt, and the years of Joseph's life were a hundred and ten. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation And the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, came to birth on Joseph's knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come, but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
Then Joseph made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly give effect to his word. And you are to take my bones away from here. So Joseph came to his death, being a hundred and ten years old, and they made his body ready, and he was put in a chest in Egypt.
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6 06 - Exodus 1-10 43:00
Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt. Every man and his family came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin. Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons, and Joseph had come to Egypt before them. Then Joseph came to his end, and all his brothers, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fertile, increasing very greatly in numbers and in power, and the land was full of them. Now a new king came to power in Egypt who had no knowledge of Joseph. And he said to his people, See, the people of Israel are greater in number and in power than we are. Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land.
So they put overseers of forced work over them in order to make their strength less by the weight of their work, and they made store towns for Pharaoh, Pithom and Ramazes. But the more cruel they were to them, the more their number increased till all the land was full of them, and the children of Israel were hated by the Egyptians. And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do, and made their lives bitter with hard work, making building material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions. And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth, The name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Piwah.
When you are looking after the Hebrew women in childbirth, if it is a son, you are to put him to death. But if it is a daughter, she may go on living. But the women had the fear of God, and did not do as the king of Egypt said, but let the male children go on living. And the king of Egypt sent for the women, and said to them, Why have you done this, and let the male children go on living? And they said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong, and the birth takes place before we come to them. And the blessing of God was on these women, and the people were increased in number and became very strong. And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families.
And Pharaoh gave orders to all his people, saying, Every son who comes to birth is to be put into the river. But every daughter may go on living.
Chapter Two. Now a man of the house of Levi took as his wife a daughter of Levi, and she became with child and gave birth to a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she kept him secretly for three months. And when she was no longer able to keep him secret, she made him a basket out of the stems of water plants, pasting sticky earth over it to keep the water out. And placing the baby in it, she put it among the plants by the edge of the Nile. And his sister took her place at a distance to see what would become of him. Now Pharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile to take a bath while her women were walking by the riverside. And she saw the basket among the river plants, and sent her servant-girl to get it.
And opening it, she saw the child, and he was crying. And she had pity on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, May I go and get you one of the Hebrew women to give him the breast? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and got the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take the child away and give it milk for me, and I will give you payment. And the woman took the child and gave it milk at her breast. And when the child was older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she gave him the name Moses, because she said, I took him out of the water. Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was, and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people.
And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand. And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting, and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother? And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light. Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian, and he took his seat by a water spring. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to get water for their father's flock.
And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away, but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come back so quickly today? And they said, An Egyptian came to our help against the keepers of sheep and got water for us and gave it to the flock. And he said to his daughters, Where is he? Why have you let the man go? Make him come in and give him a meal. And Moses was happy to go on living with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. And she gave birth to a son, to whom he gave the name Gershom. For he said, I have been living in a strange land. Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end, and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work.
And their cry for help came to the ears of God. And at the sound of their weeping, the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind. And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel, and he gave them the knowledge of himself.
Chapter Three. Now Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he took the flock to the back of the wasteland, and came to Horeb. The mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord was seen by him in a flame of fire coming out of a thorn-tree. And he saw that the tree was on fire, but it was not burned up. And Moses said, I will go and see this And when the Lord saw him turning to one side to see, God said his name out of the tree, crying, Moses! Moses! And he said, Here am I. And he said, Do not come near. Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God. And God said, Truly I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears, for I have knowledge of their sorrows. And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey, into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behavior of the Egyptians to them. Come then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Truly I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that I have sent you. When you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain. And Moses said to God, When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name? What am I to say to them? And God said to him, I am what I am. And he said, Say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you.
This is my name forever, and this is my sign to all generations. Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause because of what is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will take you up out of the sorrows of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite. And the Hivite and the Jebusite into a land flowing with milk and honey, and they will give ear to your voice, and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us.
Let us then go three days' journey into the wasteland to make an offering to the Lord our God, and I am certain that the king of Egypt will not let you go without being forced. But I will put out my hand and overcome Egypt with all the wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go out, you will go out with your hands full. For every woman will get from her neighbor and from the woman living in her house ornaments of silver and gold and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and your daughters. You will take the best of their goods from the Egyptians.
Chapter Four. And Moses answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice, for they will say, You have not seen the Lord. And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth, and it became a snake, and Moses went running from it. And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand, and take it by the tail. And he put out his hand, and took a grip of it, and it became a rod in his hand, so that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you. Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing.
And he put his hand inside his robe, and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow. And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh. And if they do not have faith in you, or give ear to the voice of the first sign, They will have faith in the second sign, and if they have no faith even in these two signs, and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land, and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land. And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words. I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant, for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.
And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? Who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say. And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send. And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron your brother the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking, and now he is coming out to you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do. And he will do the talking for you to the people.
He will be to you as a mouth, and you will be to him as God. And take in your hand this rod.
And Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my relations in Egypt and see if they are still living. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were attempting to take your life. And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass and went back to the land of Egypt, and he took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do. But I will make his heart hard, and he will not let the people go. Now on the journey at the night's resting-place, the Lord came in his way, and would have put him to death.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cutting off the skin of her son's private parts, and touching his feet with it, she said, Truly, you are a husband of blood to me. So he let him go. Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wasteland, and you will see Moses. So he went and came across Moses at the mountain of God, and gave him a kiss. And Moses gave Aaron an account of all the words of the Lord which he had sent him to say, and of all the signs which he had given him orders to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel. And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people.
And the people had faith in them, and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel, and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.
Chapter Five. And after that Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go, so that they may keep a feast to me in the wasteland. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, to whose voice I am to give ear and let Israel go? I have no knowledge of the Lord, and I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us. Let us then go three days' journey into the wasteland to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword. And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people away from their work? Get back to your work. And Pharaoh said, Truly the people of the land are increasing in number, and you are keeping them back from their work.
The same day, Pharaoh gave orders to the overseers and those who were responsible for the work, saying, Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing. Let them go and get it for themselves, but see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less, for they have no love for work. And so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God. Give the men harder work, and see that they do it. Let them not give attention to false words. And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says I will give you no more dry stems. Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able, for your work is not to be any less.
So the people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems. And the overseers went on driving them, and saying, Do your full days work as before when there were dry stems for you. And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work in making bricks as before? Then the responsible men of the children of Israel came to Pharaoh, protesting and saying, Why are you acting in this way to your servants? They give us no dry stems, and they say to us, Make bricks, and they give your servants blows. But it is your people who are in the wrong. But he said, You have no love for work.
That is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord. Go now, get back to your work. No dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks. Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before. And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh. And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge. For you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction. And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people?
Why have you sent me? For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.
Chapter Six And the Lord said to Moses, Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he will be forced to let them go, driving them out of his land because of my outstretched arm. And God said to Moses, I am Yahweh. I let myself be seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God, the ruler of all, but they had no knowledge of my name, Yahweh. And I made an agreement with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings. And truly my ears are open to the cry of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep under their yoke, and I have kept in mind my agreement. Say then to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will take you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and make you safe from their power, and will make you free by the strength of my arm after great punishments.
And I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. And you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will be your guide into the land which I made an oath to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And I will give it to you for your heritage. I am Yahweh. And Moses said these words to the children of Israel, but they gave no attention to him because of the grief of their spirit and the cruel weight of their work. And the Lord said to Moses, Go in and say to Pharaoh king of Egypt that he is to let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses answering the Lord said, See, the children of Israel will not give ear to me.
How then will Pharaoh give ear to me? And the word of the Lord came to Moses and Aaron with orders for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. These are the heads of their fathers' families. The sons of Reuben, the oldest son of Israel. Hanak and Palu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. And the sons of Simeon, Jemuel and Jamin. And Ohad, and Jaqin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan. These are the families of Simeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their generations. Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. And the years of Levi's life were a hundred and thirty-seven. The sons of Gershon, Libni, and Shimei in the order of their families.
And the sons of Kohath, Amram and Ishar and Hebron and Uziel. And the years of Kohath's life were a hundred and thirty-three. And the sons of Merari, Mahri and Mushi, these are the families of the Levites in the order of their generations. And Amram took Jochebed, his father's sister, as wife, and she gave birth to Aaron and Moses. And the years of Amram's life were a hundred and thirty-seven. And the sons of Ishar, Korah, and Nephag, and Zichri, and the sons of Uziel, Mishael, and El-Zaphon, and Sithri. And Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nashon, and she gave birth to Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, and the sons of Korah, Asir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaf.
These are the families of the Korahites. And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she gave birth to Phinehas. These are the heads of the families of the Levites in the order of their families. These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt in their armies. These are the men who gave orders to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron. And on the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses in the land of Egypt, the Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord. Say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything I am saying to you. And Moses said to the Lord, My lips are unclean.
How is it possible that Pharaoh will give me a hearing?
Chapter Seven. And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. Say whatever I give you orders to say, and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land, and I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not give ear to you, and I will put my hand on Egypt and take my armies, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt after great punishments. And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord when my hand is stretched out over Egypt, and I take the children of Israel out from among them. And Moses and Aaron did so.
As the Lord gave them orders, so they did. And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they gave the Lord's word to Pharaoh. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder, then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh, so that it may become a snake. Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did as the Lord had said. And Aaron put his rod down on the earth before Pharaoh and his servants. And it became a snake. Then Pharaoh sent for the wise men and the wonder workers, and they, the wonder workers of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For every one of them put down his rod on the earth, and they became snakes.
But Aaron's rod made a meal of their rods. But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them as the Lord had said. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's heart is unchanged. He will not let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When he goes out to the water, you will be waiting for him by the edge of the Nile with the rod which was turned into a snake in your hand, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, so that they may give me worship in the wasteland. But up to now you have not given ear to his words. So the Lord says, By this you may be certain that I am the Lord. See, by the touch of this rod in my hand the waters of the Nile will be turned to blood, and the fish in the Nile will come to destruction, and the river will send up a bad smell, and the Egyptians will not be able for disgust to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking.
And the Lord said, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and over the rivers, and the streams, and the pools, and over every stretch of water, so that they may be turned to blood, and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had said, and when his rod had been lifted up and stretched out over the waters of the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, All the water in the Nile was turned to blood, and the fish in the Nile came to destruction, and a bad smell went up from the river, and the Egyptians were not able to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking, and there was blood through all the land of Egypt.
And the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same with their secret arts, but Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he would not give ear to them as the Lord had said. Then Pharaoh went into his house, and did not take even this to heart. And all the Egyptians made holes round about the Nile to get drinking water, for they were not able to make use of the Nile water. And seven days went past after the Lord had put his hand on the Nile.
Chapter Eight. And this is what the Lord said to Moses. Go to Pharaoh and say to him, The Lord says, Let my people go, so that they may give me worship. And if you will not let them go, see, I will send frogs into every part of your land. The Nile will be full of frogs, and they will come up into your house, and into your bedrooms, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and into your bread basins. The frogs will come up over you, and your people, and all your servants. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the streams and the waterways and the pools, causing frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.
And when Aaron put out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up, and all the land of Egypt was covered with them. And the wonder-workers did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up over the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Make prayer to the Lord that he will take away these frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go and make their offering to the Lord. And Moses said, I will let you have the honor of saying when I am to And he said, Let it be as you say, so that you may see that there is no other like the Lord our God, and the frogs will be gone from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people, and will be only in the Nile.
Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses made prayer to the Lord about the frogs which he had sent on Pharaoh. And the Lord did as Moses said, and there was an end of all the frogs in the houses and in the open spaces and in the fields. And they put them together in masses, and a bad smell went up from the land. But when Pharaoh saw that there was peace for a time, he made his heart hard and did not give ear to them as the Lord had said. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth, so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt. And they did so, and Aaron, stretching out the rod in his hand, gave a touch to the dust of the earth.
And insects came on man and on beast. All the dust of the earth was changed into insects through all the land of Egypt. And the wonder-workers, with their secret arts, attempting to make insects, were unable to do so. And there were insects on man and on beast. Then the wonder-workers said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God! But Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he did not give ear to them as the Lord had said. And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning, and take your place before Pharaoh when he comes out to the water, and say to him, This is what the Lord says, Let my people go to give me worship, for if you do not let my people go, see, I will send clouds of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into their houses, and the houses of the Egyptians and the land where they are will be full of flies.
And at that time I will make a division between your land and the land of Goshen, where my people are, and no flies will be there, so that you may see that I am the Lord over all the earth. And I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will be seen. And the Lord did so, and great clouds of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses, and all the land of Egypt was made waste because of the flies. And Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Go and make your offering to your God here in the land. And Moses said, It is not right to do so, for we make our offerings of that to which the Egyptians give worship, and if we do so before their eyes, certainly we will be stoned.
But we will go three days' journey into the wasteland and make an offering to the Lord our God as he may give us orders. Then Pharaoh said, I will let you go to make an offering to the Lord your God in the wasteland, but do not go very far away, and make prayer for me. And Moses said, When I go out from you, I will make prayer to the Lord that the cloud of flies may go away from Pharaoh and from his people and from his servants tomorrow. Only let Pharaoh no longer by deceit keep back the people from making their offering to the Lord. Then Moses went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses said, and took away the cloud of flies from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people.
Not one was to be seen. But again Pharaoh made his heart hard, and did not let the people go.
Chapter 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says. Let my people go, so that they may give me worship. For if you will not let them go, but still keep them in your power, then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses, and the asses, and the camels, on their herds, and the flocks, a very evil disease. And the Lord will make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. There will be no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. And the time was fixed by the Lord, and he said, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. And on the day after, the Lord did as he had said, causing the death of all the cattle of Egypt, but there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.
And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not let the people go. And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Take in your hand a little dust from the fire, and let Moses send it in a shower up to heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh. And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt. So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven, and it became a skin disease bursting out on man and on beast. And the wonder workers were not able to take their places before Moses because of the disease.
For the disease was on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians. And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them as the Lord had said. And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, Let my people go, so that they may give me worship. For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people, so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth. For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this very reason I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honored through all the earth.
Are you still uplifted in pride against my people, so that you will not let them go? Truly, tomorrow, about this time, I will send down an ice storm, such as never was in Egypt from its earliest days till now. Then send quickly, and get in your cattle and all you have from the fields. For if any man or beast in the field has not been put under cover, the ice storm will come down on them with destruction. Then everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who had the fear of the Lord made his servants and his cattle come quickly into the house. And he who gave no attention to the word of the Lord kept his servants and his cattle in the field. And the Lord said to Moses, Now let your hand be stretched out to heaven, so that there may be an ice storm on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast, and on every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.
And Moses put out his rod to heaven. And the Lord sent thunder, and an ice storm, and fire running down on the earth. The Lord sent an ice storm on the land of Egypt. So there was an ice storm with fire running through it, coming down with great force such as never was in all the land of Egypt from the time when it became a nation. And through all the land of Egypt the ice storm came down on everything which was in the fields, on man and on beast, and every green plant was crushed and every tree of the field broken. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no ice-storm. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, I have done evil this time. The Lord is upright, and I and my people are sinners.
Make prayer to the Lord, for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm, and I will let you go and will keep you no longer. And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord. The thunders and the ice storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your servants, I am certain that even now the fear of the Lord God will not be in your hearts. And the flax and the barley were damaged, for the barley was almost ready to be cut, and the flax was in flour. But the rest of the grain plants were undamaged, for they had not come up. So Moses went out of the town, and stretching out his hands made prayer to God.
And the thunders and the ice-storm came to an end, and the fall of rain was stopped. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the ice-storm and the thunders were ended, he went on sinning, and made his heart hard, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not let the people go, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Moses.
Chapter 10 And the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, for I have made his heart and the hearts of his servants hard, so that I may let my signs be seen among them, and so that you may be able to give to your son and to your son's son the story of my wonders in Egypt, and the signs which I have done among them, so that you may see that I am the Lord. Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says. How long will you be lifted up in your pride before me? Let my people go, so that they may give me worship. For if you will not let my people go, tomorrow I will send locusts into your land, and the face of the earth will be covered with them, so that you will not be able to see the earth.
And they will be the destruction of everything which up to now has not been damaged, everything which was not crushed by the ice storm, and every tree still living in your fields. And your houses will be full of them, and the houses of your servants and of all the Egyptians. It will be worse than anything your fathers have seen or their fathers from the day when they were living on the earth till this day. And so he went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long is this man to be the cause of evil to us? Let the men go, so that they may give worship to the Lord their God. Are you not awake to Egypt's danger? Then Moses and Aaron came in again before Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go and give worship to the Lord your God.
But which of you are going? And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds, for we are to keep a feast to the Lord. And he said to them, May the Lord be with you if I will let you and your little ones go. Take care, for your purpose clearly is evil. Not so, but let your males go and give worship to the Lord as your desire is. This he said, driving them out from before him. And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come up on the land for the destruction of every green plant in the land, even everything untouched by the ice storm. And Moses' rod was stretched out over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and all the night.
And in the morning the locusts came up with the east wind, and the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, resting on every part of the land in very great numbers. Such an army of locusts had never been seen before, and never will be again, for all the face of the earth was covered with them, so that the land was black. And every green plant and all the fruit of the trees which was untouched by the ice-storm they took for food. Not one green thing, no plant or tree, was to be seen in all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh quickly sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, I have done evil against the Lord your God and against you. Let me now have forgiveness for my sin this time only, and make prayer to the Lord your God that he will take away from me this death only.
So he went out from Pharaoh, and made prayer to the Lord. And the Lord sent a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts, driving them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was to be seen in any part of Egypt. But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go. And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out to heaven, and all the land of Egypt will be dark, so that men will be feeling their way about in the dark. And when Moses' hand was stretched out, dark night came over all the land of Egypt for three days. They were not able to see one another, and no one got up from his place for three days, but where the children of Israel were living, it was light.
Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and said, Go and give worship to the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be kept here. Your little ones may go with you. But Moses said, You will have to let us take burned offerings to put before the Lord our God, so our cattle will have to go with us. Not one may be kept back, for they are needed for the worship of the Lord our God. We have no knowledge what offering we have to give till we come to the place. But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from me. Take care that you come not again before me. For the day when you see my face again will be your last. And Moses said, You say truly, I will not see your face again.
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7 07 - Exodus 11-20 42:20
Chapters 11-20 of the Book of Exodus from the Basic Bible, Old Testament. Translated by S. H. Hooke. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Mark Penfold. Chapter 11 And the Lord said to Moses, I will send one more punishment on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he will let you go, and when he does let you go, He will not keep one of you back, but will send you out by force. So go now and give orders to the people that every man and every woman is to get from his or her neighbor ornaments of silver and of gold. And the Lord gave the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, for the man Moses was highly honored in the land of Egypt by Pharaoh's servants and the people. And Moses said, This is what the Lord says.
About the middle of the night I will go out through Egypt, and death will come to every mother's first male child in all the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power, to the child of the servant girl crushing the grain, and the first births of all the cattle. And there will be a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as never has been or will be again. But against the children of Israel, man or beast, not so much as the tongue of a dog will be moved. So that you may see how the Lord makes a division between Israel and the Egyptians. And all these your servants will come to me, going down on their faces before me, and saying, Go out, and all your people with you, and after that I will go out.
And he went away from Pharaoh, burning with wrath. And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not give ear to you, so that my wonders may be increased in the land of Egypt. And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons. And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship. And you did not let him go. So now I will put the first of your sons to death. All these wonders Moses and Aaron did before Pharaoh. But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. Chapter 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, Let this month be to you the first of months, the first month of the year. Say to all the children of Israel when they are come together, in the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb by the number of their father's families, a lamb for every family.
And if the lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbor have a lamb between them. Taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man. Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year. You may take it from among the sheep or the goats. Keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when everyone who is of the children of Israel is to put it to death between sundown and dark. Then take some of the blood and put it on the two sides of the door and over the door of the house where the meal is to be taken. And let your food that night be the flesh of the lamb, cooked with fire in the oven, together with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants.
Do not take it uncooked or cooked with boiling water, but let it be cooked in the oven, its head with its legs and its inside parts. Do not keep any of it till the morning. Anything which is not used is to be burned with fire. And take your meal dressed as if for a journey, with your shoes on your feet and your sticks in your hands. Take it quickly. It is the Lord's Passover. For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. And the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will go over you, and no evil will come on you for your destruction when my hand is on the land of Egypt.
And this day is to be kept in your memories. You are to keep it as a feast to the Lord through all your generations, as an order forever. For seven days let your food be unleavened bread. From the first day no leaven is to be seen in your houses. Whoever takes bread with leaven in it from the first till the seventh day And on the first day there is to be a holy meeting, and on the seventh day a holy meeting. No sort of work may be done on those days, but only to make ready what is necessary for everyone's food. So keep the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I have taken your armies out of the land of Egypt. This day, then, is to be kept through all your generations by an order forever.
In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day, let your food be unleavened bread till the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. For seven days no leaven is to be seen in your houses. For whoever takes bread which is leavened will be cut off from the people of Israel, if he is from another country, or if he is an Israelite by birth. Take nothing which has leaven in it. Wherever you are living, let your food be unleavened cakes. Then Moses sent for the chiefs of Israel and said to them, See that lambs are marked out for yourselves and your families, and let the Passover lamb be put to death, and take some hyssop and put it in the blood in the basin, touching the two sides and the top of the doorway with the blood from the basin, and let not one of you go out of his house till the morning, for the Lord will go through the land, sending death on the Egyptians.
And when he sees the blood on the two sides and the top of the door, the Lord will go over your door and will not let death come in for your destruction. And you are to keep this as an order to you and to your sons forever. And when you come into the land which the Lord will make yours, as he gave his word, you are to keep this act of worship. And when your children say to you, What is the reason of this act of worship? Then you will say, This is the offering of the Lord's Passover. For he went over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he sent death on the Egyptians, and kept our families safe. And the people gave worship with bent heads. And the children of Israel went and did so.
As the Lord had given orders to Moses and Aaron, so they did. And in the middle of the night the Lord sent death on every first male child in the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power, to the child of the prisoner in the prison and the first births of all the cattle. Then Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and a great cry went up from Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. And he sent for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Get up, and go out from among my people, you and the children of Israel. Go and give worship to the Lord as you have said, and take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone, and give me your blessing.
And the Egyptians were forcing the people on to get them out of the land quickly, for they said, We are all dead men. And the people took their bread paste before it was leavened, putting their basins and their clothing on their backs. And the children of Israel had done as Moses had said. And they got from the Egyptians ornaments of silver and of gold and clothing. And the Lord had given the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they gave them whatever was requested. So they took away all their goods from the Egyptians. And the children of Israel made the journey from Ramesses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, as well as children. And a mixed band of people went with them.
And flocks and herds in great numbers. And they made unleavened cakes from the paste which they had taken out of Egypt. It was not leavened, for they had been sent out of Egypt so quickly that they had no time to make any food ready. Now the children of Israel had been living in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, and at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the armies of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt. It is a watch night before the Lord who took them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a watch night to the Lord for all the children of Israel through all their generations. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the law of the Passover. No man who is not an Israelite is to take of it, but every man's servant whom he has got for money may take of it when he has had circumcision.
A man from a strange country living among you and a servant working for payment may not take part in it. It is to be taken in one house, not a bit of the flesh is to be taken out of the house, and no bone of it may be broken. All Israel is to keep the feast. And if a man from another country is living with you, and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males of his family undergo circumcision, and then let him come near and keep it, for he will then be as one of your people, but no one without circumcision may keep it. The law is the same for him who was an Israelite by birth, and for the man from a strange country who is living with you. So the children of Israel did as the Lord gave orders to Moses and Aaron, and on that very day the Lord took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Chapter 13 And the Lord said to Moses, Let the first male child of every mother among the children of Israel be kept holy for me, even the first male birth among man or beast, for it is mine. And Moses said to the people, Let this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of your prison house, be kept forever in memory, for by the strength of his hand the Lord has taken you out from this place. Let no leavened bread be used. On this day, in the month Abib, you are going out, and it will be that when the Lord takes you into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, the land which He made an oath to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you will do this act of worship in this month.
For seven days let your food be unleavened cakes, and on the seventh day there is to be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened cakes are to be your food through all the seven days. Let no leavened bread be seen among you, or any leaven in any part of your land. And you will say to your son in that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. And this will be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt. So let this order be kept at the right time from year to year. And when the Lord takes you into the land of Canaan, as He made His oath to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, you are to put on one side for the Lord every mother's first male child, the first fruit of her body, and the first young one of every beast.
Every male is holy to the Lord. And for the young of an ass you may give a lamb in payment, or if you will not make payment for it, its neck is to be broken. But for all the first sons among your children, let payment be made. And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for this? Say to him, By the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt, out of the prison house. And when Pharaoh made his heart hard and would not let us go, the Lord sent death on all the first sons in Egypt, of man and of beast. And so every first male who comes to birth is offered to the Lord. But for all the first of my sons I give a price, and this will be for a sign on your hand and for a mark on your brow.
For by the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt. Now after Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not take them through the land of the Philistines, though that was near. For God said, If the people see war, they may have a change of heart and go back to Egypt. But God took the people round by the wasteland near the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in fighting order out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly keep you in mind, and you are to take my bones away with you. Then they went on their journey from Sukkoth, and put up their tents in Epham at the edge of the wasteland.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, guiding them on their way. And by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they were able to go on day and night. The pillar of cloud went ever before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night.
Chapter Fourteen. And the Lord said to Moses, Give orders to the children of Israel to go back and put up their tents before Pai-Hai-Hiroth between Migdal and the sea in front of Baal-Zephon. Opposite to which you are to put up your tents by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are wandering without direction, they are shut in by the wasteland, and I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and he will come after them, and I will be honored over Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians may see that I am the Lord. And they did so. And word came to Pharaoh of the flight of the people. And the feeling of Pharaoh and of his servants about the people was changed, and they said, Why have we let Israel go, so that they will do no more work for us?
So he had his war-carriage made ready and took his people with him. And he took six hundred carriages, all the carriages of Egypt, and captains over all of them. And the Lord made the heart of Pharaoh hard, and he went after the children of Israel, for the children of Israel had gone out without fear. But the Egyptians went after them, all the horses and carriages of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them in their tents by the sea, by Pai-Hai-Hiroth, before Baal-Zephon. And when Pharaoh came near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians coming after them, and were full of fear, and their cry went up to God. And they said to Moses, Was there no resting place for the dead in Egypt, that you have taken us away to come to our death in the wasteland?
Why have you taken us out of Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt, Let us be as we are, working for the Egyptians? For it is better to be the servants of the Egyptians than to come to our death in the wasteland. But Moses said, Keep where you are, and have no fear. Now you will see the salvation of the Lord which He will give you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will make war for you. You have only to keep quiet. And the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? Give the children of Israel the order to go forward, and let your rod be lifted up and your hands stretched out over the sea, and it will be parted in two. And the children of Israel will go through on dry land, and I will make the heart of the Egyptians hard, and they will go in after them, and I will be honored over Pharaoh and over his army, his war carriages, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord when I get honor over Pharaoh and his war carriages and his horsemen. Then the angel of God, who had been before the tents of Israel, took his place at their back, and the pillar of cloud moving from before them came to rest at their back. And it came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And there was a dark cloud between them, and they went on through the night. But the one army came no nearer to the other all the night. And when Moses' hand was stretched out over the sea, the Lord with a strong east wind made the sea go back all night. And the waters were parted in two, and the sea became dry land. And the children of Israel went through the sea on dry land, and the waters were a wall on their right side and on their left.
Then the Egyptians went after them into the middle of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses and his war-carriages and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord, looking out on the armies of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, Sent trouble on the army of the Egyptians, and made the wheels of their work carriages stiff, so that they had hard work driving them. So the Egyptians said, Let us go in flight from before the face of Israel, for the Lord is... And the Lord said to Moses, And when Moses' hand was stretched out over the sea, at dawn the sea came flowing back, meeting the Egyptians in their flight, and the Lord sent destruction on the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. And the waters came back, covering the war-carriages and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh which went after them into the middle of the sea.
Not one of them was to be seen. But the children of Israel went through the sea, walking on dry land. And the waters were a wall on their right side and on their left. So that day the Lord gave Israel salvation from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea's edge. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done against the Egyptians. And the fear of the Lord came on the people, and they had faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Chapter Fifteen Then Moses and the children of Israel made this song to the Lord, and said, I will make a song to the Lord, for he is lifted up in glory, the horse and the horsemen he has sent down into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my strong helper. He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will give him praise, my Father's God, and I will give him glory. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's war carriages and his army he has sent down into the sea. The best of his captains have gone down into the Red Sea. They were covered by the deep waters. Like a stone, they went down under the waves. Full of glory, O Lord, is the power of your right hand. By your right hand, those who came against you are broken.
When you are lifted up in power, all those who come against you are crushed. When you send out your wrath, they are burned up like dry grass. By your breath, the waves were massed together. The flowing waters were lifted up like a pillar. The deep waters became solid in the heart of the sea. Egypt said, I will go after them. I will overtake. I will make division of their goods. My desire will have its way with them. My sword will be uncovered. My hand will send destruction on them. You sent your wind, and the sea came over them. They went down like lead into the great waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you in holy glory, to be praised with fear, doing wonders? When your right hand was stretched out, the mouth of the earth was open for them.
In your mercy you went before the people whom you have made yours, guiding them in your strength to your holy place. Hearing of you, the peoples were shaking in fear. The people of Philistia were gripped with pain. The chiefs of Edom were troubled in heart. The strong men of Moab were in the grip of fear. All the people of Canaan became like water. Fear and grief came on them. By the strength of your arm they were turned to stone, till your people went over, O Lord, till the people went over whom you have made yours. You will take them in, planting them in the mountain of your heritage, the place, O Lord, where you have made your house, the holy place, O Lord, the building of your hands. The Lord is king for ever and ever!
For the horses of Pharaoh, with his war-carriages and his horsemen, went into the sea, and the Lord sent the waters of the sea back over them, but the children of Israel went through the sea on dry land. And Miriam, the woman prophet, the sister of Aaron, took an instrument of music in her hand, and all the women went after her with music and dances. And Miriam, answering, said, Make a song to the Lord, for he is lifted up in glory, the horse and the horsemen he has sent into the sea. Then Moses took Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wasteland of Shur. And for three days they were in the wasteland, where there was no water. And when they came to Marah, the water was no good for drinking, for the waters of Marah were bitter, which is why it was named Marah.
And the people, crying out against Moses, said, What are we to have for drink? And in answer to his prayer, the Lord made him see a tree, and when he put it into the water, the water was made sweet. There he gave them a law and an order, testing them. And he said, If with all your heart you will give attention to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes, giving ear to his orders and keeping his laws, I will not put on you any of the diseases which I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord your life-giver. And they came to Elim, where there were twelve water-springs and seventy palm-trees, and they put up their tents there by the waters.
Chapter 16 And they went on their way from Elim, and all the children of Israel came into the wasteland of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they went out of the land of Egypt. And all the children of Israel were crying out against Moses and Aaron in the wasteland. And the children of Israel said to them, It would have been better for the Lord to have put us to death in the land of Egypt. Where we were seated by the fleshpots and had bread enough for our needs, for you have taken us out to this waste of sand to put all of this people to death through need of food. Then the Lord said to Moses, See, I will send down bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out every day and get enough for the day's needs, so that I may put them to the test to see if they will keep my laws or not.
And on the sixth day they are to make ready what they get in, and it will be twice as much as they get on the other days. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, This evening it will be clear to you that it is the Lord who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for your angry words against the Lord have come to his ears. And what are we that you are crying out against us? And Moses said, The Lord will give you meat for your food at evening, and in the morning bread in full measure, for your outcry against the Lord has come to his ears. For what are we? Your outcry is not against us, but against the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the people of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he has given ear to your outcry.
And while Aaron was talking to the children of Israel, their eyes were turned in the direction of the wasteland, and they saw the glory of the Lord shining in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, The outcry of the children of Israel has come to my ears. Say to them now, At nightfall you will have meat for your food, and in the morning bread in full measure, and you will see that I am the Lord your God. And it came about that in the evening little birds came up, and the place was covered with them. And in the morning there was dew all round about the tents. And when the dew was gone, on the face of the earth was a small round thing, like small drops of ice on the earth. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it?
For they had no idea what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you for your food. This is what the Lord has said. Let every man take up as much as he has need of. At the rate of one Omer for every person, let every man take as much as is needed for his family. And the children of Israel did so, and some took more, and some less. And when it was measured, he who had taken up much had nothing over, and he who had little had enough. Every man had taken what he was able to make use of. And Moses said to them, Let nothing be kept till the morning. But they gave no attention to Moses, and some of them kept it till the morning, and there were worms in it, and it had an evil smell.
And Moses was angry with them. And they took it up morning by morning, every man as he had need. And when the sun was high, it was gone. And on the sixth day they took up twice as much of the bread, two omers for every person, and all the rulers of the people gave Moses word of it. And he said, This is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. What has to be cooked may be cooked, and what is over put on one side to be kept till the morning. And they kept it till the morning, as Moses had said, and no smell came from it, and it had no worms. And Moses said, Make your meal today of what you have, for this day is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not get any in the fields.
For six days you will get it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any. But still on the seventh day some of the people went out to get it, and there was not any. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you go against my orders and my laws? See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, he gives you on the sixth day bread enough for two days. Let every man keep where he is. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people took their rest on the seventh day, and this bread was named manna by Israel. It was white like a grain seed, and its taste was like cakes made with honey. And Moses said, This is the order which the Lord has given. Let one omer of it be kept for future generations, so that they may see the bread which I gave you for your food in the wasteland when I took you out from the land of Egypt.
And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put one omer of manna in it, and put it away before the Lord to be kept for future generations. So Aaron put it away in front of the holy chest to be kept, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. And the children of Israel had manna for their food for forty years, till they came to a land with people in it, till they came to the edge of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
Chapter 17 And the children of Israel went on from the wasteland of Sin by stages as the Lord gave them orders, and put up their tents in Urethedim, and there was no drinking water for the people. So the people were angry with Moses, and said, Give us water for drinking! And Moses said, Why are you angry with me, and why do you put God to the test? And the people were in great need of water, and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water? And Moses, crying out to the Lord, said, What am I to do to this people? They are almost ready to put me to death by stoning. And the Lord said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take some of the chiefs of Israel with you, and take in your hand the rod which was stretched out over the Nile, and go.
See, I will take my place before you on the rock in Horeb, and when you give the rock a blow, water will come out of it, and the people will have drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the chiefs of Israel, and he gave that place the name Massa and Meribah, because the children of Israel were angry, and because they put the Lord to the test, saying, Is the Lord with us or not? Then Amalek came and made war on Israel in Rephidim, and Moses said to Joshua, Get together a band of men for us, and go out, make war on Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my place on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and went to war with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Now while Moses' hand was lifted up, Israel was the stronger, but when he let his hand go down, Amalek became the stronger. But Moses' hands became tired, so they put a stone under him, and he took his seat on it, Aaron and Hur supporting his hands, one on one side and one on the other. So his hands were kept up without falling till the sun went down, and Joshua overcame Amalek and his people with the sword. And the Lord said to Moses, Make a record of this in a book, so that it may be kept in memory, and say it again in the ears of Joshua, that all memory of Amalek is to be completely uprooted from the earth. Then Moses put up an altar, and gave it the name of Yahweh-Nisi. For he said, The Lord has taken his oath that there will be war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Chapter 18 Now news came to Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, of all God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and how the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom, for he said, I have been living in a strange land. And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, The God of my father was my help, and kept me safe from the sword of Pharaoh. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to where Moses had put up his tent in the wasteland, by the mountain of God. And he said to Moses, I, your father-in-law, have come to you, with your wife and your two sons.
And Moses went out to his father-in-law, and went down on his face before him, and gave him a kiss. And they said to one another, Are you well? And they came into the tent. And Moses gave his father-in-law an account of all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians because of Israel, and of all the troubles which had come on them by the way, and how the Lord had given them salvation. And Jethro was glad, because the Lord had been good to Israel, freeing them from the power of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, Praise be to the Lord, who has taken you out of the hand of Pharaoh and out of the hand of the Egyptians. Freeing the people from the yoke of the Egyptians. Now I am certain that the Lord is greater than all gods, for he has overcome them in their pride.
Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, made a burned offering to God, and Aaron came with the chiefs of Israel and had a meal with Moses' father-in-law before God. Now on the day after, Moses took his seat to give decisions for the people, and the people were waiting before Moses from morning till evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all he was doing, he said, What is this you are doing for the people? Why are you seated here by yourself, with all the people waiting before you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to get directions from God, and if they have any question between themselves, they come to me, and I am judge between a man and his neighbor, and I give them the orders and laws of God.
And Moses' father-in-law said to him, What you are doing is not good. Your strength and that of the people will be completely used up. This work is more than you are able to do by yourself. Give ear now to my suggestion, and may God be with you. You are to be the people's representative before God, taking their causes to Him, teaching them His rules and His laws, guiding them in the way they have to go, and making clear to them the work they have to do. But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating prophets wrongly made, and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens, and let them be judges in the causes of the people at all times, and let them put before you all important questions, but in small things let them give decisions themselves.
In this way it will be less hard for you, and they will take the weight off you. If you do this, and God gives approval, then you will be able to go on without wariness, and all this people will go to their tents in peace. So Moses took note of the words of his father-in-law, and did as he had said. And he made selection of able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens. And they were judges in the causes of the people at all times, the hard questions they put before Moses, but on every small point they gave decisions themselves. And Moses let his father-in-law go away, and he went back to his land. Chapter 19 In the third month after the children of Israel went out from Egypt, on the same day they came into the wasteland of Sinai.
And when they had gone away from Rephidim and had come into the wasteland of Sinai, they put up their tents in the wasteland before the mountain. There Israel put up its tents. And Moses went up to God, and the voice of the Lord came to him from the mountain, saying, Say to the family of Jacob, and give word to the children of Israel, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I took you as on eagles' wings, guiding you to myself. If now you will truly give ear to my voice and keep my agreement, you will be my special property out of all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you will be a kingdom of priests to me and a holy nation. These are the words which you are to say to the children of Israel.
And Moses came and sent for the chiefs of the people and put before them all these words which the Lord had given him orders to say. And all the people, answering together, said, Whatever the Lord has said, we will do. And Moses took back to the Lord the words of the people. And the Lord said to Moses, See, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that what I say to you may come to the ears of the people, and they may have belief in you for ever. And Moses gave the Lord word of what the people had said. And the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, and let their clothing be washed. And by the third day let them be ready, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people, and let limits be marked out for the people round the mountain, and say to them, Take care not to go up the mountain or near the sides of it.
Whoever puts his foot on the mountain will certainly come to his death. He is not to be touched by a hand. But is to be stoned, or have an arrow put through him. Man or beast, he is to be put to death. At the long sounding of a horn they may come up to the mountain. Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and made the people holy, and their clothing was washed. And he said to the people, Be ready by the third day. Do not come near a woman. And when morning came on the third day, there were thunders and flames and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a horn sounding very loud. And all the people in the tents were shaking with fear. And Moses made the people come out of their tents and take their places before God.
And they came to the foot of the mountain. And all the mountain of Sinai was smoking, for the Lord had come down on it in fire. And the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a great burning, and all the mountain was shaking. And when the sound of the horn became louder and louder, Moses' words were answered by the voice of God. Then the Lord came down to Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and the Lord sent for Moses to come up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down and give the people orders to keep back, for fear that a great number of them, forcing their way through to see the Lord, may come to destruction. And let the priests who come near to the Lord make themselves holy, for fear that the Lord may come on them suddenly.
And Moses said to the Lord, The people will not be able to come up the mountain, for you gave us orders to put limits round the mountain, marking it out and making it holy. And the Lord said to him, Go down, and you and Aaron may come up, but let not the priests and the people make their way through to the Lord, or he will come on them suddenly. So Moses went down to the people and said this to them. Chapter 20 And God said all these words, I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison house. You are to have no other gods but me. You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth. You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship, for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honor to another, and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers to the third and fourth generation of my haters, and I will have mercy through a thousand generations on those who have love for me and keep my laws.
You are not to make use of the name of the Lord your God for an evil purpose. Whoever takes the Lord's name on his lips for an evil purpose will be judged a sinner by the Lord. Keep in memory the Sabbath, and let it be a holy day. On six days do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On that day you are to do no work, you or your son or your daughter, your manservant or your womanservant. Your cattle or the man from a strange country who is living among you. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them, and he took his rest on the seventh day. For this reason the Lord has given his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy.
Give honor to your father and to your mother, so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Do not put anyone to death without cause. Do not be false to the married relation. Do not take the property of another. Do not give false witness against your neighbor. Let not your desire be turned to your neighbor's house, or his wife, or his manservant, or his womanservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything which is his. And all the people were watching the thunderings, and the flames, and the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking. And when they saw it, they kept far off, shaking with fear. And they said to Moses, To your words we will give ear, but let not the voice of God come to our ears, for fear death may come on us.
And Moses said to the people, Have no fear. For God has come to put you to the test, so that fearing him you may be kept from sin. And the people kept their places far off, but Moses went near to the dark cloud where God was. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You yourselves have seen that my voice has come to you from heaven. Gods of silver and gods of gold you are not to make for yourselves. Make for me an altar of earth, offering on it your burned offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I have put the memory of my name, I will come to you and give you my blessing. And if you make me an altar of stone, do not make it of cut stones, for the touch of an instrument will make it unclean.
And do not go up by steps to my altar, for fear that your bodies may be seen uncovered.
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8 08 - Exodus 21-30 46:32
Chapters 21-30 of the Book of Exodus from the Basic Bible, Old Testament.
Chapter 21. Now these are the laws which you are to put before them. If you get a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment. If he comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself. If he is married, let his wife go away with him. If his master gives him a wife, and he gets sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of the master, and the servant is to go away by himself. But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me, I have no desire to be free. Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door or at its framework he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument, and he will be his servant for ever.
And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do. If she is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free. Her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her. And if he gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his daughter. And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her married rights are not to be less. And if he does not do these three things for her, she has the right to go free without payment. He who gives a man a death-blow is himself to be put to death. But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.
But if a man makes an attack on his neighbor on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death. Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death. Any man who gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to death if you take him in the act. Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death. If, in a fight, one man gives another a blow with a stone or with the shut hand, not causing his death but making him keep in bed, if he is able to get up again and go about with a stick, the other will be let off. Only he will have to give him payment for the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he is well.
If a man gives his manservant or his womanservant blows with a rod, causing death, he is certainly to undergo punishment. But at the same time, if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get punishment, for the servant is his property. If men while fighting do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, But no other evil comes to her. The man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband in agreement with the decision of the judges. But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow. If a man gives his manservant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his eye, or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account of his tooth.
If an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food, but the owner will not be judged responsible. But if the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of it and has not kept it under control so that it has been the cause of the death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is to be put to death. If a price is put on his life, let him make payment of whatever price is fixed. If the death of a son or of a daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this rule. If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.
If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death, the owner of the hole is responsible. He will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his. And if one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, Then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one. But if it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox, and the dead beast will be his.
Chapter 22 If a man takes without right another man's ox or his sheep and puts it to death or gets a price for it, he is to give five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep in payment. The thief will have to make payment for what he has taken. If he has no money, he himself will have to be exchanged for money so that payment may be made. If he still has what he had taken, whatever it is, ox or ass or sheep, He is to give twice its value. If a thief is taken in the act of forcing his way into a house, and his death is caused by a blow, the owner of the house is not responsible for his blood, but if it is after dawn, he will be responsible. If a man makes a fire in a field or a vine-garden and lets the fire do damage to another man's field, he is to give of the best produce of his field or his vine-garden to make up for it.
If there is a fire, and the flames get to the thorns at the edge of the field, causing destruction of the cut grain or of the living grain or of the field, he who made the fire will have to make up for the damage. If a man puts money or goods in the care of his neighbor to keep for him, and it is taken from the man's house, if they get the thief, he will have to make payment of twice the value. If they do not get the thief, let the master of the house come before the judges and take an oath that he has not put his hand on his neighbor's goods. If any question about an ox or an ass or a sheep or clothing, or about the loss of any property which anyone says is his, let the two sides put their cause before God, and he who is judged to be in the wrong is to make payment to his neighbor of twice the value.
If a man puts an ass or an ox or a sheep or any beast into the keeping of his neighbor, and it comes to death or is damaged or is taken away without any person seeing it, if he takes his oath before the Lord that he has not put his hand to his neighbor's goods, the owner is to take his word for it, and he will not have to make payment for it. But if it is taken from him by a thief, he is to make up for the loss of it to its owner. But if it has been damaged by a beast, and he is able to make this clear, he will not have to make payment for what was damaged. If a man gets from his neighbor the use of one of his beasts, and it is damaged or put to death when the owner is not with it, he will certainly have to make payment for the loss.
If the owner is with it, he will not have to make payment. If he gave money for the use of it, the loss is covered by the payment. If a man takes a virgin who has not given her word to another man and has connection with her, he will have to give a bride price for her to be his wife. If her father will not give her to him on any account, he will have to give the regular payment for virgins. Any woman using unnatural powers or secret arts is to be put to death. Any man who has sex connection with a beast is to be put to death. Complete destruction will come on any man who makes offerings to any other god but the Lord. Do no wrong to a man from a strange country, and do not be hard on him, for you yourselves were living in a strange country in the land of Egypt.
Do no wrong to a widow or to a child whose father is dead. If you are cruel to them in any way, and their cry comes up to me, I will certainly give ear, and in the heat of my wrath I will put you to death with the sword, so that your wives will be widows and your children without fathers. If you let any of the poor among my people have the use of your money, do not be a hard creditor to him, and do not take interest. If ever you take your neighbor's clothing in exchange for the use of your money, Let him have it back before the sun goes down, for it is the only thing he has for covering his skin. What is he to go to sleep in? And when his cry comes up to me, I will give ear, for my mercy is great.
You may not say evil of the judges, or put a curse on the ruler of your people. Do not keep back your offerings from the wealth of your grain and your vines. The first of your sons you are to give to me. In the same way with your oxen and your sheep. For seven days let the young one be with its mother. On the eighth day give it to me. You are to be holy men to me. The flesh of no animal whose death has been caused by the beasts of the field may be used for your food. It is to be given to the dogs.
Chapter 23 Do not let a false statement go further. Do not make an agreement with evildoers to be a false witness. Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision. But on the other hand, do not be turned from what is right in order to give support to a poor man's cause. If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him. If you see the ass of one who has no love for you bent down to the earth under the weight which is put on it, you are to come to its help, even against your desire. Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause. Keep yourselves far from any false business.
Never let the upright or him who has done no wrong be put to death, for I will make the evildoer responsible for his sin. Take no rewards in a cause. For rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false. Do not be hard on the man from a strange country who is living among you, for you have had experience of the feelings of one who is far from the land of his birth, because you yourselves were living in Egypt, in a strange land. For six years put seed into your fields, and get in the increase. But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted, so that the poor may have food from it, and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees.
For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath, so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you. Take note of all these things which I have said to you. And let not the names of other gods come into your minds or from your lips. Three times in the year you are to keep a feast to me. You are to keep the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days let your bread be without leaven, as I gave you orders at the regular time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And let no one come before me without an offering. And the feast of the grain cutting, the first fruits of your planted fields, And the feast at the start of the year when you have got in all the fruit from your fields.
Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord God. Do not give the blood of my offering with leavened bread, and do not let the See? I am sending an angel before you to keep you on your way and to be your guide into the place which I have made ready for you. Give attention to him and give ear to his voice. Do not go against him, for your wrongdoing will not be overlooked by him, because my name is in him. But if you truly give ear to his voice and do whatever I say, then I will be against those who are against you, fighting those who are fighting you, and my angel will go before you. guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand.
Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do And I will take all disease away from among you. All your animals will give birth without loss. Not one will be without young in all your land. I will give you a full measure of life. I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come. All those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you. I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face. I will not send them all out in one year. For fear that your land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you. Little by little I will send them away before you, till your numbers are increased, and you take up your heritage in the land.
I will let the limits of your land be from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wasteland to the river Euphrates. For I will give the people of those lands into your power, and you will send them out before you. Make no agreement with them or with their gods. Let them not go on living in your land, or they will make you do evil against me. For if you give worship to their gods, it will certainly be a cause of sin to you.
Chapter 24. And he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the chiefs of Israel.
And Moses only may come near to the Lord, but the others are not to come near, and the people may not come up with them. Then Moses came and put before the people all the words of the Lord and his laws, and all the people, answering with one voice, said, Whatever the Lord has said, we will do. Then Moses put down in writing all the words of the Lord, And he got up early in the morning and made an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent some of the young men of the children of Israel to make burned offerings and peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, draining out half of the blood over the altar.
And he took the book of the agreement, reading it in the hearing of the people. And they said, Everything which the Lord has said we will do, And we will keep his laws. Then Moses took the blood and let it come on the people, and said, This blood is the sign of the agreement which the Lord has made with you in these words. Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the chiefs of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel, and under his feet there was, as it seemed, a jeweled floor clear as the heavens. And he put not his hand on the chiefs of the children of Israel. They saw God, and took food and drink. And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain, and take your place there, and I will give you the stones on which I have put in writing the law and the orders, so that you may give the people knowledge of them.
Then Moses and Joshua his servant got up, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. And he said to the chiefs, Keep your places here till we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. If anyone has any cause, let him go to them. And Moses went up into the mountain, and it was covered by the cloud. And the glory of the Lord was resting on Mount Sinai, and the cloud was over it for six days. And on the seventh day he said Moses' name out of the cloud. And the glory of the Lord was like a flame on the top of the mountain before the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went up the mountain into the cloud, and was there for forty days and forty nights.
Chapter 25 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel that they are to make me an offering. From every man who has the impulse in his heart, take an offering for me. And this is the offering you are to take from them. Gold and silver and brass and blue and purple and red and the best linen and goat's hair and sheepskins colored red and leather and hard wood. Oil for the light, spices for the sweet-smelling oil, sweet perfumes for burning. Barrels and stones of value to be put on the ephod and on the priest's bag. And let them make me a holy place, so that I may be ever present among them. Make the house and everything in it from the designs which I will give you. And they are to make an ark of hard wood, two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide and high.
It is to be plated inside and out with the best gold, with an edge of gold all round it, and make four rings of gold for it, to be fixed on its four feet. Two rings on one side of it and two on the other, and make rods of the same wood, plating them with gold, and put the rods through the rings at the sides of the ark for lifting it. The rods are to be kept in the rings and never taken out. Inside the ark you are to put the record which I will give you, and you are to make a cover of the best gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold, one at one end and one at the other. The winged ones are to be part of the cover, and their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover.
And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you. And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel. And you are to make a table of the same wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high, plated with the best gold, with a gold edge all round it, and make a frame all round it, as wide as a man's hand, with a gold edge to the frame. And make four gold rings, and put them at the four angles, on the four feet of the table. The rings are to be fixed under the frame, to take the rods with which the table is to be lifted. Make rods of the same wood, plated with gold, for lifting the table.
And make the table vessels, the spoons, and the cups, and the basins for liquid, all of the best gold. And on the table, at all times, you are to keep my holy bread. And you are to make a support for lights of the best gold. Its base and its pillar are to be of hammered gold. Its cups, its buds, and its flowers are to be made of the same metal. It is to have six branches coming out from its sides, three branches from one side and three from the other. Every branch having three cups made like almond flowers, every cup with a bud and a flower on all the branches. And on the pillar four cups like almond flowers, every one with its bud and its flower, and under every two branches a bud made with the branch for all the six branches of it.
The buds and the branches are to be made of the same metal, altogether one complete work of hammered gold. Then you are to make it seven vessels for the lights, putting them in their place so that they give light in front of it. And the instruments and trays for use with it are all to be of the best gold. A talent of gold will be needed for it with all these vessels, and see that you make them from the design which you saw on the mountain.
Chapter 26 And you are to make a house for me, with ten curtains of the best linen, blue and purple and red. Worked with designs of winged ones by a good workman. Every curtain is to be twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. Five curtains are to be joined together, and the other five are to be joined together, and you are to put twists of blue cord on the edge of the outside curtain of the first group of five, and on the edge of the outside curtain of the second group of five. Fifty twists on one curtain, and fifty on the other, the twists to be opposite one another. Then make fifty gold hooks, joining the curtains together by the hooks, and in this way the house will be made.
And you are to make curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the house, eleven curtains. Every curtain is to be thirty cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. Five of these curtains are to be joined together, and the other six are to be joined together, the sixth being folded over to make a hanging in front of the tent. And you are to put fifty twists of cord on the edge of the outside curtain of one group, and fifty twists on the edge of the outside curtain of the other group. Then make fifty brass hooks, and put the hooks into the twists, joining the tent together to make it one. And the folded part, which is over of the curtains of the tent, the half-curtain which is folded back, will be hanging down over the back of the house, and the cubit which is over of the ten curtains at the sides will be hanging over the two sides of the house as a cover.
And then you are to make a cover for the tent, of sheepskins colored red, and a cover of leather over that, and you are to make upright boards of hard wood for the house. Every board is to be ten cubits high and a cubit and a half wide. Every board is to be joined to the one nearest to it by two tongues, and so for every board in the house. These are the boards needed for the house. Twenty boards for the south side, with forty silver bases under the twenty boards. Two bases under every board to take its tongues. And twenty boards for the second side of the house on the north, with their forty silver bases, two under every board, and six boards for the back of the house on the west, with two boards for the angles of the house at the back.
The two are to be joined together at the base, and at the top to one ring, forming the two angles. So there are to be eight boards with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under every board. And make rods of the same wood, five for the boards on the one side, and five for the boards on the other side of the house, and five for the west side of the house at the back. And the middle rod is to go through the rings of all the boards from end to end, and the boards are to be plated with gold, having gold rings for the rods to go through, and the rods are to be plated with gold. And you are to make the house from the design which you saw on the mountain. And you are to make a veil of the best linen, blue and purple and red, worked with designs of winged ones by a good workman, hanging it by gold hooks from four pillars of wood, plated with gold and fixed in silver bases.
And you are to put up the veil under the hooks, and put inside it the Ark of the Law. The veil is to be a division between the holy place and the Most Holy. You are to put the cover on the Ark of the Law inside the Most Holy Place, and outside the veil you are to put the table and the support for the lights opposite the table on the south side of the house, and the table is to be on the north side. And you are to make a curtain for the doorway of the tent of the best linen with needlework of blue and purple and red, and make five pillars for the curtain of hard wood plated with gold. Their hooks are to be of gold, and their bases of brass.
Chapter Twenty-Seven And make an altar of hard wood, a square altar, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. Put horns at the four angles of it, made of the same, plating it all with brass. And make all its vessels, the baskets for taking away the dust of the fire. The spades and basins and meat-hooks and fire-trays of brass. And make a network of brass, with four brass rings at its four angles, and put the network under the shelf round the altar so that the net comes halfway up the altar. And make rods for the altar of hard wood plated with brass, and put the rods through the rings at the two opposite sides of the altar for lifting it. The altar is to be hollow, boarded in with wood.
Make it from the design which you saw on the mountain, and let there be an open space round the house, with hangings for its south side of the best linen, a hundred cubits long. Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases are to be of brass. The hooks of the pillars and their bands are to be of silver, and on the north side, in the same way, hangings a hundred cubits long, with twenty pillars of brass on bases of brass. Their hooks and their bands are to be of silver, and for the open space on the west side, the hangings are to be fifty cubits wide, with ten pillars and ten bases. And on the east side, the space is to be fifty cubits wide. On the one side of the doorway will be hangings fifteen cubits long, with three pillars and three bases, and on the other side, hangings fifteen cubits long, with three pillars and three bases.
And across the doorway, a veil of twenty cubits of the best linen, made of needlework of blue and purple and red, with four pillars and four bases. All the pillars round the open space are to have silver bands, with hooks of silver and bases of brass. The open space is to be a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, with sides five cubits high, curtained with the best linen, with bases of brass. All the instruments for the work of the house and all its nails and the nails of the open space are to be of brass. Give orders to the children of Israel to give you clear olive oil for the lights, so that a light may be burning there at all times. Let Aaron and his sons put this in order, evening and morning, before the Lord, inside the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the ark.
This is to be in order for ever. From generation to generation, to be kept by the children of Israel. Chapter 28. Now let Aaron your brother and his sons with him come near from among the children of Israel, so that they may be my priests, even Aaron and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar his sons, and make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honor. Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest. This is what they are to make, a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of colored needlework, a headdress, and a linen band. They are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me.
They are to take the gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, and make the ephod of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen the work of a designer. It is to have two bands stitched to it at the top of the arms, joining it together, and the beautifully worked band which goes on it is to be of the same work and the same material, of gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen work. You are to take two barrel stones, on which the names of the children of Israel are to be cut, six names on the one stone, and six on the other, in the order of their birth. With the work of a jeweler, like the cutting of a stamp, the names of the children of Israel are to be cut on them, and they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold.
And the two stones are to be placed on the ephod, over the armholes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel. Aaron will have their names on his arms when he goes in before the Lord to keep the Lord in mind of them, and you are to make twisted frames of gold, and two chains of the best gold twisted like cords, and have the chains fixed on to the frames. And make a priest's bag for giving decisions, designed like the ephod, made of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen. It is to be square, folded in two. A hand-stretch long and a hand-stretch wide, and on it you are to put four lines of jewels. The first line is to be a carnelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald. The second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx.
The third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. The fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper. They are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. The jewels are to be twelve in number for the names of the children of Israel, every jewel having the name of one of the twelve tribes cut on it as on a stamp. And you are to make two chains of gold, twisted like cords, to be fixed to the priest's bag, and put two gold rings on the two ends of the bag. Put the two gold chains on the two rings at the ends of the bag, joining the other ends of the chains to the gold frames and putting them on the front of the ephod at the top of the arms. Then make two gold rings and put them on the lower ends of the bag, at the edge of it on the inner side nearest to the ephod.
And make two more gold rings and put them on the front of the ephod at the top of the arms, at the join over the worked band. So that the rings on the bag may be fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord and onto the band of the ephod, so that the bag may not come loose from the ephod. And so Aaron will have the names of the children of Israel on the priest's bag over his heart whenever he goes into the holy place to keep the memory of them before the Lord. And in the bag you are to put the Urim and Thummim, so that they may be on Aaron's heart whenever he goes in before the Lord. And Aaron may have the power of making decisions for the children of Israel before the Lord at all times. The robe which goes with the ephod is to be made all of blue, with a hole at the top in the middle of it.
The hole is to be edged with a band to make it strong like the hole in the coat of a fighting man, so that it may not be broken open. And round the skirts of it put fruits in blue and purple and red, with bells of gold between. A gold-bell and a fruit in turn all round the skirts of the robe. Aaron is to put it on for his holy work, and the sound of it will be clear when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, keeping him safe from death. You are to make a plate of the best gold, cutting on it, as on a stamp, these words, Holy to the Lord. Put a blue cord on it, and put it on the front of the twisted head-dress. And it will be over Aaron's brow, so that Aaron will be responsible for any error in all the holy offerings made by the children of Israel.
It will be on his brow at all times, so that their offerings may be pleasing to the Lord. The coat is to be made of the best linen, worked in squares, and you are to make a headdress of linen, and a linen band worked in needlework. And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats and bands and head-dresses, so that they may be clothed with glory and honor. These you are to put on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons, putting oil on them, separating them and making them holy to do the work of priests to me. And you are to make them linen trousers, covering their bodies from the middle to the knee. Aaron and his sons are to put these on whenever they go into the tent of meeting or come near the altar when they are doing the work of the holy place, so that they may be free from any sin causing death.
This is to be an order for him and his seed after him for ever.
Chapter 29 This is what you are to do to make them holy, to do the work of priests to me. Take one young ox and two male sheep without any mark on them, and unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes on which oil has been put, made of the best bread meal. Put these in a basket and take them with the ox and the two sheep, and let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the tent of meeting, and there let them be washed with water. Take the robes, and put the coat and the dress and the ephod and the priest's bag on Aaron. Put the band of needlework round him, and let the headdress be placed on his head, and the holy crown on the headdress. Then take the oil, and put it on his head, and take his sons, and put their robes on them, and put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the headdresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever.
So you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me. Then let the ox be taken in front of the tent of meeting, and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head, and you are to put the ox to death before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting. Then take some of the blood of the ox and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, draining out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. And take all the fat covering the inside of the ox, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and let them be burned on the altar. But the flesh of the ox and its skin and its waist parts are to be burned outside the circle of the tents, for it is a sin offering.
Then take one of the sheep, and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head. Then let it be put to death, so that the sides of the altar are marked with its blood. Then the sheep is to be cut up into its parts, and after washing its legs and its inside parts, you are to put them with the parts and the head, and let them all be burned on the altar as a burned offering to the Lord, a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Then take the other sheep, and after Aaron and his sons have put their hands on its head, you are to put the sheep to death. And take some of its blood, and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar.
Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes, and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy. Then take the fat of the sheep. The fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg. For by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests. And take one bit of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord, and put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. Then take them from their hands, and let them be burned on the burned offering on the altar, a sweet smell before the Lord, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
Then take the breast of Aaron's sheep, waving it before the Lord, and it is to be your part of the offering. So you are to make holy the breast of the sheep which is waved, and the leg which is lifted up on high, that is, of the sheep which is offered for Aaron and his sons. And it will be their part as a rite for ever from the children of Israel. It is a special offering from the children of Israel, made from their peace offerings, a special offering lifted up to the Lord. And Aaron's holy robes will be used by his sons after him. They will put them on when they are made priests. For seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will put them on when he comes into the tent of meeting to do the work of the holy place.
Then take the sheep of the wave-offering, and let its flesh be cooked in water in a holy place, and let Aaron and his sons make a meal of it, with the bread in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food. But no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food. And if any of the flesh of the offering or of the bread is over till the morning, let it be burned with fire. It is not to be used for food, for it is holy. All these things you are to do to Aaron and his sons as I have given you orders. For seven days the work of making them priests is to go on. Every day an ox is to be offered as a sin offering, to take away sins, and by this offering on it you will make the altar clean from sin.
Now this is the offering which you are to make on the altar. Two lambs in their first year, every day, regularly. One lamb is to be offered in the morning, and the other in the evening. And with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of the best meal, Mixed with a fourth part of a hin of clear oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink-offering. And the other lamb is to be offered in the evening, and with it the same meal-offering and drink-offering for a sweet smell, and offered This is to be a regular burned offering made from generation to generation at the door of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will come face to face with you and have talk with you. There I will come face to face with the children of Israel, and the tent will be made holy by my glory.
I will make holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and Aaron and his sons I will make holy to be my priests. Among the children of Israel I will make my living place, and I will be their God. And they will see that I am the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be ever with them. I am the Lord their God. Chapter 30 And you are to make an altar for the burning of perfume. Of hard wood let it be made. The altar is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high, and its horns are to be made of the same. It is to be plated with the best gold, the top of it and the sides and the horns with an edging of gold all round it. Under the edge on the two opposite sides you are to make two gold rings to take the rods for lifting it, and make these rods of the same wood, plating them with gold, and let it be placed in front of the veil before the ark of the law, before the cover which is over the law, where I will come face to face with you.
And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights, and every evening when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation forever. No strange perfume, no burned offering or meal offering, and no drink offering is to be offered on it, and once every year Aaron is to make its horns clean. With the blood of the sin offering he is to make it clean once every year from generation to generation. It is most holy to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered.
And this is what they are to give. Let every man who is numbered give half a shekel by the scale of the holy place, the shekel being valued at twenty geras. This money is an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, is to give an offering to the Lord. The man of wealth is to give no more, and the poor man no less than the half shekel of silver, when the offering is made to the Lord as the price for your lives. And you are to take this money from the children of Israel to be used for the work of the tent of meeting, to keep the memory of the children of Israel before the Lord, and to be the price of your lives. And the Lord said to Moses, You are to make a brass washing vessel with a brass base, and put it between the tent of meeting and the altar with water in it, that it may be used by Aaron and his sons for washing their hands and feet.
Whenever they go into the tent of meeting, they are to be washed with water to keep them from death. And whenever they come near to do the work of the altar, or to make an offering by fire to the Lord, their hands and feet are to be washed, so that they may be safe from death. This is an order to them forever, to him and to his seed from generation to generation. And the Lord said to Moses, Take the best spices, five hundred shekels weight of liquid myrrh, And of sweet cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus, and of cassia, five hundred shekels weight measured by the scale of the holy place, and of olive oil, a hymn, and make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume maker.
It is to be a holy oil. This oil is to be put on the tent of meeting, and on the ark of the law, and on the table and all its vessels, and on the support for the lights with its vessels, and on the altar for burning spices, and on the altar of burned offerings with its vessels, and on the washing vessel and its base. And you are to make them most holy. Anything touching them will become holy. And put the oil on Aaron and his sons, making them holy to do the work of priests to me. And say to the children of Israel, This is to be the Lord's holy oil from generation to generation. It is not to be used for man's flesh, and no other is to be made like it.
And the Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices, Stacte and Onyca and Galbanum with the best frankincense in equal weights, and make from them a perfume such as is made by the art of the perfume-maker, mixed with salt, and clean and holy, and put some of it crushed very small in front of the ark in the tent of meeting, where I will come face to face with you. It is to be most holy." You are not to make any perfume like it for yourselves. It is to be kept wholly to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it for its sweet smell will be cut off from his people.
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the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have given him the Spirit of God, and made him wise and full of knowledge and expert in every sort of handwork, to do all sorts of delicate work in gold and silver and brass, in cutting stones for framing, and to do every form of woodwork. And I have made selection of Aholiab with him, the son of Ahissamach of the tribe of Dan. And in the hearts of all who are wise I have put the knowledge to make whatever I have given you orders to have made, the tent of meeting, and the ark of the law, and the cover which is on it, and all the things for the tent, and the table with its vessels, and the holy light support with all its vessels, and the altar for the burning of spices, and the altar of burned offerings with all its vessels, and the washing vessel with its base, and the robes of needlework.
The holy robes for Aaron and for his sons, for their use when acting as priests, and the holy oil and the perfume of sweet spices for the holy place. They will do whatever I have given you orders to have done. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel that they are to keep my Sabbaths. For the Sabbath day is a sign between me and you through all your generations, so that you may see that I am the Lord who makes you holy. So you are to keep the Sabbath as a holy day, and anyone not honoring it will certainly be put to death. Whoever does any work on that day will be cut off from his people. Six days may work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord.
Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. And the children of Israel are to keep the Sabbath holy from generation to generation by an eternal agreement. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever, because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he took his rest and had pleasure in it. And when his talk with Moses on Mount Sinai was ended, He gave him the two stones of the law, two stones on which was the writing made by the finger of God.
Chapter 32 And when the people saw that Moses was a long time coming down from the mountain, they all came to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god to go before us. As for this Moses who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him. Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me. And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron. And he took the gold from them, and hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox. And they said, This is your God, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, "'To-morrow there will be a feast to the Lord.' So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace offerings, and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.
And the Lord said to Moses, "'Go down quickly, for your people, whom you took out of the land of Egypt, are turned to evil ways.' Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox, and given worship to it, and offerings, saying, This is your God, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people. Now do not get in my way, for my wrath is burning against them. I will send destruction on them. But of you I will make a great nation. But Moses made prayer to God, saying, Lord, why is your wrath burning against your people whom you took out of the land of Egypt with great power and with the strength of your hand?
Why let the Egyptians say, He took them out to an evil fate, to put them to death on the mountains, cutting them off from the earth? Let your wrath be turned away from them, and send not this evil on your people. Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage forever. So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people. Then Moses came down the mountain with the two stones of the law in his hand. The stones had writing on their two sides. On the front and on the back. The stones were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, cut on the stones.
Now when the noise and the voices of the people came to the ears of Joshua, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the tents! And Moses said, It is not the voice of men who are overcoming in the fight, or the cry of those who have been overcome. It is the sound of songs which comes to my ear. And when he came near the tents, he saw the image of the ox and the people dancing. And in his wrath Moses let the stones go from his hands, and they were broken at the foot of the mountain. And he took the ox which they had made, burning it in the fire and crushing it to powder, and he put it in the water and made the children of Israel take a drink of it. And Moses said to Aaron, What did the people do to you that you let this great sin come on them?
And Aaron said, Let not my lord be angry. You have seen how the purposes of this people are evil, for they said to me, Make us a god to go before us. As for this Moses who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him. Then I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off. So they gave it to me, and I put it in the fire, and this image of an ox came out. And Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them loose to their shame before their haters. Then Moses took his place at the way into the tents, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him, and he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel.
Let every man take his sword at his side and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did as Moses said, and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day. And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day, for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother. The blessing of the Lord is on you this day. And on the day after, Moses said to the people, Great has been your sin, but I will go up to the Lord and see if I may get forgiveness for your sin. Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold.
But now, if you will give them forgiveness, but if not, let my name be taken out of your book. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has done evil against me will be taken out of my book. But now, go, take the people into that place of which I have given you word. See, my angel will go before you, but when the time of my judging has come, I will send punishment on them for their sin. And the Lord sent punishment on the people, because they gave worship to the ox which Aaron made. Chapter 33 And the Lord said to Moses, Go forward from this place, you and the people whom you have taken up out of the land of Egypt, to the land about which I made an oath, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it, and I will send an angel before you, driving out the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Go up to that land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, for fear that I send destruction on you while you are on the way. Hearing this bad news, the people were full of grief, and no one put on his ornaments. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people. If I come among you even for a minute, I will send destruction on you. So take off all your ornaments, so that I may see what to do with you. So the children of Israel took off their ornaments at Mount Horeb, and did not put the Maan again. Now it was Moses' way to put up the Tent of Meeting outside the tent-circle at some distance away, giving it the name of the Tent of Meeting.
And every one desiring to make his prayer to the Lord went to the Tent of Meeting outside the tent-circle. And whenever Moses went out to the tent of meeting, all the people got up, and everyone went to the door of his tent, looking after Moses till he went inside the tent. And whenever Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud came down and took its place by the door of the tent as long as the Lord was talking with Moses. And all the people saw the cloud at the door of the tent, and they went down on their faces, everyone at the door of his tent. And the Lord had talk with Moses face to face, as a man may have talk with his friend. And when Moses came back to the tents, his servant, the young man Joshua, the son of Nun, did not come away from the tent.
And Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, Be this people's guide on their journey, but you have not made clear to me whom you will send with me. But you have said, I have knowledge of you by name, and you have grace in my eyes. If then I have grace in your eyes, let me see your ways, so that I may have knowledge of you and be certain of your grace. And my prayer is that you will keep in mind that this nation is your people. And he said, I myself will go with you and give you rest. And Moses said, If you yourself are not going with us, do not send us on from here. For is not the fact of your going with us the sign that I and this people have grace in your eyes, so that we, that is, I and your people, are separate from all other people on the face of the earth?
And the Lord said to Moses, I will do as you say, for you have grace in my eyes, and I have knowledge of you by your name. And Moses said, O Lord, let me see your glory. And he said, I will make all the light of my being come before you, and will make clear to you what I am. I will be kind to those to whom I will be kind, and have mercy on those on whom I will have mercy. But it is not possible for you to see my face, for no man may see me and still go on living. And the Lord said, See, there is a place near me, and you may take your place on the rock, and when my glory goes by, I will put you in a hole in the rock, covering you with my hand till I have gone past. Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face is not to be seen.
Chapter 34 And the Lord said to Moses, Make two other stones like the first two. And I will put on them the words which were on the first stones, which were broken by you. And be ready by the morning, and come up on Mount Sinai, and come before me there in the morning, on the top of the mountain. No one is to come up with you, and let no man be seen anywhere on the mountain. Let no flocks or herds come near to get their food at its foot. So Moses got two stones cut like the first. And early in the morning he went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had said, with the two stones in his hand. And the Lord came down in the cloud, and took his place by the side of Moses, and Moses gave worship to the name of the Lord.
And the Lord went past before his eyes, saying, The Lord, the Lord, a God full of pity and grace, slow to wrath and great in mercy and faith, having mercy on thousands, Overlooking evil and wrongdoing and sin. He will not let wrongdoers go free, but will send punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, and on their children's children to the third and fourth generation. Then Moses quickly went down on his face in worship, and he said, If now I have grace in your eyes, let the Lord go among us, for this is a stiff-necked people. And give us forgiveness for our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us for your heritage. And the Lord said, See, this is what I will undertake. Before the eyes of your people I will do wonders, such as have not been done in all the earth or in any nation.
And all your people will see the work of the Lord, for what I am about to do for you is greatly to be feared. Take care to do the orders which I give you today. I will send out from before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. But take care, and do not make any agreement with the people of the land where you are going, for it will be a cause of sin to you. But their altars are to be overturned, and their pillars broken, and their images cut down. For you are to be worshippers of no other god, for the Lord is a god who will not give his honor to another. So see that you make no agreement with the people of the land, and do not go after their gods, or take part in their offerings, or be guests at their feasts, or take their daughters for your sons.
For when their daughters give worship before their gods, they will make your sons take part with them. Make for yourselves no gods of metal. Keep the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days your food is to be bred without leaven, as I gave you orders at the regular time in the month Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. Every first male child is mine, the first male birth of your cattle, the first male of every ox and sheep. A lamb may be given in payment for the young of an ass. But if you will not make payment for it, its neck will have to be broken. For all the first of your sons you are to make payment. No one is to come before me without an offering. Six days let work be done, but on the seventh day take your rest.
At plowing time and at the grain cutting you are to have a day for rest. And you are to keep the feast of weeks when you get in the first fruits of the grain, and the feast at the turn of the year when you take in the produce of your fields. Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord, the God of Israel, for I will send out the nations before you and make wide the limits of your land, and no man will make an attempt to take your land while you go up to give worship to the Lord three times in the year. No leaven is to be offered with the blood of my offering, and the offering of the Passover feast may not be kept till the morning. Take the firstfruits of your land as an offering to the house of the Lord your God.
Let not the young goat be cooked in its mother's milk. And the Lord said to Moses, Put all these words in writing, for on them is based the agreement which I will make with you. And for forty days and forty nights Moses was there with the Lord, and in that time he had no food or drink, and he put in writing on the stones the words of the agreement, the ten rules of the law. Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two stones in his hand, he was not conscious that his face was shining because of his talk with God. But when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and the shining of his face, they would not come near him for fear. Then Moses sent for them, and Aaron with the chiefs of the people came to him, and Moses had talk with them.
And later all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the orders which the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai, and at the end of his talk with them Moses put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to have talk with him, he took off the veil till he came out. And whenever he came out, he said to the children of Israel what he had been ordered to say. And the children of Israel saw that the face of Moses was shining. So Moses put the veil over his face again till he went in to the Lord. Chapter 35 And Moses sent for all the children of Israel to come together, and said to them, This is what the Lord has said, and these are his orders. Six days let work be done, but the seventh day is to be a holy day to you, a sabbath of rest to the Lord.
Whoever does any work on that day is to be put to death. No fire is to be lighted in any of your houses on the sabbath day. And Moses said to all the meeting of the children of Israel, This is the order which the Lord has given. Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Every one who has the impulse in his heart, Let him give his offering to the Lord, gold and silver and brass and blue and purple and red and the best linen and goats' hair and sheepskins colored red and leather and hard wood and oil for the lights and spices for the holy oil and for the sweet perfumes for burning and barrels and jewels to be cut for the ephod and for the priest's bag. And let every wise-hearted man among you come and make whatever has been ordered by the Lord.
The house and its tent and its cover, its hooks and its boards, its rods and its pillars and its bases, the ark with its cover and its rods, and the veil hanging before it, the table and its rods and all its vessels, and the holy bread, And the support for the lights, with its vessels and its lights, and the oil for the light, and the altar for burning spices, with its rods, and the holy oil and the sweet perfume, and the curtain for the door at the door of the house, the altar of burned offerings, with its network of brass, its rods and all its vessels, the washing vessel and its base, the hangings for the open space, its pillars and their bases, and the curtain for the doorway. The nails for the house, and the nails for the open space and their cords, the robes of needlework for the work of the holy place, the holy robes for Aaron the priest, and the robes for his sons when acting as priests.
And all the children of Israel went away from Moses, and everyone whose heart was moved, everyone who was guided by the impulse of his spirit, came with his offering for the Lord, for whatever was needed for the tent of meeting and its work and for the holy robes. They came, men and women, all who were ready to give, and gave pins and nose rings and finger rings and neck ornaments, all of gold. Everyone gave an offering of gold to the Lord. And everyone who had blue and purple and red and the best linen and goat's hair and sheepskins colored red and leather gave them. Everyone who had silver and brass gave an offering of them to the Lord, and everyone who had hard wood, such as was needed for the work, gave it.
And all the women who were expert with their hands made cloth, and gave the work of their hands, blue and purple and red and the best linen. And those women who had the knowledge made the goat's hair into cloth, and the rulers gave the barrels and the cut jewels for the ephod and the priest's bag. And the spice and the oil for the light, and the holy oil and the sweet perfumes. The children of Israel, every man and woman from the impulse of their hearts, gave their offerings freely to the Lord for the work which the Lord had given Moses orders to have done. And Moses said to the children of Israel, See, the Lord has made selection of Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
And he has made him full of the Spirit of God in all wisdom and knowledge and art of every sort, as an expert designer of beautiful things, working in gold and silver and brass, trained in the cutting of stones and the ornamenting of wood and in every sort of handwork. And he has given to him and to Aholiab, the son of Ahissamach of the tribe of Dan, the power of training others. To them he has given knowledge of all the arts of the hand-worker, of the designer, and the expert workman, of the maker of needlework in blue and purple and red, and the best linen, and of the maker of cloth. In all the arts of the designer and the trained workman, they are expert.
Chapter 36 So let Bezalel and Aholiab get to work with every wise-hearted man to whom the Lord has given wisdom and knowledge to do whatever is necessary for the ordering of the holy place, as the Lord has given orders. Then Moses sent for Bezalel and Aholiab, and for all the wise-hearted men to whom the Lord had given wisdom, even every one who was moved by the impulse of his heart, to come and take part in the work. And they took from Moses all the offerings which the children of Israel had given for the building of the holy place, and still they went on giving him more free offerings every morning. Then the wise men who were doing all the work of the holy place came from their work, and said to Moses, The people are giving much more than is needed for the work which the Lord has given us orders to do.
So Moses made an order, and had it given out through all the tents, saying, Let no man or woman make any more offerings for the holy place. So the people were kept from giving more, for the material they had was enough, and more than enough for all the work which had to be done. Then all the expert workmen among them made the house with its ten curtains. Of the best linen, blue and purple and red, they made them, with winged ones worked by expert designers. Every curtain was twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide. All of the same measure. And five curtains were joined together, and the other five curtains were joined together. And they put twists of blue cord on the edge of the outside curtain of the first group, and in the same way on the outside curtain of the second group.
Fifty twists on the one curtain, and fifty on the edge of the curtain of the other group, the twists being opposite to one another. And they made fifty hooks of gold, joining the curtains one to another with the hooks. And so the house was made. And they made curtains of goat's hair for the tent. Eleven curtains were made. Every curtain was thirty cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. Five curtains were joined together to make one group, and six curtains were joined together to make the other group. And they put fifty twists of cord on the edge of the outside curtain of the first group, and fifty twists on the edge of the outside curtain of the second group. And fifty hooks of brass for joining them together to make the tent.
And they made a cover of sheepskins colored red to go over the tent, and a cover of leather over that. And for the uprights of the house they made boards of hard wood. The boards were ten cubits long and one cubit and a half wide. Every board had two tongues fixed into it. All the boards were made in this way. They made twenty boards for the south side of the house. And for these twenty boards Forty silver bases, two bases under every board, to take its tongues. And for the second side of the house, on the north, they made twenty boards, with their forty silver bases, two bases for every board. And for the west side of the house, at the back, they made six boards, and two boards for the angles at the back.
These were joined together at the base and at the top to one ring, so forming the two angles. So there were eight boards with sixteen bases of silver. Two bases under every board. And they made rods of hard wood, five for the boards on one side of the house, and five for the boards on the other side of the house, and five for the boards at the back on the west. The middle rod was made to go right through the rings of all the boards from one end to the other. All the boards were plated with gold, and the rings through which the rods went were of gold, and the rods were plated with gold. And he made the veil of the best linen. Blue and purple and red worked with winged ones designed by expert workmen, and they made four pillars for it of hard wood plated with gold.
They had hooks of gold and four silver bases, and they made a curtain for the door of the tent of the best linen with needlework of blue and purple and red, and five pillars for the curtain with their hooks. The heads of the pillars were of gold, and they were circled with bands of gold. And their five bases were of brass.
Chapter 37 And Bezalel made the ark of hard wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high, plating it inside and out with the best gold, and putting an edge of gold all round it. And he made four gold rings for its four angles, two on one side and two on the other, and rods of the same wood plated with gold. These rods he put in the rings at the sides of the arc, for lifting it. And he made the cover all of gold, two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide. And he made two winged ones, hammered out of one bit of gold, for the two ends of the cover, placing one at one end, and one at the other. The winged ones were part of the cover, and their wings were stretched out over the cover.
The faces of the winged ones were opposite one another and facing the cover. And he made the table of hard wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high, plating it with the best gold and putting a gold edge all round it. And he made a frame all round it, about as wide as a man's hand, edged with gold all round. And he made four gold rings, and put the rings at the angles of its four feet. The rings were fixed under the frame to take the rods with which the table was to be lifted. The rods for lifting the table he made of hard wood, plated with gold. And all the table vessels, the plates and spoons and basins and the cups for liquids, he made of the best gold. Then he made the support for the lights, all of the best gold.
Its base and its pillar were of hammered gold. Its cups and buds and flowers were all made out of the same metal. It had six branches coming out from its sides, three from one side and three from the other, every branch having three cups made like almond flowers, every cup with a bud and a flower on all the branches, and on its pillar four cups like almond flowers, every one with its bud and its flower, and under every two branches a bud made with the branch for all six branches of it. The buds and the branches were made of the same metal. Altogether one complete work of the best hammered gold. And he made the seven vessels for the lights, and all the necessary instruments for it, of gold. A talent of the best gold was used for the making of it and its vessels.
And he made the altar for the burning of spices, using the same hard wood. It was square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high, the horns made of the same. The top and the sides and the horns were all plated with the best gold, and he put an edge of gold all round it, and he made two gold rings, placing them on the two opposite sides under the edge, to take the rods for lifting it. The rods he made of the same hard wood, plating them with gold, and he made the holy oil and the perfume of sweet spices for burning after the art of the perfume maker.
Chapter 38 The altar of burned offerings he made of hard wood, a square altar, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. And he put horns at its four angles made of the same, plating it all with brass. And brass was used for all the vessels of the altar, the baskets and the spades, the basins and the meat-hooks and the fire-trays. All the vessels he made of brass. And he made a network of brass for the altar under the frame round it, stretching half-way up. And four rings for the four angles of this network to take the rods. The rods he made of hard wood, plated with brass. He put the rods through the rings at the opposite sides of the altar for lifting it. He made the altar hollow, boarded in with wood.
And he made the washing vessel of brass on a brass base, using the polished brass looking-glasses given by the women who did work at the doors of the tent of meeting. To make the open space, he put hangings on the south side of the best linen, a hundred cubits long. Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were brass, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. And for the north side, hangings a hundred cubits long on twenty brass pillars in brass bases, with silver hooks and bands. And on the west side, hangings fifty cubits long on ten pillars in ten bases with silver bands. And on the east side, the open space was fifty cubits long. The hangings on one side of the doorway were fifteen cubits long, on three pillars with their three bases, and the same on the other side of the doorway.
On this side and on that, the hangings were fifteen cubits long, on three pillars with their three bases. All the hangings were of the best linen. And the bases of the pillars were of brass. Their hooks and the bands round the tops of them were of silver. All the pillars were ringed with silver, and the curtain for the doorway of the open space was of the best linen, with designs of blue and purple and red in needlework. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high, to go with the hangings round the sides. There were four pillars with their bases, all of brass, the hooks being of silver, and their tops and their bands being covered with silver. All the nails used for the house and the open space round it were of brass.
This is the price of the making of the house, even the house of witness, as it was valued by the word of Moses for the work of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, made everything as the Lord had given orders to Moses. And with him was Aholiab, the son of Ahissamach of the tribe of Dan, a designer and a trained workman, expert in needlework of blue and purple and red and the best linen. The gold used for all the different work done for the Holy Place, the gold which was given, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels in weight, by the scale of the Holy Place. And the silver given by those who were numbered of the people was a hundred talents and a thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels in weight, by the scale of the Holy Place.
A becca, that is, half a shekel by the Holy Scale, for everyone who was numbered. There were 603,550 men of twenty years old and over. Of this silver, a hundred talents was used for making the bases of the pillars of the holy place and of the veil, a talent for every base. And 1,775 shekels of silver was used to make the hooks for the pillars, and for plating the tops of the pillars, and for making their bands. The brass which was given was 70 talents, 2,400 shekels. From it he made the bases of the doorway of the tent of meeting, and the brass altar, and the network for it, and all the vessels for the altar, and the bases for the open space all round and for its doorway, and all the nails for the house and for the open space.
Chapter 39 And from the needlework of blue and purple and red they made the robes used for the work of the holy place, and the holy robes for Aaron, as the Lord had given orders to Moses. The ephod he made of gold and blue and purple and red, and the best linen, hammering the gold into thin plates and cutting it into wires to be worked into the blue and the purple and the red and the linen by the designer. And they made two bands for joining its edges together at the top of the arms, and the beautifully worked band which went on it was of the same design and the same material, worked in gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen work, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. Then they made the barrel stones, fixed in twisted frames of gold, and cut like the cutting of a stamp, with the names of the children of Israel.
These he put on the ephod, over the armholes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel, as the Lord had said to Moses. The priest's bag was designed like the ephod, of the best linen worked with gold and blue and purple and red. It was square and folded in two, as long and as wide as the stretch of a man's hand. And on it they put four lines of stones. In the first line was a carnelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald. In the second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx. In the third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. In the fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper. They were fixed in twisted frames of gold. There were twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. On every one, the name of one of the tribes of Israel was cut, like the cutting of a stamp.
And on the bag they put gold chains, twisted like cords. And they made two gold frames and two gold rings, the rings being fixed to the ends of the priest's bag. And they put the two twisted chains on the two rings at the ends of the priest's bag. And the other two ends of the chains were joined to the two frames and fixed to the front of the ephod over the armholes. And they made two rings of gold and put them on the two lower ends of the bag, on the inner side nearest to the ephod. And two other gold rings were put on the front of the ephod over the armholes at the join and over the worked band. And the rings on the bag were fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord, keeping it in place over the band, so that the bag might not get loose, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.
The robe which went with the ephod was made all of blue, with a hole at the top in the middle, like the hole in the coat of a fighting man, edged with a band to make it strong. The skirts of the robe were worked all round with fruits in blue and purple and red made of twisted linen, and between the fruits all round the skirt they put gold bells as the Lord gave orders to Moses. All round the skirt of the robe were bells and fruits in turn. The coats for Aaron and his sons they made of the best linen, The Lord had said to Moses. The plate for the holy crown was made of the best gold, and on it were cut these words, Holy to the Lord. It was fixed to the headdress by a blue cord, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.
So all the work on the house of the tent of meeting was done. As the Lord had given orders to Moses, so the children of Israel did it. Then they took the house to Moses, the tent with all the things for it, its hooks, its boards, its rods, its pillars, and its bases, the outer cover of sheepskins colored red, and the cover of leather, and the veil for the doorway, the ark of the law with its rods and its cover, the table with all its vessels and the holy bread, the support for the lights with the vessels for the lights to be put in their places on it, And all its vessels, and the oil for the lights, and the gold altar, and the holy oil, and the sweet perfume for burning, and the curtain for the doorway of the tent, and the brass altar with its network of brass, and its rods and all its vessels, and the washing vessel and its base, the hangings for the open space, with the pillars and their bases, and the curtain for the doorway, and the cords and nails, and all the instruments necessary for the work of the house of the tent of meeting.
The robes for use in the holy place, and the holy robes for Aaron and his sons when acting as priests. The children of Israel did everything as the Lord had given orders to Moses. Then Moses, when he saw all their work and saw that they had done everything as the Lord had said, gave them his blessing.
Chapter 40 And the Lord said to Moses, On the first day of the first month, You are to put up the house of the Tent of Meeting, and inside it put the Ark of the Law, hanging the veil before it, and put the table inside, placing all the things on it in order, and put in the support for the lights, and let its lights be burning, and put the gold altar for burning perfumes in front of the Ark of the Law, hanging the curtain over the doorway of the house, and put the altar of burned offerings before the doorway of the house of the Tent of Meeting, And let the washing-vessel, with water in it, be put between the tent of meeting and the altar. And put up the hangings, forming the open space all round it, with the curtain over its doorway.
And take the holy oil, and put it on the house and everything in it, and make it and everything in it holy. And put oil on the altar of burned offering, and make it and all its vessels holy. This altar is to be most holy. And put oil on the washing vessel and its base, and make them holy. Then let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the tent of meeting, and after washing them with water you are to put on Aaron the holy robes, and you are to put oil on him, and make him holy, so that he may be my priest. And take his sons with him, and put coats on them, and put oil on them as you did on their father, so that they may be my priests. The putting on of oil will make them priests forever, from generation to generation.
And Moses did this. As the Lord gave him orders, so he did. So on the first day of the first month in the second year, the house was put up. Moses put up the house, placing its bases in position and lifting up its uprights, putting in the rods and planting the pillars in their places. Stretching the outer tent over it, and covering it, as the Lord had given him orders. And he took the law, and put it inside the ark, and put the rods at its side, and the cover over it. And he took the ark into the house, hanging up the veil before it, as the Lord had given him orders. And he put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side outside the veil. And he put the bread on it in order before the Lord, as the Lord had said.
The support for the lights he put in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side, lighting the lights before the Lord as the Lord had given him orders. And he put the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the veil, burning sweet perfumes on it as the Lord had given him orders. And he put up the curtain at the doorway of the house, and at the door of the house of the tent of meeting he put the altar of burned offerings Offering on it the burned offering and the meal offering, as the Lord had given him orders. And between the altar and the tent of meeting he put the vessel with water in it for washing. In it the hands and feet of Moses and Aaron and his sons were washed, whenever they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near the altar, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.
And he put up the hangings, forming the open space round the house and the altar, and put the curtain over the doorway. So Moses made the work complete. Then the cloud came down, covering the tent of meeting, and the house was full of the glory of the Lord, so that Moses was not able to go into the tent of meeting, because the cloud was resting on it, and the house was full of the glory of the Lord. And whenever the cloud was taken up from the house, the children of Israel went forward on their journey. But while the cloud was there, they made no move till it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was resting on the house by day, and at night there was fire in the cloud before the eyes of all the people of Israel, and so it was through all their journeys.