Genesis 35-37
GOD’S WORD Translation
Jacob’s Fifth Encounter with God
35 Then God said to Jacob, “Go to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there. I am the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 So Jacob said to his family and those who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods which you have, wash yourselves until you are ritually clean,[a] and change your clothes. 3 Then let’s go to Bethel. I will make an altar there to God, who answered me when I was troubled and who has been with me wherever I’ve gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that they had in their possession as well as the earrings that they had on. Jacob buried these things under the oak tree near Shechem.
5 As they moved on, God made the people of the cities that were all around them terrified so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob and all the people who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there and called that place El Bethel [God of the House of God]. That’s where God had revealed himself to Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried under the oak tree outside Bethel. So Jacob called it the Tree of Crying.
Jacob’s Sixth Encounter with God—His Name Changed to Israel
9 Then God appeared once more to Jacob after he came back from Paddan Aram, and he blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. You will no longer be called Jacob, but your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.
11 God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fertile, and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from you. 12 I will give you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. I will also give this land to your descendants.” 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him. 14 So Jacob set up a memorial, a stone marker, to mark the place where God had spoken with him. He poured a wine offering and olive oil on it. 15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel [House of God].
Jacob’s [Israel’s] Sons(A)
16 Then they moved on from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor and was having severe labor pains. 17 During one of her pains, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid! You’re having another son!” 18 Rachel was dying. As she took her last breath, she named her son Benoni [Son of My Sorrow], but his father named him Benjamin [Son of My Right Hand].
19 Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Then Jacob set up a stone as a marker for her grave. The same marker is at Rachel’s grave today.
21 Israel moved on again and put up his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went to bed with his father’s concubine [b] Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.
Jacob had 12 sons.
23 The sons of Leah were
Jacob’s firstborn Reuben, then Simeon,
Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel were
Joseph and Benjamin.
25 The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah were
Dan and Naphtali.
26 The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah were
Gad and Asher.
These were Jacob’s sons, who were born in Paddan Aram.
27 Jacob came home to his father Isaac to Mamre’s city, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron). Abraham and Isaac had lived there for a while. 28 Isaac was 180 years old 29 when he took his last breath and died. He joined his ancestors in death at a very old age. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
The Origin of Edom(B)
36 This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom) and his descendants. 2 Esau chose his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 3 also Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. 4 Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau, and Basemath gave birth to Reuel. 5 Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born in Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the members of his household, his possessions, all his cattle, and everything he had accumulated in Canaan and went to another land away from his brother Jacob. 7 He did this because they had too many possessions to live together. There wasn’t enough pastureland for all of their livestock. 8 So Esau, who was also known as Edom, lived in the mountains of Seir.
9 This is the account of Esau and his descendants. He was the father of the people of Edom in the mountains of Seir.
10 These were the names of Esau’s sons:
Eliphaz, son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11 The sons of Eliphaz were
Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Timna was a concubine [c] of Esau’s son Eliphaz. She gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.
13 These were Reuel’s sons:
Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
14 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon. She gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah for Esau.
15 These were the tribal leaders among Esau’s descendants:
The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn, were
Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were the tribal leaders descended from Eliphaz in Edom. They were the grandsons of Adah.
17 These were the tribal leaders among the descendants of Esau’s son Reuel:
Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the tribal leaders descended from Reuel in Edom. They were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 These were the tribal leaders among the descendants of Esau’s wife Oholibamah:
Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the tribal leaders descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, Anah’s daughter.
19 These were the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom), who were tribal leaders.
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the people living in that land:
Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These Horite tribal leaders were the sons of Seir in Edom.
22 The sons of Lotan were
Hori and Hemam. Lotan’s sister was Timna.
23 These were the sons of Shobal:
Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 These were the sons of Zibeon:
Aiah and Anah. (Anah found the hot springs in the desert while he was taking care of the donkeys that belonged to his father Zibeon.)
25 These were the children of Anah:
Dishon and Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.
26 These were the sons of Dishon:
Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.
27 These were the sons of Ezer:
Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
28 These were the sons of Dishan:
Uz and Aran.
29 These were the Horite tribal leaders:
Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Horite tribal leaders in the land of Seir.
31 These were the kings who ruled Edom before any king ruled the people of Israel:
32 Bela, son of Beor, ruled Edom. The name of his ⌞capital⌟ city was Dinhabah.
33 After Bela died, Jobab, son of Zerah from Bozrah, succeeded him as king.
34 After Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king.
35 After Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad succeeded him as king. Hadad defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab. The name of his capital city was Avith.
36 After Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king.
37 After Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king.
38 After Shaul died, Baal Hanan, son of Achbor, succeeded him as king.
39 After Baal Hanan, son of Achbor, died, Hadar succeeded him as king, and the name of his capital city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Mezahab.
40 These were the names of the tribal leaders descended from Esau, by family, place, and name:
Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram.
These were the tribal leaders of Edom listed by the places where they lived and the property they owned.
Esau was the father of the people of Edom.
Joseph’s Brothers Sell Him into Slavery
37 Jacob continued to live in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived.
2 This is the account of Jacob and his descendants.
Joseph was a seventeen-year-old young man. He took care of the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph told his father about the bad things his brothers were doing.
3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because Joseph had been born in Israel’s old age. So he made Joseph a special robe with long sleeves. 4 Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. They hated Joseph and couldn’t speak to him on friendly terms.
5 Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to the dream I had. 7 We were tying grain into bundles out in the field, and suddenly mine stood up. It remained standing while your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it.”
8 Then his brothers asked him, “Are you going to be our king or rule us?” They hated him even more for his dreams and his words.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream: I saw the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father and his brothers, his father criticized him by asking, “What’s this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers come and bow down in front of you?” 11 So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept thinking about these things.
12 His brothers had gone to take care of their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13 Israel then said to Joseph, “Your brothers are taking care of the flocks at Shechem. I’m going to send you to them.”
Joseph responded, “I’ll go.”
14 So Israel said, “See how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring some news back to me.” Then he sent Joseph away from the Hebron Valley.
When Joseph came to Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the open country. “What are you looking for?” the man asked.
16 Joseph replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they’re taking care of their flocks.”
17 The man said, “They moved on from here. I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him from a distance. Before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 They said to each other, “Look, here comes that master dreamer! 20 Let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and say that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we’ll see what happens to his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save Joseph from their plot. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Let’s not have any bloodshed. Put him into that cistern that’s out in the desert, but don’t hurt him.” Reuben wanted to rescue Joseph from them and bring him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his special robe with long sleeves. 24 Then they took him and put him into an empty cistern. It had no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying the materials for cosmetics, medicine, and embalming. They were on their way to take them to Egypt.
26 Judah asked his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother and covering up his death? 27 Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let’s not hurt him, because he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 As the Midianite merchants were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for eight ounces of silver. The Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben came back to the cistern and saw that Joseph was no longer there, he tore his clothes in grief. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! What am I going to do?”
31 So they took Joseph’s robe, killed a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 Then they brought the special robe with long sleeves to their father and said, “We found this. You better examine it to see whether it’s your son’s robe or not.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has eaten him! Joseph must have been torn to pieces!” 34 Then, to show his grief, Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son a long time. 35 All his other sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “No, I will mourn for my son until I die.” This is how Joseph’s father cried over him.
36 Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials and captain of the guard.
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