until now: and I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and menservants and maidservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I in thy sight.'"'

may

find grace

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him."

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, "If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape."

And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abram, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant: for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude."

And he lodged there that night; and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother; two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and said unto his servants, "Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove." And he commanded the foremost, saying, “ When Esau my brother meetest thee, and asketh thee, saying, ' Whose art thou? And whither goest thou? And whose are these before thee?' then thou shalt say, "They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and behold, he also is behind us.' And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, " On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him; and ye shall say; 'Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us.' For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goeth before me,

and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me." So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.

And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him.

And he said, "Let me go, for the day breaketh." And he said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." And he said unto him, "What is thy name?' And he said, "Jacob." And he said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed." And Jacob asked him, and said, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name." And he said, "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?"

And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore, the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, "Who are these with thee?" And he said, "The children which God hath

graciously given thy servant." Then the handmaids came near they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And he said, "What meanest thou by all this company which I met?" And he said, "To find grace in the sight of my lord." And Esau said, "I have enough; my brother, let that thou hast be thine." And Jacob said, "Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand; forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough."

And he urged him, and he took it. And he said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee." And he said unto him, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender and that the flocks and herds with me give suck: and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir." And Esau said, "Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me.' And he said, "What needeth it? Let me find grace in the sight of my Lord." So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was still some way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, "Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son." And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing (for she died), that she called his name Be-noni; but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the name is Beth-lehem). And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard of it.

And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temnaties reigned in his stead. And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith. And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

THE STORY OF JOSEPH

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of them unto their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren; and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, "Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto them." So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

And before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand; and said, "Let us not take his life."

And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a traveling company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh."

And his brethren hearkened unto him and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

and their father said, And all his sons and but he refused to be

And they sent the coat of many colours; "Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces." all his daughters rose up to comfort him; comforted; and he said, " For I will go down to the grave to my son mourning." And his father wept for him.

And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. And she yet again bare a son, and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh; and Yahweh slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, "Go in unto thy brother's wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy brother." And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and he slew him also.

Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown up: for," he said, "Lest he also die, like his brethren." And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.