The Descendants of Judah

¹The descendants of Judah:Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

²Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.

³These were the sonsof Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. And their sister was named Hazzelelponi.

⁴Penuel was the fatherof Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah.These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah and the father of Bethlehem.

⁵Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

⁶Naarah bore to him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of Naarah.

⁷The sons of Helah were Zereth, Zohar,Ethnan,

⁸and Koz, who was the father of Anub and Zobebah and of the clans of Aharhel son of Harum.

The Prayer of Jabez

⁹Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”

¹⁰And Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only You would bless me and enlarge my territory! May Your hand be with me and keep me from harm, so that I will be free from pain.”And God granted the request of Jabez.

More Descendants of Judah

¹¹Chelub the brother of Shuhah was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.

¹²Eshton was the father of Beth-rapha, of Paseah, and of Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These were the men of Recah.

¹³The sons of Kenaz:Othniel and Seraiah.The sons of Othniel:Hathath and Meonothai.

¹⁴Meonothai was the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of those living in Ge-harashim, which was given this name because its people were craftsmen.

¹⁵The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh:Iru, Elah, and Naam.The sonof Elah:Kenaz.

¹⁶The sons of Jehallelel:Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

¹⁷The sons of Ezrah:Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon.And Mered’s wife Bithiah gave birthto Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

¹⁸These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah.Mered also took a Judeanwife, who gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

¹⁹The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and of Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

²⁰The sons of Shimon:Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon.The descendants of Ishi:Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

²¹The sons of Shelah son of Judah:Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

²²Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-lehem. (These names are from ancient records.)

²³These were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king.

The Descendants of Simeon

²⁴The descendants of Simeon:Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah,and Shaul.

²⁵The sons of Shaul:Shallum, Mibsam, and Mishma.

²⁶The sons of Mishma:Hammuel, Zaccur, and Shimei.

²⁷Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, so their whole clan did not become as numerous as the sons of Judah.

²⁸They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

²⁹Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

³⁰Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

³¹Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until the reign of David.

³²And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan—five towns—

³³and all their surrounding villages as far as Baal.These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record:

³⁴Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,

³⁵Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah (son of Seraiah, son of Asiel),

³⁶Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,

³⁷and Ziza son of Shiphi (son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah).

³⁸These men listed by name were the leaders of their clans. Their families increased greatly,

³⁹and they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, in search of pasture for their flocks.

⁴⁰There they found rich, good pasture, and the land was spacious, peaceful, and quiet; for some Hamites had lived there formerly.

⁴¹These who were noted by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. They attacked the Hamites in their dwellings as well as the Meunites who were there, devoting them to destructioneven to this day. Then they settled in their place, because there was pasture for their flocks.

⁴²And five hundred of these Simeonites led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, went to Mount Seir

⁴³and struck down the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped. And they have lived there to this day.

Laws of Warfare

¹When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

²When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army,

³saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them.

⁴For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

⁵Furthermore, the officers are to address the army, saying, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.

⁶Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.

⁷Has any man become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man marry her.”

⁸Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”

⁹When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.

¹⁰When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace.

¹¹If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.

¹²But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.

¹³When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.

¹⁴But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁵This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.

¹⁷For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,

¹⁸so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?

²⁰But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.

God’s Promise to Isaac

¹Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

²The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you.

³Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

⁵because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

Isaac Deceives Abimelech

⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar.

⁷But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”

⁸When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

⁹Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

¹⁰“What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

Isaac’s Prosperity

¹²Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,

¹³and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy.

¹⁴He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.

¹⁵So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

¹⁶Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”

¹⁷So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.

¹⁸Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.

¹⁹Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh waterthere.

²⁰But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek,because they contended with him.

²¹Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.

²²He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehobothand said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

²³From there Isaac went up to Beersheba,

²⁴and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

²⁵So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.

Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech

²⁶Later, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

²⁷“Why have you come to me?” Isaac asked them. “You hated me and sent me away.”

²⁸“We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you

²⁹that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”

³⁰So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

³¹And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

³²On that same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We have found water!” they told him.

³³So he called it Shibah,and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.

Esau’s Wives

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

³⁵And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

Do Not Boast about Tomorrow

¹Do not boast about tomorrow,for you do not know what a day may bring.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and sand is a burden,but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

⁴Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood,but who can withstand jealousy?

⁵Better an open rebukethan love that is concealed.

⁶The wounds of a friend are faithful,but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

⁷The soul that is full loathes honey,but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that strays from its nestis a man who wanders from his home.

⁹Oil and incense bring joy to the heart,and the counsel of a friend is sweetness to the soul.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend,and do not go to your brother’s housein the day of your calamity;better a neighbor nearbythan a brother far away.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart,so that I can answer him who taunts me.

¹²The prudent see danger and take cover,but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

¹³Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger;get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

¹⁴If one blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning,it will be counted to him as a curse.

¹⁵A constant dripping on a rainy dayand a contentious woman are alike—

¹⁶restraining her is like holding back the windor grasping oil with one’s right hand.

¹⁷As iron sharpens iron,so one man sharpens another.

¹⁸Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,and he who looks after his master will be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects the face,so the heart reflects the true man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddonare never satisfied;so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

²¹A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold,but a man is tested by the praise accorded him.

²²Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle,yet his folly will not depart from him.

²³Be sure to know the state of your flocks,and pay close attention to your herds;

²⁴for riches are not forever,nor does a crown endure to every generation.

²⁵When hay is removed and new growth appearsand the grass from the hills is gathered,

²⁶the lambs will provide you with clothing,and the goats with the price of a field.

²⁷You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed you—food for your householdand nourishment for your maidservants.