Dan and Naphtali

¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

³Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me,so that through her I too can build a family.”

⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,

⁵and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son.

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.

Gad and Asher

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Then Leah said, “How fortunate!”So she named him Gad.

¹²When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?”“Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.

¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

²¹After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

Joseph

²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,

²³and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said.

²⁴She named him Joseph,and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

²⁵Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.

²⁶Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

²⁸And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care.

³⁰Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”

³¹“What can I give you?” Laban asked.“You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks.

³²Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages.

³³So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”

³⁴“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

³⁵That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.

³⁶Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

³⁸Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink,

³⁹they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

⁴⁰Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches.

⁴²But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

⁴³Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Meets Rachel

¹Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.

²He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

³When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?”“We are from Haran,” they answered.

⁵“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked.“We know him,” they replied.

⁶“Is he well?” Jacob inquired.“Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”

⁷“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

⁸But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.

¹²He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

¹⁴Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.”After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.

¹⁷Leah had weak eyes,but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”

²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

²¹Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”

²²So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast.

²³But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

²⁴And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older.

²⁷Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”

²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

²⁹Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben,for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

³⁵And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah.Then Leah stopped having children.

Moses’ Staff

¹Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

²And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”“A staff,” he replied.

³“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake,and he ran from it.

⁴“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

⁵“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

Moses’ Hand

⁶Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,white as snow.

⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD.So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

⁸And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.

⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

The Appointment of Aaron

¹⁰“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

¹²Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

¹³But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.

¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.

¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

Moses Leaves for Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethroand said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.”“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

¹⁹Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

²¹The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will hardenhis heart so that he will not let the people go.

²²Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,

²³and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”

²⁴Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Mosesand was about to kill him.

²⁵But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet.“Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

²⁶So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

The People Believe Moses and Aaron

²⁷Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

²⁸And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,

³⁰and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses.And Moses performed the signs before the people,

³¹and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

Wine Is a Mocker

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler,and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion;whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.

³It is honorable for a man to resolve a dispute,but any fool will quarrel.

⁴The slacker does not plow in season;at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

⁵The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters,but a man of understanding draws them out.

⁶Many a man proclaims his loving devotion,but who can find a trustworthy man?

⁷The righteous man walks with integrity;blessed are his children after him.

⁸A king who sits on a throne to judgesifts out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure;I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the LORD.

¹¹Even a young man is known by his actions—whether his conduct is pure and upright.

¹²Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.

¹³Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor;open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.

¹⁴“Worthless, worthless!” says the buyer,but on the way out, he gloats.

¹⁵There is an abundance of gold and rubies,but lips of knowledge are a rare treasure.

¹⁶Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger;get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man,but later his mouth is full of gravel.

¹⁸Set plans by consultation,and wage war under sound guidance.

¹⁹He who reveals secrets is a constant gossip;avoid the one who babbleswith his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother,his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained quicklywill not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!”Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.

²³Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD,and dishonest scales are no good.

²⁴A man’s steps are from the LORD,so how can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly,only later to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wickedand drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spiritof a man is the lamp of the LORD,searching out his inmost being.

²⁸Loving devotion and faithfulness preserve a king;by these he maintains his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength,and gray hair is the splendor of the old.

³⁰Lashes and wounds scour evil,and beatings cleanse the inmost parts.