LXX Concordance for ὁ

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[fn]

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons[fn] and for days and years.

God made the two great lights ​— ​the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night ​— ​as well as the stars.

Then God said, “Let the water swarm with[fn] living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.

Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah,[fn] where there is gold.

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can't eat from any tree in the garden'? ”

“But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.' ”

So the LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you? ”

The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me ​— ​she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

The LORD God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

And Abel also presented an offering ​— ​some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel? ”

“I don't know,” he replied. “Am I my brother's guardian? ”

“Since you are banishing me today from the face of the earth, and I must hide from your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

Adah bore Jabal; he was the first[fn] of the nomadic herdsmen.

Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has given[fn] me another offspring[fn] in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

This is the document containing the family[fn] records of Adam.[fn] On the day that God created man,[fn] he made him in the likeness of God;

Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

And he named him Noah,[fn] saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

And the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain[fn] with[fn] mankind forever, because they are corrupt.[fn] Their days will be 120 years.”

When the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,

God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.

And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.

And Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.

two of each, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, just as God had commanded him.

and the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the LORD shut him in.

God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside.

Then God spoke to Noah,

When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

“Whoever sheds human blood,

by humans his blood will be shed,

for God made humans in his image.

Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations:

God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.

When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

He also said:

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;

Let Canaan be[fn] Shem's slave.

They said to each other, “Come, let's make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.)

Therefore it is called Babylon,[fn][fn] for there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the LORD scattered them throughout the earth.

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.

But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram's wife, Sarai.

Lot looked out and saw that the entire plain[fn] of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the LORD's garden and the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

After Lot had separated from him, the LORD said to Abram, “Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west,

One of the survivors came and told Abram the Hebrew, who lived near the oaks belonging to Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of Aner. They were bound by a treaty with Abram.

and blessed be God Most High

who has handed over your enemies to you.

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield;

your reward will be very great.

He also said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.

Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering![fn] I put my slave in your arms,[fn] and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the LORD judge between me and you.”

He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? ”

She replied, “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai.”

So she named the LORD who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,”[fn] for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me? ”[fn]

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live[fn] in my presence and be blameless.

Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:

God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.

“Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old ​— ​every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.

God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah[fn] will be her name.

But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.[fn] I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.

When he finished talking with him, God withdrew[fn] from Abraham.

and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.

The LORD appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.

“Where is your wife Sarah? ” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he answered.

So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight? ”

Then the LORD said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham?

Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

“You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won't the Judge of the whole earth do what is just? ”

Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.

“Your servant has indeed found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can't run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.

The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar.

So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.

Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”[fn]

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience.[fn] I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.

“So when God had me wander from my father's house, I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me, ‘He's my brother.' ”

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac! ”

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed[fn] about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,

God heard the boy crying, and the[fn] angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is.

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.

At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham! ”

“Here I am,” he answered.

So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? ”

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham! ”

He replied, “Here I am.”

Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing[fn] of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham:

So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre ​— ​the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field ​— ​became

The field with its cave passed from the Hethites to Abraham as burial property.

The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from? ”

“The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring'[fn] ​— ​he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham's thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

“LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”

while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey a success.

Then the man knelt low, worshiped the LORD,

As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah's words ​— ​“The man said this to me! ” ​— ​he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.

“My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live

“Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful!

Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.

But he responded to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me away so that I may go to my master.”

Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us? ”

The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The LORD was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

And the LORD said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;

two peoples will come from you and be separated.

One people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.

The first one came out red-looking,[fn] covered with hair[fn] like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.

“because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.”

When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see[fn] Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

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

and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.

Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.

and the LORD appeared to him that night 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 offspring because of my servant Abraham.”

Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

“Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.”

So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved.

When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”

And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son? ”

Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau? ”

And he replied, “I am.”

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.”

May God give to you —

from the dew of the sky

and from the richness of the land —

an abundance of grain and new wine.

But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

His father Isaac answered him,

Look, your dwelling place will be

away from the richness of the land,

away from the dew of the sky above.

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

“May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.

He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

The LORD was standing there beside him,[fn] saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I'm making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,

“This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God's house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”

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

Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben,[fn] for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.”

She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him.” Therefore he was named Levi.[fn]

Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan.[fn]

Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God,[fn] I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali.[fn]

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

“God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun.[fn]

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

But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor with you, stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

“In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen.”

And the man became very rich.[fn] He had many flocks, female and male slaves, and camels and donkeys.

He said to them, “I can see from your father's face that his attitude toward me is not the same as before, but the God of my father has been with me.

“and that he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not let him harm me.

“God has taken away your father's herds and given them to me.

“In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob! ' and I said, ‘Here I am.'

“I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.' ”

“In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself! ” God warned him. “Don't say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

“I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Watch yourself! Don't say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.'

“There I was ​— ​the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

“If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work,[fn] and he issued his verdict last night.”

“Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.”

Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound.

Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed

“The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor ​— ​the gods of their father[fn] ​— ​will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,'

And he told the first one, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you? '

“You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.' ” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel[fn] ​— ​limping because of his hip.

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave women.

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you? ”

He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.”

So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession[fn] I met? ”

“To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered.

“Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing flocks and herds. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.

When Shechem ​— ​son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the region's chieftain ​— ​saw her, he took her and raped her.

Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent until they returned.

Hamor said to Jacob's sons, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your[fn] daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father's family.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.

Then God withdrew[fn] from him at the place where he had spoken to him.

Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

With her last breath ​— ​for she was dying ​— ​she named him Ben-oni,[fn] but his father called him Benjamin.[fn]

These are Zibeon's sons: Aiah and Anah.

This was the Anah who found the hot springs[fn] in the wilderness

while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.

When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad reigned in his place.

He defeated Midian in the field of Moab;

the name of his city was Avith.

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for? ”

They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert![fn]

Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the LORD's sight, and the LORD put him to death.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied.

But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”

As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these? ”

As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, “This one came out first.”

Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did successful,

But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master's wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.[fn]

She put Joseph's garment beside her until his master came home.

When his master heard the story his wife told him ​— ​“These are the things your slave did to me” ​— ​he was furious

The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph's authority,[fn] and he was responsible for everything that was done there.

After this, the king of Egypt's cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.

The captain of the guards assigned Joseph to them as their personal attendant, and they were in custody for some time.[fn]

“We had dreams,” they said to him, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.”

“The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good ones. I told this to the magicians, but no one can tell me what it means.”

“It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

“After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land.

“Since the dream was given twice to Pharaoh, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.

“Let them gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. Under Pharaoh's authority, store the grain in the cities, so they may preserve it as food.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh[fn] and said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and my whole family.”

When the whole land of Egypt was stricken with famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

But they replied, “We, your servants, were twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now[fn] with our father, and one is no longer living.”

“This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.

He said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned! It's here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What has God done to us? ”

“The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

“We were twelve brothers, sons of the same[fn] father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.'

As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his bag of silver! When they and their father saw their bags of silver, they were afraid.

But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.”

Now the famine in the land was severe.

“But if you will not send him, we will not go, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.' ”

They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? ' And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here'? ”

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift ​— ​a little balsam and a little honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds.

“May God Almighty cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived.”

The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph's house.

Then the steward said, “May you be well. Don't be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive? ”

They were seated before him in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at each other in astonishment.

“Isn't this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wrong! ' ”

They said to him, “Why does my lord say these things? Your servants could not possibly do such a thing.

The steward replied, “What you have said is right, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”

“What can we say to my lord? ” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants' iniquity. We are now my lord's slaves ​— ​both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”

“and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy's brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'

“Then you said to your servants, ‘If your younger brother does not come down with you, you will not see me again.'

“But our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us a little food.'

“Your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will always bear the guilt for sinning against you, my father.'

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living? ” But they could not answer him because they were terrified in his presence.

“God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.[fn]

They said, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt! ” Jacob was stunned,[fn] for he did not believe them.

Then Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go to see him before I die.”

That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob! ” he said.

And Jacob replied, “Here I am.”

Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's family, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him, ‘My brothers and my father's family, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.”

And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay in the land for a while because there is no grazing land for your servants' sheep, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”

But there was no food in the entire region, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted by the famine.

In this way, Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field since the famine was so severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's,

“When I rest with my ancestors, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

Joseph answered, “I will do what you have asked.”

Some time after this, Joseph was told, “Your father is weaker.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons God has given me here.”

So Israel said, “Bring them to me and I will bless them.”

Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, but now God has even let me see your offspring.”

But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and crossing his hands, put his left on Manasseh's head, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

“Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,

and their fury, for it is cruel!

I will disperse them throughout Jacob

and scatter them throughout Israel.

“Dan will be a snake by the road,

a viper beside the path,

that bites the horse's heels

so that its rider falls backward.

“Asher's[fn] food will be rich,

and he will produce royal delicacies.

“Yet his bow remained steady,

and his strong arms were made agile

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

by the name of[fn] the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

“my father made me take an oath, saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I made for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.”

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”

“You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result ​— ​the survival of many people.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives ​— ​the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was Puah ​— ​

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.

“Who made you a commander and judge over us? ” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? ”

Then Moses became afraid and thought, “What I did is certainly known.”

When they returned to their father Reuel,[fn] he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today? ”

“So where is he? ” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed.

He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship[fn] God at this mountain.”

“They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

Moses answered, “What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you'? ”

“This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

The LORD said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you.

Now in Midian the LORD told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

Aaron repeated everything the LORD had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people.

Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

“May the LORD take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek to Pharaoh and his officials ​— ​putting a sword in their hand to kill us! ”

Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the LORD.

“I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians.

The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin,

Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

These are the clans of Simeon.

Aaron's son Eleazar married

one of the daughters of Putiel,

and she bore him Phinehas.

These are the heads of the Levite families by their clans.

The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

“Tell him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship[fn] me in the wilderness. But so far you have not listened.

“The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

“The Nile will swarm with frogs; they will come up and go into your palace, into your bedroom and on your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls.

When Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

“Tomorrow,” he answered.

Moses replied, “As you have said, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God,

“But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where my people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

And the LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

Those among Pharaoh's officials who feared the word of the LORD made their servants and livestock flee to shelters,

Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “The LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the guilty ones.

Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth[fn] belongs to the LORD.

but the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed since they are later crops.[fn]

So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may worship me.

So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

The LORD gave[fn] the people favor with the Egyptians. In addition, Moses himself was very highly regarded[fn] in the land of Egypt by[fn] Pharaoh's officials and the people.

“All these officials of yours will come down to me and bow before me, saying: Get out, you and all the people who follow you.[fn] After that, I will get out.” And he went out from Pharaoh's presence fiercely angry.

“This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year.

“you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, and he spared our homes.' ” So the people knelt low and worshiped.

So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat it.

“If an alien resides among you and wants to observe the LORD's Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate;[fn] he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.

“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites,[fn] which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ceremony in this month.

“On that day explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'

“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you,

“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean? ' say to him, ‘By the strength of his hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.”

The LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them.

He caused their chariot wheels to swerve[fn][fn] and made them drive[fn] with difficulty. “Let's get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt! ”

When Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

The enemy said:

“I will pursue, I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil.

My desire will be gratified at their expense.

I will draw my sword;

my hand will destroy[fn] them.”

terror and dread will fall on them.

They will be as still[fn] as a stone

because of your powerful arm

until your people pass by, LORD,

until the people whom you purchased[fn] pass by.

The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink? ”

He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

Moses continued, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and all the bread you want in the morning, for he has heard the complaints that you are raising against him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.”

“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.”

When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it? ” because they didn't know what it was.

Moses told them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

So the Israelites did this. Some gathered a lot, some a little.

They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

“Understand that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days' worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.”

So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me? ” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the LORD? ”