¹ Now the land was in bitter need of food.

² And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.

³ And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.

⁴ If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:

⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.

⁶ And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?

⁷ And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?

⁸ Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.

⁹ Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

¹⁰ Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:

¹² And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;

¹³ And take your brother and go back to the man:

¹⁴ And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

¹⁵ So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.

¹⁶ And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.

¹⁷ And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.

¹⁸ Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.

¹⁹ So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,

²⁰ And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;

²¹ And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;

²² As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.

²³ Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.

²⁴ And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.

²⁵ And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.

²⁶ And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.

²⁷ And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?

²⁸ And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.

²⁹ Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.

³⁰ Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.

³¹ Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.

³² And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.

³³ And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.

³⁴ And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

¹ When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

² Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

³ She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."

⁴ She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵ Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

⁶ Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan.

⁷ Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸ Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.

⁹ When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰ Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.

¹¹ Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.

¹² Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.

¹³ Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me Happy." She named him Asher.

¹⁴ Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

¹⁵ She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

¹⁶ Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night.

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

¹⁸ Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.

¹⁹ Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰ Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.

²¹ Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

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

²³ She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

²⁴ She named him Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."

²⁵ It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.

²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."

²⁷ Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake."

²⁸ He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."

²⁹ He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.

³⁰ For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"

³¹ He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

³² I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.

³³ So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."

³⁴ Laban said, "Behold, let it be according to your word."

³⁵ That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

³⁶ He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷ Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

³⁸ He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

³⁹ The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.

⁴¹ It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;

⁴² but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

⁴³ The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.