2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and aall the host of them, were finished. 2 bAnd on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God cblessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

4 dThis is the 1history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any eplant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not fcaused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man gto till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the hdust of the ground, and ibreathed into his jnostrils the breath of life; and kman became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

8 The Lord God planted la garden meastward in nEden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made oevery tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. pThe tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and qevil.

10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts rthe whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. sBdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is tHiddekel; 2it is the one which goes toward the east of 3Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 Then the Lord God took 4the man and put him in the garden of Eden to 5tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil uyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it vyou 6shall surely wdie.”

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; xI will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 yOut of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and zbrought them to 7Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

21 And the Lord God caused a adeep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He 8made into a woman, band He cbrought her to the man.

23 And Adam said:

“This is now dbone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called 9Woman,

Because she was etaken out of 1Man.”

24 fTherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and gbe 2joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 hAnd they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not iashamed.

Joseph’s Brothers Return with Benjamin

43 Now the famine was asevere in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go bback, buy us a little food.”

3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your cbrother is with you.’ 4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”

6 And Israel said, “Why did you deal so 1wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”

7 But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may dlive and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. eIf I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

11 And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and fcarry down a present for the man—a little gbalm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money hthat was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 14 And may God iAlmighty jgive you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. kIf I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went ldown to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the msteward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter 2an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

18 Now the men were nafraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may 3make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.”

19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “O sir, owe indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but pit happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought q

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham awas old, well advanced in age; and the Lord bhad blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said cto the oldest servant of his house, who druled over all that he had, “Please, eput your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you fswear 1by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that gyou will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 hbut you shall go ito my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord God of heaven, who jtook me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, k‘To your 2descendants I give this land,’ lHe will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then myou will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, nfor all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to othe city of Nahor. 11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time pwhen women go out to draw water. 12 Then he qsaid, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please rgive me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, here sI stand by the well of water, and tthe daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And uby this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

15 And it happened, vbefore he had finished speaking, that behold, wRebekah, 3who was born to Bethuel, son of xMilcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. 16 Now the young woman ywas very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. 17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

18 zSo she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. 19 And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether athe Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

22 So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden bnose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, 23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us 4to lodge?”

24 So she …