When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

“So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life.

Don’t worry about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt will be yours.’”

Then he sent his brothers on their way and they left. He said to them, “As you travel don’t be overcome with fear.”

Jacob sent Judah before him to Joseph to accompany him to Goshen. So they came to the land of Goshen.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

You are destructive like water and will not excel, for you got on your father’s bed, then you defiled it – he got on my couch!

So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave these instructions before he died:

But Joseph answered them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, and brought it back into the ark.

Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”

So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him.

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife. Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.

“Do not harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. He journeyed to the region of Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor.

At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the sacred stone and made a vow to me. Now leave this land immediately and return to your native land.’”