My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him when she was old, and my master has given him everything he owns.

His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next to Egypt all the way to Asshur. They settled away from all their relatives.

So the Philistines took dirt and filled up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants.

Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”

“We can’t,” they said, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.”

When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

He left with all he owned. He quickly crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

(Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle and sat on them.) Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.

Esau then asked, “What did you intend by sending all these herds to meet me?” Jacob replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.”

Please take my present that was brought to you, for God has been generous to me and I have all I need.” When Jacob urged him, he took it.

But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

The young man did not delay in doing what they asked because he wanted Jacob’s daughter Dinah badly. (Now he was more important than anyone in his father’s household.)

Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was a son born to him late in life, and he made a special tunic for him.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindly.

So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar appointed Joseph overseer of his household and put him in charge of everything he owned.

But he refused, saying to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought to his household with me here, and everything that he owns he has put into my care.