And the <sc>Lordsc> God said, &#8220;Now<n id="1" /> that the man has become like one of us,<n id="2" /> knowing<n id="3" /> good and evil, he must not be allowed<n id="4" /> to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.&#8221;

Your<n id="1" /> servant has found favor with you,<n id="2" /> and you have shown me great<n id="3" /> kindness<n id="4" /> by sparing<n id="5" /> my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because<n id="6" /> this disaster will overtake<n id="7" /> me and I&#8217;ll die.<n id="8" />

&#8220;This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">This is the account of Jacob.p> <p class="bodytext">Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son,<n id="1" /> was taking care of<n id="2" /> the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster<n id="3" /> working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father&#8217;s wives.<n id="4" /> Joseph brought back a bad report about them<n id="5" /> to their father.p>

There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do<n id="1" /> such a great evil and sin against God?&#8221;

Then<n id="1" /> seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows<n id="2" /> as these in all the land of Egypt!

They had not gone very far from the city<n id="1" /> when Joseph said<n id="2" /> to the servant who was over his household, &#8220;Pursue the men at once!<n id="3" /> When you overtake<n id="4" /> them, say to them, &#8216;Why have you repaid good with evil?

Jacob said to Pharaoh, &#8220;All<n id="1" /> the years of my travels<n id="2" /> are 130. All<n id="3" /> the years of my life have been few and painful;<n id="4" /> the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.&#8221;<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">the Angel<n id="1" /> who has protected me<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">from all harm &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">bless these boys.p> <p class="poetry">May my name be named in them,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.p> <p class="poetry">May they grow into a multitude on the earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">When Joseph&#8217;s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, &#8220;What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay<n id="1" /> us in full<n id="2" /> for all the harm<n id="3" /> we did to him?&#8221;

&#8216;Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.&#8217; Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.&#8221; When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;If a man consecrates his house as holy to the <sc>Lordsc>, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand.<n id="1" />

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

Balaam said to the angel of the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road.<n id="1" /> So now, if it is evil in your sight,<n id="2" /> I will go back home.&#8221;<n id="3" />

&#8216;If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond<n id="1" /> the commandment<n id="2" /> of the <sc>Lordsc> to do either good or evil of my own will,<n id="3" /> but whatever the <sc>Lordsc> tells me I must speak&#8217;?

Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way,<n id="1" /> and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad,<n id="2" /> will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it.

Then I again fell down before the <sc>Lordsc> for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the <sc>Lordsc> as to enrage him.

Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you &#8211; in one of your villages<n id="1" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> your God is giving you &#8211; who sins before the Lord your God<n id="2" /> and breaks his covenant

you must bring to your city gates<n id="1" /> that man or woman who has done this wicked thing &#8211; that very man or woman &#8211; and you must stone that person to death.<n id="2" />

The person who pays no attention<n id="1" /> to the priest currently serving the <sc>Lordsc> your God there, or to the verdict &#8211; that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.