<p class="bodytext">Abraham looked up<n id="1" /> and saw<n id="2" /> behind him<n id="3" /> a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he<n id="4" /> went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

When he saw the bracelets on his sister&#8217;s wrists and the nose ring<n id="1" /> and heard his sister Rebekah say,<n id="2" /> &#8220;This is what the man said to me,&#8221; he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing<n id="3" /> by the camels near the spring.

<p class="bodytext">After Isaac<n id="1" /> had been there a long time,<n id="2" /> Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed<n id="3" /> Isaac caressing<n id="4" /> his wife Rebekah.

The <sc>Lordsc> appeared to him that night and said, &#8220;I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there.<n id="1" /> As he blessed him,<n id="2" /> Isaac commanded him, &#8220;You must not marry a Canaanite woman.&#8221;<n id="3" />

He saw<n id="1" /> in the field a well with<n id="2" /> three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now<n id="3" /> a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban,<n id="1" /> and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he<n id="2" /> went over<n id="3" /> and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she<n id="1" /> became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, &#8220;Give me children<n id="2" /> or I&#8217;ll die!&#8221;

If the God of my father &#8211; the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears<n id="1" /> &#8211; had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked,<n id="2" /> and he rebuked you last night.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Laban replied<n id="1" /> to Jacob, &#8220;These women<n id="2" /> are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren,<n id="3" /> and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today<n id="4" /> or the children to whom they have given birth?

You must also say, &#8216;In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" /> Jacob thought,<n id="2" /> &#8220;I will first appease him<n id="3" /> by sending a gift ahead of me.<n id="4" /> After that I will meet him.<n id="5" /> Perhaps he will accept me.&#8221;<n id="6" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Jacob looked up<n id="1" /> and saw that Esau was coming<n id="2" /> along with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants.

When Esau<n id="1" /> looked up<n id="2" /> and saw the women and the children, he asked, &#8220;Who are these people with you?&#8221; Jacob<n id="3" /> replied, &#8220;The children whom God has graciously given<n id="4" /> your servant.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then God said to Jacob, &#8220;Go up at once<n id="1" /> to Bethel<n id="2" /> and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up<n id="1" /> and saw<n id="2" /> a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt.<n id="3" />

So she removed her widow&#8217;s clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because<n id="1" /> she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.)<n id="2" />p>

she called for her household servants and said to them, &#8220;See, my husband brought<n id="1" /> in a Hebrew man<n id="2" /> to us to humiliate us.<n id="3" /> He tried to have sex with me,<n id="4" /> but I screamed loudly.<n id="5" />

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!

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger<n id="1" /> to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, &#8220;Where do you come from?&#8221; They answered,<n id="2" /> &#8220;From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">They said to one other,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Surely we&#8217;re being punished<n id="2" /> because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was<n id="3" /> when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress<n id="4" /> has come on us!&#8221;