^14:1In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, ^14:2they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar). ^14:3All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (also called the Salt Sea). ^14:4They served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, and in the thirteenth year, they rebelled. ^14:5In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, ^14:6and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to El Paran, which is by the wilderness. ^14:7They returned, and came to En Mishpat (also called Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar. ^14:8The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim; ^14:9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five. ^14:10Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills. ^14:11They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. ^14:12They took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. ^14:13One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. At that time, he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and they were allies of Abram. ^14:14When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. ^14:15He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. ^14:16He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the other people. ^14:17The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ^14:18Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. ^14:19He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: ^14:20and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all. ^14:21The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.” ^14:22Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, ^14:23that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ^14:24I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”

^15:1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” ^15:2Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ^15:3Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no children: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” ^15:4Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” ^15:5Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be.” ^15:6He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness. ^15:7He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.” ^15:8He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?” ^15:9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ^15:10He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. ^15:11The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. ^15:12When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. ^15:13He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. ^15:14I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth, ^15:15but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. ^15:16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” ^15:17It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ^15:18In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: ^15:19the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ^15:20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ^15:21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

^16:1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ^16:2Sarai said to Abram, “See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ^16:3Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. ^16:4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. ^16:5Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you.” ^16:6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face. ^16:7Yahweh’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. ^16:8He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.” ^16:9Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.” ^16:10Yahweh’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.” ^16:11Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. ^16:12He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposite all of his brothers.” ^16:13She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” ^16:14Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. ^16:15Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ^16:16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

^17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless. ^17:2I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ^17:3Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, ^17:4“As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. ^17:5Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ^17:6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. ^17:7I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you. ^17:8I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.” ^17:9God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ^17:10This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. ^17:11You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. ^17:12He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. ^17:13He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ^17:14The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” ^17:15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. ^17:16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” ^17:17Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” ^17:18Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ^17:19God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ^17:20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ^17:21But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” ^17:22When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. ^17:23Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him. ^17:24Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ^17:25Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ^17:26In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. ^17:27All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

^18:1Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. ^18:2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, ^18:3and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant. ^18:4Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ^18:5I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They said, “Very well, do as you have said.” ^18:6Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” ^18:7Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. ^18:8He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate. ^18:9They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “See, in the tent.” ^18:10He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. ^18:11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. ^18:12Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” ^18:13Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’ ^18:14Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.” ^18:15Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” ^18:16The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. ^18:17Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do, ^18:18since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ^18:19For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.” ^18:20Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, ^18:21I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.” ^18:22The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh. ^18:23Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? ^18:24What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? ^18:25Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” ^18:26Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” ^18:27Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. ^18:28What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ^18:29He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.” ^18:30He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ^18:31He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.” ^18:32He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.” ^18:33Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

^19:1The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, ^19:2and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.” ^19:3He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ^19:4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. ^19:5They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.” ^19:6Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. ^19:7He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. ^19:8See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.” ^19:9They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door. ^19:10But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. ^19:11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. ^19:12The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: ^19:13for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.” ^19:14Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. ^19:15When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” ^19:16But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. ^19:17It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!” ^19:18Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord. ^19:19See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. ^19:20See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.” ^19:21He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ^19:22Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. ^19:23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ^19:24Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky. ^19:25He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. ^19:26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. ^19:27Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. ^19:28He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. ^19:29When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. ^19:30Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ^19:31The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth. ^19:32Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” ^19:33They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ^19:34It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” ^19:35They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up. ^19:36Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father. ^19:37The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ^19:38The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

^20:1Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar. ^20:2Abraham said about Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. ^20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife.” ^20:4Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? ^20:5Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister?’ She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” ^20:6God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her. ^20:7Now therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.” ^20:8Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared. ^20:9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!” ^20:10Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you have done this thing?” ^20:11Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake.’ ^20:12Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ^20:13When God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ^20:14Abimelech took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah, his wife, to him. ^20:15Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you.” ^20:16To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated.” ^20:17Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. ^20:18For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

^21:1Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. ^21:2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ^21:3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ^21:4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ^21:5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. ^21:6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ^21:7She said, “Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.” ^21:8The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ^21:9Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ^21:10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.” ^21:11The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. ^21:12God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac. ^21:13I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.” ^21:14Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. ^21:15The water in the bottle was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs. ^21:16She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. ^21:17God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ^21:18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation.” ^21:19God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. ^21:20God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. ^21:21He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. ^21:22At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. ^21:23Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.” ^21:24Abraham said, “I will swear.” ^21:25Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. ^21:26Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear of it until today.” ^21:27Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. ^21:28Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ^21:29Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?” ^21:30He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” ^21:31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there. ^21:32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. ^21:33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. ^21:34Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.

^22:1After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” ^22:2He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.” ^22:3Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. ^22:4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. ^22:5Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you.” ^22:6Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. ^22:7Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ^22:8Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together. ^22:9They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. ^22:10Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son. ^22:11Yahweh’s angel called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” ^22:12He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ^22:13Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ^22:14Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.” ^22:15Yahweh’s angel called to Abraham a second time out of the sky, ^22:16and said, “I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, ^22:17that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies. ^22:18All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.” ^22:19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba. ^22:20After these things, Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^22:21Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ^22:22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ^22:23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ^22:24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

^23:1Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length of Sarah’s life. ^23:2Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. ^23:3Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the children of Heth, saying, ^23:4“I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” ^23:5The children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ^23:6“Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead.” ^23:7Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. ^23:8He talked with them, saying, “If you agree that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, ^23:9that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me among you as a possession for a burial place.” ^23:10Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Heth. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, ^23:11“No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” ^23:12Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. ^23:13He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, “But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.” ^23:14Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ^23:15“My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? Therefore bury your dead.” ^23:16Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the current merchants’ standard. ^23:17So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded ^23:18to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. ^23:19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. ^23:20The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham by the children of Heth as a possession for a burial place.

^24:1Abraham was old, and well stricken in age. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things. ^24:2Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. ^24:3I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. ^24:4But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” ^24:5The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?” ^24:6Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again. ^24:7Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring. He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ^24:8If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath to me. Only you shall not bring my son there again.” ^24:9The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. ^24:10The servant took ten camels, of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ^24:11He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. ^24:12He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ^24:13Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ^24:14Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ and she will say, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” ^24:15Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. ^24:16The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin. No man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up. ^24:17The servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher.” ^24:18She said, “Drink, my lord.” She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him a drink. ^24:19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they have finished drinking.” ^24:20She hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. ^24:21The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not. ^24:22As the camels had done drinking, the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, ^24:23and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?” ^24:24She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ^24:25She said moreover to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge in.” ^24:26The man bowed his head, and worshiped Yahweh. ^24:27He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.” ^24:28The young lady ran, and told her mother’s house about these words. ^24:29Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. ^24:30When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ^24:31He said, “Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.” ^24:32The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ^24:33Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.” He said, “Speak on.” ^24:34He said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ^24:35Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. ^24:36Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. ^24:37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, ^24:38but you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ ^24:39I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ ^24:40He said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my relatives, and of my father’s house. ^24:41Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don’t give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.’ ^24:42I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go— ^24:43behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” ^24:44and she will tell me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master’s son.’ ^24:45Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ^24:46She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink. ^24:47I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. ^24:48I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. ^24:49Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.” ^24:50Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good. ^24:51Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Yahweh has spoken.” ^24:52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. ^24:53The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. ^24:54They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.” ^24:55Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go.” ^24:56He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” ^24:57They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.” ^24:58They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” ^24:59They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. ^24:60They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.” ^24:61Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way. ^24:62Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. ^24:63Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming. ^24:64Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel. ^24:65She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” She took her veil, and covered herself. ^24:66The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ^24:67Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

^25:1Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. ^25:2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ^25:3Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ^25:4The sons of Midian were: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. ^25:5Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, ^25:6but to the sons of Abraham’s concubines, Abraham gave gifts. He sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country. ^25:7These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. ^25:8Abraham gave up his spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ^25:9Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, ^25:10the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. ^25:11After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi. ^25:12Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. ^25:13These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ^25:14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ^25:15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ^25:16These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations. ^25:17These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. ^25:18They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives. ^25:19This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham became the father of Isaac. ^25:20Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. ^25:21Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ^25:22The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it is so, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Yahweh. ^25:23Yahweh said to her, “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger.” ^25:24When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ^25:25The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. ^25:26After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. ^25:27The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. ^25:28Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. ^25:29Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ^25:30Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. ^25:31Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.” ^25:32Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?” ^25:33Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. ^25:34Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

^26:1There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. ^26:2Yahweh appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. ^26:3Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ^26:4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed, ^26:5because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ^26:6Isaac lived in Gerar. ^26:7The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.” ^26:8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. ^26:9Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister?’” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” ^26:10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” ^26:11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” ^26:12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. ^26:13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. ^26:14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. ^26:15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. ^26:16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” ^26:17Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. ^26:18Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. ^26:19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. ^26:20The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. ^26:21They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah. ^26:22He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” ^26:23He went up from there to Beersheba. ^26:24Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” ^26:25He built an altar there, and called on Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well. ^26:26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. ^26:27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?” ^26:28They said, “We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, ^26:29that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of Yahweh.” ^26:30He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ^26:31They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ^26:32The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ^26:33He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. ^26:34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ^26:35They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.

^27:1When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.” ^27:2He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death. ^27:3Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. ^27:4Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.” ^27:5Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. ^27:6Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ^27:7‘Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’ ^27:8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. ^27:9Go now to the flock and get me two good young goats from there. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. ^27:10You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” ^27:11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ^27:12What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.” ^27:13His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.” ^27:14He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ^27:15Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. ^27:16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. ^27:17She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. ^27:18He came to his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ^27:19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.” ^27:20Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because Yahweh your God gave me success.” ^27:21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ^27:22Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ^27:23He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. ^27:24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.” ^27:25He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless you.” He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. ^27:26His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” ^27:27He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed. ^27:28God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. ^27:29Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you.” ^27:30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ^27:31He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.” ^27:32Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ^27:33Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.” ^27:34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.” ^27:35He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.” ^27:36He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?” ^27:37Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?” ^27:38Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. ^27:39Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above. ^27:40By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck.” ^27:41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ^27:42The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ^27:43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ^27:44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away; ^27:45until your brother’s anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” ^27:46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”

^28:1Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ^28:2Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ^28:3May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, ^28:4and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.” ^28:5Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah’s brother, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. ^28:6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,” ^28:7and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram. ^28:8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father. ^28:9Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. ^28:10Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. ^28:11He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. ^28:12He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ^28:13Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your offspring. ^28:14Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed. ^28:15Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.” ^28:16Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.” ^28:17He was afraid, and said, “How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.” ^28:18Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. ^28:19He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ^28:20Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, ^28:21so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, ^28:22then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

^29:1Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east. ^29:2He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well’s mouth was large. ^29:3There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well’s mouth in its place. ^29:4Jacob said to them, “My relatives, where are you from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” ^29:5He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.” ^29:6He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.” ^29:7He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.” ^29:8They said, “We can’t, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well’s mouth. Then we water the sheep.” ^29:9While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them. ^29:10When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ^29:11Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. ^29:12Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father. ^29:13When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. ^29:14Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” He stayed with him for a month. ^29:15Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?” ^29:16Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ^29:17Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. ^29:18Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.” ^29:19Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.” ^29:20Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her. ^29:21Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” ^29:22Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. ^29:23In the evening, he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her. ^29:24Laban gave Zilpah his servant to his daughter Leah for a servant. ^29:25In the morning, behold, it was Leah! He said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” ^29:26Laban said, “It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. ^29:27Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years.” ^29:28Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. ^29:29Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his servant, to be her servant. ^29:30He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. ^29:31Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ^29:32Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” ^29:33She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, “Because Yahweh has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.” She named him Simeon. ^29:34She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, “Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. ^29:35She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time will I praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

^30:1When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.” ^30:2Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” ^30:3She said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.” ^30:4She gave him Bilhah her servant as wife, and Jacob went in to her. ^30:5Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ^30:6Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore called she his name Dan. ^30:7Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ^30:8Rachel said, “I have wrestled with my sister with mighty wrestlings, and have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali. ^30:9When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ^30:10Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a son. ^30:11Leah said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad. ^30:12Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a second son. ^30:13Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher. ^30:14Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ^30:15She said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes, also?” Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” ^30:16Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” He lay with her that night. ^30:17God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ^30:18Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my servant to my husband.” She named him Issachar. ^30:19Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ^30:20Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun. ^30:21Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah. ^30:22God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. ^30:23She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” ^30:24She named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son to me.” ^30:25When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. ^30:26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.” ^30:27Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake.” ^30:28He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.” ^30:29He said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. ^30:30For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” ^30:31He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. ^30:32I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. ^30:33So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be considered stolen.” ^30:34Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.” ^30:35That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ^30:36He set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. ^30:37Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ^30:38He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. ^30:39The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted. ^30:40Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban’s flock. ^30:41Whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, Jacob laid the rods in front of the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; ^30:42but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. ^30:43The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

^31:1He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.” ^31:2Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. ^31:3Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” ^31:4Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, ^31:5and said to them, “I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. ^31:6You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. ^31:7Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me. ^31:8If he said this, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked. ^31:9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me. ^31:10During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. ^31:11The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ^31:12He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. ^31:13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” ^31:14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ^31:15Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money. ^31:16For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.” ^31:17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, ^31:18and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. ^31:19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s. ^31:20Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away. ^31:21So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. ^31:22Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. ^31:23He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. ^31:24God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.” ^31:25Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead. ^31:26Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? ^31:27Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; ^31:28and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly. ^31:29It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’ ^31:30Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?” ^31:31Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’ ^31:32Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them. ^31:33Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. ^31:34Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them. ^31:35She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim. ^31:36Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? ^31:37Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two. ^31:38“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks. ^31:39That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ^31:40This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. ^31:41These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. ^31:42Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.” ^31:43Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? ^31:44Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you.” ^31:45Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. ^31:46Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. ^31:47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. ^31:48Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed ^31:49and Mizpah, for he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. ^31:50If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.” ^31:51Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. ^31:52May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ^31:53The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac. ^31:54Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain. ^31:55Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.

^32:1Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ^32:2When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim. ^32:3Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ^32:4He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. ^32:5I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’” ^32:6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” ^32:7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ^32:8and he said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.” ^32:9Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’ ^32:10I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. ^32:11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. ^32:12You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’” ^32:13He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esau, his brother: ^32:14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ^32:15thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. ^32:16He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.” ^32:17He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’ ^32:18Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’” ^32:19He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him. ^32:20You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” ^32:21So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. ^32:22He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. ^32:23He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. ^32:24Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. ^32:25When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled. ^32:26The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go, unless you bless me.” ^32:27He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”. ^32:28He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ^32:29Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” He blessed him there. ^32:30Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” ^32:31The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh. ^32:32Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

^33:1Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants. ^33:2He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. ^33:3He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. ^33:4Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept. ^33:5He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, “Who are these with you?” He said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ^33:6Then the servants came near with their children, and they bowed themselves. ^33:7Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. After them, Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed themselves. ^33:8Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” Jacob said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ^33:9Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.” ^33:10Jacob said, “Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. ^33:11Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” He urged him, and he took it. ^33:12Esau said, “Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you.” ^33:13Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. ^33:14Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the livestock that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir.” ^33:15Esau said, “Let me now leave with you some of the folk who are with me.” He said, “Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ^33:16So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ^33:17Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. ^33:18Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city. ^33:19He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. ^33:20He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.