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Title: The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 1: Genesis
       The Challoner Revision

Release Date: June, 2005  [EBook #8301]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on July 4, 2003]


Edition: 10

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BIBLE, DOUAY-RHEIMS, BOOK 1***




This eBook was produced by David Widger
from etext #1581 prepared by Dennis McCarthy, Atlanta, Georgia
and Tad Book, student, Pontifical North American College, Rome.





THE HOLY BIBLE




Translated from the Latin Vulgate


Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek,
and Other Editions in Divers Languages


THE OLD TESTAMENT
First Published by the English College at Douay
A.D. 1609 & 1610

and

THE NEW TESTAMENT
First Published by the English College at Rheims
A.D. 1582


With Annotations


The Whole Revised and Diligently Compared with
the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner
A.D. 1749-1752



HISTORY


This e-text comes from multiple editions of Challoner's revised Douay-
Rheims Version of the Holy Bible.  In 1568 English exiles, many from
Oxford, established the English College of Douay (Douai/Doway), Flanders,
under William (later Cardinal) Allen.  In October, 1578, Gregory Martin
began the work of preparing an English translation of the Bible for
Catholic readers, the first such translation into Modern English.
Assisting were William Allen, Richard Bristow, Thomas Worthington, and
William Reynolds who revised, criticized, and corrected Dr. Martin's
work.  The college published the New Testament at Rheims (Reims/Rhemes),
France, in 1582 through John Fogny with a preface and explanatory notes,
authored chiefly by Bristol, Allen, and Worthington.  Later the Old
Testament was published at Douay in two parts (1609 and 1610) by Laurence
Kellam through the efforts of Dr. Worthington, then superior of the
seminary.  The translation had been prepared before the appearance of the
New Testament, but the publication was delayed due to financial
difficulties.  The religious and scholarly adherence to the Latin Vulgate
text led to the less elegant and idiomatic words and phrases often found
in the translation.  In some instances where no English word conveyed the
full meaning of the Latin, a Latin word was Anglicized and its meaning
defined in a glossary.  Although ridiculed by critics, many of these
words later found common usage in the English language.  Spellings of
proper names and the numbering of the Psalms are adopted from the Latin
Vulgate.

In 1749 Dr. Richard Challoner began a major revision of the Douay and
Rheims texts, the spellings and phrasing of which had become increasingly
archaic in the almost two centuries since the translations were first
produced.  He modernized the diction and introduced a more fluid style,
while faithfully maintaining the accuracy of Dr. Martin's texts.  This
revision became the 'de facto' standard text for English speaking
Catholics until the twentieth century.  It is still highly regarded by
many for its style, although it is now rarely used for liturgical
purposes.  The notes included in this electronic edition are generally
attributed to Bishop Challoner.





CONTENTS


The Old Testament

  Book of Genesis
  Book of Exodus
  Book of Leviticus
  Book of Numbers
  Book of Deuteronomy
  Book of Josue
  Book of Judges
  Book of Ruth
  First Book of Samuel, alias 1 Kings
  Second Book of Samuel, alias 2 Kings
  Third Book of Kings
  Fourth Book of Kings
  First Book of Paralipomenon
  Second Book of Paralipomenon
  First Book of Esdras
  Book of Nehemias, alias 2 Esdras
  Book of Tobias
  Book of Judith
  Book of Esther
  Book of Job
  Book of Psalms
  Book of Proverbs
  Ecclesiastes
  Solomon's Canticle of Canticles
  Book of Wisdom
  Ecclesiasticus
  Prophecy of Isaias
  Prophecy of Jeremias
  Lamentations of Jeremias
  Prophecy of Baruch
  Prophecy of Ezechiel
  Prophecy of Daniel
  Prophecy of Osee
  Prophecy of Joel
  Prophecy of Amos
  Prophecy of Abdias
  Prophecy of Jonas
  Prophecy of Micheas
  Prophecy of Nahum
  Prophecy of Habacuc
  Prophecy of Sophonias
  Prophecy of Aggeus
  Prophecy of Zacharias
  Prophecy of Malachias
  First Book of Machabees
  Second Book of Machabees


The New Testament

  Gospel According to St. Matthew
  Gospel According to St. Mark
  Gospel According to St. Luke
  Gospel According to St. John
  Acts of the Apostles
  Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans
  First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
  Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
  Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians
  Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians
  Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians
  Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians
  First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
  Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
  First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy
  Second Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy
  Epistle of St. Paul to Titus
  Epistle of St. Paul to Philemon
  Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews
  Catholic Epistle of St. James the Apostle
  First Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle
  Second Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle
  First Epistle of St. John the Apostle
  Second Epistle of St. John the Apostle
  Third Epistle of St. John the Apostle
  Catholic Epistle of St. Jude the Apostle
  Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle





THE BOOK OF GENESIS

This book is so called from its treating of the GENERATION, that is,
of the creation and the beginning of the world. The Hebrews call it
BERESITH, from the Word with which it begins. It contains not only
the history of the Creation of the world; but also an account of its
progress during the space of 2369 years, that is, until the death of
JOSEPH.


Genesis Chapter 1

God createth Heaven and Earth, and all things therein, in six days.

1:1. In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.

1:2. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.

1:3. And God said: Be light made. And light was made.

1:4. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light
from the darkness.

1:5. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was
evening and morning one day.

1:6. And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and
let it divide the waters from the waters.

A firmament... By this name is here understood the whole space between
the earth, and the highest stars. The lower part of which divideth the
waters that are upon the earth, from those that are above in the clouds.

1:7. And god made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under
the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.

1:8. And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning
were the second day.

1:9. God also said; Let the waters that are under the heaven, be
gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it
was so done.

1:10. And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of
the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

1:11. And he said: let the earth bring forth green herb, and such as may
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have
seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done.

1:12. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth
seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed
each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

1:13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

1:14. And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven,
to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days and years:

1:15. To shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the
earth, and it was so done.

1:16. And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day;
and a lesser light to rule the night: and The stars.

Two great lights... God created on the first day, light, which being
moved from east to west, by its rising and setting, made morning and
evening. But on the fourth day he ordered and distributed this light,
and made the sun, moon, and stars. The moon, though much less than the
stars, is here called a great light, from its giving a far greater light
to the earth than any of them.

1:17. And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the
earth.

1:18. And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the
darkness. And God saw that it was good.

1:19. And the evening and morning were the fourth day.

1:20. God also said: let the waters bring forth the creeping creature
having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the
firmament of heaven.

1:21. And God created the great whales, and every living and moving
creature, which the waaters brought forth, according to their kinds, and
every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

1:22. And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the
waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth.

1:23. And the evening and morning were the fifth day.

1:24. And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its
kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to
their kinds. And it was so done.

1:25. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and
cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And
God saw that it was good.

1:26. And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let
him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air,
and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that
moveth upon the earth.

Let us make man to our image... This image of God in man, is not in the
body, but in the soul; which is a spiritual substance, endued with
understanding and free will. God speaketh here in the plural number, to
insinuate the plurality of persons in the Deity.

1:27. And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he
created him: male and female he created them.

1:28. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the
earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls
of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.

Increase and multiply... This is not a precept, as some Protestant
controvertists would have it, but a blessing, rendering them fruitful;
for God had said the same words to the fishes, and birds, (ver. 22) who
were incapable of receiving a precept.

1:29. And God said: Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon
the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind,
to be your meat:

1:30. And to all beasts of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and
to all that move upon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they
may have to feed upon. And it was so done.

1:31. And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very
good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.

Genesis Chapter 2

God resteth on the seventh day and blesseth it. The earthly paradise, in
which God placeth man. He commandeth him not to eat of the tree of
knowledge. And formeth a woman of his rib.

2:1. So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture
of them.

2:2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

He rested, etc... That is, he ceased to make or create any new kinds of
things. Though, as our Lord tells us, John 5.17, "He still worketh",
viz., by conserving and governing all things, and creating souls.

2:3. And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he
had rested from all his work which God created and made.

2:4. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they
were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the
earth:

2:5. And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and
every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained
upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.

2:6. But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the
earth.

2:7. And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed
into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

2:8. And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the
beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.

2:9. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees,
fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the
midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life... So called because it had that quality, that by
eating of the fruit of it, man would have been preserved in a constant
state of health, vigour, and strength, and would not have died at all.
The tree of knowledge... To which the deceitful serpent falsely
attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge, beyond
that which God was pleased to give.

2:10. And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise,
which from thence is divided into four heads.

2:11. The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the
land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.

2:12. And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium,
and the onyx stone.

2:13. And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that
compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.

2:14. And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along
by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

2:15. And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of
pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it.

2:16. And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt
eat:

2:17. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.
For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.

2:18. And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us
make him a help like unto himself.

2:19. And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of
the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see
what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature
the same is its name.

2:20. And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls
of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not
found a helper like himself.

2:21. Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was
fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it.

2:22. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a
woman: and brought her to Adam.

2:23. And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

2:24. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to
his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.

2:25. And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not
ashamed.

Genesis Chapter 3

The serpent's craft. The fall of our first parents. Their punishment.
The promise of a Redeemer.

3:1. Now the serpent was more subtle tha any of the beasts of the earth
which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God
commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?

3:2. And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that
are in paradise we do eat:

3:3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God
hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch
it, lest perhaps we die.

3:4. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

3:5. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof,
your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and
evil.

3:6. And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the
eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and
did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.

3:7. And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived
themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made
themselves aprons.

And the eyes, etc... Not that they were blind before, (for the woman saw
that the tree was fair to the eyes, ver. 6.) nor yet that their eyes
were opened to any more perfect knowledge of good; but only to the
unhappy experience of having lost the good of original grace and
innocence, and incurred the dreadful evil of sin. From whence followed a
shame of their being naked; which they minded not before; because being
now stript of original grace, they quickly began to be subject to the
shameful rebellions of the flesh.

3:8. And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise
at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of
the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.

3:9. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?

3:10. And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid,
because I was naked, and I hid myself.

3:11. And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked,
but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou
shouldst not eat?

3:12. And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion,
gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

3:13. And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And
she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

3:14. And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this
thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon
thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life.

3:15. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and
her seed: she shall cursh thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her
heel.

She shall crush... Ipsa, the woman; so divers of the fathers read this
place, conformably to the Latin: others read it ipsum, viz., the seed.
The sense is the same: for it is by her seed, Jesus Christ, that the
woman crushes the serpent's head.

3:16. To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy
conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt
be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.

3:17. And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of
thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that
thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and
toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.

3:18. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt
eat the herbs of the earth.

3:19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to
the earth out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust
thou shalt return.

3:20. And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the
mother of all the living.

3:21. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and
clothed them.

3:22. And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and
evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of
the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

Behold Adam, etc... This was spoken by way of reproaching him with his
pride, in affecting a knowledge that might make him like to God.

3:23. And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till
the earth from which he was taken.

3:24. And he cast out Adam: and placed before the paradise of pleasure
Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of
the tree of life.

Genesis Chapter 4

The history of Cain and Abel.

4:1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; who conceived and brought forth Cain,
saying: I have gotten a man through God.

4:2. And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a
shepherd, and Cain a husbandman.

4:3. And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the
fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord.

4:4. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat:
and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings.

Had respect... That is, shewed his acceptance of his sacrifice (as
coming from a heart full of devotion): and that, as we may suppose, by
some visible token, such as sending fire from heaven upon his offerings.

4:5. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was
exceeding angry, and his countenance fell.

4:6. And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy
countenance fallen?

4:7. If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin
forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under
thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it.

4:8. And Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. And when
they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew
him.

4:9. And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he
answered: I know not: am I my brother's keeper?

4:10. And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy
brother's blood crieth to me from the earth.

4:11. Now therefore cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath
opened her mouth and recieved the blood of thy brother at thy hand.

4:12. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a
fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth.

4:13. And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may
deserve pardon.

4:14. Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth,
and from thy face I shall be hid, and I shall be a vagabond and a
fugitive on the earth: every one therefore that findeth me, shall kill
me.

Every one that findeth me shall kill me... His guilty conscience made
him fear his own brothers and nephews; of whom, by this time, there might
be a good number upon the earth; which had now endured near 130 years;
as may be gathered from Gen. 5.3, compared with chap. 4.25, though in
the compendious account given in the scriptures, only Cain and Abel are
mentioned.

4:15. And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not so be: but whosoever
shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark
upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him.

Set a mark, etc... The more common opinion of the interpreters of holy
writ supposes this mark to have been a trembling of the body; or a
horror and consternation in his countenance.

4:16. And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a
fugitive on the earth at the east side of Eden.

4:17. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth
Henoch: and he built a city, and called the name thereof by the name of
his son Henoch.

His wife... She was a daughter of Adam, and Cain's own sister; God
dispensing with such marriages in the beginning of the world, as mankind
could not otherwise be propagated. He built a city, viz... In process of
time, when his race was multiplied, so as to be numerous enough to
people it. For in the many hundred years he lived, his race might be
multiplied even to millions.

4:18. And Henoch begot Irad, and Irad begot Maviael, and Maviael begot
Mathusael, and Mathusael begot Lamech,

4:19. Who took two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of
the other Sella.

4:20. And Ada brought forth Jabel: who was the father of such as dwell
in tents, and of herdsmen.

4:21. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of them that
play upon the harp and the organs.

4:22. Sella also brought forth Tubalcain, who was a hammerer and
artificer in every work of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubalcain
was Noema.

4:23. And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella: Hear my voice, ye
wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to the
wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising.

I have slain a man, etc... It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that
Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast; and that
having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth,
by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows.

4:24. Sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for Cain: but for Lamech
seventy times sevenfold.

4:25. Adam also knew his wife again: and she brought forth a son, and
called his name Seth, saying: God hath given me another seed for Abel,
whom Cain slew.

4:26. But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos: this man
began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Began to call upon, etc... Not that Adam and Seth had not called upon
God, before the birth of Enos; but that Enos used more solemnity in the
worship and invocation of God.

Genesis Chapter 5

The genealogy, age, and death of the Patriarchs, from Adam to Noe. The
translation of Henoch.

5:1. This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God
created man, he made him to the likeness of God.

5:2. He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their
name Adam, in the day when they were created.

5:3. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his
own image and likeness, and called his name Seth.

5:4. And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred
years: and he begot sons and daughters.

5:5. And all the time that Adam lived, came to nine hundred and thirty
years, and he died.

5:6. Seth also lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos.

5:7. And Seth lived after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years,
and begot sons and daughters.

5:8. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he
died.

5:9. And Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.

5:10. After whose birth he lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and
begot sons and daughters.

5:11. And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he
died.

5:12. And Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Malaleel.

5:13. And Cainan lived after he begot Malaleel, eight hundred and forty
years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:14. And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he
died.

5:15. And Malaleel lived sixty-five years and begot Jared.

5:16. And Malaleel lived after he begot Jared, eight hundred and thirty
years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:17. And all the days of Malaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five
years, and he died.

5:18. And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Henoch.

5:19. And Jared lived after he begot Henoch, eight hundred years, and
begot sons and daughters.

5:20. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years,
and he died.

5:21. And Henoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Mathusala.

5:22. And Henoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Mathusala,
three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:23. And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five
years.

5:24. And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took
him.

5:25. And Mathusala lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot
Lamech.

5:26. And Mathlusala lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and
eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:27. And all the days of Mathusala were nine hundred and sixty-nine
years, and he died.

5:28. And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son.

5:29. And he called his name Noe, saying: This same shall comfort us
from the works and labours of our hands on the earth, which the Lord
hath cursed.

5:30. And Lamech lived after he begot Noe, five hundred and ninety-five
years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:31. And all the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven
years, and he died. And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, begot
Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

Genesis Chapter 6

Man's sin is the cause of the deluge. Noe is commanded to build the ark.

6:1. And after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and
daughters were born to them,

6:2. The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair,
took to themselves wives of all which they chose.

The sons of God... The descendants of Seth and Enos are here called sons
of God from their religion and piety: whereas the ungodly race of Cain,
who by their carnal affections lay grovelling upon the earth, are called
the children of men. The unhappy consequence of the former marrying with
the latter, ought to be a warning to Christians to be very circumspect
in their marriages; and not to suffer themselves to be determined in
their choice by their carnal passion, to the prejudice of virtue or
religion.

6:3. And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because
he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

His days shall be, etc... The meaning is, that man's days, which before
the flood were usually 900 years, should now be reduced to 120 years. Or
rather, that God would allow men this term of 120 years, for their
repentance and conversion, before he would send the deluge.

6:4. Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of
God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children,
these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Giants... It is likely the generality of men before the flood were of a
gigantic stature in comparison with what men now are. But these here
spoken of are called giants, as being not only tall in stature, but
violent and savage in their dispositions, and mere monsters of cruelty
and lust.

6:5. And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth,
and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

6:6. It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being
touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,

It repented him, etc... God, who is unchangeable, is not capable of
repentance, grief, or any other passion. But these expressions are used
to declare the enormity of the sins of men, which was so provoking as to
determine their Creator to destroy these his creatures, whom before he
had so much favoured.

6:7. He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of
the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the
fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

6:8. But Noe found grace before the Lord.

6:9. These are the generations of Noe: Noe was a just and perfect man in
his generations, he walked with God.

6:10. And he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

6:11. And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with
iniquity.

6:12. And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh
had corrupted its way upon the earth),

6:13. He said to Noe: The end of all flesh is come before me, the earth
is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the
earth.

6:14. Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in
the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without.

6:15. And thus shalt thou make it. The length of the ark shall be three
hundred cubits: the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it
thirty cubits.

Three hundred cubits, etc... The ark, according to the dimensions here
set down, contained four hundred and fifty thousand square cubits; which
was more than enough to contain all the kinds of living creatures, with
all necessary provisions: even supposing the cubits here spoken of to
have been only a foot and a half each, which was the least king of
cubits.

6:16. Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish the top of it: and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the
side: with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shalt thou make it.

6:17. Behold, I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth,
to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life under heaven. All
things that are in the earth shall be consumed.

6:18. And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt enter
into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons
with thee.

6:19. And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of
a sort into the ark, that they may live with thee: of the male sex, and
the female.

6:20. Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and
of every thing that creepeth on the earth according to its kind: two of
every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live.

6:21. Thou shalt take unto thee of all food that may be eaten, and thou
shalt lay it up with thee: and it shall be food for thee and them.

6:22. And Noe did all things which God commanded him.

Genesis Chapter 7

Noe with his family go into the ark. The deluge overflows the earth.

7:1. And the Lord said to him: Go in, thou and all thy house, into the
ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation.

7:2. Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female.

Of all clean... The distintion of clean and unclean beasts appears to
have been made before the law of Moses, which was not promulgated till
the year of the world 2514.

7:3. But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the
female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the
female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.

7:4. For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth
forty days and forty nights: and I will destroy every substance that I
have made, from the face of the earth.

7:5. And Noe did all things which the Lord had commanded him.

7:6. And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood
overflowed the earth.

7:7. And Noe went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons
with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

7:8. And of beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing
that moveth upon the earth,

7:9. Two and two went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as the
Lord had commanded Noe.

7:10. And after the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood
overflowed the earth.

7:11. In the six hundredth year of the life of Noe, in the second month,
in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep
were broken up, and the floodgates of heaven were opened:

7:12. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13. In the selfsame day Noe, and Sem, and Cham, and Japheth, his sons:
his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark.

7:14. They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in
their kind, and every thing that moveth upon the earth, according to its
kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly,

7:15. Went in to Noe into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was
the breath of life.

7:16. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as
God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside.

7:17. And the flood was forty days upon the earth: and the waters
increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the earth.

7:18. For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the
earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters.

7:19. And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all
the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

7:20. The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it
covered.

7:21. And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of
fowl and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep
upon the earth: and all men.

7:22. And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth,
died.

7:23. And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from
man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and
they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that
were with him in the ark.

7:24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis Chapter 8

The deluge ceaseth. Noe goeth out of the ark, and offereth a sacrifice.
God's covenant to him.

8:1. And God remembered Noe, and all the living creatures, and all the
cattle which were with him in the ark, and brought a wind upon the
earth, and the waters were abated:

8:2. The fountains also of the deep, and the floodgates of heaven, were
shut up, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

8:3. And the waters returned from off the earth going and coming: and
they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days.

8:4. And the ark rested in the seventh month, the seven and twentieth
day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia.

8:5. And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month: for
in the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the
mountains appeared.

8:6. And after that forty days were passed, Noe opening the window of
the ark, which he had made, sent forth a raven:

8:7. Which went forth and did not return, till the waters were dried up
upon the earth.

Did not return... The raven did not return into the ark; but (as it may
be gathered from the Hebrew) went to and fro; sometimes going to the
mountains, where it found carcasses to feed on: and other times
returning, to rest upon the top of the ark.

8:8. He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had now
ceased upon the face of the earth.

8:9. But she not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into
the ark: for the waters were upon the whole earth: and he put forth his
hand, and caught her, and brought her into the ark.

8:10. And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the
dove out of the ark.

8:11. And she came to him in the evening carrying a bough of an olive
tree, with green leaves, in her mouth. Noe therefore understood that the
waters were ceased upon the earth.

8:12. And he stayed yet other seven days: and he sent forth the dove,
which returned not any more unto him.

8:13. Therefore in the six hundredth and first year, the first month,
the first day of the month, the waters were lessened upon the earth, and
Noe opening the covering of the ark, looked, and saw that the face of
the earth was dried.

8:14. In the second month, the seven and twentieth day of the month, the
earth was dried.

8:15. And God spoke to Noe, saying:

8:16. Go out of the ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and the wives of
thy sons with thee.

8:17. All living things that are with thee of all flesh, as well in
fowls as in beasts, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth,
bring out with thee, and go ye upon the earth: increase and multiply
upon it.

8:18. So Noe went out, he and his sons: his wife, and the wives of his
sons with him.

8:19. And all living things, and cattle, and creeping things that creep
upon the earth, according to their kinds went out of the ark.

8:20. And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and
fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar.

Holocausts,... or whole burnt offerings. In which the whole victim was
consumed by fire upon God's altar, and no part was reserved for the use
of priest or people.

8:21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said: I will no more
curse the earth for the sake of man: for the imagination and thought of
man's heart are prone to evil from his youth: therefore I will no more
destroy every living soul as I have done.

Smelled, etc... A figurative expression, denoting that God was well
pleased with the sacrifices which his servant offered.

8:22. All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.

Genesis Chapter 9

God besseth Noe: forbiddeth blood, and promiseth never more to destroy
the world by water. The blessing of Sem and Japheth.

9:1. And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase,
and multiply, and fill the earth.

9:2. And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the
earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the
earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand.

9:3. And every thing that moveth, and liveth shall be meat for you: even
as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you:

9:4. Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.

9:5. For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every
beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his
brother, will I require the life of man.

9:6. Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man
was made to the image of God.

9:7. But increase you and multiply, and go upon the earth and fill it.

9:8. Thus also said God to Noe, and to his sons with him:

9:9. Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed
after you:

9:10. And with every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds,
as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the
ark, and in all the beasts of the earth.

9:11. I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no
more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from
henceforth a flood to waste the earth.

9:12. And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I give
between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for
perpetual generations.

9:13. I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a
covenant between me and between the earth.

9:14. And when I shall cover the sky with clouds, my bow shall appear in
the clouds:

9:15. And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living
soul that beareth flesh: and there shall no more be waters of a flood to
destroy all flesh.

9:16. And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall
remember the everlasting covenant, that was made between God and every
living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth.

9:17. And God said to Noe: This shall be the sign of the covenant, which
I have established, between me and all flesh upon the earth.

9:18. And the sons of Noe, who came out of the ark, were Sem, Cham, and
Japheth: and Cham is the father of Chanaan.

9:19. These three are the sons of Noe: and from these was all mankind
spread over the whole earth.

9:20. And Noe a husbandman began to till the ground, and planted a
vineyard.

9:21. And drinking of the wine was made drunk, and was uncovered in his
tent.

Drunk... Noe by the judgment of the fathers was not guilty of sin, in
being overcome by wine: because he knew not the strength of it.

9:22. Which when Cham the father of Chanaan had seen, to wit, that his
father's nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren
without.

9:23. But Sem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going
backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were
turned away, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Covered the nakedness... Thus, as St. Gregory takes notice L. 35; Moral.
c. 22, we ought to cover the nakedness, that is, the sins, of our
spiritual parents and superiors.

9:24. And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his
younger son had done to him,

9:25. He said: Cursed be Chanaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto
his brethren.

Cursed be Chanaan... The curses, as well as the blessings, of the
partiarchs, were prophetical: And this in particular is here recorded by
Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of
Chanaan. But why should Chanaan be cursed for his father's faults? The
Hebrews answer, that he being then a boy, was the first that saw his
grandfather's nakedness, and told his father Cham of it; and joined with
him in laughing at it: which drew upon him, rather than upon the rest of
the children of Cham, this prophetical curse.

9:26. And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Sem, be Chanaan his
servant.

9:27. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem, and
Chanaan be his servant.

9:28. And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

9:29. And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years:
and he died.

Genesis Chapter 10

The genealogy of the children of Noe, by whom the world was peopled
after the flood.

10:1. These are the generations of the sons of Noe: Sem, Cham, and
Japheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood.

10:2. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and
Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras.

10:3. And the sons of Gomer: Ascenez and Riphath and Thogorma.

10:4. And the sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cetthim and Dodanim.

10:5. By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands,
every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations.

The islands... So the Hebrews called all the remote countries, to which
they went by ships from Judea, to Greece, Italy, Spain, etc.

10:6. And the Sons of Cham: Chus, and Mesram, and Phuth, and Chanaan.

10:7. And the sons of Chus: Saba, and Hevila, and Sabatha, and Regma,
and Sabatacha. The sons of Regma: Saba, and Dadan.

10:8. Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty on the earth.

10:9. And he was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb:
Even as Nemrod the stout hunter before the Lord.

A stout hunter... Not of beasts but of men: whom by violence and tyranny
he brought under his dominion. And such he was, not only in the opinion
of men, but before the Lord, that is, in his sight who cannot be
deceived.

10:10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Arach, and
Achad, and Chalanne in the land of Sennaar.

10:11. Out of that land came forth Assur, and built Ninive, and the
streets of the city, and Chale.

10:12. Resen also between Ninive and Chale: this is the great city.

10:13. And Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim and Laabim, Nephthuim.

10:14. And Phetrusim, and Chasluim; of whom came forth the Philistines,
and the Capthorim.

10:15. And Chanaan begot Sidon his firstborn, the Hethite,

10:16. And the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite, and the Gergesite.

10:17. The Hevite and Aracite: the Sinite,

10:18. And the Aradian, the Samarite, and the Hamathite: and afterwards
the families of the Chanaanites were spread abroad.

10:19. And the limits of Chanaan were from Sidon as one comes to Gerara
even to Gaza, until thou enter Sodom and Gomorrha, and Adama, and Seboim
even to Lesa.

10:20. These are the children of Cham in their kindreds and tongues, and
generations, and lands, and nations.

10:21. Of Sem also the father of all the children of Heber, the elder
brother of Japheth, sons were born.

10:22. The sons of Sem: Elam and Assur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

10:23. The sons of Aram: Us, and Hull, and Gether; and Mes.

10:24. But Arphaxad begot Sale, of whom was born Heber.

10:25. And to Heber were born two sons: the name of the one was Phaleg,
because in his days was the earth divided: and his brother's name
Jectan.

10:26. Which Jectan begot Elmodad, and Saleph, and Asarmoth, Jare,

10:27. And Aduram, and Uzal, and Decla,

10:28. And Ebal, and Abimael, Saba,

10:29. And Ophir, and Hevila, and Jobab. All these were the sons of
Jectan.

10:30. And their dwelling was from Messa as we go on as far as Sephar, a
mountain in the east.

10:31. These are the children of Sem according to their kindreds and
tongues, and countries in their nations.

10:32. These are the families of Noe, according to their people and
nations. By these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood.

Genesis Chapter 11

The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Sem down
to Abram.

11:1. And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

11:2. And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the
land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

11:3. And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and
bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime
instead of mortar:

11:4. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top
whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we
be scattered abroad into all lands.

11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of Adam were building.

11:6. And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue:
and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their
designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

11:7. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their
tongue, that they may not understand one another's speech.

11:8. And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and
they ceased to build the city.

11:9. And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the
language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord
scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

Babel... That is, confusion.

11:10. These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old
when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

11:11. And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and
begot sons and daughters.

11:12. And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale.

11:13. And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three
years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:14. Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber.

11:15. And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three
years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:16. And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

11:17. And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty
years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:18. Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

11:19. And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years,
and begot sons and daughters.

11:20. And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

11:21. And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years,
and begot sons and daughters.

11:22. And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

11:23. And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years, and
begot sons and daughters.

11:24. And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare.

11:25. And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen
years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:26. And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and
Aran.

11:27. And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram,
Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot.

11:28. And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his
nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

11:29. And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was
Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran,
father of Melcha and father of Jescha.

11:30. And Sarai was barren, and had no children.

11:31. And Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's
son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and
brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan:
and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

11:32. And the days of Thare were two hundred and five years, and he
died in Haran.

Genesis Chapter 12

The call of Abram, and the promise made to him. He sojourneth in
Chanaan, and then by occasion of a famine, goeth down to Egypt.

12:1. And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which
I shall shew thee.

12:2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

12:3. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee,
and IN THEE shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

12:4. So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with
him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Haran.

12:5. And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all the
substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they had gotten
in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when
they were come into it,

12:6. Abram passed through the country unto the place of Sichem, as far
as the noble vale: now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land.

12:7. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will
I give this land. And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had
appeared to him.

12:8. And passing on from thence to a mountain, that was on the east
side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west,
and Hai on the east: he built there also an altar to the Lord, and
called upon his name.

12:9. And Abram went forward, going and proceeding on to the south.

12:10. And there came a famine in the country: and Abram went down into
Egypt, to sojourn there: for the famine was very grievous in the land.

12:11. And when he was near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his
wife: I know that thou art a beautiful woman:

12:12. And that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say: She is
his wife: and they will kill me, and keep thee.

12:13. Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister: that I may
be well used for thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake.

My sister... This was no lie; because she was his niece, being daughter
to his brother Aran, and therefore, in the style of the Hebrews, she
might truly be called his sister, as Lot is called Abram's brother, Gen.
14.14. See Gen. 20.12.

12:14. And when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman
that she was very beautiful.

12:15. And the princes told Pharao, and praised her before him: and the
woman was taken into the house of Pharao.

12:16. And they used Abram well for her sake. And he had sheep and oxen
and he asses, and men servants, and maid servants, and she asses, and
camels.

12:17. But the Lord scourged Pharao and his house with most grievous
stripes for Sarai, Abram's wife.

12:18. And Pharao called Abram, and said to him: What is this that thou
hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

12:19. For what cause didst thou say, she was thy sister, that I might
take her to my wife? Now therefore there is thy wife, take her, and go
thy way.

12:20. And Pharao gave his men orders concerning Abram: and they led him
away and his wife, and all that he had.

Genesis Chapter 13

Abram and Lot part from each other. God's promise to Abram.

13:1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he
had, and Lot with him into the south.

13:2. And he was very rich in possession of gold and silver.

13:3. And he returned by the way, that he came, from the south to
Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel
and Hai,

13:4. In the place of the altar which he had made before, and there he
called upon the name of the Lord.

13:5. But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds
of beasts, and tents.

13:6. Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell
together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell
together.

13:7. Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram
and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in
that country.

13:8. Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech
thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for
we are brethren.

13:9. Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me, I pray thee:
if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose
the right hand, I will pass to the left.

13:10. And Lot lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the
Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes
to Segor.

13:11. And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he
departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the
other.

13:12. Abram dwelt in the land of Chanaan: and Lot abode in the towns,
that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom.

13:13. And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the
face of the Lord beyond measure.

13:14. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him:
Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the
north and to the south, to the east and to the west.

13:15. All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy
seed for ever.

13:16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be
able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy
seed also.

13:17. Arise and walk through the land in the length, and the breadth
thereof: for I will give it to thee.

13:18. So Abram removing his tent, came, and dwelt by the vale of
Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

Genesis Chapter 14

The expedition of the four kings; the victory of Abram; he is blessed by
Melchisedech.

14:1. And it came to pass at that time, that Amraphel, king of Sennaar,
and Arioch, king of Pontus, and Chodorlahomor, king of the Elamites, and
Thadal, king of nations,

14:2. Made war against Bara, king of Sodom, and against Bersa, king of
Gomorrha, and against Sennaab, king of Adama, and against Semeber, king
of Seboim, and against the king of Bala, which is Segor.

14:3. All these came together into the woodland vale, which now is the
salt sea.

14:4. For they had served Chodorlahomor twelve years, and in the
thirteenth year they revolted from him.

14:5. And in the fourteenth year came Chodorlahomor, and the kings that
were with him: and they smote the Raphaim in Astarothcarnaim, and the
Zuzim with them, and the Emim in Save of Cariathaim.

14:6. And the Chorreans in the mountains of Seir, even to the plains of
Pharan, which is in the wilderness.

14:7. And they returned, and came to the fountain of Misphat, the same
is Cades: and they smote all the country of the Amalecites, and the
Amorrhean that dwelt in Asasonthamar.

14:8. And the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha, and the king of
Adama, and the king of Seboim, and the king of Bala, which is Segor,
went out: and they set themselves against them in battle array, in the
woodland vale:

14:9. To wit, against Chodorlahomor king of the Elamites, and Thadal
king of nations, and Amraphel king of Sennaar, and Arioch king of
Pontus: four kings against five.

14:10. Now the woodland vale had many pits of slime. And the king of
Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha turned their backs, and were overthrown
there: and they that remained, fled to the mountain.

Of slime. Bituminis... This was a kind of pitch, which served for mortar
in the building of Babel, Gen. 11.3, and was used by Noe in pitching the
ark.

14:11. And they took all the substance of the Sodomites, and
Gomorrhites, and all their victuals, and went their way:

14:12. And Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, and
his substance.

14:13. And behold one, that had escaped, told Abram the Hebrew, who
dwelt in the vale of Mambre the Amorrhite, the brother of Escol, and the
brother of Aner: for these had made a league with Abram.

14:14. Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was
taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and
eighteen, well appointed: and pursued them to Dan.

14:15. And dividing his company, he rushed upon them in the night, and
defeated them: and pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left
hand of Damascus.

14:16. And he brought back all the substance, and Lot his brother, with
his substance, the women also, and the people.

14:17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned
from the slaughter of Chodorlahomor, and of the kings that were with him
in the vale of Save, which is the king's vale.

14:18. But Melchisedech, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and
wine, for he was the priest of the most high God,

14:19. Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who
created heaven and earth.

14:20. And blessed be the most high God, by whose protection, the
enemies are in thy hands. And he gave him the tithes of all.

14:21. And the king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the persons, and the
rest take to thyself.

14:22. And he answered him: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the most
high, the possessor of heaven and earth,

14:23. That from the very woofthread unto the shoe latchet, I will not
take of any things that are thine, lest thou say: I have enriched Abram.

14:24. Except such things as the young men have eaten, and the shares of
the men that came with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre: these shall take
their shares.

Genesis Chapter 15

God promiseth seed to Abram. His faith, sacrifice and vision.

15:1. Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to
Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy
reward exceeding great.

15:2. And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go
without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this
Damascus Eliezer.

15:3. And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my
servant born in my house, shall be my heir.

15:4. And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He
shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him
shalt thou have for thy heir.

15:5. And he brought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to
heaven and number the stars if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall
thy seed be.

15:6. Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

15:7. And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of
the Chaldees, to give thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it.

15:8. But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?

15:9. And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old,
and a she goat of three years and a ram of three years, a turtle also,
and a pigeon.

15:10. And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid
the two pieces of each one against the other: but the birds he divided
not.

15:11. And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them
away.

15:12. And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a
great and darksome horror seized upon him.

15:13. And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them
under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.

15:14. But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after
this they shall come out with great substance.

15:15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a
good old age.

15:16. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet
the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present
time.

15:17. And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there
appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those
divisions.

15:18. That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will
I give this land, from the river to Egypt even to the great river
Euphrates.

15:19. The Cineans, and Cenezites, the Cedmonites,

15:20. And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,

15:21. And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and
the Jebusites.

Genesis Chapter 16

Abram marrieth Agar, who bringeth forth Ismael.

16:1. Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children: but
having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Agar,

16:2. She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from
bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at
least. And when he agreed to her request,

16:3. She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they
first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife.

To wife... Plurality of wives, though contrary to the primitive
institution of marriage, Gen. 2.24, was by divine dispensation allowed
to the patriarchs: which allowance seems to have continued during the
time of the law of Moses. But Christ our Lord reduced marriage to its
primitive institution. Matt. 19.

16:4. And he went in to her. But she perceiving that she was with child,
despised her mistress.

16:5. And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me: I gave my
handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiving herself to be with child,
despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee.

16:6. And Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold thy handmaid is in
thy own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her,
she ran away.

16:7. And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water
in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

16:8. He said to her: Agar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and
whither goest thou? And she answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my
mistress.

16:9. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and
humble thyself under her hand.

16:10. And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it
shall not be numbered for multitude.

16:11. And again: Behold, said he, thou art with child, and thou shalt
bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord
hath heard thy affliction.

16:12. He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all
men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all
his brethren.

16:13. And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the
God who hast seen me. For she said: Verily, here have I seen the hinder
parts of him that seeth me.

16:14. Therefore she called that well, the well of him that liveth and
seeth me. The same is between Cades and Barad.

16:15. And Agar brought forth a son to Abram: who called his name
Ismael.

16:16. Abram was four score and six years old when Agar brought him
forth Ismael.

Genesis Chapter 17

The Covenant of circumcision.

17:1. And after he began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord
appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God: walk before
me, and be perfect.

17:2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee: and I will
multiply thee exceedingly.

17:3. Abram fell flat on his face.

17:4. And God said to him: I am, and my covenant is with thee, and thou
shalt be a father of many nations.

17:5. Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram: but thou shalt be
called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations.

Abram... in the Hebrew, signifies a high father: but Abraham, the father
of the multitude; Sarai signifies my Lady, but Sara absolutely Lady.

17:6. And I will make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make nations
of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

17:7. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between
thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be
a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

17:8. And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy
sojournment, all the land of Chanaan, for a perpetual possession, and I
will be their God.

17:9. Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my
covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

17:10. This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you,
and thy seed after thee: All the male kind of you shall be circumcised.

17:11. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may
be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.

17:12. An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every
manchild in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as
the bought servant, shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your
stock:

17:13. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant.

17:14. The male whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised,
that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken
my covenant.

17:15. God said also to Abraham: Sarai thy wife thou shalt not call
Sarai, but Sara.

17:16. And I will bless her, and of her I will give thee a son, whom I
will bless, and he shall become nations, and kings of people shall
spring from him.

17:17. Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart:
Shall a son, thinkest thou, be born to him that is a hundred years old?
and shall Sara that is ninety years old bring forth?

17:18. And he said to God: O that Ismael may live before thee.

17:19. And God said to Abraham: Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son, and
thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with
him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him.

17:20. And as for Ismael I have also heard thee. Behold, I will bless
him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly: he shall beget twelve
chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.

17:21. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sara shall
bring forth to thee at this time in the next year.

17:22. And when he had left off speaking with him, God went up from
Abraham.

17:23. And Abraham took Ismael his son, and all that were born in his
house: and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his
house: and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin forthwith the very
same day, as God had commanded him.

17:24. Abraham was ninety and nine years old, when he circumcised the
flesh of his foreskin.

17:25. And Ismael his son was full thirteen years old at the time of his
circumcision.

17:26. The selfsame day was Abraham circumcised and Ismael his son.

17:27. And all the men of his house, as well they that were born in his
house, as the bought servants and strangers, were circumcised with him.

Genesis Chapter 18

Angels are entertained by Abraham. They foretell the birth of Isaac.
Abraham's prayer for the men of Sodom.

18:1. And the Lord appeared to him in the vale of Mambre as he was
sitting at the door of his tent, in the very heat of the day.

18:2. And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three
men standing near to him: and as soon as he saw them, he ran to meet
them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground.

18:3. And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not
away from thy servant.

18:4. But I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest
ye under the tree.

18:5. And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart,
afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your
servant. And they said: Do as thou hast spoken.

18:6. Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara, and said to her: Make
haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the
hearth.

18:7. And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf, very
tender and very good, and gave it to a young man, who made haste and
boiled it.

18:8. He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled,
and set before them: but he stood by them under the tree.

18:9. And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara thy wife?
He answered: Lo she is in the tent.

18:10. And he said to him: I will return and come to thee at this time,
life accompanying, and Sara, thy wife, shall have a son. Which when Sara
heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent.

18:11. Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had
ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women.

18:12. And she laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old, and my
lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?

18:13. And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall
I, who am an old woman, bear a child indeed?

18:14. Is there any thing hard to God? According to appointment I will
return to thee at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have
a son.

18:15. Sara denied, saying: I did not laugh: for she was afraid. But the
Lord said: Nay; but thou didst laugh.

18:16. And when the men rose up from thence, they turned their eyes
towards Sodom: and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way.

18:17. And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do:

18:18. Seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed?

18:19. For I know that he will command his children, and his household
after him, to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice:
that for Abraham's sake, the Lord may bring to effect all the things he
hath spoken unto him.

18:20. And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied,
and their sin is become exceedingly grievous.

18:21. I will go down and see whether they have done according to the
cry that is come to me; or whether it be not so, that I may know.

I will go down, etc... The Lord here accommodates his discourse to the
way of speaking and acting amongst men; for he knoweth all things, and
needeth not to go anywhere for information. Note here, that two of the
three angels went away immediately for Sodom; whilst the third, who
represented the Lord, remained with Abraham.

18:22. And they turned themselves from thence, and went their way to
Sodom: but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord.

18:23. And drawing nigh, he said: Wilt thou destroy the just with the
wicked?

18:24. If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal?
and wilt thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if
they be therein?

18:25. Far be it from thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with
the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked; this is
not beseeming thee: thou who judgest all the earth, wilt not make this
judgment.

18:26. And the Lord said to him: If I find in Sodom fifty just within
the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.

18:27. And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will
speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes.

18:28. What if there be five less than fifty just persons? wilt thou for
five and forty destroy the whole city: And he said: I will not destroy
it, if I find five and forty.

18:29. And again he said to him: But if forty be found there, what wilt
thou do? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of forty.

18:30. Lord, saith he, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak: What if
thirty shall be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I find
thirty there.

18:31. Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord:
What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the
sake of twenty.

18:32. I beseech thee, saith he, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once
more: What if ten shall be found there? And he said: I will not destroy
it for the sake of ten.

18:33. And the Lord departed, after he had left speaking to Abraham: and
Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis Chapter 19

Lot, entertaining Angels in his house, is delivered from Sodom, which is
destroyed: his wife for looking back is turned into a statue of salt.

19:1. And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was
sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to
meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground.

19:2. And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your
servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall
go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

19:3. He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were
come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread,
and they ate:

19:4. But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house,
both young and old, all the people together.

19:5. And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came
in to thee at night? bring them out hither, that we may know them:

19:6. Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

19:7. Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

19:8. I have two daughters who, as yet, have not known man; I will bring
them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you
do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my
roof.

19:9. But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in,
said they, as a stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will
afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot:
and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

19:10. And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them,
and shut the door.

19:11. And them, that were without, they struck with blindness from the
least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

19:12. And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son in law, or
sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:

19:13. For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud
before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

19:14. So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have
his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the
Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were
in jest.

19:15. And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise,
take thy wife, and the two daughters that thou hast: lest thou also
perish in the wickedness of the city.

19:16. And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife,
and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.

19:17. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and
there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither
stay thou in all the country about: but save thy self in the mountain,
lest thou be also consumed.

19:18. And Lot said to them: I beseech thee, my Lord,

19:19. Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast
magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and
I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.

19:20. There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a
little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my
soul shall live?

19:21. And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy
prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

19:22. Make haste, and be saved there: because I cannot do any thing
till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called
Segor.

Segor... That is, a little one.

19:23. The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

19:24. And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire
from the Lord out of heaven.

19:25. And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the
inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

19:26. And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of
salt.

And his wife... As a standing memorial to the servants of God to proceed
in virtue, and not to look back to vice or its allurements.

19:27. And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where
he had stood before with the Lord:

19:28. He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that
country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a
furnace.

19:29. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering
Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein
he had dwelt.

19:30. And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his
two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor) and he dwelt
in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

19:31. And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there
is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the
whole earth.

19:32. Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him,
that we may preserve seed of our father.

19:33. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder
went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his
daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

19:34. And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last
night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou
shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

19:35. They made their father drink wine that night also, and the
younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he
perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

19:36. So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

19:37. And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the
father of the Moabites unto this day.

19:38. The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon; that
is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this
day.

Genesis Chapter 20

Abraham sojourned in Gerara: Sara is taken into king Abimelech's house,
but by God's commandment is restored untouched.

20:1. Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt
between Cades and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara.

20:2. And he said of Sara his wife: She is my sister. So Abimelech the
king of Gerara sent, and took her.

20:3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and he said to him:
Lo thou shalt die for the woman that thou hast taken: for she hath a
husband.

20:4. Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said: Lord, wilt thou
slay a nation that is ignorant and just?

20:5. Did not he say to me: She is my sister: and she say, He is my
brother? in the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I
done this.

20:6. And God said to him: And I know that thou didst it with a sincere
heart: and therefore I withheld thee from sinning against me, and I
suffered thee not to touch her.

20:7. Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet: and
he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: but if thou wilt not
restore her, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are
thine.

20:8. And Abimelech forthwith rising up in the night, called all his
servants: and spoke all these words in their hearing, and all the men
were exceedingly afraid.

20:9. And Abimelech called also for Abraham, and said to him: What hast
thou done to us? what have we offended thee in, that thou hast brought
upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done to us what thou
oughtest not to do.

20:10. And again he expostulated with him, and said: What sawest thou,
that thou hast done this?

20:11. Abraham answered: I thought with myself, saying: Perhaps there is
not the fear of God in this place: and they will kill me for the sake of
my wife:

20:12. Howbeit, otherwise also she is truly my sister, the daughter of
my father, and not the daughter of my mother, and I took her to wife.

20:13. And after God brought me out of my father's house, I said to her:
Thou shalt do me this kindness: In every place, to which we shall come,
thou shalt say that I am thy brother.

20:14. And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids,
and gave to Abraham: and restored to him Sara his wife,

20:15. And said: The land is before you, dwell wheresoever it shall
please thee.

20:16. And to Sara he said: Behold I have given thy brother a thousand
pieces of silver, this shall serve thee for a covering of thy eyes to
all that are with thee, and whithersoever thou shalt go: and remember
thou wast taken.

20:17. And when Abraham prayed, God healed Abimelech and his wife, and
his handmaids, and they bore children:

20:18. For the Lord had closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech,
on account of Sara, Abraham's wife.

Genesis Chapter 21

Isaac is born. Agar and Ismael are cast forth.

21:1. And the Lord visited Sara, as he had promised: and fulfilled what
he had spoken.

21:2. And she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that
God had foretold her.

21:3. And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sara bore him, Isaac.

Isaac... This word signifies laughter.

21:4. And he circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him,

21:5. When he was a hundred years old: for at this age of his father,
was Isaac born.

21:6. And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me: whosoever shall
hear of it will laugh with me.

21:7. And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear
that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age?

21:8. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast
on the day of his weaning.

21:9. And when Sara had seen the son of Agar, the Egyptian, playing with
Isaac, her son, she said to Abraham:

21:10. Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

21:11. Abraham took this grievously for his son.

21:12. And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the
boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken
to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

21:13. But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation,
because he is thy seed.

21:14. So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle
of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her
away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.

21:15. And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy
under one of the trees that were there.

21:16. And she went her way, and sat overagainst him a great way off, as
far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and
sitting overagainst, she lifted up her voice and wept.

21:17. And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to
Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not; for God
hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.

21:18. Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make
him a great nation.

21:19. And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went
and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.

21:20. And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness,
and became a young man, an archer.

21:21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a
wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

21:22. At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army,
said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost.

21:23. Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my
posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done
to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a
stranger.

21:24. And Abraham said: I will swear.

21:25. And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants
had taken away by force.

21:26. And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou
didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today.

21:27. Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and
both of them made a league.

21:28. And Abraham set apart seven ewelambs of the flock.

21:29. And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewelambs which
thou hast set apart?

21:30. But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewelambs at my hand: that they
may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well.

21:31. Therefore that place was called Bersabee; because there both of
them did swear.

Bersabee... That is, the well of oath.

21:32. And they made a league for the well of oath.

21:33. And Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and
returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in
Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal.

21:34. And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days.

Genesis Chapter 22

The faith and obedience of Abraham is proved in his readiness to
sacrifice his son Isaac. He is stayed from the act by an angel. Former
promises are renewed to him. His brother Nachor's issue.

22:1. After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham,
Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

God tempted, etc... God tempteth no man to evil, James 1.13; but by
trial and experiment maketh known to the world, and to ourselves, what
we are, as here by this trial the singular faith and obedience of
Abraham was made manifest.

22:2. He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou
lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him
for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee.

22:3. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with
him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the
holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him.

22:4. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar
off.

22:5. And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass; I and
the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have
worshipped, will return to you.

22:6. And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his
son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they
two went on together,

22:7. Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt
thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the
holocaust?

22:8. And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an
holocaust, my son. So they went on together.

22:9. And they came to the place which God had shewn him, where he built
an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound
Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood.

22:10. And he put forth his hand, and took the sword, to sacrifice his
son.

22:11. And behold, an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him,
saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

22:12. And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do
thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not
spared thy only begotten son for my sake.

22:13. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram,
amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and
offered for a holocaust instead of his son.

22:14. And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon,
even to this day, it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.

22:15. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from
heaven, saying:

22:16. By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast
done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake:

22:17. I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of
heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore; thy seed shall possess
the gates of their enemies.

22:18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,
because thou hast obeyed my voice.

22:19. Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee
together, and he dwelt there.

22:20. After these things, it was told Abraham, that Melcha also had
borne children to Nachor his brother.

22:21. Hus, the firstborn, and Buz, his brother, and Camuel the father
of the Syrians,

22:22. And Cased, and Azau, and Pheldas, and Jedlaph,

22:23. And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: these eight did Melcha
bear to Nachor, Abraham's brother.

22:24. And his concubine, named Roma, bore Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas,
and Maacha.

Genesis Chapter 23

Sara's death and burial in the field bought of Ephron.

23:1. And Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years.

23:2. And she died in the city of Arbee which is Hebron, in the land of
Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her.

23:3. And after he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the
children of Heth, saying:

23:4. I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a
burying place with you, that I may bury my dead.

23:5. The children of Heth answered, saying:

23:6. My lord, hear us, thou art a prince of God among us: bury thy dead
in our principal sepulchres: and no man shall have power to hinder thee
from burying thy dead in his sepulchre.

23:7. Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to wit,
the children of Heth:

Bowed down to the people... Adoravit, literally adored. But this word
here, as well as in many other places in the Latin scriptures, is used
to signify only an inferior honour and reverence paid to men, expressed
by a bowing down of the body.

23:8. And said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my
dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor.

23:9. That he may give me the double cave, which he hath in the end of
his field: For as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before
you, for a possession of a burying place.

23:10. Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron
made answer to Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the gate of
the city, saying:

23:11. Let it not be so, my lord, but do thou rather hearken to what I
say: The field I deliver to thee, and the cave that is therein; in the
presence of the children of my people, bury thy dead.

23:12. Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

23:13. And he spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech
thee to hear me: I will give money for the field; take it, and so will I
bury my dead in it.

23:14. And Ephron answered:

23:15. My lord, hear me. The ground which thou desirest, is worth four
hundred sicles of silver: this is the price between me and thee: but
what is this? bury thy dead.

23:16. And when Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money that
Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred
sicles of silver, of common current money.

23:17. And the field that before was Ephron's, wherein was the double
cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees
thereof, in all its limits round about,

23:18. Was made sure to Abraham for a possession, in the sight of the
children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city.

23:19. And so Abraham buried Sara, his wife, in the double cave of the
field, that looked towards Mambre, this is Hebron in the land of
Chanaan.

23:20. And the field was made sure to Abraham, and the cave that was in
it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth.

Genesis Chapter 24

Abraham's servant, sent by him into Mesopotamia, bringeth from thence
Rebecca, who is married to Isaac.

24:1. Now Abraham was old, and advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed
him in all things.

24:2. And he said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over
all he had: Put thy hand under my thigh,

24:3. That I may make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and
earth, that thou take not a wife for my son, of the daughters of the
Chanaanites, among whom I dwell:

24:4. But that thou go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife
from thence for my son Isaac.

24:5. The servant answered: If the woman will not come with me into this
land, must I bring thy son back again to the place from whence thou
camest out?

24:6. And Abraham said: Beware thou never bring my son back again
thither.

24:7. The Lord God of heaven, who took me out of my father's house, and
out of my native country, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying: To
thy seed will I give this land: he will send his angel before thee, and
thou shalt take from thence a wife for my son.

He will send his angel before thee... This shows that the Hebrews
believed that God gave them guardian angels for their protection.

24:8. But if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be bound by
the oath: only bring not my son back thither again.

24:9. The servant, therefore, put his hand under the thigh of Abraham,
his lord, and swore to him upon his word.

24:10. And he took ten camels of his master's herd, and departed,
carrying something of all his goods with him, and he set forward and
went on to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nachor.

24:11. And when he had made the camels lie down without the town, near a
well of water, in the evening, at the time when women are wont to come
out to draw water, he said:

24:12. O Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, meet me today, I beseech
thee, and shew kindness to my master, Abraham.

24:13. Behold, I stand nigh the spring of water, and the daughters of
the inhabitants of this city will come out to draw water:

24:14. Now, therefore, the maid to whom I shall say: Let down thy
pitcher that I may drink: and she shall answer, Drink, and I will give
thy camels drink also: let it be the same whom thou hast provided for
thy servant Isaac: and by this, I shall understand that thou hast shewn
kindness to my master.

24:15. He had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold
Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife to Nachor
the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder:

24:16. An exceeding comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not
known to man: and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher,
and was coming back.

24:17. And the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water
to drink of thy pitcher.

24:18. And she answered: Drink, my lord. And quickly she let down the
pitcher upon her arm, and gave him drink.

24:19. And when he had drunk, she said: I will draw water for thy camels
also, till they all drink.

24:20. And pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she ran back to the
well to draw water; and having drawn, she gave to all the camels.

24:21. But he musing, beheld her with silence, desirous to know whether
the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

24:22. And after that the camels had drunk, the man took out golden
earrings, weighing two sicles; and as many bracelets, of ten sicles
weight.

24:23. And he said to her: Whose daughter art thou? tell me: is there
any place in thy father's house to lodge?

24:24. And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of
Melcha, whom she bore to Nachor.

24:25. And she said, moreover, to him: We have good store of both straw
and hay, and a large place to lodge in.

24:26. The man bowed himself down, and adored the Lord,

24:27. Saying: Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath
not taken away his mercy and truth from my master, and hath brought me
the straight way into the house of my master's brother.

24:28. Then the maid ran, and told in her mother's house all that she
had heard.

24:29. And Rebecca had a brother, named Laban, who went out in haste to
the man, to the well.

24:30. And when he had seen the earrings and bracelets in his sister's
hands, and had heard all that she related, saying, Thus and thus the man
spoke to me: he came to the man who stood by the camels, and near to the
spring of water,

24:31. And said to him: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; why standest
thou without? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.

24:32. And he brought him into his lodging; and he unharnessed the
camels, and gave straw and hay, and water to wash his feet, and the feet
of the men that were come with him.

24:33. And bread was set before him. But he said: I will not eat, till I
tell my message. He answered him: Speak.

24:34. And he said: I am the servant of Abraham:

24:35. And the Lord hath blessed my master wonderfully, and he is become
great: and he hath given him sheep and oxen, silver and gold, men
servants and women servants, camels and asses.

24:36. And Sara, my master's wife, hath borne my master a son in her old
age, and he hath given him all that he had.

24:37. And my master made me swear, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife
for my son of the Chanaanites, in whose land I dwell:

24:38. But thou shalt go to my father's house, and shalt take a wife of
my own kindred for my son:

24:39. But I answered my master: What if the woman will not come with
me?

24:40. The Lord, said he, in whose sight I walk, will send his angel
with thee, and will direct thy way: and thou shalt take a wife for my
son of my own kindred, and of my father's house.

24:41. But thou shalt be clear from my curse, when thou shalt come to my
kindred, if they will not give thee one.

24:42. And I came today to the well of water, and said: O Lord God of my
master, Abraham, if thou hast prospered my way, wherein I now walk,

24:43. Behold, I stand by the well of water, and the virgin, that shall
come out to draw water, who shall hear me say: Give me a little water to
drink of thy pitcher:

24:44. And shall say to me: Both drink thou, and I will also draw for
thy camels: let the same be the woman, whom the Lord hath prepared for
my master's son.

24:45. And whilst I pondered these things secretly with myself, Rebecca
appeared, coming with a pitcher, which she carried on her shoulder: and
she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her: Give me a
little to drink.

24:46. And she speedily let down the pitcher from her shoulder, and said
to me: Both drink thou, and to thy camels I will give drink. I drank,
and she watered the camels.

24:47. And I asked her, and said: Whose daughter art thou? And she
answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Nachor, whom Melcha
bore to him. So I put earrings on her to adorn her face, and I put
bracelets on her hands.

24:48. And falling down, I adored the Lord, blessing the Lord God of my
master, Abraham, who hath brought me the straight way to take the
daughter of my master's brother for his son.

24:49. Wherefore, if you do according to mercy and truth with my master,
tell me: but if it please you otherwise, tell me that also, that I may
go to the right hand, or to the left.

24:50. And Laban and Bathuel answered: The word hath proceeded from the
Lord: we cannot speak any other thing to thee but his pleasure.

24:51. Behold, Rebecca is before thee, take her and go thy way, and let
her be the wife of thy master's son, as the Lord hath spoken.

24:52. Which when Abraham's servant heard, falling down to the ground,
he adored the Lord.

24:53. And bringing forth vessels of silver and gold, and garments, he
gave them to Rebecca, for a present. He offered gifts also to her
brothers, and to her mother.

24:54. And a banquet was made, and they ate and drank together, and
lodged there. And in the morning, the servant arose, and said: Let me
depart, that I may go to my master.

24:55. And her brother and mother answered: Let the maid stay, at least,
ten days with us, and afterwards she shall depart.

24:56. Stay me not, said he, because the Lord hath prospered my way:
send me away, that I may go to my master.

24:57. And they said: Let us call the maid, and ask her will.

Let us call the maid, and ask her will... Not as to her marriage, as she
had already consented, but of her quitting her parents and going to her
husband.

24:58. And they called her, and when she was come, they asked: Wilt thou
go with this man? She said: I will go.

24:59. So they sent her away, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and
his company.

24:60. Wishing prosperity to their sister, and saying: Thou art our
sister, mayst thou increase to thousands of thousands; and may thy seed
possess the gates of their enemies.

24:61. So Rebecca and her maids, being set upon camels, followed the
man: who with speed returned to his master.

24:62. At the same time, Isaac was walking along the way to the well
which is called Of the living and the seeing: for he dwelt in the south
country:

24:63. And he was gone forth to meditate in the field, the day being now
well spent: and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw camels coming
afar off.

24:64. Rebecca also, when she saw Isaac, lighted off the camel,

24:65. And said to the servant: Who is that man who cometh towards us
along the field? And he said to her: That man is my master. But she
quickly took her cloak, and covered herself.

24:66. And the servant told Isaac all that he had done.

24:67. Who brought her into the tent of Sara his mother, and took her to
wife: and he loved her so much, that it moderated the sorrow which was
occasioned by his mother's death.

Genesis Chapter 25

Abraham's children by Cetura; his death and that of Ismael. Isaac hath
Esau and Jacob twins. Esau selleth his first birthright to Jacob.

25:1. And Abraham married another wife named Cetura:

25:2. Who bore him Zamram, and Jecsan, and Madan, and Madian, and
Jesboc, and Sue.

25:3. Jecsan also begot Saba, and Dadan. The children of Dadan were
Assurim, and Latusim, and Loomim.

25:4. But of Madian was born Epha, and Opher, and Henoch, and Abida, and
Eldaa: all these were the children of Cetura.

25:5. And Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac:

25:6. And to the children of the concubines he gave gifts, and separated
them from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, to the east country.

Concubines... Agar and Cetura are here called concubines, (though they
were lawful wives, and in other places are so called,) because they were
of an inferior degree, and such in scripture are usually called
concubines.

25:7. And the days of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five
years.

25:8. And decaying he died in a good old age, and having lived a long
time, and being full of days: and was gathered to his people.

25:9. And Isaac and Ismael his sons buried him in the double cave, which
was situated in the field of Ephron the son of Seor the Hethite, over
against Mambre,

25:10. Which he had bought of the children of Heth: there was he buried,
and Sara his wife.

25:11. And after his death, God blessed Isaac his son, who dwelt by the
well named Of the living and seeing.

25:12. These are the generations of Ismael the son of Abraham, whom Agar
the Egyptian, Sara's servant, bore unto him:

25:13. And these are the names of his children according to their
calling and generations. The firstborn of Ismael was Nabajoth, then
Cedar, and Adbeel, and Mabsam,

25:14. And Masma, and Duma, and Massa,

25:15. Hadar, and Thema, and Jethur, and Naphis, and Cedma.

25:16. These are the sons of Ismael: and these are their names by their
castles and towns, twelve princes of their tribes.

25:17. And the years of Ismael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven,
and decaying he died, and was gathered unto his people.

25:18. And he dwelt from Hevila as far as Sur, which looketh towards
Egypt, to them that go towards the Assyrians. He died in the presence of
all his brethren.

25:19. These also are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham:
Abraham begot Isaac:

25:20. Who when he was forty years old, took to wife Rebecca the
daughter of Bathuel the Syrian of Mesopotamia, sister to Laban.

25:21. And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren:
and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive.

25:22. But the children struggled in her womb, and she said: If it were
to be so with me, what need was there to conceive? And she went to
consult the Lord.

25:23. And he answering, said: Two nations are in thy womb, and two
peoples shall be divided out of thy womb, and one people shall overcome
the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.

25:24. And when her time was come to be delivered, behold twins were
found in her womb.

25:25. He that came forth first was red, and hairy like a skin: and his
name was called Esau. Immediately the other coming forth, held his
brother's foot in his hand: and therefore he was called Jacob.

25:26. Isaac was threescore years old when the children were born unto
him.

25:27. And when they were grown up, Esau became a skilful hunter, and a
husbandman: but Jacob, a plain man, dwelt in tents.

25:28. Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his hunting: and Rebecca
loved Jacob.

25:29. And Jacob boiled pottage: to whom Esau, coming faint out of the
field,

25:30. Said: Give me of this red pottage, for I am exceeding faint. For
which reason his name was called Edom.

25:31. And Jacob said to him: Sell me thy first birthright.

25:32. He answered: Lo I die, what will the first birthright avail me?

25:33. Jacob said: Swear therefore to me. Esau swore to him, and sold
his first birthright.

25:34. And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and
drank, and went on his way; making little account of having sold his
first birthright.

Genesis Chapter 26

Isaac sojourneth in Gerara, where God reneweth to him the promise made
to Abraham. King Abimelech maketh league with him.

26:1. And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which
had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of
the Palestines, to Gerara.

26:2. And the Lord appeared to him, and said: Go not down into Egypt,
but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.

26:3. And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee:
for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfil
the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.

26:4. And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will
give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed.

26:5. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and
commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.

26:6. So Isaac abode in Gerara.

26:7. And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his
wife, he answered: She is my sister: for he was afraid to confess that
she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would kill him because of
her beauty.

26:8. And when very many days were passed, and he abode there,
Abimelech, king of the Palestines, looking out through a window, saw him
playing with Rebecca, his wife.

26:9. And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why
didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I
should die for her sake.

26:10. And Abimelech said: Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the
people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a
great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:

26:11. He that shall touch this man's wife, shall surely be put to
death.

26:12. And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a
hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.

26:13. And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and
increasing, till he became exceeding great.

26:14. And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great
family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him,

26:15. Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his
father, Abraham, had digged, filling them up with earth:

26:16. Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us,
for thou art become much mightier than we.

26:17. So he departed, and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell
there:

26:18. And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his
father, Abraham, had digged, and which, after his death, the Philistines
had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names, by which
his father before had called them.

26:19. And they digged in the torrent, and found living water:

Torrent... That is, a channel where sometimes a torrent or violent
stream had run.

26:20. But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen
of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the
well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.

26:21. And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled
likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.

26:22. Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they
contended not; therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying:
Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth.

Latitude... That is, wideness, or room.

26:23. And he went up from that place to Bersabee,

26:24. Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the
God of Abraham thy father, do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless
thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.

26:25. And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the
Lord, and pitched his tent; and commanded his servants to dig a well.

26:26. To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and
Phicol chief captain of his soldiers, came from Gerara,

26:27. Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate,
and have thrust out from you?

26:28. And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and
therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a
covenant,

26:29. That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing
of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee; but with peace have sent
thee away, increased with the blessing of the Lord.

26:30. And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:

26:31. Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent
them away peaceably to their own home.

26:32. And behold, the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him
of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water.

26:33. Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was
called Bersabee, even to this day.

26:34. And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith, the
daughter of Beeri, the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of
the same place.

26:35. And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.

Genesis Chapter 27

Jacob, by him mother's counsel, obtaineth his father's blessing instead
of Esau. And by her is advised to fly to his uncle Laban.

27:1. Now Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see:
and he called Esau, his elder son, and said to him: My son? And he
answered: Here I am.

27:2. And his father said to him, Thou seest that I am old, and know not
the day of my death.

27:3. Take thy arms, thy quiver, and bow, and go abroad; and when thou
hast taken something by hunting,

27:4. Make me a savoury meat thereof, as thou knowest I like, and bring
it that I may eat: and my soul may bless thee, before I die.

27:5. And when Rebecca had heard this, and he was gone into the field to
fulfil his father's commandment,

27:6. She said to her son Jacob: I heard thy father talking with Esau,
thy brother, and saying to him:

27:7. Bring me of thy hunting, and make me meats that I may eat, and
bless thee in the sight of the Lord, before I die.

27:8. Now therefore, my son, follow my counsel:

27:9. And go thy way to the flock, bring me two kids of the best, that I
may make of them meat for thy father, such as he gladly eateth.

27:10. Which when thou hast brought in, and he hath eaten, he may bless
thee before he die.

27:11. And he answered her: Thou knowest that Esau, my brother, is a
hairy man, and I am smooth:

27:12. If my father should feel me, and perceive it, I fear lest he will
think I would have mocked him, and I shall bring upon me a curse instead
of a blessing.

27:13. And his mother said to him: Upon me be this curse, my son: only
hear thou my voice, and go, fetch me the things which I have said.

27:14. He went, and brought, and gave them to his mother. She dressed
meats, such as she knew his father liked.

27:15. And she put on him very good garments of Esau, which she had at
home with her:

27:16. And the little skins of the kids she put about his hands, and
covered the bare of his neck.

27:17. And she gave him the savoury meat, and delivered him bread that
she had baked.

27:18. Which when he had carried in, he said: My father? But he
answered: I hear. Who art thou, my son?

27:19. And Jacob said: I am Esau, thy firstborn: I have done as thou
didst command me: arise, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may
bless me.

I am Esau thy firstborn... St. Augustine (L. Contra mendacium, c. 10),
treating at large upon this place, excuseth Jacob from a lie, because
this whole passage was mysterious, as relating to the preference which
was afterwards to be given to the Gentiles before the carnal Jews, which
Jacob by prophetic light might understand. So far is certain, that the
first birthright, both by divine election and by Esau's free cession
belonged to Jacob: so that if there were any lie in the case, it could
be no more than an officious and venial one.

27:20. And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly,
my son? He answered: It was the will of God, that what I sought came
quickly in my way:

27:21. And Isaac said: Come hither, that I may feel thee, my son, and
may prove whether thou be my son Esau, or no.

27:22. He came near to his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said:
The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob; but the hands, are the hands of
Esau.

27:23. And he knew him not, because his hairy hands made him like to the
elder. Then blessing him,

27:24. He said: Art thou my son Esau? He answered: I am.

27:25. Then he said: Bring me the meats of thy hunting, my son, that my
soul may bless thee. And when they were brought, and he had eaten, he
offered him wine also, which after he had drunk,

27:26. He said to him: Come near me, and give me a kiss, my son.

27:27. He came near, and kissed him. And immediately as he smelled the
fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold, the smell
of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath
blessed.

27:28. God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the
earth, abundance of corn and wine.

27:29. And let peoples serve thee, and tribes worship thee: be thou lord
of thy brethren, and let thy mother's children bow down before thee.
Cursed be he that curseth thee: and let him that blesseth thee be filled
with blessings.

27:30. Isaac had scarce ended his words, when, Jacob being now gone out
abroad, Esau came,

27:31. And brought in to his father meats, made of what he had taken in
hunting, saying: Arise, my father, and eat of thy son's venison; that
thy soul may bless me.

27:32. And Isaac said to him: Why! who art thou? He answered: I am thy
firstborn son, Esau.

27:33. Isaac was struck with fear, and astonished exceedingly; and
wondering beyond what can be believed, said: Who is he then that even
now brought me venison that he had taken, and I ate of all before thou
camest? and I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed.

27:34. Esau having heard his father's words, roared out with a great
cry; and, being in a consternation, said: Bless me also, my father.

27:35. And he said: Thy brother came deceitfully and got thy blessing.

27:36. But he said again: Rightly is his name called Jacob; for he hath
supplanted me lo this second time: My birthright he took away before,
and now this second time he hath stolen away my blessing. And again he
said to his father: Hast thou not reserved me also a blessing?

Jacob... That is, a supplanter.

27:37. Isaac answered: I have appointed him thy lord, and have made all
his brethren his servants: I have established him with corn and wine,
and after this, what shall I do more for thee, my son?

27:38. And Esau said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I
beseech thee bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry,

27:39. Isaac being moved, said to him: In the fat of the earth, and in
the dew of heaven from above,

27:40. Shall thy blessing be. Thou shalt live by the sword, and shalt
serve thy brother: and the time shall come, when thou shalt shake off
and loose his yoke from thy neck.

27:41. Esau therefore always hated Jacob, for the blessing wherewith his
father had blessed him; and he said in his heart: The days will come of
the mourning for my father, and I will kill my brother Jacob.

27:42. These things were told to Rebecca: and she sent and called Jacob,
her son, and said to him: Behold Esau, thy brother, threateneth to kill
thee.

27:43. Now therefore, my son, hear my voice, arise and flee to Laban, my
brother, to Haran:

27:44. And thou shalt dwell with him a few days, till the wrath of thy
brother be assuaged,

27:45. And his indignation cease, and he forget the things thou hast
done to him: afterwards I will send, and bring thee from thence hither.
Why shall I be deprived of both my sons in one day?

27:46. And Rebecca said to Isaac: I am weary of my life, because of the
daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the stock of this land, I
choose not to live.

Genesis Chapter 28

Jacob's journey to Mesopotamia: his vision and vow.

28:1. And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying:
Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan:

28:2. But go, and take a journey to Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house
of Bathuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife thence of the
daughters of Laban, thy uncle.

28:3. And God almighty bless thee, and make thee to increase and
multiply thee: that thou mayst be a multitude of people.

28:4. And give the blessings of Araham to thee, and to thy seed after
thee: that thou mayst possess the land of thy sojournment, which he
promised to thy grandfather.

28:5. And when Isaac had sent him away, he took his journey and went to
Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bathuel, the Syrian, brother
to Rebecca, his mother.

28:6. And Esau seeing that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent
him into Mesopotamia of Syria, to marry a wife thence; and that after
the blessing he had charged him, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife of
the daughters of Chanaan:

28:7. And that Jacob obeying his parents, was gone into Syria:

28:8. Experiencing also, that his father was not well pleased with the
daughters of Chanaan:

28:9. He went to Ismael, and took to wife, besides them he had before,
Maheleth, the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabajoth.

28:10. But Jacob being departed from Bersabee, went on to Haran.

28:11. And when he was come to a certain place, and would rest in it
after sunset, he took of the stones that lay there, and putting under
his head, slept in the same place.

28:12. And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the
top thereof touching heaven: the angels also of God ascending and
descending by it.

28:13. And the Lord leaning upon the ladder saying to him: I am the Lord
God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: The land, wherein thou
sleepest, I will give to thee and to thy seed.

28:14. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth: thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south:
and IN THEE and thy seed, all the tribes of the earth SHALL BE BLESSED.

28:15. And I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou goest, and will bring
thee back into this land: neither will I leave thee, till I shall have
accomplished all that I have said.

28:16. And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is
in this place, and I knew it not.

28:17. And trembling, he said: How terrible is this place? this is no
other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

28:18. And Jacob arising in the morning, took the stone which he had
laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top
of it.

28:19. And he called the name of the city Bethel, which before was
called Luza.

Bethel... This name signifies the house of God.

28:20. And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall
keep me in the way, by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and
raiment to put on,

28:21. And I shall return prosperously to my father's house: the Lord
shall be my God:

28:22. And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall be called
the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will
offer tithes to thee.

Genesis Chapter 29

Jacob serveth Laban seven years for Rachel: but is deceived with Lia: he
afterwards marrieth Rachel. Lia bears him four sons.

29:1. Then Jacob went on in his journey, and came into the east country.

29:2. And he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying by
it: for the beasts were watered out of it, and the mouth thereof was
closed with a great stone.

29:3. And the custom was, when all the sheep were gathered together, to
roll away the stone, and after the sheep were watered, to put it on the
mouth of the well again.

29:4. And he said to the shepherds: Brethren, whence are you? They
answered: Of Haran.

29:5. And he asked them, saying: Know you Laban, the son of Nachor? They
said: We know him.

29:6. He said: Is he in health? He is in health, say they: and behold,
Rachel, his daughter, cometh with his flock.

29:7. And Jacob said: There is yet much day remaining, neither is it
time to bring the flocks into the folds again: first give the sheep
drink, and so lead them back to feed.

29:8. They answered: We cannot, till all the cattle be gathered
together, and we remove the stone from the well's mouth, that we may
water the flocks.

29:9. They were yet speaking, and behold Rachel came with her father's
sheep; for she fed the flock.

29:10. And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be his cousin german, and
that they were the sheep of Laban, his uncle: he removed the stone
wherewith the well was closed.

29:11. And having watered the flock, he kissed her: and lifting up his
voice wept.

29:12. And he told her that he was her father's brother, and the son of
Rebecca: but she went in haste and told her father.

29:13. Who, when he heard that Jacob his sister's son was come, ran
forth to meet him: and embracing him, and heartily kissing him, brought
him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey,

29:14. He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of
one month were expired,

29:15. He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me
without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have.

29:16. Now he had two daughters, the name of the elder was Lia; and the
younger was called Rachel.

29:17. But Lia was blear eyed: Rachel was well favoured, and of a
beautiful countenance.

29:18. And Jacob being in love with her, said: I will serve thee seven
years for Rachel, thy younger daughter.

29:19. Laban answered: It is better that I give her to thee than to
another man; stay with me.

29:20. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few
days, because of the greatness of his love.

29:21. And he said to Laban: Give me my wife; for now the time is
fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.

29:22. And he, having invited a great number of his friends to the
feast, made the marriage.

29:23. And at night he brought in Lia, his daughter, to him,

29:24. Giving his daughter a handmaid, named Zelpha. Now when Jacob had
gone in to her according to custom, when morning was come he saw it was
Lia.

29:25. And he said to his father in law: What is it that thou didst mean
to do? did not I serve thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me?

29:26. Laban answered: It is not the custom in this place, to give the
younger in marriage first.

29:27. Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her
also, for the service that thou shalt render me other seven years.

29:28. He yielded to his pleasure: and after the week was past, he
married Rachel:

29:29. To whom her father gave Bala, for her servant.

29:30. And having at length obtained the marriage he wished for, he
preferred the love of the latter before the former, and served with him
other seven years.

29:31. And the Lord seeing that he despised Lia, opened her womb, but
her sister remained barren.

29:32. And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ruben,
saying: The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me.

29:33. And again she conceived and bore a son, and said: Because the
Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me: and she
called his name Simeon.

29:34. And she conceived the third time, and bore another son, and said:
Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three
sons: and therefore she called his name Levi.

29:35. The fourth time she conceived and bore a son, and said: Now will
I praise the Lord: and for this she called him Juda. And she left
bearing.

Genesis Chapter 30

Rachel, being barren, delivereth her handmaid to Jacob; she beareth two
sons. Lia ceasing to bear, giveth also her handmaid, and she beareth two
more. Then Lia beareth other two sons and one daughter. Rachel beareth
Joseph. Jacob, desirous to return home, is hired to stay for a certain
part of the flock's increase, whereby he becometh exceeding rich.

30:1. And Rachel seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and
said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.

30:2. And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath
deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?

30:3. But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that
she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.

30:4. And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,

30:5. When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.

30:6. And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my
voice, giving me a son; and therefore she called his name Dan.

30:7. And again Bala conceived, and bore another,

30:8. For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I
have prevailed: and she called him Nephthali.

30:9. Lia perceiving that she had left of bearing, gave Zelpha, her
handmaid, to her husband.

30:10. And when she had conceived, and brought forth a son,

30:11. She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.

30:12. Zelpha also bore another.

30:13. And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me
blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.

30:14. And Ruben going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the
field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel
said: Give me part of thy son's mandrakes.

30:15. She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast
taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son's mandrakes?
Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son's
mandrakes.

30:16. And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to
meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired
thee for my son's mandrakes. And he slept with her that night.

30:17. And God heard her prayers; and she conceived: and bore a fifth
son:

30:18. And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid
to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

30:19. And Lia conceived again, and bore the sixth son,

30:20. And said: God hath endowed me with a good dowry; this turn also
my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons: and
therefore she called his name Zabulon.

30:21. After whom she bore a daughter, named Dina.

30:22. The Lord also remembering Rachel, heard her, and opened her womb.

30:23. And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken away my
reproach.

30:24. And she called his name Joseph: saying: The Lord give me also
another son.

30:25. And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father in law: Send
me away, that I may return into my country, and to my land.

30:26. Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served thee,
that I may depart: thou knowest the service that I have rendered thee.

30:27. Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight: I have
learned, by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake.

30:28. Appoint thy wages which I shall give thee.

30:29. But he answered: Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how
great thy possession hath been in my hands.

30:30. Thou hadst but little before I came to thee, and now thou art
become rich:  and the Lord hath blessed thee at my coming. It is
reasonable, therefore, that I should now provide also for my own house.

30:31. And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require
nothing; but if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed and keep thy
sheep again.

30:32. Go round through all thy flocks, and separate all the sheep of
divers colours, and speckled; and all that is brown and spotted, and of
divers colours, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall be my
wages.

30:33. And my justice shall answer for me tomorrow before thee, when the
time of the bargain shall come; and all that is not of divers colours,
and spotted, and brown, as well among the sheep as among the goats,
shall accurse me of theft.

30:34. And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest.

30:35. And he separated the same day the she goats, and the sheep, and
the he goats, and the rams of divers colours, and spotted; and all the
flock of one colour, that is, of white and black fleece, he deliverdd
into the hands of his sons.

30:36. And he set the space of three days journey betwixt himself and
his son in law, who fed the rest of his flock.

30:37. And Jacob took green rods of poplar, and of almond, and of plane
trees, and pilled them in part: so when the bark was taken off, in the
parts that were pilled, there appeared whiteness: but the parts that
were whole, remained green: and by this means the colour was divers.

30:38. And he put them in the troughs, where the water was poured out;
that when the flocks should come to drink, they might have the rods
before their eyes, and in the sight of them might conceive.

30:39. And it came to pass, that in the very heat of coition, the sheep
beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and
speckled.

30:40. And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the troughs
before the eyes of the rams; and all the white and the black were
Laban's, and the rest were Jacob's, when the flocks were separated one
from the other.

30:41. So when the ewes went first to ram, Jacob put the rods in the
troughs of water before the eyes of the rams, and of the ewes, that they
might conceive while they were looking upon them.

30:42. But when the later coming was, and the last conceiving, he did
not put them. And those that were lateward, became Laban's; and they of
the first time, Jacob's.

30:43. And the man was enriched exceedingly, and he had many flocks,
maidservants and menservants, camels and asses.

Genesis Chapter 31

Jacob's departure: he is pursued and overtaken by Laban. They make a
covenant.

31:1. But after that he had heard the words of the sons of Laban,
saying: Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and being
enriched by his substance is become great.

31:2. And perceiving also, that Laban's countenance was not towards him
as yesterday and the other day.

31:3. Especially the Lord saying to him: Return into the land of thy
fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.

31:4. He sent, and called Rachel and Lia into the field, where he fed
the flocks,

31:5. And said to them: I see your father's countenance is not towards
me as yesterday and the other day: but the God of my father hath been
with me.

31:6. And you know that I have served your father to the uttermost of my
power.

31:7. Yea your father hath also overreached me, and hath changed my
wages ten times: and yet God hath not suffered him to hurt me.

31:8. If at any time, he said: The speckled shall be thy wages: all the
sheep brought forth speckled: but when he said on the contrary: Thou
shalt take all the white one for thy wages: all the flocks brought forth
white ones.

31:9. And God hath taken your father's substance, and given it to me.

31:10. For after the time came of the ewes conceiving, I lifted up my
eyes, and saw in my sleep, that the males which leaped upon the females
were of divers colours, and spotted, and speckled.

31:11. And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob. And I
answered: Here I am.

31:12. And he said: Lift up thy eyes, and see that all the males leaping
upon the females, are of divers colours, spotted and speckled. For I
have seen all that Laban hath done to thee.

31:13. I am the God of Bethel, where thou didst anoint the stone, and
make a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and go out of this land, and
return into thy native country.

31:14. And Rachel and Lia answered: Have we any thing left among the
goods and inheritance of our father's house?

31:15. Hath he not counted us as strangers, and sold us, and eaten up
the price of us?

31:16. But God hath taken our father's riches, and delivered them to us,
and to our children: wherefore, do all that God hath commanded thee.

31:17. Then Jacob rose up, and having set his children and wives upon
camels, went his way.

31:18. And he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever he had
gotten in Mesopotamia, and went forward to Isaac, his father, to the
land of Chanaan.

31:19. At that time Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole
away her father's idols.

Her father's idols... By this it appears that Laban was an idolater; and
some of the fathers are of opinion that Rachel stole away these idols to
withdraw him from idolatry, removing the occasion of his sin.

31:20. And Jacob would not confess to his father in law that he was
flying away.

31:21. And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and
having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad,

31:22. It was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob fled.

31:23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven
days; and overtook him in the mount of Galaad.

31:24. And he saw in a dream God, saying to him: Take heed thou speak
not any thing harshly against Jacob.

31:25. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and when he, with
his brethren, had overtaken him, he pitched his tent in the same mount
of Galaad.

31:26. And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away,
without my knowledge, my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

31:27. Why wouldst thou run away privately, and not acquaint me, that I
might have brought thee on the way with joy, and with songs, and with
timbrels, and with harps?

31:28. Thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and daughters; thou
hast done foolishly; and now indeed,

31:29. It is in my power to return thee evil; but the God of your father
said to me yesterday: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against
Jacob.

31:30. Suppose thou didst desire to go to thy friends, and hadst a
longing after thy father's house: why hast thou stolen away my gods?

31:31. Jacob answered: That I departed unknown to thee, it was for fear
lest thou wouldst take away thy daughters by force.

31:32. But, whereas, thou chargest me with theft: with whomsoever thou
shalt find thy gods, let him be slain before our brethren. Search, and
if thou find any of thy things with me, take them away. Now when he said
this, he knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.

31:33. So Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and of Lia, and of both the
handmaids, and found them not. And when he was entered into Rachel's
tent,

31:34. She, in haste, hid the idols under the camel's furniture, and sat
upon them: and when he had searched all the tent, and found nothing,

31:35. She said: Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before
thee, because it has now happened to me according to the custom of
women. So his careful search was in vain.

31:36. And Jacob being angry, said in a chiding manner: For what fault
of mine, and for what offence on my part hast thou so hotly pursued me,

31:37. And searched all my household stuff? What hast thou found of all
the substance of thy house? lay it here before my brethren, and thy
brethren, and let them judge between me and thee.

31:38. Have I, therefore, been with thee twenty years? thy ewes and
goats were not barren, the rams of thy flocks I did not eat:

31:39. Neither did I shew thee that which the beast had torn; I made
good all the damage: whatsoever was lost by theft, thou didst exact it
of me:

31:40. Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep
departed from my eyes.

31:41. And in this manner have I served thee in thy house twenty years,
fourteen for thy daughters, and six for thy flocks: thou hast changed
also my wages ten times.

31:42. Unless the God of my father, Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had
stood by me, peradventure now thou hadst sent me away naked: God beheld
my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday.

31:43. Laban answered him: The daughters are mine, and the children, and
thy flocks, and all things that thou seest are mine: what can I do to my
children, and grandchildren?

31:44. Come, therefore, let us enter into a league; that it may be for a
testimony between me and thee.

31:45. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a title.

31:46. And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they,
gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it.

31:47. And Laban called it, The witness heap; and Jacob, The hillock of
testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.

31:48. And Laban said: This heap shall be a witness between me and thee
this day, and therefore the name thereof was called Galaad, that is, The
witness heap.

31:49. The Lord behold and judge between us, when we shall be gone one
from the other.

31:50. If thou afflict my daughters, and if thou bring in other wives
over them: none is witness of our speech but God, who is present and
beholdeth.

31:51. And he said again to Jacob: Behold this heap, and the stone which
I have set up between me and thee,

31:52. Shall be a witness: this heap, I say, and the stone, be they for
a testimony, if either I shall pass beyond it going towards thee, or
thou shalt pass beyond it thinking harm to me.

31:53. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nachor, the God of their
father, judge betweeen us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father
Isaac:

31:54. And after he had offered sacrifices in the mountain, he called
his brethren to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there:

31:55. But Laban arose in the night, and kissed his sons and daughters,
and blessed them: and returned to his place.

Genesis Chapter 32

Jacob's vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his
wrestling with an angel.

32:1. Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God
met him.

32:2. And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he
called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps.

32:3. And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the
land of Seir, to the country of Edom:

32:4. And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord
Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and
have been with him until this day:

32:5. I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and
womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find
favour in thy sight.

32:6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy
brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred
men.

32:7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people
that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the
camels, into two companies,

32:8. Saying: If Esau come to one company, and destroy it, the other
company that is left, shall escape.

32:9. And Jacob said: O God of my fahter Abraham, and God of my father
Isaac: O Lord who saidst to me, Return to thy land, and to the place of
thy birth, and I will do well for thee.

32:10. I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth
which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over
this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.

32:11. Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly
afraid of him; lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the
children.

32:12. Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my
seed like the sand of the sea, which connot be numbered for multitude.

32:13. And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the
things which he had, presents for his brother Esau,

32:14. Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and
twenty rams,

32:15. Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty
bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals.

32:16. And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by
itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a
space between drove and drove.

32:17. And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau,
and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are
these before thee?

32:18. Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a
present to my lord Esau; and he cometh after us.

32:19. In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all
that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when
ye find him.

32:20. And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after
us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before,
and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.

32:21. So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in
the camp.

32:22. And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids,
with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

32:23. And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

32:24. He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till
morning.

A man, etc... This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee
12.4. He is called God, ver. 28 and 30, because he represented the
person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by
God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered (ver. 28,) that he might
learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau,
nor any other man, should have power to hurt him.-It was also spiritual,
as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging and at last obtaining the
angel's blessing.

32:25. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the
sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

32:26. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He
answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

32:27. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

32:28. But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for
if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail
against men?

32:29. Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He
answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same
place.

32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have
seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

Phanuel... This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing
of God.

32:31. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel;
but he halted on his foot.

32:32. Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the
sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his
thigh and it shrank.

Genesis Chapter 33

Jacob and Esau meet: Jacob goeth to Salem, where he raiseth an altar.

33:1. And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four
hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia and of Rachel, and of
the two handmaids.

33:2. And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia
and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last.

33:3. And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground
seven times, until his brother came near.

33:4. Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping
him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept.

33:5. And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their children, and
said: What mean these? And do they belong to thee? He answered: They are
the children which God hath given to me, thy servant.

33:6. Then the handmaids and their children came near and bowed
themselves.

33:7. Lia also, with her children, came near and bowed down in like
manner; and last of all, Joseph and Rachel bowed down.

33:8. And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I
might find favour before my lord.

33:9. But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for
thyself.

33:10. And Jacob said: Do not so I beseech thee, but if I have found
favour in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have
seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be
gracious to me,

33:11. And take the blessing which I have brought thee, and which God
hath given me, who giveth all things. He took it with much ado at his
brother's earnest pressing him,

33:12. And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy
journey.

33:13. And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender
children, and sheep, and kine with young: which if I should cause to be
overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die.

33:14. May it please my lord to go before his servant: and I will follow
softly after him, as I shall see my children to be able, until I come to
my lord in Seir.

33:15. Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people, at least,
who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said:
There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favour, my
lord, in thy sight.

33:16. So Esau returned that day, the way that he came, to Seir.

33:17. And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched
tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents.

33:18. And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is
in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and
he dwelt by the town.

33:19. And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his
tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem, for a hundred
lambs.

33:20. And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty
God of Israel.

Genesis Chapter 34

Dina is ravished, for which the Sichemites are destroyed.

34:1. And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that
country.

34:2. And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that
land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with
her, ravishing the virgin.

34:3. And his soul was fast knit unto her; and whereas she was sad, he
comforted her with sweet words.

34:4. And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to
wife.

34:5. But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed
in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back.

34:6. And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to
Jacob,

34:7. Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed,
they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel,
and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob's daughter.

34:8. And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing
for your daughter: give her him to wife:

34:9. And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your
daughters, and take you our daughters.

34:10. And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and
possess it.

34:11. Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find
favour in your sight, and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give:

34:12. Raise the dowry, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you
shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife.

34:13. The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully,
being enraged at the deflowering of their sister:

Deceitfully... The sons of Jacob, on this occasion, were guilty of a
grievous sin, as well by falsely pretending religion, as by excess of
revenge: though otherwise their zeal against so foul a crime was
commendable.

34:14. We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is
uncircumcised; which with us is unlawful and abominable.

34:15. But in this we may be allied with you, if you will be like us,
and all the male sex among you be circumcised:

34:16. Then will we mutually give and take your daughters, and ours; and
we will dwell with you, and will be one people:

34:17. But if you will not be circumcised, we will take our daughter and
depart.

34:18. Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem, his son:

34:19. And the young man made no delay, but forthwith fulfilled what was
required: for he loved the damsel exceedingly, and he was the greatest
man in all his father's house.

34:20. And going into the gate of the city, they spoke to the people:

34:21. These men are peaceable, and are willing to dwell with us: let
them trade in the land, and till it, which being large and wide wanteth
men to till it: we shall take their daughters for wives, and we will
give them ours.

34:22. One thing there is for which so great a good is deferred: We must
circumcise every male among us, following the manner of the nation.

34:23. And their substance, and cattle, and all that they possess, shall
be ours; only in this let us condescend, and by dwelling together, we
shall make one people.

34:24. And they all agreed, and circumcised all the males.

34:25. And behold the third day, when the pain of the wound was
greatest: two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of
Dina, taking their swords, entered boldly into the city and slew all the
men.

34:26. And they killed also Hemor and Sichem, and took away their sister
Dina out of Sichem's house.

34:27. And when they were gone out, the other sons of Jacob came upon
the slain; and plundered the city in revenge of the rape.

34:28. And they took their sheep, and their herds, and their asses,
wasting all they had in their houses and in their fields.

34:29. And their children and wives they took captive.

34:30. And when they had boldly perpetrated these things, Jacob said to
Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me, and made me hateful to the
Chanaanites and Pherezites, the inhabitants of this land. We are few:
they will gather themselves together and kill me; and both I, and my
house shall be destroyed.

34:31. They answered: Should they abuse our sister as a strumpet?

Genesis Chapter 35

Jacob purgeth his family from idols: goeth by God's commandment to
Bethel, and there buildeth an altar. God appearing again to Jacob
blesseth him, and changeth his name into Israel. Rachel dieth in
childbirth. Isaac also dieth.

35:1. In the mean time God said to Jacob: Arise and go up to Bethel, and
dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when
thou didst flee from Esau, thy brother.

35:2. And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast
away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed, and change
your garments.

35:3. Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar
to God; who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompained me in
my journey.

35:4. So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings
which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree,
that is behind the city of Sichem.

35:5. And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the
cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went
away.

35:6. And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed
Bethel: he and all the people that were with him.

35:7. And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place,
The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his
brother.

35:8. At the same time Debora, the nurse of Rebecca, died, and was
buried at the foot of Bethel, under an oak, and the name of that place
was called, The oak of weeping.

35:9. And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from
Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,

35:10. Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall
be thy name. And he called him Israel.

Israel... This name signifieth one that prevaileth with God.

35:11. And said to him: I am God almighty, increase thou and be
multiplied. Nations and peoples of nations shall be from thee, and kings
shall come out of thy loins.

35:12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to
thee, and to thy seed after thee.

35:13. And he departed from him.

35:14. But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had
spoken to him: pouring drink fferings upon it, and pouring oil thereon:

35:15. And calling the name of that place Bethel.

35:16. And going forth from thence, he came in the spring time to the
land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,

35:17. By reason of her hard labour, she began to be in danger, and the
midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.

35:18. And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at
hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my
pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right
hand.

35:19. So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to
Ephrata, this is Bethlehem.

35:20. And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulchre: this is the pillar
of Rachel's monument, to this day.

35:21. Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.

35:22. And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with
Bala the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the
sons of Jacob were twelve.

The concubine... She was his lawful wife; but, according to the style of
the Hebrews, is called concubine, because of her servile extraction.

35:23. The sons of Lia: Ruben the first born, and Simeon, and Levi, and
Juda, and Issachar, and Zabulon.

35:24. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

35:25. The sons of Bala, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Nephthali.

35:26. The sons of Zelpha, Lia's handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the
sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

35:27. And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee,
this is Hebron: wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

35:28. And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

35:29. And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people,
being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis Chapter 36

Esau with his wives and children parteth from Jacob. An account of his
descendants, and of the first kings of Edom.

36:1. And these are the generations of Esau, the same is Edom.

36:2. Esau took wives of the daughters of Chanaan: Ada the daughter of
Elon the Hethite, and Oolibama the daughter of Ana, the daughter of
Sebeon the Hevite:

Ada... These wives of Esau are called by other names, Gen. 26. But it
was very common amongst the ancients for the same persons to have two
names, as Esau himself was also called Edom.

36:3. And Basemath, the daughter of Ismael, sister of Nabajoth.

36:4. And Ada bore Eliphaz: Basemath bore Rahuel.

36:5. Oolibama bore Jehus, and Ihelon, and Core. These are the sons of
Esau, that were born to him in the land of Chanaan.

36:6. And Esau took his wives, and his sons and daughters, and every
soul of his house, and his substance, and cattle, and all that he was
able to acquire in the land of Chanaan: and went into another country,
and departed from his brother Jacob.

36:7. For they were exceeding rich, and could not dwell together:
neither was the land in which they sojourned able to bear them, for the
multitude of their flocks.

36:8. And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: he is Edom.

36:9. And these are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom, in
mount Seir.

36:10. And these the names of his sons: Eliphaz the son of Ada, the wife
of Esau: and Rahuel, the son of Basemath, his wife.

36:11. And Eliphaz had sons: Theman, Omar, Sepho, and Gatham and Cenez.

36:12. And Thamna was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau: and she
bore him Amalech. These are the sons of Ada, the wife of Esau.

36:13. And the sons of Rahuel were Nahath and Zara, Samma and Meza.
These were the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau.

36:14. And these were the sons of Oolibama, the daughter of Ana, the
daughter of Sebeon, the wife of Esau, whom she bore to him, Jehus, and
Ihelon, and Core.

36:15. These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz, the
firstborn of Esau: duke Theman, duke Omar, duke Sepho, duke Cenez,

36:16. Duke Core, duke Gatham, duke Amalech: these are the sons of
Eliphaz, in the land of Edom, and these the sons of Ada.

36:17. And these were the sons of Rahuel, the son of Esau: duke Nahath,
duke Zara, duke Samma, duke Meza. And these are the dukes of Rahuel, in
the land of Edom: these the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau.

36:18. And these the sons of Oolibama, the wife of Esau: duke Jehus,
duke Ihelon, duke Core. These are the dukes of Oolibama, the daughter of
Ana, and wife of Esau.

36:19. These are the sons of Esau, and these the dukes of them: the same
is Edom.

36:20. These are the sons of Seir, the Horrite, the inhabitants of the
land: Lotan, and Sobal, and Sebeon, and Ana,

36:21. And Dison, and Eser, and Disan. These are dukes of the Horrites,
the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

36:22. And Lotan had sons: Hori and Heman. And the sister of Lotan was
Thamna.

36:23. And these the sons of Sobal: Alvan, and Manahat, and Ebal, and
Sepho, and Onam.

36:24. And these the sons of Sebeon: Aia and Ana. This is Ana that found
the hot waters in the wilderness, when he fed the asses of Sebeon, his
father:

36:25. And he had a son Dison, and a daughter Oolibama.

36:26. And these were the sons of Dison: Hamdan, and Eseban, and
Jethram, and Charan.

36:27. These also were the sons of Eser: Balaan, and Zavan, and Acan.

36:28. And Dison had sons: Hus and Aram.

36:29. These were dukes of the Horrites: duke Lotan, duke Sobal, duke
Sebeon, duke Ana,

36:30. Duke Dison, duke Eser, duke Disan: these were dukes of the
Horrites that ruled in the land of Seir.

36:31. And the kings that ruled in the land of Edom, before the children
of Israel had a king, were these:

36:32. Bela the son of Beor, and the name of his city Denaba.

36:33. And Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zara, of Bosra, reigned in
his stead.

36:34. And when Jobab was dead, Husam, of the land of the Themanites,
reigned in his stead.

36:35. And after his death, Adad, the son of Badad, reigned in his
stead, who defeated the Madianites in the country of Boab; and the name
of his city was Avith.

36:36. And when Adad was dead, there reigned in his stead, Semla, of
Masreca.

36:37. And he being dead, Saul, of the river Rohoboth, reigned in his
stead.

36:38. And when he also was dead, Balanan, the son of Achobor, succeeded
to the kingdom.

36:39. This man also being dead, Adar reigned in his place; and the name
of his city was Phau: and his wife was called Meetabel, the daughter of
Matred, daughter of Mezaab.

36:40. And these are the names of the dukes of Esau in their kindreds,
and places, and callings: duke Thamna, duke Alva, duke Jetheth,

36:41. Duke Oolibama, duke Ela,  duke Phinon,

36:42. Duke Cenez, duke Theman, duke Mabsar,

36:43. Duke Magdiel, duke Hiram: these are the dukes of Edom dwelling in
the land of their government; the same is Esau, the father of the
Edomites.

Genesis Chapter 37

Joseph's dreams: he is sold by his brethren, and carried into Egypt.

37:1. And Jacob dwelt in the land of Chanaan, wherein his father
sojourned.

37:2. And these are his generations: Joseph, when he was sixteen years
old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, being but a boy: and he
was with the sons of Bala and of Zelpha his father's wives: and he
accused his brethren to his father of a most wicked crime.

37:3. Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in
his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours.

37:4. And his brethren seeing that he was loved by his father, more than
all his sons, hated hem, and could not speak peaceably to him.

37:5. Now it fell out also that he told his brethren a dream, that he
had dreamed: which occasioned them to hate him the more.

A dream... These dreams of Joseph were prophetical, and sent from God;
as were also those which he interpreted, Gen. 40. and 41.; otherwise
generally speaking, the observing of dreams is condemned in the
Scripture, as superstitious and sinful. See Deut. 18.10; Eccli. 34.2,3.

37:6. And he said to them: Hear my dream which I dreamed.

37:7. I thought we were binding sheaves in the field: and my sheaf arose
as it were, and stood, and your sheaves standing about bowed down before
my sheaf.

37:8. His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be
subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words
ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred.

37:9. He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying:
I saw in a dream, as it were the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars
worshipping me.

37:10. And when he had told this to his father, and brethren, his father
rebuked him and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed?
shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren worship thee upon the earth?

Worship... This word is not used here to signify divine worship, but an
inferior veneration, expressed by the bowing of the body, and that,
according to the manner of the eastern nations, down to the ground.

37:11. His brethren therefore envied him: but his father considered the
thing with himself.

37:12. And when his brethren abode in Sechem, feeding their father's
flocks,

37:13. Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem: come,
I will send thee to them. And when he answered:

37:14. I am ready: he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well
with thy brethren, and the cattle: and bring me word again what is
doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem:

37:15. And a man found him there wandering in the field, and asked what
he sought.

37:16. But he answered: I seek my brethren, tell me where they feed the
flocks.

37:17. And the man said to him: They are departed from this place: for I
heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. And Joseph went forward after his
brethren, and found them in Dothain.

37:18. And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they
thought to kill him:

37:19. And said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh.

37:20. Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we
will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear
what his dreams avail him:

37:21. And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their
hands, and said:

37:22. Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood: but cast him into
this pit, that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless: now
he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands and to
restore him to his father.

37:23. And as soon as he came to his brethren, they forthwith stript him
of his outside coat, that was of divers colours:

37:24. And cast him into an old pit where there was not water.

37:25. And sitting down to eat bread, they saw some Ismaelites on their
way coming from Galaad, with their camels, carrying spices, and balm,
and myrrh to Egypt.

37:26. And Juda said to his brethren: What will it profit us to kill our
brother, and conceal his blood?

37:27. It is better that he be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our
hands be not defiled: for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren
agreed to his words.

37:28. And when the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew him out of
the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites, for twenty pieces of silver:
and they led him into Egypt.

37:29. And Ruben returning to the pit, found not the boy:

37:30. And rending his garments he went to his brethren, and said: The
boy doth not appear, and whither shall I go?

37:31. And they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid,
which they had killed:

37:32. Sending some to carry it to their father, and to say: This we
have found: see whether it be thy son's coat, or not.

37:33. And the father acknowledging it, said: It is my son's coat, an
evil wild beast hath eaten him, a beast hath devoured Joseph.

37:34. And tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, mourning for his
son a long time.

37:35. And all his children being gathered together to comfort their
father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go
down to my son into hell, mourning. And whilst he continued weeping,

Into hell... That is, into limbo, the place where the souls of the just
were received before the death of our Redeemer. For allowing that the
word hell sometimes is taken for the grave, it cannot be so taken in
this place; since Jacob did not believe his son to be in the grave,
(whom he supposed to be devoured by a wild beast,) and therefore could
not mean to go down to him thither: but certainly meant the place of
rest where he believed his soul to be.

37:36. The Madianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Putiphar, an eunuch of
Pharao, captain of the soldiers.

An eunuch... This word sometimes signifies a chamberlain, courtier, or
officer of the king: and so it is taken in this place.

Genesis Chapter 38

The sons of Juda: the death of Her and Onan: the birth of Phares and
Zara.

38:1. At that time Juda went down from his brethren, and turned in to a
certain Odollamite, named Hiras.

38:2. And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and
taking her to wife, he went in unto her.

38:3. And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her.

38:4. And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan.

38:5. She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. After whose birth,
she ceased to bear any more.

38:6. And Juda took a wife for Her, his first born, whose name was
Thamar.

38:7. And Her, the first born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the
Lord: and was slain by him.

38:8. Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife
and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.

38:9. He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to
his brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children
should be born in his brother's name.

38:10. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable
thing:

38:11. Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter-in-law: Remain a widow
in thy father's house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest
he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way, and dwelt in
her father's house.

38:12. And after many days were past: the daughter of Sue the wife of
Juda died: and when he had taken comfort after his mourning, he went up
to Thamnas, to the shearers of his sheep, he and Hiras the Odollamite,
the shepherd of his flock.

38:13. And it was told Thamar that her father-in-law was come up to
Thamnas to shear his sheep.

38:14. And she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil:
and changing her dress, sat in the cross way, that leadeth to Thamnas:
because Sela was grown up, and she had not been married to him.

38:15. When Juda saw her, he thought she was a harlot: for she had
covered her face, lest she should be known.

38:16. And going to her, he said: Suffer me to lie with thee: for he
knew her not to be his daughter-in-law. And she answered: What wilt thou
give me to enjoy my company?

38:17. He said: I will send thee a kid out of the flock. And when she
said again: I will suffer what thou wilt, if thou give me a pledge, till
thou send what thou promisest.

38:18. Juda said: What wilt thou have for a pledge? She answered: Thy
ring and bracelet, and the staff which thou holdest in thy hand. The
woman therefore at one copulation conceived.

38:19. And she arose and went her way: and putting off the apparel which
she had taken, put on the garments of her widowhood.

38:20. And Juda sent a kid by his shepherd, the Odollamite, that he
might receive the pledge again, which he had given to the woman: but he,
not finding her,

38:21. Asked the men of that place: Where is the woman that sat in the
cross way? And when they all made answer: There was no harlot in this
place,

38:22. He returned to Juda, and said to him: I have not found her;
moreover, the men of that place said to me, that there never sat a
harlot there.

38:23. Juda said: Let her take it to herself, surely she cannot charge
us with a lie, I sent the kid which I promised: and thou didst not find
her.

38:24. And behold, after three months, they told Juda, saying: Thamar,
thy daughter-in-law, hath played the harlot, and she appeareth to have a
big belly. And Juda said: Bring her out that she may be burnt.

38:25. But when she was led to execution, she sent to her father in law,
saying: By the man, to whom these things belong, I am with child. See
whose ring, and bracelet, and staff this is.

38:26. But he acknowledging the gifts, said: She is juster than I:
because I did not give her to Sela, my son. However he knew her no more.

38:27. And when she was ready to be brought to bed, there appeared twins
in her womb: and in the very delivery of the infants, one put forth a
hand, whereon the midwife tied a scarlet thread, saying:

38:28. This shall come forth the first.

38:29. But he drawing back his hand, the other came forth: and the woman
said: Why is the partition divided for thee? and therefore called his
name Phares.

Phares... That is, a breach or division.

38:30. Afterwards his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet
thread: and she called his name Zara.

Genesis Chapter 39

Joseph hath charge of his master's house: rejecteth his mistress's
solicitations: is falsely accused by her, and cast into prison, where he
hath the charge of all the prisoners.

39:1. And Joseph was brought into Egypt, and Putiphar, an eunuch of
Pharao, chief captain of the army, an Egyptian, bought him of the
Ismaelites, by whom he was brought.

39:2. And the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man in all
things: and he dwelt in his master's house:

39:3. Who knew very well that the Lord was with him, and made all that
he did to prosper in his hand.

39:4. And Joseph found favour in the sight of his master, and ministered
to him: and being set over all by him, he governed the house committed
to him, and all things that were delivered to him:

39:5. And the Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph's sake,
and multiplied all his substance, both at home and in the fields.

39:6. Neither knew he any other thing, but the bread which he ate. And
Joseph was of a beautiful countenance, and comely to behold.

39:7. And after many days, his mistress cast her eyes on Joseph, and
said: Lie with me.

39:8. But he in no wise consenting to that wicked act said to her:
Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what
he hath in his own house:

39:9. Neither is there any thing which is not in my power, or that he
hath not delivered to me, but thee, who art his wife; how then can I do
this wicked thing, and sin against my God?

39:10. With such words as these day by day, both the woman was
importunate with the young man, and he refused the adultery.

39:11. Now it happened on a certain day, that Joseph went into the
house, and was doing some business, without any man with him:

39:12. And she catching the skirt of his garment, said: Lie with me. But
he leaving the garment in her hand, fled, and went out.

39:13. And when the woman saw the garment in her hands, and herself
disregarded,

39:14. She called to her the men of her house, and said to them: See, he
hath brought in a Hebrew, to abuse us: he came in to me, to lie with me;
and when I cried out,

39:15. And he heard my voice, he left the garment that I held, and got
him out.

39:16. For a proof therefore of her fidelity, she kept the garment, and
shewed it to her husband when he returned home:

A proof of her fidelity... or an argument to gain credit, argumentum
fidei.

39:17. And said: The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought, came to me
to abuse me.

39:18. And when he heard me cry, he left the garment which I held, and
fled out.

39:19. His master hearing these things, and giving too much credit to
his wife's words, was very angry,

39:20. And cast Joseph into the prison, where the king's prisoners were
kept, and he was there shut up.

39:21. But the Lord was with Joseph, and having mercy upon him gave him
favour in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison:

39:22. Who delivered into his hand all the prisoners that were kept in
custody: and whatsoever was done, was under him.

39:23. Neither did he himself know any thing, having committed all
things to him: for the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to
prosper.

Genesis Chapter 40

Joseph interpreteth the dreams of two of Pharao's servants in prison:
the event declareth the interpretations to be true, but Joseph is
forgotten.

40:1. After this, it came to pass, that two eunuchs, the butler and the
baker of the king of Egypt, offended their lord.

40:2. And Pharao being angry with them, (now the one was chief butler,
the other chief baker,)

40:3. He sent them to the prison of the commander of the soldiers, in
which Joseph also was prisoner.

40:4. But the keeper of the prison delivered them to Joseph, and he
served them. Some little time passed, and they were kept in custody.

40:5. And they both dreamed a dream the same night, according to the
interpretation agreeing to themselves:

40:6. And when Joseph was come into them in the morning, and saw them
sad,

40:7. He asked them, saying: Why is your countenance sadder today than
usual?

40:8. They answered: We have dreamed a dream, and there is nobody to
interpret it to us. And Joseph said to them: Doth not interpretation
belong to God? Tell me what you have dreamed:

Doth not interpretation belong to God?... When dreams are from God, as
these were, the interpretation of them is a gift of God. But the
generality of dreams are not of this sort; but either proceed from the
natural complexions and dispositions of persons, or the roving of their
imaginations in the day on such objects as they are much affected with,
or from their mind being disturbed with cares and troubles, and
oppressed with bodily infirmities: or they are suggested by evil
spirits, to flatter, or to terrify weak minds, in order to gain belief,
and so draw them into error or superstition; or at least to trouble them
in their sleep, whom they cannot move when they are awake: so that the
general rule, with regard to dreams, is not to observe them, nor to give
any credit to them.

40:9. The chief butler first told his dream: I saw before me a vine,

40:10. On which were three branches, which by little and little sent out
buds, and after the blossoms brought forth ripe grapes:

40:11. And the cup of Pharao was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and
pressed them into the cup which I held, and I gave the cup to Pharao.

40:12. Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The
three branches, are yet three days:

40:13. After which Pharao will remember thy service, and will restore
thee to thy former place: and thou shalt present him the cup according
to thy office, as before thou was wont to do.

40:14. Only remember me when it shall be well with thee, and do me this
kindness: to put Pharao in mind to take me out of this prison:

40:15. For I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here
without any fault was cast into the dungeon.

40:16. The chief baker seeing that he had wisely interpreted the dream,
said: I also dreamed a dream, That I had three baskets of meal upon my
head:

40:17. And that in one basket which was uppermost, I carried all meats
that are made by the art of baking, and that the birds ate out of it.

40:18. Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The
three baskets, are yet three days:

40:19. After which Pharao will take thy head from thee, and hang thee on
a cross, and the birds shall tear thy flesh.

40:20. The third day after this was the birthday of Pharao: and he made
a great feast for his servants, and at the banquet remembered the chief
butler, and the chief baker.

40:21. And he restored the one to his place, to present him the cup:

40:22. The other he hanged on a gibbet, that the truth of the
interpreter might be shewn.

40:23. But the chief butler, when things prospered with him, forgot his
interpreter.

Genesis Chapter 41

Joseph interpreteth the two dreams of Pharao: he is made ruler over all
Egypt.

41:1. After two years Pharao had a dream. He thought he stood by the
river,

41:2. Out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they
fed in marshy places.

41:3. Other seven also came up out of the river, ill favoured, and lean
fleshed: and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places:

41:4. And they devoured them, whose bodies were very beautiful and well
conditioned. So Pharao awoke.

41:5. He slept again, and dreamed another dream: Seven ears of corn came
up upon one stalk full and fair:

41:6. Then seven other ears sprung up thin and blasted,

41:7. And devoured all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaked after his
rest:

41:8. And when morning was come, being struck with fear, he sent to all
the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men: and they being
called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could
interpret it.

41:9. Then at length the chief butler remembering, said: I confess my
sin:

41:10. The king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the
chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers.

41:11. Where in one night both of us dreamed a dream forboding things to
come.

41:12. There was there a young man a Hebrew, servant to the same captain
of the soldiers: to whom we told our dreams,

41:13. And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be
so. For I was restored to my office: and he was hanged upon a gibbet.

41:14. Forthwith at the king's command Joseph was brought out of the
prison, and they shaved him: and changing his apparel brought him in to
him.

41:15. And he said to him: I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one
that can expound them: Now I have heard that thou art very wise at
interpreting them:

41:16. Joseph answered: Without me, God shall give Pharao a prosperous
answer.

41:17. So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the
bank of the river,

41:18. And seven kine came up out of the river, exceeding beautiful and
full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture.

41:19. And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill
favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt:

41:20. And they devoured and consumed the former,

41:21. And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and
ill favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again,

41:22. And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew up upon one stalk,
full and very fair.

41:23. Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stalk:

41:24. And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to
the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it.

41:25. Joseph answered: The king's dream is one: God hath shewn to
Pharao what he is about to do.

41:26. The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven
years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream.

41:27. And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the
seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years
of famine to come:

41:28. Which shall be fulfilled in this order.

41:29. Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole
land of Egypt:

41:30. After which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity,
that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall
consume all the land,

41:31. And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of
the plenty.

41:32. And for that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to
the same thing: it is a token of the certainty, and that the word of God
cometh to pass, and is fulfilled speedily.

41:33. Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man,
and make him ruler over the land of Egypt:

41:34. That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather
into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful
years,

41:35. That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up,
under Pharao's hands, and be reserved in the cities.

41:36. And let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to
come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with
scarcity.

41:37. The counsel pleased Pharao, and all his servants.

41:38. And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full
of the spirit of God?

41:39. He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shewn thee all that
thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee?

41:40. Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth
all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above
thee.

41:41. And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee
over the whole land of Egypt.

41:42. And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into  his
hand: and he put upon him a robe of silk, and put a chain of gold about
his neck.

41:43. And he made him go up into his second chariot, the crier
proclaiming that all should bow their knee before him, and that they
should know he was made governor over the whole land of Egypt.

41:44. And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao: without thy commandment
no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

41:45. And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue the
saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of
Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of
Egypt.

The saviour of the world... Zaphnah paaneah.

41:46. (Now he was thirty years old when he stood before king Pharao),
and he went round all the countries of Egypt.

41:47. And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corn being
bound up into sheaves, was gathered together into the barns of Egypt.

41:48. And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city.

41:49. And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it was equal to
the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure.

41:50. And before the famine came, Joseph had two sons born: whom
Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis, bore unto him.

41:51. And he called the name of the firstborn Manasses, saying: God
hath made me to forget all my labours, and my father's house.

Manasses... That is, oblivion, or forgetting.

41:52. And he named the second Ephraim, saying: God hath made me to grow
in the land of my poverty.

Ephraim... That is, fruitful, or growing.

41:53. Now when the seven years of plenty that had been in Egypt were
passed:

41:54. The seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to
come: and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread
in all the land of Egypt.

41:55. And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried
to Pharao, for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that
he shall say to you.

41:56. And the famine increased daily in all the land: and Joseph opened
all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians: for the famine had oppressed
them also.

41:57. And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some
relief of their want.

Genesis Chapter 42

Jacob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt. Their treatment by
Joseph.

42:1. And Jacob hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons:
Why are ye careless?

42:2. I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt: Go ye down, and buy us
necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want.

42:3. So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt:

42:4. Whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his
brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey.

42:5. And they entered into the land of Egypt with others that went to
buy. For the famine was in the land of Chanaan.

42:6. And Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and corn was sold by
his direction to the people. And when his brethren had bowed down to
him,

42:7. And he knew them, he spoke as it were to strangers, somewhat
roughly, asking them: Whence came you? They answered: From the land of
Chanaan, to buy necessaries of life.

42:8. And though he knew his brethren, he was not known by them.

42:9. And remembering the dreams, which formerly he had dreamed, he said
to them: You are spies. You are come to view the weaker parts of the
land.

You are spies... This he said by way of examining them, to see what they
would answer.

42:10. But they said: It is not so, my lord; but thy servants are come
to buy food.

42:11. We are all the sons of one man: we are come as peaceable men,
neither do thy servants go about any evil.

42:12. And he answered them: It is otherwise: you are come to consider
the unfenced parts of this land.

42:13. But they said: We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of
one man in the land of Chanaan: the youngest is with our father, the
other is not living.

42:14. He saith, This is it that I said: You are spies.

42:15. I shall now presently try what you are: by the health of Pharao,
you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come.

42:16. Send one of you to fetch him: and you shall be in prison, till
what you have said be proved, whether it be true or false: or else by
the health of Pharao you are spies.

Or else by the health of Pharao you are spies... That is, if these
things you say be proved false, you are to be held for spies for your
lying, and shall be treated as such. Joseph dealt in this manner with
his brethren, to bring them by the means of affliction to a sense of
their former sin, and a sincere repentance for it.

42:17. So he put them in prison three days.

42:18. And the third day he brought them out of prison, and said: Do as
I have said, and you shall live: for I fear God.

42:19. If you be peaceable men, let one of your brethren be bound in
prison: and go ye your ways, and carry the corn that you have bought,
unto your houses.

42:20. And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may find your words
to be true, and you may not die. They did as he had said.

42:21. And they talked one to another: We deserve to suffer these
things, because we have sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish
of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear: therefore is
this affliction come upon us.

42:22. And Ruben, one of them, said: Did not I say to you: Do not sin
against the boy; and you would not hear me? Behold his blood is
required.

42:23. And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to
them by an interpreter.

42:24. And he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and
returning, he spoke to them.

42:25. And taking Simeon, and binding him in their presence, he
commanded his servants to fill their sacks with wheat, and to put every
man's money again in their sacks, and to give them besides provisions
for the way: and they did so.

42:26. But they having loaded their asses with the corn went their way.

42:27. And one of them opening his sack, to give his beast provender in
the inn, saw the money in the sack's mouth,

42:28. And said to his brethren: My money is given me again; behold it
is in the sack. And they were astonished, and troubled, and said to one
another: What is this that God hath done unto us?

42:29. And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Chanaan, and
they told him all things that had befallen them, saying:

42:30. The lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies
of the country.

42:31. And we answered him: We are peaceable men, and we mean no plot.

42:32. We are twelve brethren born of one father: one is not living, the
youngest is with our father in the land of Chanaan.

42:33. And he said to us: Hereby shall I know that you are peaceable
men: Leave one of your brethren with me, and take ye necessary provision
for your houses, and go your ways,

42:34. And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know you are
not spies: and you may receive this man again, that is kept in prison:
and afterwards may have leave to buy what you will.

42:35. When they had told this, they poured out their corn, and every
man found his money tied in the mouth of his sack: and all being
astonished together,

42:36. Their father Jacob said: You have made me to be without children:
Joseph is not living, Simeon is kept in bonds, and Benjamin you will
take away: all these evils are fallen upon me.

42:37. And Ruben answered him: Kill my two sons, if I bring him not
again to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will restore him to thee.

42:38. But he said: My son shall not go down with you: his brother is
dead, and he is left alone: if any mischief befall him in the land to
which you go, you will bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to hell.

To hell... That is, to that place, where the souls then remained, as
above, chapter 37. ver. 35.

Genesis Chapter 43

The sons of Jacob go again into Egypt with Benjamin. They are
entertained by Joseph.

43:1. In the mean time the famine was heavy upon all the land.

43:2. And when they had eaten up all the corn, which they had brought
out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons: Go again, and buy us a little
food.

43:3. Juda answered: The man declared unto us with the attestation of an
oath, saying: You shall not see my face, unless you bring your youngest
brother with you.

43:4. If therefore thou wilt send him with us, we will set out together,
and will buy necessaries for thee.

43:5. But if thou wilt not, we will not go: for the man, as we have
often said, declared unto us, saying: You shall not see my face without
your youngest brother.

43:6. Israel said to them: You have done this for my misery, in that you
told him you had also another brother.

43:7. But they answered: The man asked us in order concerning our
kindred: if our father lived: if we had a brother: and we answered him
regularly, according to what he demanded: could we know that he would
say: Bring hither your brother with you?

43:8. And Juda said to his father: Send the boy with me, that we may set
forward, and may live: lest both we and our children perish.

43:9. I take the boy upon me, require him at my hand: unless I bring him
again, and restore him to thee, I will be guilty of sin against thee for
ever.

43:10. If delay had not been made, we had been here again the second
time.

43:11. Then Israel said to them: If it must needs be so, do what you
will: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry
down presents to the man, a little balm, and honey, and storax, myrrh,
turpentine, and almonds.

Balm... Literally rosin, resinae; but here by that name is meant balm.

43:12. And take with you double money, and carry back what you found in
your sacks, lest perhaps it was done by mistake.

43:13. And take also your brother, and go to the man.

43:14. And may my almighty God make him favourable to you: and send back
with you your brother, whom he keepeth, and this Benjamin: and as for me
I shall be desolate without children.

43:15. So the men took the presents, and double money, and Benjamin: and
went down into Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

43:16. And when he had seen them, and Benjamin with them, he commanded
the steward of his house, saying: Bring in the men into the house, and
kill victims, and prepare a feast: because they shall eat with me at
noon.

43:17. He did as he was commanded, and brought the men into the house.

43:18. And they being much afraid, said there one to another: Because of
the money, which we carried back the first time in our sacks, we are
brought in: that he may bring upon us a false accusation, and by
violence make slaves of us and our asses.

43:19. Wherefore, going up to the steward of the house, at the door,

43:20. They said: Sir, we desire thee to hear us. We came down once
before to buy food:

43:21. And when we had bought, and were come to the inn, we opened our
sacks, and found our money in the mouths of the sacks: which we have now
brought again in the same weight.

43:22. And we have brought other money besides, to buy what we want: we
cannot tell who put it in our bags.

43:23. But he answered: Peace be with you, fear not: your God, and the
God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks. For the
money, which you gave me, I have for good. And he brought Simeon out to
them.

43:24. And having brought them into the house, he fetched water, and
they washed their feet, and he gave provender to their asses.

43:25. But they made ready the presents, against Joseph came at noon:
for they had heard that they should eat bread there.

43:26. Then Joseph came in to his house, and they offered him the
presents, holding them in their hands; and they bowed down with their
face to the ground.

43:27. But he courteously saluting them again, asked them, saying: Is
the old man your father in health, of whom you told me? Is he yet
living?

43:28. And they answered: Thy servant our father, is in health; he is
yet living. And bowing themselves, they made obeisance to him.

43:29. And Joseph lifting up his eyes, saw Benjamin, his brother by the
same mother, and said: Is this your young brother, of whom you told me?
And he said: God be gracious to thee, my son.

43:30. And he made haste, because his heart was moved upon his brother,
and tears gushed out: and going into his chamber, he wept.

43:31. And when he had washed his face, coming out again, he refrained
himself, and said: Set bread on the table.

43:32. And when it was set on, for Joseph apart, and for his brethren
apart, for the Egyptians also that ate with him apart, (for it is
unlawful for the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews, and they think such
a feast profane):

43:33. They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright,
and the youngest according to his age. And they wondered very much;

43:34. Taking the messes which they received of him: and the greater
mess came to Benjamin, so that it exceeded by five parts. And they
drank, and were merry with him.

Genesis Chapter 44

Joseph's contrivance to stop his brethren. The humble supplication of
Juda.

44:1. And Joseph commanded the steward of his house, saying: Fill their
sacks with corn, as much as they can hold: and put the money of every
one in the top of his sack.

44:2. And in the mouth of the younger's sack put my silver cup, and the
price which he gave for the wheat. And it was so done.

44:3. And when the morning arose, they were sent away with their asses.

44:4. And when they were now departed out of the city, and had gone
forward a little way: Joseph sending for the steward of his house, said:
Arise, and pursue after the men: and when thou hast overtaken them, say
to them: Why have you returned evil for good?

44:5. The cup which you have stolen, is that in which my lord drinketh,
and in which he is wont to divine: you have done a very evil thing.

44:6. He did as he had commanded him. And having overtaken them, he
spoke to them the same words.

44:7. And they answered: Why doth our lord speak so, as though thy
servants had committed so heinous a fact?

44:8. The money, that we found in the top of our sacks, we brought back
to thee from the land of Chanaan: how then should it be that we should
steal out of thy lord's house, gold or silver?

44:9. With whomsoever of thy servants shall be found that which thou
seekest, let him die, and we will be the bondmen of my lord.

44:10. And he said to them: Let it be according to your sentence: with
whomsoever it shall be found, let him be my servant, and you shall be
blameless.

44:11. Then they speedily took down their sacks to the ground, and every
man opened his sack.

44:12. Which when he had searched, beginning at the eldest, and ending
at the youngest, he found the cup in Benjamin's sack.

44:13. Then they rent their garments, and loading their asses again,
returned into the town.

44:14. And Juda at the head of his brethren went in to Joseph (for he
was not yet gone out of the place) and they all together fell down
before him on the ground.

44:15. And he said to them: Why would you do so? know you not that there
is no one like me in the science of divining.

The science of divining... He speaks of himself according to what he was
esteemed in that kingdom. And indeed, he being truly a prophet, knew
more without comparison than any of the Egyptian sorcerers.

44:16. And Juda said to him: What shall we answer my lord? or what shall
we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of
thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to my lord, both we, and he
with whom the cup was found.

44:17. Joseph answered: God forbid that I should do so: he that stole
the cup, he shall be my bondman: and go you away free to your father.

44:18. Then Juda coming nearer, said boldly: I beseech thee, my lord,
let thy servant speak a word in thy ears, and be not angry with thy
servant: for after Pharao thou art.

44:19. My lord. Thou didst ask thy servants the first time: Have you a
father or a brother.

44:20. And we answered thee, my lord: We have a father an old man, and a
young boy, that was born in his old age; whose brother by the mother is
dead; and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him
tenderly.

44:21. And thou saidst to thy servants: Bring him hither to me, and I
will set my eyes on him.

44:22. We suggested to my lord: The boy cannot leave his father: for if
he leave him, he will die.

44:23. And thou saidst to thy servants: Except your youngest brother
come with you, you shall see my face no more.

44:24. Therefore when we were gone up to thy servant our father, we told
him all that my lord had said.

44:25. And our father said: Go again, and buy us a little wheat.

44:26. And we said to him: We cannot go: if our youngest brother go down
with us, we will set out together: otherwise, without him we dare not
see the man's face.

44:27. Whereunto he answered: You know that my wife bore me two.

44:28. One went out, and you said: A beast devoured him; and hitherto he
appeareth not.

44:29. If you take this also, and any thing befall him in the way, you
will bring down my grey hairs with sorrow unto hell.

44:30. Therefore, if I shall go to thy servant, our father, and the boy
be wanting, (whereas his life dependeth upon the life of him,)

44:31. And he shall see that he is not with us, he will die, and thy
servants shall bring down his grey hairs with sorrow unto hell.

His gray hairs... That is, his person, now far advanced in years.-With
sorrow unto hell... The Hebrew word for hell is here sheol, the Greek
hades: it is not taken for the hell of the damned; but for that place of
souls below where the servants of God were kept before the coming of
Christ. Which place, both in the Scripture and in the creed, is named
hell.

44:32. Let me be thy proper servant, who took him into my trust, and
promised, saying: If I bring him not again, I will be guilty of sin
against my father for ever.

44:33. Therefore I, thy servant, will stay instead of the boy in the
service of my lord, and let the boy go up with his brethren.

44:34. For I cannot return to my father without the boy, lest I be a
witness of the calamity that will oppress my father.

Genesis Chapter 45

Joseph maketh himself known to his brethren: and sendeth for his father.

45:1. Joseph could no longer refrain himself before many that stood by:
whereupon he commanded that all should go out, and no stranger be
present at their knowing one another.

45:2. And he lifted up his voice with weeping, which the Egyptians, and
all the house of Pharao heard.

45:3. And he said to his brethren: I am Joseph: Is my father yet living?
His brethren could not answer him, being struck with exceeding great
fear.

45:4. And he said mildly to them: Come nearer to me. And when they were
come near him, he said: I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into
Egypt.

45:5. Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you
sold me into these countries: for God sent me before you into Egypt for
your preservation.

45:6. For it is two years since the famine began to be upon the land,
and five years more remain, wherein there can be neither ploughing nor
reaping.

45:7. And God sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth,
and may have food to live.

45:8. Not by your counsel was I sent hither, but by the will of God: who
hath made me as it were a father to Pharao, and lord of his whole house,
and governor in all the land of Egypt.

45:9. Make haste, and go ye up to my father, and say to him: Thus saith
thy son Joseph: God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt; come
down to me, linger not.

45:10. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Gessen: and thou shalt be
near me, thou and thy sons, and thy sons' sons, thy sheep, and thy
herds, and all things that thou hast.

45:11. And there I will feed thee, (for there are yet five years of
famine remaining) lest both thou perish, and thy house, and all things
that thou hast.

45:12. Behold, your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, see that
it is my mouth that speaketh to you.

45:13. You shall tell my father of all my glory, and all things that you
have seen in Egypt: make haste and bring him to me.

45:14. And falling upon the neck of his brother Benjamin, he embraced
him and wept: and Benjamin in like manner wept also on his neck.

45:15. And Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept upon every one of
them: after which they were emboldened to speak to him.

45:16. And it was heard, and the fame was spread abroad in the king's
court: The brethren of Joseph are come; and Pharao with all his family
was glad.

45:17. And he spoke to Joseph that he should give orders to his
brethren, saying: Load your beasts, and go into the land of Chanaan,

45:18. And bring away from thence your father and kindred, and come to
me; and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, that you may eat
the marrow of the land.

45:19. Give orders also that they take wagons out of the land of Egypt,
for the carriage of their children and their wives; and say: Take up
your father, and make haste to come with all speed:

45:20. And leave nothing of your household stuff; for all the riches of
Egypt shall be yours.

45:21. And the sons of Israel did as they were bid. And Joseph gave them
wagons according to Pharao's commandment: and provisions for the way.

45:22. He ordered also to be brought out for every one of them two
robes: but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, with five
robes of the best:

45:23. Sending to his father as much money and raiment; adding besides,
ten he asses, to carry off all the riches of Egypt, and as many she
asses, carrying wheat and bread for the journey.

45:24. So he sent away his brethren, and at their departing said to
them: Be not angry in the way.

45:25. And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Chanaan,
to their father Jacob.

45:26. And they told him, saying: Joseph, thy son, is living; and he is
ruler in all the land of Egypt. Which when Jacob heard, he awaked as it
were out of a deep sleep, yet did not believe them.

45:27. They, on the other side, told the whole order of the thing. And
when he saw the wagons, and all that he had sent, his spirit revived,

45:28. And he said: It is enough for me if Joseph, my son, be yet
living: I will go and see him before I die.

Genesis Chapter 46

Israel, waranted by a vision from God, goeth down into Egypt with all
his family.

46:1. And Israel taking his journey, with all that he had, came to the
well of the oath, and killing victims there to the God of his father
Isaac,

The well of the oath... Bersabee.

46:2. He heard him, by a vision in the night, calling him, and saying to
him: Jacob, Jacob. And he answered him: Lo, here I am.

46:3. God said to him: I am the most mighty God of thy father; fear not,
go down into Egypt, for I will make a great nation of thee there.

46:4. I will go down with thee thither, and will bring thee back again
from thence: Joseph also shall put his hands upon thy eyes.

46:5. And Jacob rose up from the well of the oath: and his sons took him
up, with their children and wives in the wagons, which Pharao had sent
to carry the old man,

46:6. And all that he had in the land of Chanaan: and he came into Egypt
with all his seed;

46:7. His sons, and grandsons, daughters, and all his offspring
together.

46:8. And these are the names of the children of Israel, that entered
into Egypt, he and his children. His firstborn Ruben,

46:9. The sons of Ruben: Henoch and Phallu, and Hesron and Charmi.

46:10. The sons of Simeon: Jamuel and Jamin and Ahod, and Jachin and
Sohar, and Saul, the son of a woman of Chanaan.

46:11. The sons of Levi: Gerson and Caath, and Merari.

46:12. The sons of Juda: Her and Onan, and Sela, and Phares and Zara.
And Her and Onan died in the land of Chanaan. And sons were born to
Phares: Hesron and Hamul.

46:13. The sons of Issachar: Thola and Phua, and Job and Semron.

46:14. The sons of Zabulon: Sared, and Elon, and Jahelel.

46:15. These are the sons of Lia, whom she bore in Mesopotamia of Syria,
with Dina, his daughter. All the souls of her sons and daughters,
thirty-three.

46:16. The sons of Gad: Sephion and Haggi, and Suni and Esebon, and Heri
and Arodi, and Areli.

46:17. The sons of Aser: Jamne and Jesua, and Jessuri and Beria, and
Sara their sister. The sons of Beria: Heber and Melchiel.

46:18. These are the sons of Zelpha, whom Laban gave to Lia, his
daughter. And these she bore to Jacob, sixteen souls.

46:19. The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

46:20. And sons were born to Joseph, in the land of Egypt, whom Aseneth,
the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis, bore him: Manasses and
Ephraim.

46:21. The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Bechor, and Asbel and Gera, and
Naaman and Echi, and Ross and Mophim, and Ophim and Ared.

46:22. These are the sons of Rachel, whom she bore to Jacob: all the
souls, fourteen.

46:23. The sons of Dan: Husim.

46:24. The sons of Nephthali: Jaziel and Guni, and Jeser and Sallem.

46:25. These are the sons of Bala, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his
daughter: and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls, seven.

46:26. All the souls that went with Jacob into Egypt, and that came out
of his thigh, besides his sons' wives, sixty-six.

46:27. And the sons of Joseph, that were born to him in the land of
Egypt, two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, that entered into
Egypt, were seventy.

46:28. And he sent Juda before him to Joseph, to tell him; and that he
should meet him in Gessen.

46:29. And when he was come thither, Joseph made ready his chariot, and
went up to meet his father in the same place: and seeing him, he fell
upon his neck, and embracing him, wept.

46:30. And the father said to Joseph: Now shall I die with joy, becuase
I have seen thy face, and leave thee alive.

46:31. And Joseph said to his brethren, and to all his father's house: I
will go up, and will tell Pharao, and will say to him: My brethren, and
my father's house, that were in the land of Chanaan, are come to me:

46:32. And the men are shepherds, and their occupation is to feed
cattle; their flocks, and herds, and all they have, they have brought
with them.

46:33. And when he shall call you, and shall say: What is your
occupation?

46:34. You shall answer: We, thy servants, are shepherds, from our
infancy until now, both we and our fathers. And this you shall say, that
you may dwell in the land of Gessen, because the Egyptians have all
shepherds in abomination.

Genesis Chapter 47

Jacob and his sons are presented before Pharao: he giveth them the land
of Gessen. The famine forceth the Egyptians to sell all their
possessions to the king.

47:1. Then Joseph went in and told Pharao, saying: My father and
brethren, their sheep and their herds, and all that they possess, are
come out of the land of Chanaan: and behold they stay in the land of
Gessen.

47:2. Five men also, the last of his brethren, he presented before the
king:

The last...Extremos. Some interpret this word of the chiefest, and most
rightly: but Joseph seems rather to have chosen out such as had the
meanest appearance, that Pharao might not think of employing them at
court, with danger of their morals and religion.

47:3. And he asked them: What is your occupation? They answered: We, thy
servants, are shepherds, both we and our fathers.

47:4. We are come to sojourn in thy land, because there is no grass for
the flocks of thy servants, the famine being very grievous in the land
of Chanaan: and we pray thee to give orders that we thy servants may be
in the land of Gessen.

47:5. The king therefore said to Joseph: Thy father and thy brethren are
come to thee.

47:6. The land of Egypt is before thee: and make them dwell in the best
place, and give them the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest that there
are industrious men among them, make them rulers over my cattle.

47:7. After this Joseph brought in his father to the king, and presented
him before him: and he blessed him.

47:8. And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy
life?

47:9. He answered: The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty
years, few, and evil, and they are not come up to the days of the
pilgrimage of my fathers.

47:10. And blessing the king, he went out.

47:11. But Joseph gave a possession to his father and his brethren in
Egypt, in the best place of the land, in Ramesses, as Pharao had
commanded.

47:12. And he nourished them, and all his father's house, allowing food
to every one.

47:13. For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had
oppressed the land, more especially of Egypt and Chanaan;

47:14. Out of which he gathered up all the money for the corn which they
bought, and brought it in to the king's treasure.

47:15. And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph,
saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now no
money?

47:16. And he answered them: Bring me your cattle, and for them I will
give you food, if you have no money.

47:17. And when they had brought them, he gave them food in exchange for
their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses: and he maintained them
that year for the exchange of their cattle.

47:18. And they came the second year, and said to him: We will not hide
from our lord, how that our money is spent, and our cattle also are
gone: neither art thou ignorant that we have nothing now left but our
bodies and our lands.

47:19. Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thine,
both we and our lands: buy us to be the king's servants, and give us
seed, lest for want of tillers the land be turned into a wilderness.

47:20. So Joesph bought all the land of Egypt, every man selling his
possessions, because of the greatness of the famine. And he brought it
into Pharao's hands:

47:21. And all its people from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to
the other end thereof,

47:22. Except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the
king: to whom also a certain allowance of food was given out of the
public stores, and therefore they were not forced to sell their
possessions.

47:23. Then Joseph said to the people: Behold, as you see, both you and
your lands belong to Pharao; take seed and sow the fields,

47:24. That you may have corn. The fifth part you shall give to the
king; the other four you shall have for seed, and for food for your
families and children.

47:25. And they answered: our life is in thy hand; only let my lord look
favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king.

47:26. From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the
fifth part is paid to the kings, and it is become as a law, except the
land of the priests, which was free from this covenant.

47:27. So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and
possessed it; and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly.

47:28. And he lived in it seventeen years: and all the days of his life
came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

47:29. And when he saw that the day of his death drew nigh, he called
his son Joseph, and said to him: If I have found favour in thy sight,
put thy hand under my thigh; and thou shalt shew me this kindness and
truth, not to bury me in Egypt.

47:30. But I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt take me away out
of this land, and bury me in the burying place of my ancestors. And
Joseph answered him: I will do what thou hast commanded.

47:31. And he said: Swear then to me. And as he was swearing, Israel
adored God, turning to the bed's head.

To the bed's head... St. Paul, Heb. 11.21, following the Greek
translation of the Septuagint, reads adored the top of his rod. Where
note, that the same word in the Hebrew, according to the different
pointing of it, signifies both a bed and a rod. And to verify both these
sentences, we must understand that Jacob leaning on Joseph's rod adored,
turning towards the head of his bed: which adoration, inasmuch as it was
referred to God, was an absolute and sovereign worship: but inasmuch as
it was referred to the rod of Joseph, as a figure of the sceptre, that
is, of the royal dignity of Christ, was only an inferior and relative
honour.

Genesis Chapter 48

Joseph visiteth his father in his sickness, who adopteth his two sons
Manasses and Ephraim, and blesseth them, preferring the younger before
the elder.

48:1. After these things, it was told Joseph that his father was sick;
and he set out to go to him, taking his two sons Manasses and Ephraim.

48:2. And it was told the old man: Behold thy son Joseph cometh to thee.
And being strengthened, he sat on his bed.

48:3. And when Joseph was come in to him, he said: God almighty
apppeared to me at Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, and he blessed
me,

48:4. And said: I will cause thee to increase and multiply, and I will
make of thee a multitude of people: and I will give this land to thee,
and to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

48:5. So thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before
I came hither to thee, shall be mine: Ephraim and Manasses shall be
reputed to me as Ruben and Simeon.

48:6. But the rest whom thou shalt have after them, shall be thine, and
shall be called by the name of their brethren in their possessions.

48:7. For, when I came out of Mesopotamia, Rachel died from me in the
land of Chanaan in the very journey, and it was spring time: and I was
going to Ephrata, and I buried her near the way of Ephrata, which by
another name is called Bethlehem.

48:8. Then seeing his sons, he said to him: Who are these?

48:9. He answered: They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this
place. And he said: Bring them to me, that I may bless them.

48:10. For Israel's eyes were dim by reason of his great age, and he
could not see clearly. And when they were brought to him, he kissed and
embraced them,

48:11. And said to his son: I am not deprived of seeing thee; moreover
God hath shewn me thy seed.

48:12. And when Joseph had taken them from his father's lap, he bowed
down with his face to the ground.

48:13. And he set Ephraim on his right hand, that is, towards the left
hand of Israel; but Manasses on his left hand, to wit, towards his
father's right hand, and brought them near to him.

48:14. But he, stretching forth his right hand, put it upon the head of
Ephraim, the younger brother; and the left upon the head of Manasses,
who was the elder, changing his hands.

48:15. And Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, and said: God, in whose
sight my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, God that feedeth me from my
youth until this day:

48:16. The angel that delivereth me from all evils, bless these boys:
and let my name be called upon them, and the names of my fathers Abraham
and Isaac; and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.

48:17. And Joseph seeing that his father had put his right hand upon the
head of Ephraim, was much displeased: and taking his father's hand, he
tried to lift it from Ephraim's head, and to remove it to the head of
Manasses.

48:18. And he said to his father: It should not be so, my father; for
this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head.

48:19. But he refusing, said: I know, my son, I know: and this also
shall become a people, and shall be multiplied; but his younger brother
shall be greater than he; and his seed shall grow into nations.

48:20. And he blessed them at that time, saying: In thee shall Israel be
blessed, and it shall be said: God do to thee as to Ephraim, and as to
Manasses. And he set Ephraim before Manasses.

48:21. And he said to Joseph, his son: Behold I die, and God will be
with you, and will bring you back into the land of your fathers.

48:22. I give thee a portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the
hand of the Amorrhite with my sword and bow.

Genesis Chapter 49

Jacob's prophetical blessings of his twelve sons: his death.

49:1. And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: Gather yourselves
together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the
last days.

49:2. Gather yourselves together, and hear, O ye sons of Jacob, hearken
to Israel, your father:

49:3. Ruben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my
sorrow; excelling in gifts, greater in command.

My strength, etc... He calls him his strength, as being born whilst his
father was in his full strength and vigour: he calls him the beginning
of his sorrow, because cares and sorrows usually come on with the birth
of children. Excelling in gifts, etc., because the firstborn had a title
to a double portion, and to have the command over his brethren, which
Ruben forfeited by his sin; being poured out as water, that is, spilt
and lost.

49:4. Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not; because thou wentest
up to thy father's bed, and didst defile his couch.

Grow thou not... This was not meant by way of a curse or imprecation;
but by way of a prophecy foretelling that the tribe of Ruben should not
inherit the pre-eminences usually annexed to the first birthright, viz.,
the double portion, the being prince or lord over the other brethren,
and the priesthood: of which the double portion was given to Joseph, the
princely office to Juda, and the priesthood to Levi.

49:5. Simeon and Levi brethren: vessels of iniquity waging war.

49:6. Let not my soul go into their counsel, nor my glory be in their
assembly: because in their fury they slew a man, and in their selfwill
they undermined a wall.

Slew a man,... viz., Sichem the son of Hemor, with all his people, Gen.
34.; mystically and prophetically it alludes to Christ, whom their
posterity, viz., the priests and the scribes, put to death.

49:7. Cursed be their fury, because it was stubborn: and their wrath,
because it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them
in Israel.

49:8. Juda, thee shall thy brethren praise: thy hand shall be on the
necks of thy enemies; the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee.

49:9. Juda is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse
him?

A lion's whelp, etc... This blessing of Juda foretelleth the strength of
his tribe, the fertility of his inheritance; and principally that the
sceptre and legislative power should not be utterly taken away from his
race till about the time of the coming of Christ: as in effect it never
was: which is a demonstration against the modern Jews, that the Messiah
is long since come; for the sceptre has long since been utterly taken
away from Juda.

49:10. The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from
his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the
expectation of nations.

49:11. Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, O my son, to the
vine. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of
the grape.

49:12. His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than
milk.

49:13. Zabulon shall dwell on the seashore, and in the road of ships,
reaching as far as Sidon.

49:14. Issachar shall be a strong ass, lying down between the borders.

49:15. He saw rest that it was good: and the land that it was excellent:
and he bowed his shoulder to carry, and became a servant under tribute.

49:16. Dan shall judge his people like another tribe in Israel.

Dan shall judge, etc... This was verified in Samson, who was of the
tribe of Dan, and began to deliver Israel. Judges 13.5. But as this
deliverance was but temporal and very imperfect, the holy patriarch
(ver. 18) aspires after another kind of deliverer, saying: I will look
for thy salvation, O Lord.

49:17. Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path, that biteth
the horse's heels, that his rider may fall backward.

49:18. I will look for thy salvation, O Lord.

49:19. Gad, being girded, shall fight before him: and he himself shall
be girded backward.

Gad being girded, etc... It seems to allude to the tribe of Gad; when
after they had received for their lot the land of Galaad, they marched
in arms before the rest of the Israelites, to the conquest of the land
of Chanaan: from whence they afterwards returned loaded with spoils. See
Jos. 4. and 12.

49:20. Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield dainties to
kings.

49:21. Nephthali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty.

49:22. Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold: the
daughters run to and fro upon the wall;

Run to and fro, etc... To behold his beauty; whilst his envious brethren
turned their darts against him, etc.

49:23. But they that held darts, provoked him, and quarrelled with him,
and envied him.

49:24. His bow rested upon the strong, and the bands of his arms and his
hands were loosed, by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob: thence he
came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel.

His bow rested upon the strong, etc... That is, upon God, who was his
strength: who also loosed his bands, and brought him out of prison to be
the pastor, that is, the feeder and ruler of Egypt, and the stone, that
is, the rock and support of Israel.

49:25. The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall
bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the
deep that lieth beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the
womb.

49:26. The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings
of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come:
may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite
among his brethren.

The blessings of thy father, etc... That is, thy father's blessings are
made more prevalent and effectual in thy regard, by the additional
strength they receive from his inheriting the blessings of his
progenitors Abraham and Isaac. The desire of the everlasting hills,
etc... These blessings all looked forward towards Christ, called the
desire of the everlasting hills, as being longed for, as it were, by the
whole creation. Mystically, the patriarchs and prophets are called the
everlasting hills, by reason of the eminence of their wisdom and
holiness. The Nazarite... This word signifies one separated; and agrees
to Joseph, as being separated from, and more eminent than, his brethren.
As the ancient Nazarites were so called from their being set aside for
God, and vowed to him.

49:27. Benjamin a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and
in the evening shall divide the spoil.

49:28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: these things their
father spoke to them, and he blessed every one with their proper
blessings.

49:29. And he charged them, saying: I am now going to be gathered to my
people: bury me with my fathers in the double cave, which is in the
field of Ephron the Hethite,

To be gathered to my people... That is, I am going to die, and so to
follow my ancestors that are gone before me, and to join their company
in another world.

49:30. Over against Mambre, in the land of Chanaan, which Abraham bought
together with the field, of Ephron the Hethite, for a possession to bury
in.

49:31. There they buried him, and Sara his wife: there was Isaac buried
with Rebecca, his wife: there also Lia doth lie buried.

49:32. And when he had ended the commandments, wherewith he instructed
his sons, he drew up his feet upon the bed, and died: and he was
gathered to his people.

Genesis Chapter 50

The mourning for Jacob, and his interment. Joseph's kindness towards his
brethren. His death.

50:1. And when Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father's face, weeping
and kissing him.

50:2. And he commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his
father.

50:3. And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty
days: for this was the manner with bodies that were embalmed, and Egypt
mourned for him seventy days.

50:4. And the time of the mourning being expired, Joseph spoke to the
family of Pharao: If I have found favour in your sight, speak in the
ears of Pharao:

50:5. For my father made me swear to him, saying: Behold I die; thou
shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I have digged for myself in the land
of Chanaan. So I will go up and bury my father, and return.

50:6. And Pharao said to him: Go up and bury thy father according as he
made thee swear.

50:7. So he went up, and there went with him all the ancients of
Pharao's house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt.

50:8. And the house of Joseph with his brethren, except their children,
and their flocks and herds, which they left in the land of Gessen.

50:9. He had also in his train chariots and horsemen: and it was a great
company.

50:10. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is situated
beyond the Jordan: where celebrating the exequies with a great and
vehement lamentation, they spent full seven days.

50:11. And when the inhabitants of Chanaan saw this, they said: This is
a great mourning to the Egyptians. And therefore the name of that place
was called, The mourning of Egypt.

50:12. So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them.

50:13. And carrying him into the land of Chanaan, they buried him in the
double cave, which Abraham had bought together with the field for a
possession of a burying place, of Ehpron, the Hethite, over against
Mambre.

50:14. And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brethren, and all that
were in his company, after he had buried his father.

50:15. Now he being dead, his brethren were afraid, and talked one with
another: Lest perhaps he should remember the wrong he suffered, and
requite us all the evil that we did to him.

50:16. And they sent a message to him, saying: Thy father commanded us
before he died,

50:17. That we should say thus much to thee from him: I beseech thee to
forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin and malice they
practised against thee: we also pray thee, to forgive the servants of
the God of thy father this wickedness. And when Joseph heard this, he
wept.

50:18. And his brethren came to him; and worshipping prostrate on the
ground, they said: We are thy servants.

50:19. And he answered them: Fear not: can we resist the will of God?

50:20. You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he
might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people.

50:21. Fear not: I will feed you and your children. And he comforted
them, and spoke gently and mildly.

50:22. And he dwelt in Egypt with all his father's house; and lived a
hundred and ten years. And he saw the children of Ephraim to the third
generation. The children also of Machir, the sons of Manasses, were born
on Joseph's knees.

50:23. After which he told his brethren: God will visit you after my
death, and will make you go up out of this land, to the land which he
swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

50:24. And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you, carry
my bones with you out of this place:

50:25. And he died, being a hundred and ten years old. And being
embalmed, he was laid in a coffin in Egypt.





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