Study Desk

He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok.

Ya‘akov raised his eyes and looked out; and there was ‘Esav coming, and four hundred men with him. So Ya‘akov divided the children between Le'ah, Rachel and the two slave-girls,

putting the slave-girls and their children first, Le'ah and her children second, and Rachel and Yosef last.

Esav looked up; on seeing the women and children, he asked, "Who are these with you?" Ya‘akov answered, "The children God has graciously given to your servant."

(iv) Then the slave-girls approached with their children, and they prostrated themselves;

Le'ah too and her children approached and prostrated themselves; and last came Yosef and Rachel; and they prostrated themselves.

Ya‘akov said to him, "My lord knows that the children are small, and the sheep and cattle suckling their young concern me, because if they overdrive them even one day, all the flocks will die.

Instead, please, let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the cattle ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Se‘ir."

everything they owned. Their children and wives they took captive, and they looted whatever was in the houses.

The children of ‘Anah were Dishon and Oholivamah the daughter of ‘Anah.

Now Isra'el loved Yosef the most of all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe.

Ya‘akov their father said to them, "You have robbed me of my children! Yosef is gone, Shim‘on is gone, now you're taking Binyamin away — it all falls on me!"

May El Shaddai give you favor in the man's sight, so that he will release to you your other brother as well as Binyamin. As for me, if I must lose my children, lose them I will."

But he replied, "Heaven forbid that I should act in such a way. The man in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave; but as for you, go in peace to your father." Haftarah Mikketz: M'lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 3:15–4:1 B'rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Mikketz: Acts 7:9–16 (specifically vv. 11–12) Then Y'hudah approached Yosef and said, "Please, my lord! Let your servant say something to you privately; and don't be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father? or a brother?' We answered my lord, ‘We have a father who is an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one whose brother is dead; so that of his mother's children he alone is left; and his father loves him.' But you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.' We answered my lord, ‘The boy can't leave his father; if he were to leave his father, his father would die.' You said to your servants, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' We went up to your servant my father and told him what my lord had said; but when our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food,' we answered, ‘We can't go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we can't see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons: the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he has been torn to pieces," and I haven't seen him since. Now if you take this one away from me too, and something happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sh'ol with grief.' So now if I go to your servant my father, and the boy isn't with us — seeing how his heart is bound up with the boy's heart — (ii) when he sees that the boy isn't with us, he will die; and your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sh'ol with grief. For your servant himself guaranteed his safety; I said, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.' Therefore, I beg you, let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how can I go up to my father if the boy isn't with me? I couldn't bear to see my father so overwhelmed by anguish."

We answered my lord, ‘We have a father who is an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one whose brother is dead; so that of his mother's children he alone is left; and his father loves him.'

You will live in the land of Goshen and be near me — you, your children, your grandchildren, flocks, herds, everything you own.

These are the names of Isra'el's children who came into Egypt, Ya‘akov and his sons: Re'uven Ya‘akov's firstborn;

These were the children of Le'ah whom she bore to Ya‘akov in Paddan-Aram, with his daughter Dinah. In sum, his sons and daughters numbered thirty-three.

The children of Asher: Yimnah, Yishvah, Yishvi, B'ri‘ah, and their sister Serach. The sons of B'ri‘ah were Hever and Malki'el.

These were the children of Zilpah, whom Lavan gave to Le'ah his daughter; she bore them to Ya‘akov — sixteen people.