Study Desk

You have rummaged through everything I own. Now show me what you found that belongs to you! Set it out here in front of us, before our relatives, for all to see. Let them judge between us!

Then Laban replied to Jacob, "These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks—in fact, everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and their children?

If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other wives, God will see it even if no one else does. He is a witness to this covenant between us.

"See this pile of stones," Laban continued, "and see this monument I have set between us.

And be sure to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" Jacob thought, "I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me."

But Jacob insisted, "No, if I have found favor with you, please accept this gift from me. And what a relief to see your friendly smile. It is like seeing the face of God!

But Jacob replied, "You can see, my lord, that some of the children are very young, and the flocks and herds have their young, too. If they are driven too hard, even for one day, all the animals could die.

"Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me a report." So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.

"Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.' Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams!"

And he remembered the dreams he'd had about them many years before. He said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become."

"Yes, you are!" Joseph insisted. "You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become."

But Judah said, "The man was serious when he warned us, ‘You won't see my face again unless your brother is with you.'

But if you don't let Benjamin go, we won't go either. Remember, the man said, ‘You won't see my face again unless your brother is with you.'"

"And you said to us, ‘Bring him here so I can see him with my own eyes.'

But you told us, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes with you, you will never see my face again.'

we replied, ‘We can't go unless you let our youngest brother go with us. We'll never get to see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn't bear to see the anguish this would cause my father!"

Then Joseph added, "Look! You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that I really am Joseph!

Then Jacob exclaimed, "It must be true! My son Joseph is alive! I must go and see him before I die."

Then Joseph went to see Pharaoh and told him, "My father and my brothers have arrived from the land of Canaan. They have come with all their flocks and herds and possessions, and they are now in the region of Goshen."