Study Desk

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.”

Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

And he set up an altar there and called it God, the God of Israel.

God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

Jacob built an altar there and called the place El-bethel because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.

Then God withdrew from him at the place where he had spoken to him.

Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”

“I am not able to,” Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

“It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Since the dream was given twice to Pharaoh, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.