Father

And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.

He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.

Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”

…and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.

You know that I have served your father with all my strength.

Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”

…and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’

Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’

And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.

So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask.

But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.

And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir.

These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.)

Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was the father of the Edomites.

Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan.

This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.

“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.

They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them:

We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”

Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I fail to bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him.”

So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our children.

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

“It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, gave you the treasure that was in your sacks. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

He asked if they were well, and then he asked, “How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?”

“Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.

But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.”

My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’

So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’

Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him.

Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’

And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.

So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life,

…sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’

Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’

For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.

Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.

Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’

You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back.

And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.

So the brothers went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.

However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived.

So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives.

Joseph prepared his chariot and went there to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, embraced him, and wept profusely.

So Joseph went and told Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you,

…the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They may dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any talented men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

So Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

Joseph also provided his father and brothers and all his father’s household with food for their families.

Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”

Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s.

“Not so, my father!” Joseph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

…by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him,

…my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”

…my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”

Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Egypt—

When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.

After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.