LET'S READ SCRIPTURE

  Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife 1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2 The  Lord  was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.  3 When his master saw that the  Lord  was with him and that the  Lord  gave him success in everything he did,  4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.  5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the  Lord  blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the  Lord  was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.  6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern hims...

  Jacob Returns to Bethel 1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.  3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”  4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.  5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.  7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,  because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing...

  Jacob’s Dream at Bethel 10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.  11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.  12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  13 There above it  stood the  Lord , and he said: “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 are lying.   14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.   15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have p...

  Isaac and Abimelek 1 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar.  2 The  Lord  appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.  3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.  4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring  all nations on earth will be blessed,   5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”  6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this pla...