Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ¹  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

“So then, Jeremiah, ¹  when your people ²  ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ tell them, ‘It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So ³  you must serve foreigners ⁴  in a land that does not belong to you.’

How long must the land be parched ¹  and the grass in every field be withered? How long ²  must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ³  For these people boast, “God ⁴  will not see what happens to us.” ⁵ 

The Lord answered, ¹  “If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only ²  in safe and open country, ³  how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? ⁴ 

You must allot it as an inheritance among yourselves and for the foreigners who reside among you, who have fathered sons among you. You must treat them as native-born among the people of Israel; they will be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. ¹ 

In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. ¹ 

Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’” ¹ 

I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, ¹  in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, ²  in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers,

and the borders of Canaan extended ¹  from Sidon ²  all the way to ³  Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to ⁴  Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

And he journeyed from place to place ¹  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ²  He returned ³  to the place where he had pitched his tent ⁴  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ²  possession. I will be their God.”

Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ¹  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

Later the older daughter said ¹  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby ²  to have sexual relations with us, ³  according to the way of all the world.

So Jacob ¹  went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent ²  of his clothing, he blessed him, saying, “Yes, ³  my son smells like the scent of an open field which the Lord has blessed.

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with ¹  Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

But seven years of famine will occur ¹  after them, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will devastate ²  the land.

Pharaoh should do ¹  this – he should appoint ²  officials ³  throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt ⁴  during the seven years of abundance.

Pharaoh ¹  had him ride in the chariot used by his second-in-command, ²  and they cried out before him, “Kneel down!” ³  So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

They replied, “Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers. ¹  We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time, ²  and one is no longer alive.” ³ 

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know ¹  that you are honest men and not spies. ²  Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.’” ³