Bible Verses About Patriarchal Government

do not evil with us, as we have not touched thee, and as we have only done good with thee, and send thee away in peace; thou art now blessed of Jehovah.'

And he maketh for them a banquet, and they eat and drink,

and rise early in the morning, and swear one to another, and Isaac sendeth them away, and they go from him in peace.

And it cometh to pass during that day that Isaac's servants come and declare to him concerning the circumstances of the well which they have digged, and say to him, `We have found water;'

and he calleth it Shebah, oath, therefore the name of the city is Beer-Sheba, well of the oath, unto this day.

and God doth give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of corn and wine;

peoples serve thee, and nations bow themselves to thee, be thou mighty over thy brethren, and the sons of thy mother bow themselves to thee; those who curse thee are cursed, and those who bless thee are blessed.'

And God saith unto Jacob, `Rise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared unto thee in thy fleeing from the face of Esau thy brother.'

And Jacob saith unto his household, and unto all who are with him, `Turn aside the gods of the stranger which are in your midst, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments;

and we rise, and go up to Bethel, and I make there an altar to God, who is answering me in the day of my distress, and is with me in the way that I have gone.'

And they give unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger that are in their hand, and the rings that are in their ears, and Jacob hideth them under the oak which is by Shechem;

and they journey, and the terror of God is on the cities which are round about them, and they have not pursued after the sons of Jacob.

And Jacob cometh in to Luz which is in the land of Canaan (it is Bethel), he and all the people who are with him,

and he buildeth there an altar, and proclaimeth at the place the God of Bethel: for there had God been revealed unto him, in his fleeing from the face of his brother.

And it cometh to pass about three months after , that it is declared to Judah, saying, `Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath committed fornication; and also, lo, she hath conceived by fornication:' and Judah saith, `Bring her out--and she is burnt.'

And Jacob calleth unto his sons and saith, `Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which doth happen with you in the latter end of the days.

`Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, And hearken unto Israel your father.

Reuben! my first-born thou, My power, and beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of strength;

Unstable as water, thou art not abundant; For thou hast gone up thy father's bed; Then thou hast polluted: My couch he went up!

Simeon and Levi are brethren! Instruments of violence--their espousals!

Into their secret, come not, O my soul! Unto their assembly be not united, O mine honour; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will eradicated a prince.

Cursed is their anger, for it is fierce, And their wrath, for it is sharp; I divide them in Jacob, And I scatter them in Israel.

Judah! thou--thy brethren praise thee! Thy hand is on the neck of thine enemies, Sons of thy father bow themselves to thee.

A lion's whelp is Judah, For prey, my son, thou hast gone up; He hath bent, he hath crouched as a lion, And as a lioness; who causeth him to arise?

The sceptre turneth not aside from Judah, And a lawgiver from between his feet, Till his Seed come; And his is the obedience of peoples.