Lexicon :: Strong's H251 - 'āḥ

As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep,[fn] he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.

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

Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his relatives also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead.

“If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

“You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours?[fn] Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us.

Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you ​— ​and he has four hundred men with him.”

“Please rescue me from my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children.

He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau:

And he told the first one, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you? ’

“I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.”

On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

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

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

“Are you really going to reign over us? ” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us? ” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had? ” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you? ”

His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”

“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks? ”

“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert![fn]

When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the long-sleeved robe that he had on.

Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

“Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.

He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do? ”[fn]

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother.”

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

But then he pulled his hand back, out came his brother, and she said, “What a breakout you have made for yourself! ” So he was named Perez.[fn]

Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.[fn]

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.

“Where do you come from? ” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.