Genesis 28:1-9 - Jacob Flees To Haran

¹ And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded him. And he said to him, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ² Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. And take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. ³ And may God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you may be a multitude of peoples. ⁴ And may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, so that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham. ⁵ And Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Padan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Padan-aram in order to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; ⁷ and Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Padan-aram; ⁸ and when Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father; ⁹ then Esau went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to the wives which he had for his wife.

¹ And Jacob lifted his feet and went to the land of the sons of the east. ² And he looked, and behold, a well was in the field! And, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for they watered the flocks out of that well. And a great stone was upon the well's mouth. ³ And all the flocks were gathered there. And they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in its place.

⁴ And Jacob said to them, My brothers, where are you from? And they said, We are from Haran.

⁵ And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.

⁶ And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well. And, behold, his daughter Rachel comes with the sheep. ⁷ And he said, Lo, the day is yet high. It is not yet time for gathering the cattle together. Water the sheep, and go feed them.

⁸ And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered together. And they roll the stone from the well's mouth, then we water the sheep.

⁹ While he still spoke with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. ¹⁰ And it happened when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, then Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flocks of Laban his mother's brother. ¹¹ And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. ¹² And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father.

¹³ And it happened when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.

¹⁴ And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him for a month.