Genesis 28:1-9 - Jacob Flees To Haran

¹ Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; ² But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. ³ And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples. ⁴ And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage. ⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob away: and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan-aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; ⁷ And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram; ⁸ It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan, ⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

¹ Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East. ² And there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep: and on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone. ³ And all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away, they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole.

⁴ Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran.

⁵ And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have.

⁶ And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep. ⁷ Then Jacob said, The sun is still high and it is not time to get the cattle together: get water for the sheep and go and give them their food.

⁸ And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the water-hole; then we will get water for the sheep.

⁹ While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them. ¹⁰ Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock. ¹¹ And weeping for joy, Jacob gave Rachel a kiss. ¹² And Rachel, hearing from Jacob that he was her father's relation and that he was the son of Rebekah, went running to give her father news of it.

¹³ And Laban, hearing news of Jacob, his sister's son, came running, and took Jacob in his arms, and kissing him, made him come into his house. And Jacob gave him news of everything.

¹⁴ And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.