Then the LORD ordered Jacob, "Go back to your father's territory and to your relatives. I'll be with you."

That night, God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Be careful what you say to Jacob, whether it's one word good or bad."

It's actually in my power to do some serious evil to you, but last night the God of your father told me, "Be careful what you say to Jacob whether good or evil.'

So Jacob made an oath by his father's Fear, offered sacrifices there on the mountain, and called on his relatives to eat some food. So they ate the food and spent the night on the mountain.

Later, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, "We went to your brother Esau. He's now coming to meet you and he has 400 men with him!"

Then the man asked him, "What's your name?" "Jacob," he responded

Just before she died, Rachel called her son's name Ben-oni, but his father Jacob named him Benjamin.

Esau told Jacob, "Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I'm starving." (That's how Esau got his nickname "Edom".)

Their father Jacob told them, "You're causing me to lose my children! Joseph is gone. Now Simeon is gone, and you're planning to take Benjamin, too. Everything's going against me!"

So Joseph's brothers left Egypt and returned to the land of Canaan and to their father Jacob,

And he said, What were all those herds which I saw on the way? And Jacob said, They were an offering so that I might have grace in my lord's eyes.

But Jacob said, My lord may see that the children are only small, and there are young ones in my flocks and herds: one day's over-driving will be the destruction of all the flock.

When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted.

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said,

Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin.

Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.”

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?”

So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it

Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,

Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country.

Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?”

“We’re from Haran,” they answered.

“Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked them.

They answered, “We know him.”

“Is he well?” Jacob asked.

“Yes,” they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep.”

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.

Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.”

After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.”

Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

So Jacob said to him, “You know what I have done for you and your herds.

Laban asked, “What should I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.

Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches.

Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were.

In that dream the Angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

Then Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels.

And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, not telling him that he was fleeing.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war!

Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker.

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

Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.

Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me.

The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor—the gods of their father—will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, cattle, and camels.

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok.

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “and I have been delivered.”

Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

but Jacob went on to Succoth. He built a house for himself and stalls for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at Shechem in the land of Canaan and camped in front of the city.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

Jacob built an altar there and called the place God of Bethel because it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.

Jacob set up a marker at the place where He had spoken to him—a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

Esau took his wives, sons, daughters, and all the people of his household, as well as his herds, all his livestock, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan; he went to a land away from his brother Jacob.

Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them: