When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents.

Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Now Jacob cooked some stew, and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished.

So Esau said to Jacob, "Feed me some of the red stuff -- yes, this red stuff -- because I'm starving!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

But Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

But Jacob said, "Swear an oath to me now." So Esau swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. So Esau despised his birthright.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

"But Esau my brother is a hairy man," Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, "and I have smooth skin!

Then Rebekah took her older son Esau's best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.

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

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me."

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau."

So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's."

He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob.

Then he asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" "I am," Jacob replied.

Isaac said, "Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. Then I will bless you." So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac drank.

So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying, "Yes, my son smells like the scent of an open field which the Lord has blessed.

Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt.

Esau exclaimed, "'Jacob' is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!" Then he asked, "Have you not kept back a blessing for me?"

So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, "The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!"

When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, "Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am deeply depressed because of these daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!"

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, "You must not marry a Canaanite woman!

So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. As he blessed him, Isaac commanded him, "You must not marry a Canaanite woman."

Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram.

Meanwhile Jacob left Beer Sheba and set out for Haran.

Then Jacob woke up and thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!"

Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear,

So Jacob moved on and came to the land of the eastern people.

Jacob asked them, "My brothers, where are you from?" They replied, "We're from Haran."

"Is he well?" Jacob asked. They replied, "He is well. Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

Then Jacob said, "Since it is still the middle of the day, it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more."

When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he went over and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep loudly.

When Jacob explained to Rachel that he was a relative of her father and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father.

When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister's son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban how he was related to him.

Then Laban said to him, "You are indeed my own flesh and blood." So Jacob stayed with him for a month.

Then Laban said to Jacob, "Should you work for me for nothing because you are my relative? Tell me what your wages should be."

Since Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, he said, "I'll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel."

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. But they seemed like only a few days to him because his love for her was so great.

Finally Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time of service is up. I want to have marital relations with her."

In the evening he brought his daughter Leah to Jacob, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What in the world have you done to me! Didn't I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked me?"

Jacob did as Laban said. When Jacob completed Leah's bridal week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

Jacob had marital relations with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban for seven more years.

When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children or I'll die!"

Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"

So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.

Bilhah, Rachel's servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son.

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

Soon Leah's servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son.

Then Leah's servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son.

When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son's mandrakes." So he had marital relations with her that night.

God paid attention to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time.

Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time.

After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so that I can go home to my own country.

"You know how I have worked for you," Jacob replied, "and how well your livestock have fared under my care.

So Laban asked, "What should I give you?" "You don't need to give me a thing," Jacob replied, "but if you agree to this one condition, I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them:

Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, while Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban's flocks.

But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible.

Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban's flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban's flocks.

When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban and the stronger animals to Jacob.

In this way Jacob became extremely prosperous. He owned large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob heard that Laban's sons were complaining, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich at our father's expense!"

When Jacob saw the look on Laban's face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed.

The Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. I will be with you."

So Jacob sent a message for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where his flocks were.

In the dream the angel of God said to me, 'Jacob!' 'Here I am!' I replied.

So Jacob immediately put his children and his wives on the camels.

Jacob also deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving.

Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left.

So he took his relatives with him and pursued Jacob for seven days. He caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, "Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob."

Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too.

"What have you done?" Laban demanded of Jacob. "You've deceived me and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war!

I have the power to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, 'Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.'

"I left secretly because I was afraid!" Jacob replied to Laban. "I thought you might take your daughters away from me by force.

Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives identify whatever is yours and take it." (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)

So Laban entered Jacob's tent, and Leah's tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. "What did I do wrong?" he demanded of Laban. "What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit?

Laban replied to Jacob, "These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today or the children to whom they have given birth?

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar.

Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

"Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you," Laban said to Jacob.

May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us." Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared.

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

So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him.

When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

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

He commanded them, "This is what you must say to my lord Esau: 'This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

The messengers returned to Jacob and said, "We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him."

Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels.

Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said to me, 'Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.'

Jacob stayed there that night. Then he sent as a gift to his brother Esau