Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste: but Rebekah had more love for Jacob.

So Isaac went on living in Gerar;

And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.

And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife.

And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife: why then did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her.

For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.

Now all the water-holes, which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham, had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines.

So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.

Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water.

But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.

Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.

Then he went away from there, and made another water-hole, about which there was no fighting: so he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land.

And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with you: so we said, Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make an agreement with you;

And that day Isaac's servants came to him and gave him word of the water-hole which they had made, and said to him, We have come to water.

And he gave it the name of Shibah: so the name of that town is Beer-sheba to this day.

Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time:

So take your arrows and your bow and go out to the field and get meat for me;

And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me.

Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat.

Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death.

Now, my son, do what I say.

Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste:

And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death.

And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me.

So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste.

And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way.

And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not.

And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.

And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink.

And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come:

Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.

And he made ready a meal, good to the taste, and took it to his father, and said to him, Let my father get up and take of his son's meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.

So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death.

So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban;

And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away;

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.

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.

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.

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.

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;

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.

So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them.

And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping.

So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God,

And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.

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.

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.

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them.

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.

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.

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.

Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother are you to be my servant for nothing? say now, what is your payment to be?

And Leah's eyes were clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form.

Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife so that I may have her, for the days are ended.

And in the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? was I not working for you so that I might have Rachel? why have you been false to me?

And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife.

Then she became with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Because it has come to the Lord's ears that I am not loved, he has given me this son in addition: and she gave him the name Simeon.

And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Now at last my husband will be united to me, because I have given him three sons: so he was named Levi.

And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son: and she said, This time I will give praise to the Lord: so he was named Judah; after this she had no more children for a time.

Then she said, Here is my servant Bilhah, go in to her, so that she may have a child on my knees, and I may have a family by her.

So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

Then Rachel said, God has been my judge, and has given ear to my voice, and has given me a son; so he was named Dan.

And again Bilhah, Rachel's servant, was with child, and gave birth to a second son.

And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a son.

And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a second son.

Now at the time of the grain-cutting, Reuben saw some love-fruits in the field, and took them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to her, Let me have some of your son's love-fruits.

But Leah said to her, Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband from me? and now would you take my son's love-fruits? Then Rachel said, You may have him tonight in exchange for your son's love-fruits.

In the evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to him and said, Tonight you are to come to me, for I have given my son's love-fruits as a price for you. And he went in to her that night.

Then Leah said, God has made payment to me for giving my servant-girl to my husband: so she gave her son the name Issachar.

And Laban said, If you will let me say so, do not go away; for I have seen by the signs that the Lord has been good to me because of you.

Say then what your payment is to be and I will give it.

And so you will be able to put my honour to the test in time to come; if you see among my flocks any goats which are not marked or coloured, or any sheep which is not black, you may take me for a thief.

And Laban said, Let it be as you say.

So that day he took all the he-goats which were banded or coloured, and all the she-goats which were marked or coloured or had white marks, and all the black sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons;

And sent them three days' journey away: and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flock.

Then Jacob took young branches of trees, cutting off the skin so that the white wood was seen in bands.

These lambs Jacob kept separate; and he put his flock in a place by themselves and not with Laban's flock.

And whenever the stronger ones of the flock became with young, Jacob put the sticks in front of them in the drinking-places, so that they might become with young when they saw the sticks.

But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put the sticks before them; so that the feebler flocks were Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's.

So Jacob's wealth was greatly increased; he had great flocks and women-servants and men-servants and camels and asses.

Now it came to the ears of Jacob that Laban's sons were saying, Jacob has taken away all our father's property, and in this way he has got all this wealth.

And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before.

And he said to them, It is clear to me that your father's feeling is no longer what it was to me; but the God of my father has been with me

So God has taken away your father's cattle and has given them to me.

And at the time when the flock were with young, I saw in a dream that all the he-goats which were joined with the she-goats were banded and marked and coloured.

And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and coloured: for I have seen what Laban has done to you.

Then Rachel and Leah said to him in answer, What part or heritage is there for us in our father's house?

For the wealth which God has taken from him is ours and our children's; so now, whatever God has said to you, do.

Now Laban had gone to see to the cutting of the wool of his sheep; so Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house.

So he went away with all he had, and went across the River in the direction of the hill-country of Gilead.

And on the third day Laban had news of Jacob's flight.

Then God came to Laban in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.

Why did you make a secret of your flight, not giving me word of it, so that I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with melody and music?

It is in my power to do you damage: but the God of your father came to me this night, saying, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.

And now, it seems, you are going because your heart's desire is for your father's house; but why have you taken my gods?