And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son:

And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck:

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 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:

May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure:

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 when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field.

And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be?

And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son?

Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be:

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.

Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day?

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.

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.

And coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head he went to sleep in that place.

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.

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it.

And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven.

And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it.

Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on,

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

Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East.

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 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.

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 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.

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

And Jacob was in love with Rachel; and he said, I will be your servant seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.

And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man: go on living here with me.

And in the evening he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him, and he went in to her.

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 Laban said, In our country we do not let the younger daughter be married before the older.

Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years.

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

Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah; and he went on working for Laban for another seven years.

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.

Now Rachel, because she had no children, was full of envy of her sister; and she said to Jacob, If you do not give me children I will not go on living.

But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit?

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.

When it was clear to Leah that she would have no more children for a time, she gave Zilpah, her servant, to Jacob as a wife.

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.

For before I came you had little, and it has been greatly increased; and the Lord has given you a blessing in everything I have done; but when am I to do something for my family?

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.

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

And he put the banded sticks in the drinking-places where the flock came to get water; and they became with young when they came to the water.

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.

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 sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him in the field among his flock.

And you have seen how I have done all in my power for your father,

But your father has not kept faith with me, and ten times he has made changes in my payment; but God has kept him from doing me damage.

If he said, All those in the flock which have marks are to be yours, then all the flock gave birth to marked young; and if he said, All the banded ones are to be yours, then all the flock had banded young.

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 in my dream the angel of the Lord said to me, Jacob: and I said, Here am I.

I am the God of Beth-el, where you put oil on the pillar and took an oath to me: now then, come out of this land and go back to the country of your birth.

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

Then Jacob put his wives and his sons on camels;

And sending on before him all his cattle and his property which he had got together in Paddan-aram, he made ready to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

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.

And taking the men of his family with him, he went after him for seven days and overtook him in the hill-country of Gilead.

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.

Now when Laban overtook him, Jacob had put up his tent in the hill-country; and Laban and his brothers put up their tents in the hill-country of Gilead.

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 Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force.

Now Rachel had taken the images, and had put them in the camels' basket, and was seated on them. And Laban, searching through all the tent, did not come across them.

And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry because I do not get up before you, for I am in the common condition of women. And with all his searching, he did not come across the images.

These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your goats have had young without loss, not one of your he-goats have I taken for food.

This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes.

These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed.

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back.

Come, let us make an agreement, you and I; and let it be for a witness between us.

And Mizpah, for he said, May the Lord keep watch on us when we are unable to see one another's doings.

If you are cruel to my daughters, or if you take other wives in addition to my daughters, then though no man is there to see, God will be the witness between us.

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, be our judge. Then Jacob took an oath by the Fear of his father Isaac.

And Jacob made an offering on the mountain, and gave orders to his people to take food: so they had a meal and took their rest that night on the mountain.

And early in the morning Laban, after kissing and blessing his daughters, went on his way back to his country.

And on his way Jacob came face to face with the angels of God.

And when he saw them he said, This is the army of God: so he gave that place the name of Mahanaim.

Now Jacob sent servants before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom;

And I have oxen and asses and flocks and men-servants and women-servants: and I have sent to give my lord news of these things so that I may have grace in his eyes.

When the servants came back they said, We have seen your brother Esau and he is coming out to you, and four hundred men with him.

Then Jacob was in great fear and trouble of mind: and he put all the people and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups;

And said, If Esau, meeting one group, makes an attack on them, the others will get away safely.

I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies.

Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child.

Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau,

These he gave to his servants, every herd by itself, and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and let there be a space between one herd and another.

And he gave orders to the first, saying, When my brother Esau comes to you and says, Whose servant are you, and where are you going, and whose are these herds?

Then say to him, These are your servant Jacob's; they are an offering for my lord, for Esau; and he himself is coming after us.

And he gave the same orders to the second and the third and to all those who were with the herds, saying, This is what you are to say to Esau when you see him;