And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son?

And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss.

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

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 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.

And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your oldest son, Esau.

And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father!

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?

And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping.

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:

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.

Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death.

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

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?

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?

Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

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 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;

And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram;

It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for 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 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.

Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land; and I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you.

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,

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.

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

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

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

And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.

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.

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.

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

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?

Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

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

And Jacob did seven years' work for Rachel; and because of his love for her it seemed to him only a very little time.

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

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

And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah, to be her waiting-woman.

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 Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman.

And Leah was with child, and gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Reuben: for she said, The Lord has seen my sorrow; now my husband will have love for me.

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.

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.

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.

And Bilhah became with child, and gave birth to a son.

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.

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.

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

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

And Leah said, Happy am I! and all women will give witness to my joy: and she gave him the name Asher.

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.

And God gave ear to her and she became with child, and gave Jacob a fifth son.

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.

After that she had a daughter, to whom she gave the name Dinah.

Then God gave thought to Rachel, and hearing her prayer he made her fertile.

And she was with child, and gave birth to a son: and she said, God has taken away my shame.

Now after the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go away to my place and my country.

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.

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 Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything; but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me:

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.

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 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.

And because of this, the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of colour.

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.

Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers, and to your relations, and I will be with you.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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?

Are we not as people from a strange country to him? for he took a price for us and now it is all used up.

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

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.

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.

And Jacob went away secretly, without giving news of his flight to Laban the Aramaean.

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.

And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war?