until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"

Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

May El Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,

and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham."

Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,"

He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed.

Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.

Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."

Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.

Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,

so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and the LORD will be my God,

then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."

He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was large.

Jacob said to them, "My relatives, where are you from?" They said, "We are from Haran."

He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him."

They said, "We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep."

Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. He lived with him for a month.

Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?"

Jacob loved Rachel. He said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me."

Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.

Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her."

Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid.

It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"

Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years."

Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, "Because the LORD has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me."

She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also." She named him Simeon.

She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi.

She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, "This time will I praise the LORD." Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."

Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan.

Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.

When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.

Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.

Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher.

She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night.

God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.

Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.

Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.

Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.

Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."

Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake."

He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."

He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.

For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. The LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"

He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.

So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."

Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word."

He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this wealth."

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

and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.

You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me.

It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.

The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.'

He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money.

For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."

and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he was running away.

God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad."

Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and did not tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.

It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.'

Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father's house, but why have you stolen my gods?"

Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.'

Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

She said to her father, "Do not let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me." He searched, but did not find the teraphim.

Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?

Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.

These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.

That which was torn of animals, I did not bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."

Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?

Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you."

Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.

Laban said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Galeed

and Mizpah, for he said, "The LORD watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.

If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you."