44 Bible Verses about Jacob, Life And Character Of

The first son came out reddish his entire body was covered with hair so they named him Esau. After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was unable to conceive children, and the LORD responded to him his wife Rebekah became pregnant. But when the infants kept on wrestling each other inside her womb, she asked herself, "Why is this happening?" So she asked the LORD for an explanation. "Two nations are in your womb," the LORD responded, "and two separate people will emerge. One people will be the stronger, and the older one will serve the younger."read more.
Sure enough, when her due date arrived, she delivered twin sons. The first son came out reddish his entire body was covered with hair so they named him Esau. After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

Then he said, "Isn't his name rightly called Jacob?" Esau asked. "He has circumvented me this second time. First, he took away my birthright, and now, look how he also stole my blessing." Then he added, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished. Esau told Jacob, "Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I'm starving." (That's how Esau got his nickname "Edom".) But Jacob responded, "Sell me your birthright. Do it now."read more.
"Look! I'm about to die," Esau replied. "What good is this birthright to me?" But Jacob insisted, "Swear it by an oath right now." So he swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some of his food, along with some boiled stew. So Esau ate, drank, got up, and left, after having belittled his own birthright.

Eventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see. One day, he called his eldest son Esau. "My son," he called out to him. "Look how old I am! I could die any day now, so go find your weapons, take your bow and arrows, go outside, and hunt some game for me. read more.
Then prepare some food, just the way I like it, and bring it to me so that I can eat and bless you before I die." Now Rebekah overheard Isaac while he was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out to the field to hunt and bring in some game, Rebekah gave these instructions to her son Jacob: "Quick! Pay attention!" she said. "I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He told him, "Bring me some game and then prepare some food for me so I can eat and bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.' So now, my son, listen to what I have to say and pay attention to what I'm about to tell you. Go to the flock and bring me two healthy young goats. I'll prepare some delicious food for your father, just the way he loves it. Then you are to take it to your father so that he can eat and bless you before he dies." "But look!" Jacob pointed out to his mother Rebekah, "My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I'm smooth skinned. My father might touch me and he'll realize that I'm deceiving him. Then, I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing." "My son," she replied, "let any curse against you fall on me. Just listen to me, then go and get them for me." So out he went, got them, and brought them to his mother, who then prepared some delicious food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took some garments that belonged to her elder son Esau the best ones available and put them on her younger son Jacob. She put some goat skins over his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the delicious food and bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob, who went to his father and said, "My father"" "It's me!" he replied. "Which one are you, my son?" "I'm Esau, your firstborn!" Jacob told his father. "I've done what you asked, so please sit up and eat what I caught, so you can bless me." "How did you get it so quickly, my son?" Isaac asked. Jacob responded, ""because the LORD your God made me successful." So Isaac told Jacob, "Come here, my son, so I can feel you and know for sure whether or not you're my son Esau." So Jacob approached his father, who felt him and said, "It's Jacob's voice, but Esau's hands." He didn't recognize Jacob, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau, so Isaac blessed him. He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" "I am," Jacob replied. "Come closer to me," Isaac replied, "so I can eat some of the game, my son, and then bless you." So Jacob came closer, and Isaac ate. Jacob also brought wine so his father could drink. After this, Jacob's father Isaac told him, "Come closer and kiss me, my son." So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son's clothes, he blessed him and said, "How my son's scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed. May the LORD grant you dew from the skies, and from the fertile land; may he grant you abundant grain and fresh wine. May people serve and bow before you; may you be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow before you; may anyone who curses you be cursed; and may anyone who blesses you be blessed."

No one should be immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he could not find any opportunity to repent, even though he begged to repent with tears.

Meanwhile, Jacob had left Beer-sheba and was on his way to Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow, and slept there for the night, when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God's angels were ascending and descending on it. read more.
And there was the LORD, standing above it and telling Jacob, "I am the LORD God of your grandfather Abraham. I'm Isaac's God, too. I'm giving you and your descendants the ground on which you're sleeping. Your descendants are going to become like the dust of the earth and spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. Now pay attention! I'm here with you, and I'm going to be watching over you wherever you go. I'm going to bring you back to this land, because I won't ever leave you until I've accomplished what I've promised about you."

The LORD told Abram, "You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father's house and go to the land that I'm going to show you. I'll make a great nation of your descendants, I'll bless you, and I'll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you, but I'll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed."

Then the LORD took him outside. "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can!" he said. "Your descendants will be that numerous."

May people serve and bow before you; may you be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow before you; may anyone who curses you be cursed; and may anyone who blesses you be blessed."

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful so that your descendants become a whole group of people. May he give you and your descendants the blessings that he gave Abraham. May you possess the land where you have lived that God gave to Abraham."

So God called his name Israel and also told him, "I am God Almighty. You are to be fruitful and multiply. You will become a nation in fact, an assembly of nations! Kings will come from you they'll emerge from your own loins! Now as for the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I'm giving it to you and to your descendants who come after you. I'm giving the land to you!" After this, God ascended from the place where he had been speaking to him.

So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself, "The time to mourn for my father is very near. That's when I'm going to kill my brother Jacob." Eventually, what Rebekah's older son Esau had been saying was reported to her, so she sent for her younger son Jacob and warned him, "Look! Your brother is planning to get even by killing you. Son, you'd better do what I say! Get up, run off to my brother Laban in Haran, read more.
and stay there with him a few days until your brother's fury subsides. After that happens and he has forgotten what you've done to him, I'll send for you so you can return from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

So Isaac sent Jacob off toward Paddan-aram to visit Bethuel's son Laban, the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Meanwhile, Jacob had left Beer-sheba and was on his way to Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow, and slept there for the night, when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God's angels were ascending and descending on it. read more.
And there was the LORD, standing above it and telling Jacob, "I am the LORD God of your grandfather Abraham. I'm Isaac's God, too. I'm giving you and your descendants the ground on which you're sleeping. Your descendants are going to become like the dust of the earth and spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. Now pay attention! I'm here with you, and I'm going to be watching over you wherever you go. I'm going to bring you back to this land, because I won't ever leave you until I've accomplished what I've promised about you." Then Jacob woke up during the night and told himself, "Surely, the LORD is in this place and I never knew it!" In mounting terror, he cried out, "How scary this place is! This is nothing less than God's house and the gateway to heaven!" When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that he had used for his pillow, set it up as a pillar, drenched it with oil, and named the place Beth-el, although previously the city had been named Luz. Then he made this solemn vow: "If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I'm taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, and returns me safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God, this stone that I've erected in the form of a pillar will be God's house, and I'll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me."

Later, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, instructing him, "Don't marry a wife from the local Canaanite women. Instead, get up, travel to Paddan-aram, and visit the household of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of Laban's daughters, since he's your mother's brother.

Now Laban happened to have two daughters. The older one was named Leah and the younger was named Rachel. Leah looked rather plain, but Rachel was lovely in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel, so he made this offer to Laban: "I'll serve you for seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."read more.
"It's better that I give her to you than to another man," Laban replied, "so stay with me." Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but it seemed like only a few days because of his love for her. Eventually, Jacob told Laban, "Bring me my wife, now that my time of service has been completed, so I can go be with her." So Laban gathered all the men who lived in that place and held a wedding festival. That night Laban took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. He had marital relations with her. Laban also gave his servant woman Zilpah to Leah to be her maidservant. The next morning, Jacob realized that it was Leah! "What have you done to me?" he demanded of Laban. "Didn't I serve you for seven years in order to marry Rachel? Why did you deceive me?" But Laban responded, "It's not the practice of our place to give the younger one in marriage before the firstborn. Fulfill the week for this daughter, then we'll give you the other one in exchange for serving me another seven years." So Jacob completed another seven years' work, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban also gave his woman servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maidservant. Jacob also married Rachel, since he loved her. He served Laban another full seven years' work for Rachel.

But Jacob replied to Laban, "You know how I've served you and how your cattle thrived under my care. What you had previously was only a few head, but the herd has now multiplied, because the LORD has blessed you through my efforts. But now, when am I going to be able to provide for my own household?" "What do I have to give you?" Laban asked.read more.
Jacob responded, "You don't have to give me anything. Just do this for me: Let me tend your flock again and watch over it. Let me walk among your flocks today and remove every speckled or spotted sheep, along with every black lamb, and let me do the same with the speckled and spotted goats. These will be my wages. In the future, you'll be able to verify my honesty because, when you come to check what I've earned, if you find a goat that's not speckled or spotted or a sheep that's not black, then it will have been stolen by me." "Okay," Laban replied. "We'll do it the way you've asked." That very day, Laban removed the male goats that were striped or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted that is, every one that had white on them and all the black lambs and placed them into the care of his sons. He sent them as far away from Jacob as a three days' journey could take them. Meanwhile, Jacob kept tending the rest of Laban's flock. Jacob took branches from white poplar trees, freshly cut almond trees, and some other trees, stripped off their bark to make white streaks, and uncovered the white part inside the branches. Then he placed the branches that he had stripped bare in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He placed the branches in front of the flock, and they went into heat as they came to drink. When the flocks mated in front of the branches, they would bear offspring that were striped, speckled, or spotted. Jacob kept the lambs separate, facing the striped and entirely black ones that belonged to Laban's flock. He set his own herd by itself and would not let them be with Laban's flock. Whenever the more vigorous of the flock came into heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the flock to make them mate by the branches. But he didn't put the branches in front of any of the feeble members of the flock. As a result, the feeble ones belonged to Laban, but the stronger ones belonged to Jacob. Therefore the man Jacob prospered so much that he had large flocks, female and male servants, as well as camels and donkeys.

Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where his flock was and informed them, "I've noticed that the way your father has been looking at us hasn't been as nice as it was just two days ago. But my father's God has been with me. You know I've been serving your father with all my heart. read more.
Even so, your father has cheated me. He broke our wage agreement ten times. However, God didn't allow him to harm me. "When Laban said, "The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flock gave birth to speckled ones. Then when he said, "The streaked ones will be your wages,' all the flock gave birth to streaked offspring. "So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me.

Now Jacob used to listen while Laban's sons kept on complaining, "Jacob has taken over everything our father owns! He made himself wealthy from what belongs to our father!" Jacob also noticed that the way Laban had been looking at him wasn't as nice as it had been just two days earlier. Then the LORD ordered Jacob, "Go back to your father's territory and to your relatives. I'll be with you."

As it was, when it was time for the livestock to breed, I once looked up in a dream, and the male goats that were mating with the flock were producing streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring. "Later, the angel of God spoke to me in a dream, "Jacob.' ""Here I am,' I replied ""Look around!' he said. "Go ahead, look! All the male goats have been mating with the flock, producing offspring that are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I've been watching everything that Laban has done to you. read more.
I am the God of Bethel, the place where you consecrated that stone and made a vow to me. Now get up, leave this territory, and return to your native land.'"

And so Jacob was left alone, and he struggled with a man until daybreak. When the man realized that he hadn't yet won the struggle, he injured the socket of Jacob's thigh, dislocating it as he wrestled with him, and said, "Let me go, because the dawn has come." "I won't let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me."read more.
Then the man asked him, "What's your name?" "Jacob," he responded "Your name won't be Jacob anymore," the man replied, "but Israel, because you exerted yourself against both God and men, and you've emerged victorious." "Please," Jacob inquired, "Tell me your name." But he asked, "Why are you asking about my name?" And he blessed Jacob there. Jacob would later call that place Peniel, because "I saw God face to face, but my life was spared."

Later, God told Jacob, "Get up, move to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau." Jacob announced to his household and to everyone with him, "Throw away the foreign gods that you've kept among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. Then let's get up and go to Bethel, where I'll build an altar to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who was with me on the road, wherever I went."read more.
So they handed over to Jacob all their foreign gods on which they had been depending, along with the rings that they were wearing on their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that grew near Shechem. As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob's sons.

When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah's children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups. Then he positioned the women servants and their children first, then Leah and her children next, and then Rachel and Joseph after them. Then he went out to meet Esau, passing in front of all of them, and bowed low to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.read more.
Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Then he fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept. When Esau eventually looked around, he saw the women and the children. "Who are these people with you?" he asked. "The children, whom God has graciously given your servant," he answered. Then the women servants approached, accompanied by their children, and bowed low. Leah also approached, and she and her children bowed low. After this, Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed low. Then Esau asked, "What are all these livestock for?" "To solicit favor from you, sir," Jacob answered. But Esau replied, "I already have so much, my brother, so keep what belongs to you." "Please," Jacob implored him, "don't refuse. If I'm to receive favor from you, then receive this gift from me, because seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have favorably accepted me. So receive my blessing, which has been sent to you, since God has been gracious to me. Besides, I have enough." Because Jacob kept pressing him, Esau accepted the gifts. Then Esau suggested, "Let's set out and travel together, but let me go in front of you." "Sir, you know that the children are frail," Jacob suggested, "and the ewes and cows with me are still nursing their young. If they're driven even for a day, the entire flock will die. So allow yourself to go ahead of your servant while I travel more slowly, letting the herds set their own pace with the children until I arrive to see my lord in Seir." Esau said, "Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." "Why do that?" Jacob asked. "I've already found favor in your sight, sir." So Esau set out that very day back on his way to Seir, but Jacob set out for Succoth, built a house there, and constructed some cattle shelters. He named the place Succoth.

But while Israel lived in that land, Reuben went inside his father's tent and had sexual relations with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now Jacob had twelve sons. Leah's sons were Reuben (Jacob's first-born), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin. read more.
Rachel's servant Bilhah's sons were Dan and Naphtali. Leah's servant Zilpah's sons were Gad and Asher. These were Jacob's sons who were born to him while he lived in Paddan-aram.

Leah conceived, bore a son, and named him Reuben, because she was saying, "The LORD had looked on my torture, so now my husband will love me." Later, she conceived again, bore a son, and declared, "Because the LORD heard that I'm neglected, he gave me this one, too." So she named him Simeon. Later, she conceived again and said, "This time my husband will become attached to me, now that I've borne him three sons." So he named him Levi.read more.
Then she conceived yet again, bore a son, and said, "This time I'll praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.

Rachel responded, "Here's my handmaid Bilhah. Go have sex with her. She can bear children on my knees so I can have children through her." So Rachel gave Jacob her woman servant Bilhah to be his wife, and Jacob had sex with her. Bilhah conceived and bore a son for Jacob. read more.
Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me! He has heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore, she named him Dan. Rachel's servant conceived again and bore a second son for Jacob, so Rachel said, "I've been through a mighty struggle with my sister and won." She named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took her woman servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah's servant Zilpah bore a son to Jacob, and Leah exclaimed, "How fortunate!" So she named him Gad. Later, Leah's servant Zilpah bore a second son for Jacob. She said, "How happy I am, because women will call me happy!" So she named him Asher.

Later, they set out from Beth-el. While still a long way from Ephrathah, Rachel started to have trouble giving birth. While she was suffering due to her difficult labor, the midwife told her, "Don't fear! You're going to have another son." Just before she died, Rachel called her son's name Ben-oni, but his father Jacob named him Benjamin.

Some time later, Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Hamor the Hivite's son Shechem, the regional leader, saw her, he grabbed her and raped her, humiliating her.

Because Jacob learned that Shechem had dishonored his daughter Dinah while his sons were still out with their cattle on the open range, he remained silent until they returned.

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered tunic for him. When Joseph's brothers realized that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him so much that they were unable to speak politely to him.

So they took Joseph's coat, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. Then they stretched out the richly-embroidered tunic to dry, and brought it to their father. "We've found this," they reported. "Look at it and see if this is or isn't your son's tunic." Examining it, he cried out, "It's my son's tunic! A wild animal has no doubt torn Joseph to pieces."read more.
So Jacob tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and then mourned many days for his son. All his sons and daughters showed up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He kept saying, "Leave me alone! I'll go down to the next world, still mourning for my son." So Joseph's father wept for him.

Eventually, Jacob observed that there was grain in Egypt, so he asked his sons, "Why do you keep on staring at one another? Pay attention now! I've heard that there is grain in Egypt, so go down there and buy some grain for us, so we can live, instead of dying." So ten of Joseph's brothers left to buy grain from Egypt. read more.
Jacob would not send Joseph's brother Benjamin to accompany them, because he was saying, "I'm afraid that he'll come to some kind of harm."

and we answered Your Excellency, "We have an aged father and a younger child who was born when he was old. His brother is now dead, so he's the only surviving son of his mother. His father loves him.'

Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Jacob appeared in his presence, he embraced him and wept for a long time as he held on to him. "Now let me die," Israel told Joseph, "since I've seen your face and confirmed that you're still alive!"

However, as soon as his sons had told him everything Joseph had said, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent along to carry him, their father Jacob's spirit was encouraged. "It's enough," Israel replied. "My son Joseph is still alive. I'm going to go see him before I die!"

Later, Israel began his journey, taking along everything that he owned, and arrived at Beer-sheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel through night visions, addressing him, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am!" Jacob replied. "I'm God, your father's God. Don't be afraid to move down to Egypt, because I'm going to turn you into a mighty nation there. read more.
I'm going down with you to Egypt, and I'm certainly going to bring you back again. And Joseph himself will be with you when you die."

Joseph settled his father and brothers, assigning them their own land in the best part of Egypt (in the territory of Rameses), just as Pharaoh had ordered.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons "and worshipped while leaning on the top of his staff."

Then Israel blessed Joseph by saying: "May the God in whose presence my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has continued shepherding me my whole life even until today, the angel who has been rescuing me from all sorts of evil, bless these young men. May my name continue to live on within them, including the names of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a vast multitude throughout the earth." But Joseph observed that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head. That displeased him, so he grabbed his father's hand and started to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. read more.
"No, father, this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head." But his father refused. "I know," he said. "I know. He's going to produce a large nation, and he's going to be very great. However, his younger brother will become even greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations." That very day, Jacob blessed them with this blessing: "By you Israel will extend this blessing: "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'"

After this, Jacob called his sons together and told them, "Assemble yourselves around me so I can tell you all what is going to happen to you in the last days. "Gather together and listen, you children of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel." "Reuben, you're my firstborn, my strength, and the first fruit of my vitality. You excel in rank and excel in power.read more.
But you're as undisciplined as a roaring river, so eventually you won't succeed, because you got in your father's bed, defiled it, and then approached my couch." "Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are violent weapons. I'll never join their council; I'll never enter their assembly. In their anger they committed murder and lamed cattle just for fun. Their anger is cursed, because it is so fierce, as is their vehemence, because it is so cruel. I will separate them throughout Jacob's territory and disperse them throughout Israel." "Your brothers will praise you, Judah. Your hand will be at the throat of your enemies, and your father's children will bow down to you. Judah is a lion cub. My son, you have gone up from the prey. Crouching like a lion, he lies down, Like a lioness, who would dare rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor a ruler's staff from between his feet, until the one comes, who owns them both, and to him will belong the allegiance of nations. Binding his donkey to the vine and his mare's foal to its thick tendrils, he will wash his garments in wine and his robe in the juice of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk." "Zebulun will settle down near the sea shore and become a safe haven for shipping, bordering Sidon." "Issachar is a strong donkey, resting between sheepfolds. He observed that his resting place was excellent, and that the land was pleasant; he bent down, picked up his burdens, and became a slave at forced labor." "Dan will judge his people as one of Israel's tribes. Dan will be a snake on the path, a viper on the road that snaps at the heels of horses, causing their riders to fall off. "LORD, I'm waiting for your salvation." "Bandits will raid Gad, but Gad will raid them back." "Asher's food will be delicious; he will be a provider of delicacies fit for royalty." "Naphtali is a free running deer who produces eloquent literature." "Joseph is descended from a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine planted near springs of water. His branches climb over walls. Even though enemies attacked him, shooting at him and pursuing him viciously, nevertheless his bow remained steady and his arms kept in shape by the strength of Jacob's Mighty One, in the name of the Shepherd, Israel's Rock, by your father's God who helps you, by the Almighty who will keep on blessing you with blessings from heaven above, with blessings from the deepest ocean, with blessing from the breasts and the womb. Your father's blessings will prove to be stronger than blessings from the eternal mountains or bounties from the everlasting hills. May they come to rest on Joseph's head, May they be set upon the brow of the one who was separated from his own brothers." "Benjamin is vicious like a wolf; what he kills in the morning he devours in the evening." That's how Israel blessed these twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father told them when he pronounced his blessing for them, blessing each one with a blessing suitable for them.

He lived for seventeen more years in Egypt, until he was 147 years old. As the time approached for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and addressed him. "Please," he asked, "if you're happy with me, make a solemn promise that you'll treat me fairly and kindly by not burying me in Egypt. Instead, when I've died, as my ancestors have, you are to carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb." "I'll do what you've asked," Joseph replied.

In his last words, Jacob issued this set of instructions to them all: "I'm about to join our ancestors. Bury me alongside my ancestors in the cave in the field that used to belong to Ephron the Hittite. It's the cave in the field near Mamre at Machpelah in the land of Canaan that Abraham bought to serve as a cemetery. It's where Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, where Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and where I buried Leah. read more.
Both the field and the cave that's in it were purchased from the Hittites." After concluding this set of instructions to his sons, Jacob tucked his feet up into bed, quit breathing, and was gathered to his ancestors.

After this, he issued orders to his physician servants to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. It took 40 days to complete the process, the normal period required for embalming. Meanwhile, the Egyptians mourned for him for 70 days.