Genesis 30-33

Genesis 30

¹Now 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.

²But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit?

³Then 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.

⁴So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵And Bilhah became with child, and gave birth to a son.

⁶Then 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.

⁷And again Bilhah, Rachel's servant, was with child, and gave birth to a second son.

⁸And Rachel said, I have had a great fight with my sister, and I have overcome her: and she gave the child the name Naphtali.

⁹When 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.

¹⁰And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a son.

¹¹And Leah said, It has gone well for me: and she gave him the name Gad.

¹²And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a second son.

¹³And Leah said, Happy am I! and all women will give witness to my joy: and she gave him the name Asher.

¹⁴Now 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.

¹⁵But 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.

¹⁶In 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.

¹⁷And God gave ear to her and she became with child, and gave Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸Then Leah said, God has made payment to me for giving my servant-girl to my husband: so she gave her son the name Issachar.

¹⁹And again Leah became with child, and she gave Jacob a sixth son.

²⁰And she said, God has given me a good bride-price; now at last will I have my husband living with me, for I have given him six sons: and she gave him the name Zebulun.

²¹After that she had a daughter, to whom she gave the name Dinah.

²²Then God gave thought to Rachel, and hearing her prayer he made her fertile.

²³And she was with child, and gave birth to a son: and she said, God has taken away my shame.

²⁴And she gave him the name Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son.

²⁵Now after the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go away to my place and my country.

²⁶Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have been your servant, and let me go: for you have knowledge of all the work I have done for you.

²⁷And 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.

²⁸Say then what your payment is to be and I will give it.

²⁹Then Jacob said, You have seen what I have done for you, and how your cattle have done well under my care.

³⁰For 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?

³¹And 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:

³²Let me go through all your flock today, taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or coloured or black, and all the marked or coloured goats: these will be my payment.

³³And 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.

³⁴And Laban said, Let it be as you say.

³⁵So 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;

³⁶And sent them three days' journey away: and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flock.

³⁷Then Jacob took young branches of trees, cutting off the skin so that the white wood was seen in bands.

³⁸And 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.

³⁹And because of this, the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of colour.

⁴⁰These lambs Jacob kept separate; and he put his flock in a place by themselves and not with Laban's flock.

⁴¹And 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.

⁴²But 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.

⁴³So Jacob's wealth was greatly increased; he had great flocks and women-servants and men-servants and camels and asses.

Genesis 31

¹Now 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.

²And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before.

³Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers, and to your relations, and I will be with you.

⁴And Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him in the field among his flock.

⁵And 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

⁶And you have seen how I have done all in my power for your father,

⁷But 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.

⁸If 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.

⁹So God has taken away your father's cattle and has given them to me.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹And in my dream the angel of the Lord said to me, Jacob: and I said, Here am I.

¹²And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and coloured: for I have seen what Laban has done to you.

¹³I 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.

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah said to him in answer, What part or heritage is there for us in our father's house?

¹⁵Are we not as people from a strange country to him? for he took a price for us and now it is all used up.

¹⁶For the wealth which God has taken from him is ours and our children's; so now, whatever God has said to you, do.

¹⁷Then Jacob put his wives and his sons on camels;

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹Now 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.

²⁰And Jacob went away secretly, without giving news of his flight to Laban the Aramaean.

²¹So he went away with all he had, and went across the River in the direction of the hill-country of Gilead.

²²And on the third day Laban had news of Jacob's flight.

²³And taking the men of his family with him, he went after him for seven days and overtook him in the hill-country of Gilead.

²⁴Then God came to Laban in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.

²⁵Now 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.

²⁶And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war?

²⁷Why 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?

²⁸You did not even let me give a kiss to my sons and my daughters. This was a foolish thing to do.

²⁹It 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.

³⁰And now, it seems, you are going because your heart's desire is for your father's house; but why have you taken my gods?

³¹And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force.

³²As for your gods, if anyone of us has them, let him be put to death: make search before us all for what is yours, and take it. For Jacob had no knowledge that Rachel had taken them.

³³So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there; and he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's.

³⁴Now 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.

³⁵And 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.

³⁶Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion?

³⁷Now that you have made search through all my goods, what have you seen which is yours? Make it clear now before my people and your people, so that they may be judges between us.

³⁸These 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.

³⁹Anything which was wounded by beasts I did not take to you, but myself made up for the loss of it; you made me responsible for whatever was taken by thieves, by day or by night.

⁴⁰This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes.

⁴¹These 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.

⁴²If 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.

⁴³Then Laban, answering, said, These women are my daughters and these children my children, the flocks and all you see are mine: what now may I do for my daughters and for their children?

⁴⁴Come, let us make an agreement, you and I; and let it be for a witness between us.

⁴⁵Then Jacob took a stone and put it up as a pillar.

⁴⁶And Jacob said to his people, Get stones together; and they did so; and they had a meal there by the stones.

⁴⁷And the name Laban gave it was Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob gave it the name of Galeed.

⁴⁸And Laban said, These stones are a witness between you and me today. For this reason its name was Galeed,

⁴⁹And Mizpah, for he said, May the Lord keep watch on us when we are unable to see one another's doings.

⁵⁰If 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.

⁵¹And Laban said, See these stones and this pillar which I have put between you and me;

⁵²They will be witness that I will not go over these stones to you, and you will not go over these stones or this pillar to me, for any evil purpose.

⁵³May 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.

⁵⁴And 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.

⁵⁵And early in the morning Laban, after kissing and blessing his daughters, went on his way back to his country.

Genesis 32

¹And on his way Jacob came face to face with the angels of God.

²And when he saw them he said, This is the army of God: so he gave that place the name of Mahanaim.

³Now Jacob sent servants before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom;

⁴And he gave them orders to say these words to Esau: Your servant Jacob says, Till now I have been living with Laban:

⁵And 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.

⁶When 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.

⁷Then 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;

⁸And said, If Esau, meeting one group, makes an attack on them, the others will get away safely.

⁹Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, Go back to your country and your family and I will be good to you:

¹⁰I 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.

¹¹Be 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.

¹²And you said, Truly, I will be good to you, and make your seed like the sand of the sea which may not be numbered.

¹³Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau,

¹⁴Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep,

¹⁵Thirty camels with their young ones, forty cows, ten oxen, twenty asses, and ten young asses.

¹⁶These 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.

¹⁷And 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?

¹⁸Then 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.

¹⁹And 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;

²⁰And you are to say further, Jacob, your servant, is coming after us. For he said to himself, I will take away his wrath by the offering which I have sent on, and then I will come before him: it may be that I will have grace in his eyes.

²¹So the servants with the offerings went on in front, and he himself took his rest that night in the tents with his people.

²²And in the night he got up, and taking with him his two wives and the two servant-women and his eleven children, he went over the river Jabbok.

²³He took them and sent them over the stream with all he had.

²⁴Then Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn.

²⁵But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged.

²⁶And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.

²⁷Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.

²⁸And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.

²⁹Then Jacob said, What is your name? And he said, What is my name to you? Then he gave him a blessing.

³⁰And Jacob gave that place the name of Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and still I am living.

³¹And while he was going past Peniel, the sun came up. And he went with unequal steps because of his damaged leg.

³²For this reason the children of Israel, even today, never take that muscle in the hollow of the leg as food, because the hollow of Jacob's leg was touched.

Genesis 33

¹Then Jacob, lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. So he made a division of the children between Leah and Rachel and the two women-servants.

²He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph at the back.

³And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother.

⁴Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss: and the two of them were overcome with weeping.

⁵Then Esau, lifting up his eyes, saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God in his mercy has given to your servant.

⁶Then the servants and their children came near, and went down on their faces.

⁷And Leah came near with her children, and then Joseph and Rachel, and they did the same.

⁸And he said, What were all those herds which I saw on the way? And Jacob said, They were an offering so that I might have grace in my lord's eyes.

⁹But Esau said, I have enough; keep what is yours, my brother, for yourself.

¹⁰And Jacob said, Not so; but if I have grace in your eyes, take them as a sign of my love, for I have seen your face as one may see the face of God, and you have been pleased with me.

¹¹Take my offering then, with my blessing; for God has been very good to me and I have enough: so at his strong request, he took it.

¹²And he said, Let us go on our journey together, and I will go in front.

¹³But Jacob said, My lord may see that the children are only small, and there are young ones in my flocks and herds: one day's over-driving will be the destruction of all the flock.

¹⁴Do you, my lord, go on before your servant; I will come on slowly, at the rate at which the cattle and the children are able to go, till I come to my lord at Seir.

¹⁵And Esau said, Then keep some of my men with you. And he said, What need is there for that, if my lord is pleased with me?

¹⁶So Esau, turning back that day, went on his way to Seir.

¹⁷And Jacob went on to Succoth, where he made a house for himself and put up tents for his cattle: for this reason the place was named Succoth.

¹⁸So Jacob came safely from Paddan-aram to the town of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and put up his tents near the town.

¹⁹And for a hundred bits of money he got from the children of Hamor, the builder of Shechem, the field in which he had put up his tents.

²⁰And there he put up an altar, naming it El, the God of Israel.