Genesis 28-31

Genesis 28

¹Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

²But 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.

³And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples.

⁴And 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.

⁵So 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.

⁶So 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;

⁷And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram;

⁸It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan,

⁹So 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.

¹⁰So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

¹¹And 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.

¹²And 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴Your 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.

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it.

¹⁷And 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.

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹And he gave that place the name of Beth-el, but before that time the town was named Luz.

²⁰Then 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,

²¹So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God,

²²And 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.

Genesis 29

¹Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East.

²And 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.

³And 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.

⁴Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran.

⁵And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have.

⁶And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.

⁷Then 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.

⁸And 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.

⁹While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them.

¹⁰Then 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.

¹¹And weeping for joy, Jacob gave Rachel a kiss.

¹²And 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.

¹⁵Then 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?

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷And Leah's eyes were clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form.

¹⁸And Jacob was in love with Rachel; and he said, I will be your servant seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.

¹⁹And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man: go on living here with me.

²⁰And Jacob did seven years' work for Rachel; and because of his love for her it seemed to him only a very little time.

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife so that I may have her, for the days are ended.

²²And Laban got together all the men of the place and gave a feast.

²³And in the evening he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him, and he went in to her.

²⁴And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah, to be her waiting-woman.

²⁵And 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?

²⁶And Laban said, In our country we do not let the younger daughter be married before the older.

²⁷Let 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.

²⁸And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife.

²⁹And Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman.

³⁰Then 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.

³¹Now the Lord, seeing that Leah was not loved, gave her a child; while Rachel had no children.

³²And 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.

³³Then 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.

³⁴And 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.

³⁵And 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.

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.