10.  Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

11. 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.

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

13. Behold,  יהוה stood above it, and said, “I am יהוה, 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.”

16.  Jacob  awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely יהוה is in this place, and I didn’t know it.”

17. He was afraid, and said, “How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”

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

19. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

20.  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,

21. So that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and יהוה will be my God,

22. 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.”

Chapter 29

1. Then  Jacob  went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.

2. 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.

3. There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well’s mouth in its place.

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

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

6. He said to them, “Is it well with him?”They said, “It is well. See, Rachel , his daughter, is coming with the sheep.”

7. He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

8. 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.”

9. While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.

10. It happened, when  Jacob  saw Rachel the daughter of Laban , his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban , his mother’s brother, that  Jacob  went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

11.  Jacob  kissed Rachel , and lifted up his voice, and wept.

12.  Jacob  told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah ’s son. She ran and told her father.

13. It happened, when Laban heard the news of  Jacob , his sister’s son, that he ran to meet  Jacob , and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house.  Jacob  told Laban all these things.

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

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

16. Laban  had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah , and the name of the younger was Rachel .

17. Leah ’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive.

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

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

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

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

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

23. It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her.

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

25. It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah . He said to Laban , “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I serve with you for Rachel ? Why then have you deceived me?”

26. Laban  said, “It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.

27. 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.”

28.  Jacob  did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife.

29. Laban  gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah , his handmaid, to be her handmaid.

30. He went in also to Rachel , and he loved also Rachel more than Leah , and served with him yet seven other years.

31. יהוה saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

32. Leah  conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben . For she said, “Because יהוה has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me.”

33. She conceived again, and bare a son, and said, “Because יהוה has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.” She named him Simeon .

34. She conceived again, and bare 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 .

35. She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time will I praise יהוה.” Therefore she named him Judah . Then she stopped bearing.

Chapter 30

1. 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.”

2.  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?”

3. 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.”

4. She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and  Jacob  went in to her.

5. Bilhah  conceived, and bore  Jacob  a son.

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

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

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

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

10. Zilpah , Leah , handmaid, bore  Jacob  a son.

11. Leah  said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad .

12. Zilpah , Leah ’s handmaid, bore  Jacob  a second son.

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

14. Reuben  went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah . Then Rachel said to Leah , “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

15. 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.”

16.  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.

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

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

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

20. 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 .

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

22. God remembered Rachel , and God listened to her, and opened her womb.

23. She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”

24. She named him Joseph , saying, “May יהוה add another son to me.”

25. 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.

26. 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.”

27. Laban  said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that  יהוה has blessed me for your sake.”

28. He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.”

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

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

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.”

34. Laban  said, “Behold, I desire it to be according to your word.”

35. That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36. He set three days’ journey between himself and  Jacob , and  Jacob  fed the rest of Laban ’s flocks.

37.  Jacob  took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38. He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

39. The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

40.  Jacob  separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban : and he put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban 's flock.

41. It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that  Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;

42. but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban ’s, and the stronger  Jacob ’s.

43. The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Chapter 31

1. 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.”

2.  Jacob  saw the expression on Laban ’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

3. יהוה said to  Jacob , “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

4.  Jacob  sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,

5. 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.

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

7. Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me.

8. If he said this, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked.

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

10. 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.

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

12. 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.

13. 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.”

14. Rachel  and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

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

16. 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.”

17. Then  Jacob  rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,

18. 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.

19. Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.

20.  Jacob  deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away.

21. So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

22. Laban  was told on the third day that  Jacob  had fled.

23. He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.

24. God came to Laban , the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Take heed to yourself that you don’t speak to  Jacob  either good or bad.”

25. Laban  caught up with  Jacob . Now  Jacob  had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.

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

27. Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

28. And didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.

29. 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 don’t speak to  Jacob  either good or bad.’

30. Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”

31.  Jacob  answered Laban , “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’

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

33. Laban  went into  Jacob ’s tent, into Leah ’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah ’s tent, and entered into Rachel ’s tent.

34. Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn’t find them.

35. She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim.

36.  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?

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

41. 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.

42. 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.”

43. 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?

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

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

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

47. Laban  called it Jegar Sahadutha, but  Jacob  called it Galeed.

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

49. And Mizpah, for he said, “ יהוה watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.

50. 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.”

51. Laban  said to  Jacob , “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.

52. May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

53. The God of  Abraham , and the God of Nahor , the God of their father, judge between us.” Then  Jacob  swore by the fear of his father, Isaac .

54.  Jacob  offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.

55. Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.

Chapter 32

1.  Jacob  went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2. When he saw them,  Jacob  said, “This is God’s hosts.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3.  Jacob  sent messengers in front of him to Esau , his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.