Genesis 25:19-36:43

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Birth of Esau and Jacob. ^19 [a]These are the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram^[b] and the sister of Laban the Aramean.^{(A) 21} Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The Lord heard his entreaty, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² But the children jostled each other in the womb so much that she exclaimed, “If it is like this,^[c] why go on living!” She went to consult the Lord, ²³ and the Lord answered her:

²⁴ When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.^{(C) 25} The first to emerge was reddish,^[e] and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ Next his brother came out, gripping Esau’s heel;^[f] so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.^(D)

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country; whereas Jacob was a simple^[g] man, who stayed among the tents.^{(E) 28} Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob. ²⁹ Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Let me gulp down some of that red stuff;^[h] I am famished.” That is why he was called Edom. ³¹ But Jacob replied, “First sell me your right as firstborn.”^{[i](F) 32} “Look,” said Esau, “I am on the point of dying. What good is the right as firstborn to me?” ³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first!” So he sold Jacob his right as firstborn under oath.^{(G) 34} Jacob then gave him some bread and the lentil stew; and Esau ate, drank, got up, and went his way. So Esau treated his right as firstborn with disdain.

Chapter 26

Isaac and Abimelech. ^1 [j](H)There was a famine in the land, distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham, and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.^{(I) 2} The Lord appeared to him and said: Do not go down to Egypt, but camp in this land wherever I tell you. ³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.^{(J) 4} I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing—^{(K) 5} this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate, my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions.

^6 [k]So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, “She is my sister.” He was afraid that, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was beautiful. ⁸ But when they had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. ⁹ He called for Isaac and said: “She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “I thought I might lose my life on her account.” ¹⁰ “How could you have done this to us!” exclaimed Abimelech. “It would have taken very little for one of the people to lie with your wife, and so you would have brought guilt upon us!” ¹¹ Abimelech then commanded all the people: “Anyone who maltreats this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

^12 [l]Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the Lord blessed him, ^13 (L)he became richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy. ¹⁴ He acquired flocks and herds, and a great work force, and so the Philistines became envious of him. ^15 (M)The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham. ¹⁶ So Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; you have become far too numerous for us.” ¹⁷ Isaac left there and camped in the Wadi Gerar where he stayed. ¹⁸ Isaac reopened the wells which his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; he gave them names like those that his father had given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the wadi and reached spring water in their well, ²⁰ the shepherds of Gerar argued with Isaac’s shepherds, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So he named the well Esek,^[m] because they had quarreled there. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they argued over that one too; so he named it Sitnah.^{[n] 22} So he moved on from there and dug still another well, but over this one they did not argue. He named it Rehoboth,^[o] and said, “Because the Lord has now given us ample room, we shall flourish in the land.”

²³ From there Isaac went up to Beer-sheba. ²⁴ The same night the Lord appeared to him and said: I am the God of Abraham, your father. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of Abraham, my servant.^{(N) 25} So Isaac built an altar there and invoked the Lord by name. After he had pitched his tent there, Isaac’s servants began to dig a well nearby.

^26 (O)Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army. ²⁷ Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have driven me away from you?” ²⁸ They answered: “We clearly see that the Lord has been with you, so we thought: let there be a sworn agreement between our two sides—between you and us. Let us make a covenant with you: ²⁹ you shall do no harm to us, just as we have not maltreated you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. So now, may you be blessed by the Lord!” ³⁰ Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

³² That same day Isaac’s servants came and informed him about the well they had been digging; they told him, “We have reached water!” ³³ He called it Shibah;^[p] hence the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day. ^34 [q]When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.^{(P) 35} But they became a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27

Jacob’s Deception.^{[r] 1} When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” he replied. ² Isaac then said, “Now I have grown old. I do not know when I might die. ³ So now take your hunting gear—your quiver and bow—and go out into the open country to hunt some game for me. ⁴ Then prepare for me a dish in the way I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you^[s] before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So when Esau went out into the open country to hunt some game for his father,^{(Q) 6} Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father tell your brother Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you with the Lord’s approval before I die.’ ⁸ Now, my son, obey me in what I am about to order you. ⁹ Go to the flock and get me two choice young goats so that with these I might prepare a dish for your father in the way he likes. ¹⁰ Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹ But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned!^{(R) 12} Suppose my father feels me? He will think I am making fun of him, and I will bring on myself a curse instead of a blessing.” ¹³ His mother, however, replied: “Let any curse against you, my son, fall on me! Just obey me. Go and get me the young goats.”

¹⁴ So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared a dish in the way his father liked. ¹⁵ Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear; ¹⁶ and with the goatskins she covered up his hands and the hairless part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave her son Jacob the dish and the bread she had prepared.

¹⁸ Going to his father, Jacob said, “Father!” “Yes?” replied Isaac. “Which of my sons are you?” ¹⁹ Jacob answered his father: “I am Esau, your firstborn. I did as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” ²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How did you get it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “The Lord, your God, directed me.” ²¹ Isaac then said to Jacob, “Come closer, my son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When Isaac felt him, he said, “Although the voice is Jacob’s, the hands are Esau’s.” ²³ (He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.) ²⁴ Again Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And Jacob said, “I am.” ²⁵ Then Isaac said, “Serve me, my son, and let me eat of the game so that I may bless you.” Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate; he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ Finally his father Isaac said to him, “Come closer, my son, and kiss me.” ²⁷ As Jacob went up to kiss him, Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he blessed him, saying,

³⁰ Jacob had scarcely left his father after Isaac had finished blessing him, when his brother Esau came back from his hunt. ³¹ Then he too prepared a dish, and bringing it to his father, he said, “Let my father sit up and eat some of his son’s game, that you may then give me your blessing.” ³² His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn son, Esau.” ³³ Isaac trembled greatly. “Who was it, then,” he asked, “that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all just before you came, and I blessed him. Now he is blessed!” ³⁴ As he heard his father’s words, Esau burst into loud, bitter sobbing and said, “Father, bless me too!” ³⁵ When Isaac said, “Your brother came here by a ruse and carried off your blessing,” ³⁶ Esau exclaimed, “He is well named Jacob, is he not! He has supplanted me^[t] twice! First he took away my right as firstborn, and now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not saved a blessing for me?”^{(U) 37} Isaac replied to Esau: “I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kindred as his servants; besides, I have sustained him with grain and wine. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸ But Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” and Esau wept aloud.^{(V) 39} His father Isaac said in response:

⁴¹ Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. Esau said to himself, “Let the time of mourning for my father come, so that I may kill my brother Jacob.”^{(Y) 42} When Rebekah got news of what her older son Esau had in mind, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him: “Listen! Your brother Esau intends to get his revenge by killing you. ⁴³ So now, my son, obey me: flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, ⁴⁴ and stay with him a while until your brother’s fury subsides— ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you in a single day?”

Jacob Sent to Laban. ⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac: “I am disgusted with life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman, a native of the land, like these women, why should I live?”^(Z)

Chapter 28

^1 [u]Isaac therefore summoned Jacob and blessed him, charging him: “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!^{(AA) 2} Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother’s father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.^{(AB) 3} May God Almighty bless you and make you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of peoples. ⁴ May God extend to you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where you are residing, which he assigned to Abraham.”^{(AC) 5} Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.^(AD)

⁶ Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, and that, as he gave him his blessing, he charged him, “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ Esau realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac, ⁹ so Esau went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.^(AE)

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel.^{[v] 10} Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran. ¹¹ When he came upon a certain place,^[w] he stopped there for the night, since the sun had already set. Taking one of the stones at the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. ¹² Then he had a dream: a stairway^[x] rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.^{(AF) 13} And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.^{(AG) 14} Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing.^{(AH) 15} I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.^(AI)

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said: “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” ¹⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a sacred pillar,^[y] and poured oil on top of it.^{(AJ) 19} He named that place Bethel,^[z] whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.^(AK)

²⁰ Jacob then made this vow:^[aa] “If God will be with me and protect me on this journey I am making and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, ²¹ and I come back safely to my father’s house, the Lord will be my God. ²² This stone that I have set up as a sacred pillar will be the house of God. Of everything you give me, I will return a tenth part to you without fail.”

Chapter 29

Arrival in Haran.^{[ab] 1 (AL)}After Jacob resumed his journey, he came to the land of the Kedemites. ² Looking about, he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep huddled near it, for flocks were watered from that well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well.^{(AM) 3} When all the shepherds were assembled there they would roll the stone away from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back again in its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they replied. ⁵ Then he asked them, “Do you know Laban, son of Nahor?” “We do,” they answered.^{(AN) 6} He inquired further, “Is he well?” “He is,” they answered; “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.” ⁷ Then he said: “There is still much daylight left; it is hardly the time to bring the animals home. Water the sheep, and then continue pasturing them.” ⁸ They replied, “We cannot until all the shepherds are here to roll the stone away from the mouth of the well; then can we water the flocks.”

⁹ While he was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was the one who tended them. ¹⁰ As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of Laban, he went up, rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered Laban’s sheep. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. So she ran to tell her father. ¹³ When Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him. After embracing and kissing him, he brought him to his house. Jacob then repeated to Laban all these things, ¹⁴ and Laban said to him, “You are indeed my bone and my flesh.”^[ac]

Marriage to Leah and Rachel. After Jacob had stayed with him a full month, ^15 [ad]Laban said to him: “Should you serve me for nothing just because you are a relative of mine? Tell me what your wages should be.” ¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters; the older was called Leah, the younger Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah had dull eyes,^[ae] but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. ¹⁸ Because Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”^{[af] 19} Laban replied, “It is better to give her to you than to another man. Stay with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet they seemed to him like a few days because of his love for her.^(AO)

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, that I may consummate my marriage with her, for my term is now completed.” ²² So Laban invited all the local inhabitants and gave a banquet. ²³ At nightfall he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he consummated the marriage with her. ²⁴ Laban assigned his maidservant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant. ²⁵ In the morning, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban: “How could you do this to me! Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why did you deceive me?” ²⁶ Laban replied, “It is not the custom in our country to give the younger daughter before the firstborn. ²⁷ Finish the bridal week^[ag] for this one, and then the other will also be given to you in return for another seven years of service with me.”^(AP)

²⁸ Jacob did so. He finished the bridal week for the one, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. ²⁹ Laban assigned his maidservant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. ³⁰ Jacob then consummated his marriage with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Thus he served Laban another seven years.^(AQ)

Jacob’s Children.^{[ah] 31} When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he made her fruitful, while Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and bore a son, and she named him Reuben;^[ai] for she said, “It means, ‘The Lord saw my misery; surely now my husband will love me.’”^{(AR) 33} She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “It means, ‘The Lord heard that I was unloved,’ and therefore he has given me this one also”; so she named him Simeon.^{[aj] 34} Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, since I have now borne him three sons”; that is why she named him Levi.^{[ak] 35} Once more she conceived and bore a son, and she said, “This time I will give thanks to the Lord”; therefore she named him Judah.^[al] Then she stopped bearing children.^(AS)

Chapter 30

¹ When Rachel saw that she had not borne children to Jacob, she became envious of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children or I shall die!”^{(AT) 2} Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb?”^{(AU) 3} She replied, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Have intercourse with her, and let her give birth on my knees,^[am] so that I too may have children through her.”^{(AV) 4} So she gave him her maidservant Bilhah as wife,^[an] and Jacob had intercourse with her. ⁵ When Bilhah conceived and bore a son for Jacob, ⁶ Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan.^{[ao] 7} Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah conceived again and bore a second son for Jacob, ⁸ and Rachel said, “I have wrestled strenuously with my sister, and I have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali.^[ap]

⁹ When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as wife. ¹⁰ So Leah’s maidservant Zilpah bore a son for Jacob. ¹¹ Leah then said, “What good luck!” So she named him Gad.^{[aq] 12} Then Leah’s maidservant Zilpah bore a second son to Jacob; ¹³ and Leah said, “What good fortune, because women will call me fortunate!” So she named him Asher.^[ar]

¹⁴ One day, during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and came upon some mandrakes^[as] in the field which he brought home to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵ Leah replied, “Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you must now take my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel answered, “In that case Jacob may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶ That evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to meet him. She said, “You must have intercourse with me, because I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So that night he lay with her, ¹⁷ and God listened to Leah; she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. ¹⁸ Leah then said, “God has given me my wages for giving my maidservant to my husband”; so she named him Issachar.^{[at] 19} Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob; ²⁰ and Leah said, “God has brought me a precious gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she named him Zebulun.^{[au] 21} Afterwards she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and made her fruitful. ²³ She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has removed my disgrace.”^{(AW) 24} She named him Joseph,^[av] saying, “May the Lord add another son for me!”

Jacob Outwits Laban.^{[aw] 25} After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: “Allow me to go to my own region and land. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I served you and let me go, for you know the service that I rendered you.” ²⁷ Laban answered him: “If you will please! I have learned through divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ He continued, “State the wages I owe you, and I will pay them.” ²⁹ Jacob replied: “You know what work I did for you and how well your livestock fared under my care; ³⁰ the little you had before I came has grown into an abundance, since the Lord has blessed you in my company. Now, when can I do something for my own household as well?” ³¹ Laban asked, “What should I give you?” Jacob answered: “You do not have to give me anything. If you do this thing for me, I will again pasture and tend your sheep. ³² Let me go through your whole flock today and remove from it every dark animal among the lambs and every spotted or speckled one among the goats.^[ax] These will be my wages. ³³ In the future, whenever you check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me: any animal that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or dark among the lambs, got into my possession by theft!” ³⁴ Laban said, “Very well. Let it be as you say.”

³⁵ That same day Laban removed the streaked and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, all those with some white on them, as well as every dark lamb, and he put them in the care of his sons.^{[ay] 36} Then he put a three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷ Jacob, however, got some fresh shoots of poplar, almond and plane^[az] trees, and he peeled white stripes in them by laying bare the white core of the shoots. ³⁸ The shoots that he had peeled he then set upright in the watering troughs where the animals came to drink, so that they would be in front of them. When the animals were in heat as they came to drink, ³⁹ the goats mated by the shoots, and so they gave birth to streaked, speckled and spotted young. ⁴⁰ The sheep, on the other hand, Jacob kept apart, and he made these animals face the streaked or completely dark animals of Laban. Thus he produced flocks of his own, which he did not put with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ Whenever the hardier animals were in heat, Jacob would set the shoots in the troughs in full view of these animals, so that they mated by the shoots; ⁴² but with the weaker animals he would not put the shoots there. So the feeble animals would go to Laban, but the hardy ones to Jacob. ⁴³ So the man grew exceedingly prosperous, and he owned large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.

Chapter 31

Flight from Laban. ^1 [ba]Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and he has produced all this wealth from our father’s property.” ² Jacob perceived, too, that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had previously been. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob: Return to the land of your ancestors, where you were born, and I will be with you.^(AX)

⁴ So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flock was. ⁵ There he said to them: “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know well that with all my strength I served your father; ⁷ yet your father cheated me and changed my wages ten times. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.^{(AY) 8} Whenever your father said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wages,’ the entire flock would bear streaked young. ⁹ So God took away your father’s livestock and gave it to me. ¹⁰ Once, during the flock’s mating season, I had a dream in which I saw he-goats mating that were streaked, speckled and mottled. ¹¹ In the dream God’s angel said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am!’ ¹² Then he said: ‘Look up and see. All the he-goats that are mating are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a sacred pillar and made a vow to me. Get up now! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.’”^(AZ)

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him: “Do we still have an heir’s portion in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as outsiders?^[bb] He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us! ¹⁶ All the wealth that God took away from our father really belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.”^{(BA) 17} Jacob proceeded to put his children and wives on camels, ¹⁸ and he drove off all his livestock and all the property he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ Now Laban was away shearing his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father’s household images.^{[bc](BB) 20} Jacob had hoodwinked^[bd] Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was going to flee. ²¹ Thus he fled with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.

²² On the third day, word came to Laban that Jacob had fled. ²³ Taking his kinsmen with him, he pursued him for seven days^[be] until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But that night God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said to him: Take care not to say anything to Jacob.^(BC)

Jacob and Laban in Gilead. ²⁵ When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob’s tents were pitched in the hill country; Laban also pitched his tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, “How could you hoodwink me and carry off my daughters like prisoners of war?^{[bf] 27} Why did you dupe me by stealing away secretly? You did not tell me! I would have sent you off with joyful singing to the sound of tambourines and harps. ²⁸ You did not even allow me a parting kiss to my daughters and grandchildren! Now what you have done makes no sense. ²⁹ I have it in my power to harm all of you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Take care not to say anything to Jacob!’ ³⁰ Granted that you had to leave because you were longing for your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?” ³¹ Jacob replied to Laban, “I was frightened at the thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force. ³² As for your gods, the one you find them with shall not remain alive! If, with our kinsmen looking on, you identify anything here as belonging to you, take it.” Jacob had no idea that Rachel had stolen the household images.

³³ Laban then went in and searched Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent, as well as the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find them. Leaving Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s. ^34 [bg]Meanwhile Rachel had taken the household images, put them inside the camel’s saddlebag, and seated herself upon them. When Laban had rummaged through her whole tent without finding them,^{(BD) 35} she said to her father, “Do not let my lord be angry that I cannot rise in your presence; I am having my period.” So, despite his search, he did not find the household images.

³⁶ Jacob, now angered, confronted Laban and demanded, “What crime or offense have I committed that you should hound me? ³⁷ Now that you have rummaged through all my things, what have you found from your household belongings? Produce it here before your kinsmen and mine, and let them decide between the two of us.

³⁸ “In the twenty years that I was under you, no ewe or she-goat of yours ever miscarried, and I have never eaten rams of your flock. ^39 (BE)I never brought you an animal torn by wild beasts; I made good the loss myself. You held me responsible for anything stolen by day or night.^{[bh] 40} Often the scorching heat devoured me by day, and the frost by night, while sleep fled from my eyes! ⁴¹ Of the twenty years that I have now spent in your household, I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, while you changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my plight and the fruits of my toil, and last night he reproached you.”^(BF)

^43 [bi]Laban replied to Jacob: “The daughters are mine, their children are mine, and the flocks are mine; everything you see belongs to me. What can I do now for my own daughters and for the children they have borne? ^44 [bj]Come, now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and it will be a treaty between you and me.”

⁴⁵ Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a sacred pillar.^{(BG) 46} Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they got stones and made a mound; and they ate there at the mound. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,^[bk] but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “This mound will be a witness from now on between you and me.” That is why it was named Galeed— ⁴⁹ and also Mizpah,^[bl] for he said: “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or take other wives besides my daughters, know that even though no one else is there, God will be a witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Laban said further to Jacob: “Here is this mound, and here is the sacred pillar that I have set up between you and me. ⁵² This mound will be a witness, and this sacred pillar will be a witness, that, with hostile intent, I may not pass beyond this mound into your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine. ⁵³ May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us!” Jacob took the oath by the Fear of his father Isaac.^{[bm] 54} He then offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to share in the meal. When they had eaten, they passed the night on the mountain.

Chapter 32

^1 [bn]Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he set out on his journey back home. ² Meanwhile Jacob continued on his own way, and God’s angels encountered him. ³ When Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s encampment.” So he named that place Mahanaim.^[bo]

Envoys to Esau. ⁴ Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,^{(BH) 5} ordering them: “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob: I have been residing with Laban and have been delayed until now. ⁶ I own oxen, donkeys and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I have sent my lord this message in the hope of gaining your favor.’” ⁷ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We found your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁸ Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps. ⁹ “If Esau should come and attack one camp,” he reasoned, “the remaining camp may still escape.” ¹⁰ Then Jacob prayed: “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You, Lord, who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and your relatives, and I will be good to you.’^{(BI) 11} I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness and faithfulness that you have performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two camps. ¹² Save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau! Otherwise I fear that he will come and strike me down and the mothers with the children. ¹³ You yourself said, ‘I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’”^(BJ)

¹⁴ After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: ¹⁵ two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; ¹⁶ thirty female camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁷ He put these animals in the care of his servants, in separate herds, and he told the servants, “Go on ahead of me, but keep some space between the herds.” ¹⁸ He ordered the servant in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?’ ¹⁹ tell him, ‘To your servant Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. Jacob himself is right behind us.’” ²⁰ He also ordered the second servant and the third and all the others who followed behind the herds: “Thus and so you shall say to Esau, when you reach him; ²¹ and also tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For Jacob reasoned, “If I first appease him with a gift that precedes me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me.” ²² So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob’s New Name.^{[bp] 23} That night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²⁴ After he got them and brought them across the wadi and brought over what belonged to him, ²⁵ Jacob was left there alone. Then a man^[bq] wrestled with him until the break of dawn. ²⁶ When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that Jacob’s socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him.^{(BK) 27} The man then said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” ²⁸ “What is your name?” the man asked. He answered, “Jacob.”^{(BL) 29} Then the man said, “You shall no longer be named Jacob, but Israel,^[br] because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed.” ³⁰ Jacob then asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He answered, “Why do you ask for my name?” With that, he blessed him. ³¹ Jacob named the place Peniel,^[bs] “because I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.”^(BM)

³² At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip. ³³ That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, because he had struck Jacob’s hip socket at the sciatic muscle.

Chapter 33

Jacob and Esau Meet.^{[bt] 1} Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men. So he divided his children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants, ² putting the maidservants and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³ He himself went on ahead of them, bowing to the ground seven times, until he reached his brother. ⁴ Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, and flinging himself on his neck, kissed him as he wept.

⁵ Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children and asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “They are the children with whom God has graciously favored your servant.” ⁶ Then the maidservants and their children came forward and bowed low; ⁷ next, Leah and her children came forward and bowed low; lastly, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed low. ⁸ Then Esau asked, “What did you intend with all those herds that I encountered?” Jacob answered, “It was to gain my lord’s favor.” ⁹ Esau replied, “I have plenty; my brother, you should keep what is yours.” ¹⁰ “No, I beg you!” said Jacob. “If you will do me the favor, accept this gift from me, since to see your face is for me like seeing the face of God—and you have received me so kindly. ¹¹ Accept the gift I have brought you. For God has been generous toward me, and I have an abundance.” Since he urged him strongly, Esau accepted.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us break camp and be on our way; I will travel in front of you.” ¹³ But Jacob replied: “As my lord knows, the children are too young. And the flocks and herds that are nursing are a concern to me; if overdriven for even a single day, the whole flock will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord, then, go before his servant, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of my children, until I join my lord in Seir.” ¹⁵ Esau replied, “Let me at least put at your disposal some of the people who are with me.” But Jacob said, “Why is this that I am treated so kindly, my lord?” ¹⁶ So on that day Esau went on his way back to Seir, ¹⁷ and Jacob broke camp for Succoth.^[bu] There Jacob built a home for himself and made booths for his livestock. That is why the place was named Succoth.

¹⁸ Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram. He encamped in sight of the city.^{(BN) 19} The plot of ground on which he had pitched his tent he bought for a hundred pieces of money^[bv] from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem.^{(BO) 20} He set up an altar there and invoked “El, the God of Israel.”^(BP)

Chapter 34

The Rape of Dinah. ^1 [bw]Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the women of the land. ² When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite,^[bx] the leader of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. ³ He was strongly attracted to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and was in love with the young woman. So he spoke affectionately to her. ⁴ Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this young woman for a wife.”

⁵ Meanwhile, Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were out in the field with his livestock, Jacob kept quiet until they came home. ⁶ Now Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to discuss the matter with Jacob, ⁷ just as Jacob’s sons were coming in from the field. When they heard the news, the men were indignant and extremely angry. Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter; such a thing is not done.^{(BQ) 8} Hamor appealed to them, saying: “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. ⁹ Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ Thus you can live among us. The land is open before you. Settle and move about freely in it and acquire holdings here.”^{[by] 11} Then Shechem appealed to Dinah’s father and brothers: “Do me this favor, and whatever you ask from me, I will give. ¹² No matter how high you set the bridal price and gift, I will give you whatever you ask from me; only give me the young woman as a wife.”

Revenge of Jacob’s Sons. ¹³ Jacob’s sons replied to Shechem and his father Hamor with guile, speaking as they did because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We are not able to do this thing: to give our sister to an uncircumcised man. For that would be a disgrace for us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we agree to that: that you become like us by having every male among you circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters in marriage; we will settle among you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not listen to us and be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸ Their proposal pleased Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹ The young man lost no time in acting on the proposal, since he wanted Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more highly regarded than anyone else in his father’s house. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and said to the men of their city: ²¹ “These men are friendly toward us. Let them settle in the land and move about in it freely; there is ample room in the land for them. We can take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them. ²² But only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and form one people with us: that every male among us be circumcised as they themselves are. ²³ Would not their livestock, their property, and all their animals then be ours? Let us just agree with them, so that they will settle among us.”

²⁴ All who went out of the gate of the city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the males, all those who went out of the gate of the city,^[bz] were circumcised. ²⁵ On the third day, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah, each took his sword, advanced against the unsuspecting city and massacred all the males.^{(BR) 26} After they had killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, they took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left.^{(BS) 27} Then the other sons of Jacob followed up the slaughter and sacked the city because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They took their sheep, cattle and donkeys, whatever was in the city and in the surrounding country. ²⁹ They carried off all their wealth, their children, and their women, and looted whatever was in the houses.^(BT)

³⁰ Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: “You have brought trouble upon me by making me repugnant to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have so few men that, if these people unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be wiped out.” ³¹ But they retorted, “Should our sister be treated like a prostitute?”

Chapter 35

Bethel Revisited. ^1 [ca]God said to Jacob: Go up now to Bethel. Settle there and build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.^{(BU) 2} So Jacob told his household and all who were with him: “Get rid of the foreign gods^[cb] among you; then purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Let us now go up to Bethel so that I might build an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ They gave Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and also the rings they had in their ears^[cc] and Jacob buried them under the oak that is near Shechem. ⁵ Then, as they set out, a great terror fell upon the surrounding towns, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob.

⁶ Thus Jacob and all the people who were with him arrived in Luz (now Bethel) in the land of Canaan.^{(BV) 7} There he built an altar and called the place El-Bethel,^[cd] for it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.^(BW)

⁸ Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died. She was buried under the oak below Bethel, and so it was named Allon-bacuth.^[ce]

⁹ On Jacob’s arrival from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him:

So he was named Israel. ¹¹ Then God said to him: I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will stem from you, and kings will issue from your loins. ¹² The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you; and to your descendants after you I will give the land.^(BY)

¹³ Then God departed from him. ¹⁴ In the place where God had spoken with him, Jacob set up a sacred pillar, a stone pillar, and upon it he made a libation and poured out oil.^{(BZ) 15} Jacob named the place where God spoke to him Bethel.

Jacob’s Family. ¹⁶ Then they departed from Bethel; but while they still had some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor and suffered great distress. ¹⁷ When her labor was most intense, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.” ¹⁸ With her last breath—for she was at the point of death—she named him Ben-oni;^[cf] but his father named him Benjamin. ¹⁹ Thus Rachel died; and she was buried on the road to Ephrath (now Bethlehem).^{[cg](CA) 20} Jacob set up a sacred pillar on her grave, and the same pillar marks Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹ Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder. ²² While Israel was encamped in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. When Israel heard of it, he was greatly offended.^[ch](CB)

The sons of Jacob were now twelve. ²³ The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ^24 [ci]the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵ the sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶ the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷ Jacob went home to his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (now Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided. ²⁸ The length of Isaac’s life was one hundred and eighty years; ²⁹ then he breathed his last. He died as an old man and was gathered to his people. After a full life, his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Chapter 36

Edomite Lists.^{[cj] 1} These are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom). ^2 [ck]Esau took his wives from among the Canaanite women: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah the son of Zibeon the Hivite;^{(CC) 3} and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau; Basemath bore Reuel;^{(CD) 5} and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.^(CE)

⁶ Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock, all his cattle, and all the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to the land of Seir, away from his brother Jacob.^{(CF) 7} Their possessions had become too great for them to dwell together, and the land in which they were residing could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau settled in the highlands of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)^{(CG) 9} These are the descendants of Esau,^[cl] ancestor of the Edomites, in the highlands of Seir.

¹⁰ These are the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz, son of Adah, wife of Esau, and Reuel, son of Basemath, wife of Esau. ^11 (CH)The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹² Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. Those were the sons of Adah, the wife of Esau. ¹³ These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. Those were the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau.^{(CI) 14} These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah—the daughter of Anah, son of Zibeon—whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.^(CJ)

¹⁵ These are the clans of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn: the clans of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶ Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the clans of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷ These are the sons of Reuel, son of Esau: the clans of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Basemath, wife of Esau. ¹⁸ These were the sons of Oholibamah, wife of Esau: the clans of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the clans of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah. ¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau—that is, Edom—according to their clans.

²⁰ These are the sons of Seir the Horite,^[cm] the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,^{(CK) 21} Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; those are the clans of the Horites, sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ^22 (CL)The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam, and Lotan’s sister was Timna. ²³ These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Mahanath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. ²⁴ These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. He is the Anah who found water in the desert while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. ²⁵ These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, daughter of Anah. ²⁶ These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ²⁷ These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. ²⁸ These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹ These are the clans of the Horites: the clans of Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; those are the clans of the Horites, clan by clan, in the land of Seir.

^31 (CM)These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites.^{[cn] 32} Bela, son of Beor, became king in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³ When Bela died, Jobab, son of Zerah, from Bozrah, succeeded him as king. ³⁴ When Jobab died, Husham, from the land of the Temanites, succeeded him as king. ³⁵ When Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad, succeeded him as king. He is the one who defeated Midian in the country of Moab; the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶ When Hadad died, Samlah, from Masrekah, succeeded him as king. ³⁷ When Samlah died, Shaul, from Rehoboth-on-the-River, succeeded him as king. ³⁸ When Shaul died, Baal-hanan, son of Achbor, succeeded him as king. ³⁹ When Baal-hanan, son of Achbor, died, Hadad succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, son of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ These are the names of the clans of Esau identified according to their families and localities: the clans of Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹ Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴² Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³ Magdiel, and Iram. Those are the clans of the Edomites, according to their settlements in their territorial holdings—that is, of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.