Jacob

After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished.

He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied.

“Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright.

“Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright.

Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,

Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.

So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.

And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.

Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.

So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”

So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

“Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.

As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt.

So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.

So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”

…and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.

When Jacob woke up, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.”

Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,

Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.

“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered.

“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked. “We know him,” they replied.

“Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”

“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.

Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”

But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,

And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

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

Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.

Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care.

“What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks.

Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches.

But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”

Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”

And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were,

In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’

Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,

Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.

On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.

So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!

I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me?

But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?

So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,

Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

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

When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.