Genesis 28–29

Chapter 28

Jacob Is Sent Away

¹So Isaac called Jacob and ^ablessed him and charged him, and said to him, “^bYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

²“Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of ^aBethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

³“May ^1aGod Almighty ^bbless you and ^cmake you fruitful and ^dmultiply you, that you may become a ^ecompany of peoples.

⁴“May He also give you the ^ablessing of Abraham, to you and to your ¹descendants with you, that you may ^bpossess the land of your ^csojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵Then ^aIsaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “^aYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸So Esau saw that ^athe daughters of Canaan displeased ¹his father Isaac;

⁹and Esau went to Ishmael, and ¹married, ^abesides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream

¹⁰Then Jacob departed from ^aBeersheba and went toward ^bHaran.

¹¹He ¹came to ²a ^acertain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it ³under his head, and lay down in that place.

^12aHe had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, ^bthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³And behold, ^athe Lord stood ¹above it and said, “I am the Lord, ^bthe God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it ^cto you and to ^dyour ²descendants.

¹⁴“Your ¹descendants will also be like ^athe dust of the earth, and you will ²spread out ^bto the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and ^cin you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

¹⁵“Behold, ^aI am with you and ^bwill keep you wherever you go, and ^cwill bring you back to this land; for ^dI will not leave you until I have done what I have ¹promised you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob ^aawoke from his sleep and said, “^bSurely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

¹⁷He was afraid and said, “^aHow awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took ^athe stone that he had put ¹under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

¹⁹He called the name of that place ^1aBethel; however, ²previously the name of the city had been ^bLuz.

²⁰Then Jacob ^amade a vow, saying, “^bIf God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I ¹take, and will give me ^2cfood to eat and garments to wear,

²¹and ^aI return to my father’s house in ¹safety, ^bthen the Lord will be my God.

²²“This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, ^awill be God’s house, and ^bof all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Chapter 29

Jacob Meets Rachel

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

²He looked, and ¹saw ^aa well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.

³When all the flocks were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.

⁴Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from ^aHaran.”

⁵He said to them, “Do you know Laban the ^ason of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

⁶And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is ^aRachel his daughter coming with the sheep.”

⁷He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.”

⁸But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

¹¹Then Jacob ^akissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept.

¹²Jacob told Rachel that he was a ^1arelative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and ^bshe ran and told her father.

¹³So when ^aLaban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and ^bembraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he related to Laban all these things.

¹⁴Laban said to him, “Surely you are ^amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my ¹relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall ^ayour wages 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 weak, but Rachel was ^abeautiful of form and ¹face.

¹⁸Now Jacob ^aloved Rachel, so he said, “^bI will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

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

²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days ^abecause of his love for her.

Laban’s Treachery

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my ¹time is completed, that I may ^ago in to her.”

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

²³Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her.

²⁴Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.

²⁵So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “^aWhat is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you ^bdeceived me?”

²⁶But Laban said, “It is not ¹the practice in our place to ²marry off the younger before the firstborn.

²⁷“Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which ^ayou shall serve with me for another seven years.”

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

²⁹Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.

³⁰So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed ^ahe loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with ¹Laban for ^banother seven years.

³¹Now the Lord saw that Leah was ¹unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

³²Leah conceived and bore a son and named him ¹Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has ^2aseen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”

³³Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “^aBecause the Lord has ¹heard that I am ²unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become ¹attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named ^aLevi.

³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will ¹praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him ^2aJudah. Then she stopped bearing.