JACOB


Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New 
York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

GEN 25:21  Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was 
barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

24  When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her 
womb.

25  The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy 
garment; so they named him Esau.

26  After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; 
so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to 
them.

29  Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open 
country, famished.

30  He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm 
famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

31  Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

32  "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to 
me?"

33  But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, 
selling his birthright to Jacob.

34  Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, 
and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

27:1  When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer 
see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." "Here I 
am," he answered.

2  Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death.

3  Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the open 
country to hunt some wild game for me.

4  Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so 
that I may give you my blessing before I die."

5  Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left 
for the open country to hunt game and bring it back,

6  Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to 
your brother Esau,

7  'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may 
give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.'

8  Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you:

9  Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can 
prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it.

10  Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his 
blessing before he dies."

11  Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, 
and I'm a man with smooth skin.

12  What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and 
would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

13  His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what 
I say; go and get them for me."

14  So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she 
prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.

15  Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had 
in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.

16  She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the 
goatskins.

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

18  He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he 
answered. "Who is it?"

19  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 give me your 
blessing."

20  Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The 
LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

21  Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to 
know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

22  Jacob went 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."

23  He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his 
brother Esau; so he blessed him.

24  "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied.

25  Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may 
give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought 
some wine and he drank.

26  Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

27  So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his 
clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the 
smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.

28  May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness--an abundance 
of grain and new wine.

29  May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your 
brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who 
curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

41  Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had 
given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are 
near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

42  When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for 
her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling 
himself with the thought of killing you.

43  Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in 
Haran.

44  Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides.

45  When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did 
to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose 
both of you in one day?"

46  Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with living because of these 
Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, 
from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living."

28:1  So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not 
marry a Canaanite woman.

2  Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. 
Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your 
mother's brother.

3  May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your 
numbers until you become a community of peoples.

4  May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so 
that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, 
the land God gave to Abraham."

5  Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban 
son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of 
Jacob and Esau.

10  Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

11  When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the 
sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and 
lay down to sleep.

12  He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with 
its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and 
descending on it.

13  There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of 
your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your 
descendants the land on which you are lying.

14  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will 
spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All 
peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

15  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring 
you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have 
promised you."

16  When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in 
this place, and I was not aware of it."

17  He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other 
than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

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

19  He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

20  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch 
over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and 
clothes to wear

21  so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my 
God

22  and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and 
of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

29:1  Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the 
eastern peoples.

2  There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near 
it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth 
of the well was large.

3  When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the 
stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would 
return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

4  Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We're 
from Haran," they replied.

5  He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?" "Yes, we know 
him," they answered.

6  Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is," they said, "and here 
comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

7  "Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks 
to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture."

8  "We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the 
stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water 
the sheep."

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

10  When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and 
Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the 
well and watered his uncle's sheep.

11  Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

12  He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of 
Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

13  As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he 
hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his 
home, and there Jacob told him all these things.

14  Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob 
had stayed with him for a whole month,

15  Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you 
work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."

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

17  Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.

18  Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years 
in return for your younger daughter Rachel."

19  Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. 
Stay here with me."

20  So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a 
few days to him because of his love for her.

21  Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I 
want to lie with her."

22  So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.

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

24  And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her 
maidservant.

25  When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is 
this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you 
deceived me?"

26  Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter 
in marriage before the older one.

27  Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger 
one also, in return for another seven years of work."

28  And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave 
him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

29  Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her 
maidservant.

30  Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he 
worked for Laban another seven years.

31  When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but 
Rachel was barren.

32  Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for 
she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband 
will love me now."

33  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, 
"Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So 
she named him Simeon.

34  Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at 
last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three 
sons." So he was named Levi.

35  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This 
time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped 
having children.

30:1  When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she 
became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or 
I'll die!"

2  Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has 
kept you from having children?"

3  Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that 
she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a 
family."

4  So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her,

5  and she became pregnant and bore him a son.

6  Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and 
given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan.

7  Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

8  Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I 
have won." So she named him Naphtali.

9  When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her 
maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

10  Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

11  Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" So she named him Gad.

12  Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

13  Then Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she 
named him Asher.

14  During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some 
mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, 
"Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

15  But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? 
Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well," Rachel said, "he can 
sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."

16  So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to 
meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my 
son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night.

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

18  Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my 
husband." So she named him Issachar.

19  Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

20  Then Leah said, "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time 
my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons." So 
she named him Zebulun.

21  Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

22  Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.

23  She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken 
away my disgrace."

24  She named him Joseph, and said, "May the LORD add to me another son."

25  After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my 
way so I can go back to my own homeland.

26  Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will 
be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you."

27  But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please 
stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of 
you."

28  He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

29  Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your 
livestock has fared under my care.

30  The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD 
has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for 
my own household?"

31  "What shall I give you?" he asked. "Don't give me anything," Jacob 
replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending 
your flocks and watching over them:

32  Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every 
speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or 
speckled goat. They will be my wages.

33  And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on 
the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled 
or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered 
stolen."

34  "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."

35  That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or 
spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white 
on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of 
his sons.

36  Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob 
continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.

37  Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane 
trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the 
white inner wood of the branches.

38  Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that 
they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When 
the flocks were in heat and came to drink,

39  they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were 
streaked or speckled or spotted.

40  Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest 
face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he 
made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals.

41  Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the 
branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the 
branches,

42  but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the 
weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.

43  In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large 
flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

31:1  Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken 
everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what 
belonged to our father."

2  And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had 
been.

3  Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to 
your relatives, and I will be with you."

4  So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where 
his flocks were.

5  He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not 
what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.

6  You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength,

7  yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, 
God has not allowed him to harm me.

8  If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks 
gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be 
your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young.

9  So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me.

10  "In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw 
that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or 
spotted.

11  The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I 
am.'

12  And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the 
flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has 
been doing to you.

13  I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made 
a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'"

14  Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the 
inheritance of our father's estate?

15  Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he 
has used up what was paid for us.

16  Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us 
and our children. So do whatever God has told you."

17  Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,

18  and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods 
he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of 
Canaan.

19  When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's 
household gods.

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

21  So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the 
hill country of Gilead.

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

23  Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and 
caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

24  Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, 
"Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."

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

26  Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You've deceived me, and 
you've carried off my daughters like captives in war.

27  Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me, so 
I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and 
harps?

28  You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. 
You have done a foolish thing.

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

30  Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father's 
house. But why did you steal my gods?"

31  Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you would take 
your daughters away from me by force.

32  But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the 
presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of 
yours here with me; and if so, take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel 
had stolen the gods.

33  So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent 
of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah's 
tent, he entered Rachel's tent.

34  Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's 
saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the 
tent but found nothing.

35  Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot 
stand up in your presence; I'm having my period." So he searched but could 
not find the household gods.

36  Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. "What is my crime?" he asked 
Laban. "What sin have I committed that you hunt me down?

37  Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found 
that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and 
mine, and let them judge between the two of us.

38  "I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have 
not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.

39  I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss 
myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or 
night.

40  This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold 
at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

41  It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked 
for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your 
flocks, and 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 with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God 
has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked 
you."

43  Laban answered Jacob, "The women are my daughters, the children are my 
children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I 
do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have 
borne?

44  Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a 
witness between us."

45  So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

46  He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and 
piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

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

48  Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is 
why it was called Galeed.

49  It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the LORD keep watch 
between you and me when we are away from each other.

50  If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my 
daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness 
between you and me."

51  Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I 
have set up between you and me.

52  This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not 
go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past 
this heap and pillar to my side to harm me.

53  May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, 
judge between us." So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his 
father Isaac.

54  He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his 
relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.

55  Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters 
and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.

32:1  Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2  When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named 
that place Mahanaim.

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

4  He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my master Esau: 
'Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained 
there till now.

5  I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and 
maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find 
favor in your eyes.'"

6  When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your 
brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are 
with him."

7  In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him 
into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.

8  He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left 
may escape."

9  Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, 
O LORD, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I 
will make you prosper,'

10  I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your 
servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have 
become two groups.

11  Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he 
will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.

12  But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your 
descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

13  He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a 
gift for his brother Esau:

14  two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and 
twenty rams,

15  thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and 
twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

16  He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said 
to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds."

17  He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you and 
asks, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all 
these animals in front of you?'

18  then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a 
gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'"

19  He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who 
followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet 
him.

20  And be sure to say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" For he 
thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, 
when I see him, perhaps he will receive me."

21  So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night 
in the camp.

22  That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants 
and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

23  After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his 
possessions.

24  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

25  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket 
of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

26  Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, 
"I will not let you go unless you bless me."

27  The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.

28  Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, 
because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

29  Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask 
my name?" Then he blessed him there.

30  So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face 
to face, and yet my life was spared."

31  The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because 
of his hip.

32  Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to 
the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near 
the tendon.

33:4  But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around 
his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

17  Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and 
made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth.

18  After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of 
Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city.

19  For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the 
father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.

20  There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.

34:1  Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit 
the women of the land.

2  When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, 
he took her and violated her.

3  His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl 
and spoke tenderly to her.

4  And Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this girl as my wife."

5  When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were 
in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came 
home.

6  Then Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob.

7  Now Jacob's sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what 
had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had 
done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter--a thing 
that should not be done.

11  Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Let me find favor in 
your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask.

13  Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied 
deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.

19  The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, 
lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's 
daughter.

27  The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where 
their sister had been defiled.

30  Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by 
making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in 
this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and 
attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."

35:1  Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build 
an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your 
brother Esau."

2  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of 
the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your 
clothes.

3  Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, 
who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever 
I have gone."

4  So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their 
ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.

5  Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around 
them so that no one pursued them.

6  Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the 
land of Canaan.

7  There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it 
was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his 
brother.

8  Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below 
Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth.

9  After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and 
blessed him.

10  God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called 
Jacob; your name will be Israel." So he named him Israel.

11  And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in 
number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings 
will come from your body.

12  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will 
give this land to your descendants after you."

13  Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.

14  Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, 
and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

15  Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.

16  Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance 
from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty.

17  And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said 
to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have another son."

18  As she breathed her last--for she was dying--she named her son Ben-Oni. 
But his father named him Benjamin.

19  So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, 
Bethlehem).

20  Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks 
Rachel's tomb.

21  Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder.

22  While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with 
his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Jacob had twelve 
sons:

23  The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 
Issachar and Zebulun.

24  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 were the 
sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

27  Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that 
is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

37:1  Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of 
Canaan.

3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had 
been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for 
him.

4  When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, 
they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

9  Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he 
said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars 
were bowing down to me."

10  When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him 
and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your 
brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"

11  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in 
mind.

34  Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son 
many days.

35  All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be 
comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my 
son." So his father wept for him.

42:1  When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his 
sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?"

2  He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there 
and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die."

4  But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others, 
because he was afraid that harm might come to him.

5  So Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine 
was in the land of Canaan also.

36  Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my children. 
Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. 
Everything is against me!"

43:1  Now the famine was still severe in the land.

2  So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their 
father said to them, "Go back and buy us a little more food."

3  But Judah said to him, "The man warned us solemnly, 'You will not see my 
face again unless your brother is with you.'

4  If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food 
for you.

5  But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said 
to us, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.'"

6  Israel asked, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man 
you had another brother?"

7  They replied, "The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our 
family. 'Is your father still living?' he asked us. 'Do you have another 
brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would 
say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"

8  Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy along with me and we 
will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.

9  I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally 
responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here 
before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.

10  As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned 
twice."

11  Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be, then do this: 
Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down 
to the man as a gift--a little balm and a little honey, some spices and 
myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds.

12  Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the 
silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a 
mistake.

13  Take your brother also and go back to the man at once.

14  And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let 
your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am 
bereaved, I am bereaved."

44:29  If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will 
bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'

45:26  They told him, "Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all 
Egypt." Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them.

27  But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he 
saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father 
Jacob revived.

28  And Israel said, "I'm convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will 
go and see him before I die."

46:1  So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached 
Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

2  And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!" 
"Here I am," he replied.

3  "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go 
down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

4  I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back 
again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."

5  Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel's sons took their father Jacob and 
their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to 
transport him.

6  They also took with them their livestock and the possessions they had 
acquired in Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.

7  He took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and 
granddaughters--all his offspring.

8  These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) 
who went to Egypt: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.

15  These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, besides his 
daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.

18  These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given 
to his daughter Leah--sixteen in all.

19  The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

22  These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob--fourteen in all.

25  These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to 
his daughter Rachel--seven in all.

26  All those who went to Egypt with Jacob--those who were his direct 
descendants, not counting his sons' wives--numbered sixty-six persons.

27  With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of 
Jacob's family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.

28  Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to 
Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen,

29  Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father 
Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his 
father and wept for a long time.

30  Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for 
myself that you are still alive."

31  Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will 
go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, 'My brothers and my 
father's household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

47:1  Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and brothers, with their 
flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan 
and are now in Goshen."

5  Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you,

6  and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your 
brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you 
know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own 
livestock."

7  Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before 
Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,

8  Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?"

9  And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and 
thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the 
years of the pilgrimage of my fathers."

10  Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

11  So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them 
property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh 
directed.

12  Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's 
household with food, according to the number of their children.

27  Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They 
acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.

28  Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a 
hundred and forty-seven.

29  When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph 
and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under 
my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do 
not bury me in Egypt,

30  but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me 
where they are buried." "I will do as you say," he said.

31  "Swear to me," he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped 
as he leaned on the top of his staff.

48:7  As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land 
of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. 
So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

15  Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers 
Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to 
this day,

16  the Angel who has delivered me from all harm--may he bless these boys. 
May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and 
Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."

17  When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he 
was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from 
Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

18  Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your 
right hand on his head."

19  But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will 
become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger 
brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of 
nations."

20  He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will Israel pronounce 
this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" So he put 
Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

21  Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with 
you and take you back to the land of your fathers.

22  And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land 
I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow."

49:2  "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

24  But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of 
the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of 
Israel,

28  All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their 
father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing 
appropriate to him.

30  the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham 
bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.

33  When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his 
feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

50:1  Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed 
him.

2  Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father 
Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,

3  taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. 
And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

4  When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, 
"If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him,

5  'My father made me swear an oath and said, "I am about to die; bury me 
in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now let me go up and 
bury my father; then I will return.'"

6  Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do."

7  So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials 
accompanied him--the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of 
Egypt--

8  besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those 
belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks 
and herds were left in Goshen.

9  Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large 
company.

10  When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they 
lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period 
of mourning for his father.

12  So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them:

13  They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in 
the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial 
place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.

EXO 1:1  These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with 
Jacob, each with his family:

2  Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

3  Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

4  Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5  The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in 
Egypt.

JOS 24:4  and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country 
of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

1SA 12:8  "After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the LORD for help, and 
the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt 
and settled them in this place.

1CH 1:34  Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and 
Israel.

2:1  These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, 
Zebulun,

5:1  The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but 
when he defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were 
given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the 
genealogical record in accordance with his birthright,

16:13  O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen 
ones.

14  He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

15  He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a 
thousand generations,

16  the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.

17  He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting 
covenant:

18  "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will 
inherit."

PSA 105:23  Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land 
of Ham.

HOS 12:12  Jacob fled to the country of Aram; Israel served to get a wife, 
and to pay for her he tended sheep.

MAT 1:2  Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob 
the father of Judah and his brothers,

JOH 4:5  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of 
ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

ACT 7:8  Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham 
became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. 
Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the 
twelve patriarchs.

14  After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, 
seventy-five in all.

15  Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.

HEB 11:20  By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

12:16  See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who 
for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

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