Said

So the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jar.”

After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.”

As soon as he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and heard Rebekah’s words, “The man said this to me,” he went and found the man standing by the camels near the spring.

“Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” said Laban. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.”

Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.”

My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell,

And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.

Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”

But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so. After that, she may go.”

So they said, “We will call the girl and ask her opinion.”

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”

But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD,

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

“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

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

The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you.

But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”

Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”

But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.

He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

…and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.

“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death.

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

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.”

“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.

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”

So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.

He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”

When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

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.”

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?”

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

And 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!”

“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.”

Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep 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 Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

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?”

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

Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.

Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

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.

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

“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

…and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said.

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

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

“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

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

If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.

If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.

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

‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

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.’

Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household 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?

…and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate.

It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

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

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

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

But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

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

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”

“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask.

“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”

He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

Then Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.

Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied.

“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another.

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said.

“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.