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Chapter 29
Jacob Meets Rachel
1 Then Jacob
1went on his journey, and came to the land of
athe sons of the east.
2 He 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.
3 When 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.
4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from
aHaran.”
5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban the
ason of Nahor?” And they said, “We know
him.”
6 And 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.”
7 He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.”
8 But 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.”
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10 When 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.
11 Then Jacob
akissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept.
12 Jacob told Rachel that he was a
1arelative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and
bshe ran and told her father.
13 So 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.
14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are
amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my
1relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall
ayour wages be?”
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17 And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was
abeautiful of form and
1face.
18 Now Jacob
aloved Rachel, so he said, “
bI will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days
abecause of his love for her.
Laban’s Treachery
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give
me my wife, for my
1time is completed, that I may
ago in to her.”
22 Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.
23 Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and
Jacob went in to her.
24 Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.
25 So 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?”
26 But 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.”
28 Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
29 Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.
30 So
Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed
ahe loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with
1Laban for
banother seven years.
31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was
1unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 Leah 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.”
33 Then 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.
34 She 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.
35 And 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.
Chapter 30
The Sons of Jacob
1 Now when Rachel saw that
ashe bore Jacob no children,
1she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “
bGive me children, or else I die.”
2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has
awithheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 She said, “
aHere is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may
bbear on my knees, that
1athrough her I too may have children.”
4 So
ashe gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, “God has
1avindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him
2Dan.
7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With
1mighty wrestlings I have
2wrestled with my sister,
and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “
1How fortunate!” So she named him
2Gad.
12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 Then Leah said, “
1Happy am I! For women
awill call me happy.” So she named him
2Asher.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found
amandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my
1wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband
1will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then
aGod remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and
bopened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has
ataken away my reproach.”
24 She named him Joseph, saying, “
aMay the Lord
1give me another son.”
Jacob Prospers
25 Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “
aSend me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.
26 “Give
me my wives and my children
afor whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have
1rendered you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If now
1it pleases you,
stay with me; I have divined
athat the Lord has blessed me on your account.”
28 He
1continued, “
aName me your wages, and I will give it.”
29 But he said to him, “
aYou yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have
1fared with me.
30 “For you had little before
1I came and it has
2increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you
3wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this
one thing for me, I will again pasture
and keep your flock:
32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every
aspeckled and spotted sheep and every black
1one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and
such shall be my wages.
33 “So my
1honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my
2wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs,
if found with me, will be considered stolen.”
34 Laban said, “
1Good, let it be according to your word.”
35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the
1care of his sons.
36 And he put
a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Then Jacob
1took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which
was 2in the rods.
38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters,
even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they
1mated when they came to drink.
39 So the flocks
1mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40 Jacob separated the lambs, and
1made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 Moreover, whenever the
1stronger of the flock
2were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might
3mate by the rods;
42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put
them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the
1stronger Jacob’s.
43 So
athe man
1became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
Chapter 31
Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan
1 Now
1Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this
2wealth.”
2 Jacob saw the
1attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not
friendly toward him as formerly.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “
aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and
bI will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field,
5 and said to them, “
aI see your father’s
1attitude, that it is not
friendly toward me as formerly, but
bthe God of my father has been with me.
6 “
aYou know that I have served your father with all my strength.
7 “Yet your father has
acheated me and
bchanged my wages ten times; however,
cGod did not allow him to hurt me.
8 “If
ahe spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped.
9 “Thus God has
ataken away your father’s livestock and given
them to me.
10 “And it came about at the time when the flock were
1mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were
2mating
were striped, speckled, and mottled.
11 “Then
athe angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
12 “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see
that all the male goats which are
1mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for
aI have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
13 ‘I am
athe God
of Bethel, where you
banointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise,
1leave this land, and
creturn to the land of your birth.’ ”
14 Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?
15 “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For
ahe has sold us, and has also
1entirely consumed
2our purchase price.
16 “Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”
17 Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels;
18 and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram,
ato go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
19 When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the
1ahousehold idols that were her father’s.
20 And Jacob
1deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the
Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of
aGilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,
23 then he took his
1kinsmen with him and pursued him
a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
24
aGod came to Laban the Aramean in a
bdream of the night and said to him, “
1cBe careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his
1kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done
1by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27 “Why did you flee secretly and
1deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with
atimbrel and with
blyre;
28 and did not allow me
ato kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.
29 “It is in
1my power to do you harm, but
athe God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘
2bBe careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’
30 “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house;
but why did you steal
amy gods?”
31 Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.
32 “
aThe one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our
1kinsmen
2point out what is yours
3among my belongings and take
it for yourself.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find
them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34 Now Rachel had taken the
1household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find
them.
35 She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot
arise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the
1bhousehold idols.
36 Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?
37 “Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set
it here before my
1kinsmen and your
1kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.
38 “These twenty years I
have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.
39 “That which was torn
of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand
whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 “
Thus I was: by day the
1heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41 “These twenty years I have been in your house;
aI served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you
bchanged my wages ten times.
42 “If
athe God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed.
bGod has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He
crendered judgment last night.”
The Covenant of Mizpah
43 Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and
athe flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?
44 “So now come, let us
amake a covenant,
1you and I, and
blet it be a witness between
2you and me.”
45 Then Jacob took
aa stone and set it up
as a pillar.
46 Jacob said to his
1kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47 Now Laban
acalled it
1Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it
2Galeed.
48 Laban said, “
aThis heap is a witness between
1you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed,
49 and
1aMizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between
2you and me when we are
3absent one from the other.
50 “If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters,
although no man is with us, see,
aGod is witness between
1you and me.”
51 Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between
1you and me.
52 “This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53 “
aThe God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father,
bjudge between us.” So Jacob swore by
cthe fear of his father Isaac.
54 Then Jacob
aoffered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his
1kinsmen to
2the meal; and they ate
3the meal and spent the night on the mountain.
55
1Early in the morning Laban arose, and
akissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
Chapter 32
Jacob’s Fear of Esau
1 Now as Jacob went on his way,
athe angels of God met him.
2 Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s
1camp.” So he named that place
2aMahanaim.
3 Then Jacob
asent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of
bSeir, the
1country of
cEdom.
4 He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and
astayed until now;
5
aI have oxen and donkeys
and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord,
bthat I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”
6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore
ahe is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7 Then Jacob was
agreatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies;
8 for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and
1attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”
9 Jacob said, “O
aGod of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘
bReturn to your country and to your relatives, and I will
1prosper you,’
10
1I am unworthy
aof all the lovingkindness and of all the
2faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff
only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.
11 “
aDeliver me, I pray,
bfrom the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and
1attack me
and the
cmothers with the children.
12 “For You said, ‘
aI will surely
1prosper you and
bmake your
2descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’ ”
13 So he spent the night there. Then he
1selected from what
2he had with him a
apresent for his brother Esau:
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
16 He delivered
them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.”
17 He commanded the
1one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these
animals in front of you belong?’
18 then you shall say, ‘
These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ ”
19 Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;
20 and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”
21 So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.
22 Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the
aJabbok.
23 He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.
Jacob Wrestles
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man
awrestled with him until daybreak.
25 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “
aI will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28
aHe said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but
1Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
29 Then
aJacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob named the place
1Peniel, for
he said, “
aI have seen God face to face, yet my
2life has been preserved.”
31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over
aPenuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
in history. Christianity.... stealing credit for everything since 0 AD. 
