Genèse (NAB) 29

Jacob Meets Rachel

29 1 After Jacob resumed his journey, he came to the land of the Easterners. 2 Looking about, he saw a well in the open country, with three droves of sheep huddled near it, for droves were watered from that well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well.3 Only when all the shepherds were assembled there could they roll the stone away from the mouth of the well and water the flocks. Then they would put the stone back again over the mouth of the well.
4
Jacob said to them, "Friends, where are you from?" "We are from Haran," they replied.5 Then he asked them, "Do you know Laban, son of Nahor?" "We do," they answered.6 He inquired further, "Is he well?" "He is," they answered; "and here comes his daughter Rachel with his flock."7 Then he said: "There is still much daylight left; it is hardly the time to bring the animals home. Why don't you water the flocks now, and then continue pasturing them?"8 "We cannot," they replied, "until all the shepherds are here to roll the stone away from the mouth of the well; only then can we water the flocks."
9
While he was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep; she was the one who tended them.10 As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, with the sheep of his uncle Laban, he went up, rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered his uncle's sheep.11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and burst into tears. 12 He told her that he was her father's relative, Rebekah's son, and she ran to tell her father.13 When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he hurried out to meet him. After embracing and kissing him, he brought him to his house. Jacob then recounted to Laban all that had happened,14 and Laban said to him, "You are indeed my flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him a full month,


Jacob Marries Laban's Daughters

15 Laban said to him: "Should you serve me for nothing just because you are a relative of mine? Tell me what your wages should be."16 Now Laban had two daughters; the older was called Leah, the younger Rachel.17 Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was well formed and beautiful. 18 Since Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, he answered Laban, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." 19 Laban replied, "I prefer to give her to you rather than to an outsider. Stay with me."
20
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, that I may consummate my marriage with her, for my term is now completed."22 So Laban invited all the local inhabitants and gave a feast.23 At nightfall he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob consummated the marriage with her.24 (Laban assigned his slave girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.)25 In the morning Jacob was amazed: it was Leah! So he cried out to Laban: "How could you do this to me! Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why did you dupe me?" 26 "It is not the custom in our country," Laban replied, "to marry off a younger daughter before an older one.27 Finish the bridal week for this one, and then I will give you the other too, in return for another seven years of service with me."
28
Jacob agreed. He finished the bridal week for Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel in marriage.29 (Laban assigned his slave girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.)30 Jacob then consummated his marriage with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Thus he remained in Laban's service another seven years.
31
When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he made her fruitful, while Rachel remained barren.32 Leah conceived and bore a son, and she named him Reuben; for she said, "It means, 'The LORD saw my misery; now my husband will love me.'" 33 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "It means, 'The LORD heard that I was unloved,' and therefore he has given me this one also"; so she named him Simeon. 34 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, since I have now borne him three sons"; that is why she named him Levi. 35 Once more she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "This time I will give grateful praise to the LORD"; therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.


30 1 When Rachel saw that she failed to bear children to Jacob, she became envious of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children or I shall die!"2 In anger Jacob retorted, "Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb?"3 She replied, "Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Have intercourse with her, and let her give birth on my knees, so that I too may have offspring, at least through her." 4 So she gave him her maidservant Bilhah as a consort, and Jacob had intercourse with her. 5 When Bilhah conceived and bore a son,6 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan. 7 Rachel's maidservant Bilhah conceived again and bore a second son,8 and Rachel said, "I engaged in a fateful struggle with my sister, and I prevailed." So she named him Naphtali.
9
When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear children, she gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob as a consort.10 So Jacob had intercourse with Zilpah, and she conceived and bore a son.11 Leah then said, "What good luck!" So she named him Gad. 12 Then Leah's maidservant Zilpah bore a second son to Jacob;13 and Leah said, "What good fortune!"-- meaning, "Women call me fortunate." So she named him Asher.
14
One day, during the wheat harvest, when Reuben was out in the field, he came upon some mandrakes which he brought home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, "Please let me have some of your son's mandrakes." 15 Leah replied, "Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you must now take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well, then!" Rachel answered. "In exchange for your son's mandrakes, Jacob may lie with you tonight."16 That evening, when Jacob came home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You are now to come in with me," she told him, "because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So that night he slept with her,17 and God heard her prayer; she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.18 Leah then said, "God has given me my reward for having let my husband have my maidservant"; so she named him Issachar.
19
Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob;20 and she said, "God has brought me a precious gift. This time my husband will offer me presents, now that I have borne him six sons"; so she named him Zebulun. 21 Finally, she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Dinah.
22
Then God remembered Rachel; he heard her prayer and made her fruitful.23 She conceived and bore a son, and she said, "God has removed my disgrace."24 So she named him Joseph, meaning, "May the LORD add another son to this one for me!"


Jacob Prospers at Laban's Expense

25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: "Give me leave to go to my homeland.26 Let me have my wives, for whom I served you, and my children, too, that I may depart. You know very well the service that I have rendered you."27 Laban answered him: "If you will please.... "I have learned through divination that it is because of you that God has blessed me.28 So," he continued, "state what wages you want from me, and I will pay them."29 Jacob replied: "You know what work I did for you and how well your livestock fared under my care;30 the little you had before I came has grown into very much, since the LORD'S blessings came upon you in my company. Therefore I should now do something for my own household as well."31 "What should I pay you?" Laban asked. Jacob answered: "You do not have to pay me anything outright. I will again pasture and tend your flock, if you do this one thing for me:
32
go through your whole flock today and remove from it every dark animal among the sheep and every spotted or speckled one among the goats. Only such animals shall be my wages. 33 In the future, whenever you check on these wages of mine, let my honesty testify against me: any animal in my possession that is not a speckled or spotted goat, or a dark sheep, got there by theft!"34 "Very well," agreed Laban. "Let it be as you say."35 That same day Laban removed the streaked and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, all those with some white on them, as well as the fully dark-colored sheep; these he left... in charge of his sons. 36 Then he put a three days' journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to pasture the rest of Laban's flock.
37
Jacob, however, got some fresh shoots of poplar, almond and plane trees, and he made white stripes in them by peeling off the bark down to the white core of the shoots.38 The rods that he had thus peeled he then set upright in the watering troughs, so that they would be in front of the animals that drank from the troughs. When the animals were in heat as they came to drink,39 the goats mated by the rods, and so they brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted kids. 40 The sheep, on the other hand, Jacob kept apart, and he set these animals to face the streaked or fully dark-colored animals of Laban. Thus he produced special flocks of his own, which he did not put with Laban's flock.41 Moreover, whenever the hardier animals were in heat, Jacob would set the rods in the troughs in full view of these animals, so that they mated by the rods;42 but with the weaker animals he would not put the rods there. So the feeble animals would go to Laban, but the sturdy ones to Jacob.43 Thus the man grew increasingly prosperous, and he came to own not only large flocks but also male and female servants and camels and asses.


Jacob Flees with Family and Flocks

31 1 Jacob learned that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and he has accumulated all this wealth of his by using our father's property."2 Jacob perceived, too, that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had previously been.3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, where you were born, and I will be with you."4 So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him where he was in the field with his flock.5 There he said to them: "I have noticed that your father's attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me.6 You well know what effort I put into serving your father;7 yet your father cheated me and changed my wages time after time. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.8 Whenever your father said, 'The speckled animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, 'The streaked animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear streaked young. 9 Thus God reclaimed your father's livestock and gave it to me.10 Once, in the breeding season, I had a dream in which I saw mating he-goats that were streaked, speckled and mottled.11 In the dream God's messenger called to me, 'Jacob!' 'Here!' I replied.12 Then he said: 'Note well. All the he-goats in the flock, as they mate, are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you.13 I am the God who appeared to you in Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone and made a vow to me. Up, then! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.'"
14
Rachel and Leah answered him: "Have we still an heir's portion in our father's house?15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us! 16 All the wealth that God reclaimed from our father really belongs to us and our children. Therefore, do just as God has told you."
17
Jacob proceeded to put his children and wives on camels,18 and he drove off with all his livestock and all the property he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19
Now Laban had gone away to shear his sheep, and Rachel had meanwhile appropriated her father's household idols. 20 Jacob had hoodwinked Laban the Aramean by not telling him of his intended flight. 21 Thus he made his escape with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the highlands of Gilead.


Laban Overtakes Jacob

22 On the third day, word came to Laban that Jacob had fled.23 Taking his kinsmen with him, he pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 But that night God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!"25 When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob's tents were pitched in the highlands; Laban also pitched his tents there, on Mount Gilead.
26
"What do you mean," Laban demanded of Jacob, "by hoodwinking me and carrying off my daughters like war captives? 27 Why did you dupe me by stealing away secretly? You should have told me, and I would have sent you off with merry singing to the sound of tambourines and harps.28 You did not even allow me a parting kiss to my daughters and grandchildren! What you have now done is a senseless thing.29 I have it in my power to harm all of you; but last night the God of your father said to me, 'Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!'30 Granted that you had to leave because you were desperately homesick for your father's house, why did you steal my gods?"
31
"I was frightened," Jacob replied to Laban, "at the thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force.32 But as for your gods, the one you find them with shall not remain alive! If, with my kinsmen looking on, you identify anything here as belonging to you, take it." Jacob, of course, had no idea that Rachel had stolen the idols.33 Laban then went in and searched Jacob's tent and Leah's tent, as well as the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find the idols. Leaving Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's.34 Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them inside a camel cushion, and seated herself upon them. When Laban had rummaged through the rest of her tent without finding them,35 Rachel said to her father, "Let not my lord feel offended that I cannot rise in your presence; a woman's period is upon me." So, despite his search, he did not find his idols.
36
Jacob, now enraged, upbraided Laban. "What crime or offense have I committed," he demanded, "that you should hound me so fiercely?37 Now that you have ransacked all my things, have you found a single object taken from your belongings? If so, produce it here before your kinsmen and mine, and let them decide between us two.38 "In the twenty years that I was under you, no ewe or she-goat of yours ever miscarried, and I have never feasted on a ram of your flock.39 I never brought you an animal torn by wild beasts; I made good the loss myself. You held me responsible for anything stolen by day or night. 40 How often the scorching heat ravaged me by day, and the frost by night, while sleep fled from my eyes!41 Of the twenty years that I have now spent in your household, I slaved fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, while you changed my wages time after time.42 If my ancestral God, the God of Abraham and the Awesome One of Isaac, had not been on my side, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my plight and the fruits of my toil, and last night he gave judgment."


Laban and Jacob Make a Covenant

43 Laban replied to Jacob: "The women are mine, their children are mine, and the flocks are mine; everything you see belongs to me. But since these women are my daughters, I will now do something for them and for the children they have borne. 44 Come, then, we will make a pact, you and I; the LORD shall be a witness between us."45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone.46 Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather some stones." So they got some stones and made a mound; and they had a meal there at the mound.47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. 48 "This mound," said Laban, "shall be a witness from now on between you and me." That is why it was named Galeed-- 49 and also Mizpah, for he said: "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or take other wives besides my daughters, remember that even though no one else is about, God will be witness between you and me."51 Laban said further to Jacob: "Here is this mound, and here is the memorial stone that I have set up between you and me.52 This mound shall be witness, and this memorial stone shall be witness, that, with hostile intent, neither may I pass beyond this mound into your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine.53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor (their ancestral deities) maintain justice between us!" Jacob took the oath by the Awesome One of Isaac.54 He then offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to share in the meal. When they had eaten, they passed the night on the mountain.


32 1 Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye; then he set out on his journey back home,
2
while Jacob continued on his own way. Then God's messengers encountered Jacob.


Jacob Sends Presents to Appease Esau

3 When he saw them he said, "This is God's encampment." So he named that place Mahanaim.
4
Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,5 with this message: "Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob speaks as follows: I have been staying with Laban and have been detained there until now.6 I own cattle, asses and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I am sending my lord this information in the hope of gaining your favor.'"
7
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We reached your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, accompanied by four hundred men."8 Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps.9 "If Esau should attack and overwhelm one camp," he reasoned, "the remaining camp may still survive."
10
Then he prayed: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You told me, O LORD, 'Go back to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you.'11 I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two companies.12 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau! Otherwise I fear that when he comes he will strike me down and slay the mothers and children.13 You yourself said, 'I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'"
14
After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him the following presents for his brother Esau:15 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams;16 thirty milch camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten he-asses.17 He put these animals in charge of his servants, in separate droves, and he told the servants, "Go on ahead of me, but keep a space between one drove and the next."18 To the servant in the lead he gave this instruction: "When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask you, 'Whose man are you? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?'19 Then you shall answer, 'They belong to your brother Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is right behind us.'"20 He gave similar instructions to the second servant and the third and to all the others who followed behind the droves, namely: "Thus and thus shall you say to Esau, when you reach him;21 and be sure to add, 'Your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" For Jacob reasoned, "If I first appease him with gifts that precede me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me."


Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

22 So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp.
23
In the course of that night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.24 After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions,25 Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. 26 When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.27 The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me."28 "What is your name?" the man asked. He answered, "Jacob."29 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed." 30 Jacob then asked him, "Do tell me your name, please." He answered, "Why should you want to know my name?" With that, he bade him farewell.
31
Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face," he said, "yet my life has been spared." 32 At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip.33 That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, inasmuch as Jacob's hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle.


Jacob and Esau Meet

33 1 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred men. So he divided his children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants,2 putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.3 He himself went on ahead of them, bowing to the ground seven times, until he reached his brother.4 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, and flinging himself on his neck, kissed him as he wept.5 When Esau looked about, he saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered, "They are the children whom God has graciously bestowed on your servant."6 Then the maidservants and their children came forward and bowed low;7 next, Leah and her children came forward and bowed low; lastly, Rachel and her children came forward and bowed low.
8
Then Esau asked, "What did you intend with all those droves that I encountered?" Jacob answered, "It was to gain my lord's favor."9 "I have plenty," replied Esau; "you should keep what is yours, brother."10 "No, I beg you!" said Jacob. "If you will do me the favor, please accept this gift from me, since to come into your presence is for me like coming into the presence of God, now that you have received me so kindly.11 Do accept the present I have brought you; God has been generous toward me, and I have an abundance." Since he so urged him, Esau accepted.
12
Then Esau said, "Let us break camp and be on our way; I will travel alongside you."13 But Jacob replied: "As my lord can see, the children are frail. Besides, I am encumbered with the flocks and herds, which now have sucklings; if overdriven for a single day, the whole flock will die.14 Let my lord, then, go on ahead of me, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of my children, until I join my lord in Seir."15 Esau replied, "Let me at least put at your disposal some of the men who are with me." But Jacob said, "For what reason? Please indulge me in this, my lord."16 So on the same day that Esau began his journey back to Seir,
17
Jacob journeyed to Succoth. There he built a home for himself and made booths for his livestock. That is why the place was called Succoth.


Jacob Reaches Shechem

18 Having thus come from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and he encamped in sight of the city.19 The plot of ground on which he had pitched his tent he bought for a hundred pieces of bullion from the descendants of Hamor, the founder of Shechem. 20 He set up a memorial stone there and invoked "El, the God of Israel."


The Rape of Dinah

34 1 Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the women of the land. 2 When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. 3 Since he was strongly attracted to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, indeed was really in love with the girl, he endeavored to win her affection.4 Shechem also asked his father Hamor, "Get me this girl for a wife."5 Meanwhile, Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he held his peace until they came home.
6
Now Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to discuss the matter with Jacob,7 just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard the news, the men were shocked and seethed with indignation. What Shechem had done was an outrage in Israel; such a thing could not be tolerated.8 Hamor appealed to them, saying: "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage.9 Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.10 Thus you can live among us. The land is open before you; you can settle and move about freely in it, and acquire landed property here."11 Then Shechem, too, appealed to Dinah's father and brothers: "Do me this favor, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.12 No matter how high you set the bridal price, I will pay you whatever you ask; only give me the maiden in marriage."
13
Jacob's sons replied to Shechem and his father Hamor with guile, speaking as they did because their sister Dinah had been defiled.14 "We could not do such a thing," they said, "as to give our sister to an uncircumcised man; that would be a disgrace for us.15 We will agree with you only on this condition, that you become like us by having every male among you circumcised.16 Then we will give you our daughters and take yours in marriage; we will settle among you and become one kindred people with you.17 But if you do not comply with our terms regarding circumcision, we will take our daughter and go away."
18
Their proposal seemed fair to Hamor and his son Shechem.19 The young man lost no time in acting in the matter, since he was deeply in love with Jacob's daughter. Moreover he was more highly respected than anyone else in his clan.20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to their town council and thus presented the matter to their fellow townsmen:21 "These men are friendly toward us. Let them settle in the land and move about in it freely; there is ample room in the country for them. We can marry their daughters and give our daughters to them in marriage.22 But the men will agree to live with us and form one kindred people with us only on this condition, that every male among us be circumcised as they themselves are.23 Would not the livestock they have acquired-- all their animals-- then be ours? Let us, therefore, give in to them, so that they may settle among us."24 All the able-bodied men of the town agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the males, including every able-bodied man in the community, were circumcised.


Dinah's Brothers Avenge Their Sister

25 On the third day, while they were still in pain, Dinah's full brothers Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons, took their swords, advanced against the city without any trouble, and massacred all the males.26 After they had put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword, they took Dinah from Shechem's house and left.27 Then the other sons of Jacob followed up the slaughter and sacked the city in reprisal for their sister Dinah's defilement.28 They seized their flocks, herds and asses, whatever was in the city and in the country around.29 They carried off all their wealth, their women, and their children, and took for loot whatever was in the houses.
30
Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: "You have brought trouble upon me by making me loathsome to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have so few men that, if these people unite against me and attack me, I and my family will be wiped out."31 But they retorted, "Should our sister have been treated like a harlot?"


Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 1 God said to Jacob: "Go up now to Bethel. Settle there and build an altar there to the God who appeared to you while you were fleeing from your brother Esau."2 So Jacob told his family and all the others who were with him: "Get rid of the foreign gods that you have among you; then purify yourselves and put on fresh clothes. 3 We are now to go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my hour of distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."4 They therefore handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and also the rings they had in their ears.
5
Then, as they set out, a terror from God fell upon the towns round about, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob.
6
Thus Jacob and all the people who were with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.7 There he built an altar and named the place Bethel, for it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.8 Death came to Rebekah's nurse Deborah; she was buried under the oak below Bethel, and so it was called Allonbacuth.
9
On Jacob's arrival from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.10 God said to him: "You whose name is Jacob shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." Thus he was named Israel.11 God also said to him: "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, shall stem from you, and kings shall issue from your loins.12 The land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac I now give to you; And to your descendants after you will I give this land."13 Then God departed from him.
14
On the site where God had spoken with him, Jacob set up a memorial stone, and upon it he made a libation and poured out oil.15 Jacob named the site Bethel, because God had spoken with him there.


The Birth of Benjamin and the Death of Rachel

16 Then they departed from Bethel; but while they still had some distance to go on the way to Ephrath, Rachel began to be in labor and to suffer great distress.17 When her pangs were most severe, her midwife said to her, "Have no fear! This time, too, you have a son."18 With her last breath-- for she was at the point of death-she called him Ben-oni; his father, however, named him Benjamin. 19 Thus Rachel died; and she was buried on the road to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a memorial stone on her grave, and the same monument marks Rachel's grave to this day.
21
Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.22 While Israel was encamped in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine. When Israel heard of it, he was greatly offended. The sons of Jacob were now twelve.
23
The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first-born, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 25 the sons of Rachel's maid Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali;26 the sons of Leah's maid Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.


The Death of Isaac

27 Jacob went home to his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.28 The lifetime of Isaac was one hundred and eighty years;29 then he breathed his last. After a full life, he died as an old man and was taken to his kinsmen. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.


Esau's Descendants


Genèse (NAB) 29