And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him; and he charged him and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

Rise up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take from there a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

And may the  ¹All-sufficient God bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.

And may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, that you may possess this land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.

And Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

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

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

So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased Isaac his father.

Then Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, and the sister of Nebaioth to be his wife, in addition to the wives that he had.

And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.

And he came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and  ¹put it under his head, and he lay down in that place.

And he  ¹dreamed that there was a  ²ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the  ³angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And there was Jehovah, standing above it; and He said, I am Jehovah, the  ¹God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The  ²land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your  ²seed.

And your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.

And, behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will cause you to return to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I did not know it.

And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the  ¹gate of heaven.

And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.

And he called the name of that place  ¹Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz previously.

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on,

So that I return to my father's house in peace, then Jehovah will be my God,

And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house; and of all that You give me I will surely give one tenth to You.

Then Jacob  ¹went on his journey and came to the land of the children of the east.

And he looked, and there in the field was a well, and there three flocks of sheep were lying beside it; for from that well they watered the flocks. And the stone on the mouth of the well was large.

And when all the flocks would gather there, they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep; then they would put the stone back on the mouth of the well in its place.

And Jacob said to them, My brothers, where are you from? And they said, We are from Haran.

And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We do know him.

And he said to them, Is it well with him? And they said, It is well, and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with the sheep.

And he said, Look, it is still full day; and it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go feed them.

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

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with the sheep which belonged to her father, for she was a shepherdess.

Now when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob drew near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.

And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's  ¹relative and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father.

And when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister's son, he ran to meet him. And he embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then  ¹Jacob related to Laban all these things.

And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month.

And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?

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

And Leah's eyes were  ¹dull, but Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.

And Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.

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

And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but they seemed to him only a few days because of the love he had for her.

Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.

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

But in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him, and he went in to her.

And Laban gave Zilpah his female servant to his daughter Leah to be her female servant.

And in the morning there she was,  ¹Leah! And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?

And Laban said, It is not done in this way in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.

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

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

And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his female servant to be her female servant.

And he went in also to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel, more than Leah. And he served with  ¹Laban for another seven years.

Now when Jehovah saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name  ¹Reuben, for she said, Because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction, surely now my husband will love me.

And she conceived again and bore a son and said, Because Jehovah has heard that I am hated, He has therefore given me this son also; so she called his name  ¹Simeon.

And she conceived again and bore a son and said, Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore his name was called  ¹Levi.

And she conceived again and bore a son and said, This time I will praise Jehovah. Therefore she called his name  ¹Judah. Then she ceased bearing.

And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

And Jacob's anger burned against Rachel, and he said, Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?

And she said, Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I also may  ¹have children through her.

And she gave him Bilhah her female servant as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

And Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son; therefore she called his name  ¹Dan.

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

And Rachel said,  ¹In wrestling with God, I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed; so she called his name  ²Naphtali.

Now when Leah saw that she ceased bearing, she took Zilpah her female servant and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

And Zilpah Leah's female servant bore Jacob a son.

And Leah said, How fortunate! So she called his name  ¹Gad.

And Zilpah Leah's female servant bore Jacob a second son.

And Leah said,  ¹Happy am I! For the daughters will call me  ¹blessed; so she called his name  ²Asher.

And Reuben went out in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.

And she said to her, Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? And would you take away my son's mandrakes also? So Rachel said, Then he may lie with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes.

And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and 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.

And God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I gave my female servant to my husband; so she called his name  ¹Issachar.

And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will  ¹dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons; so she called his name  ²Zebulun.

And afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.

Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.

And she conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach.

And she called his name  ¹Joseph, saying, May Jehovah add to me another son.

And when Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go; for you indeed know my service by which I have served you.

And Laban said to him, If you please, I have divined that Jehovah has blessed me on account of you.

And he said, Name me your wages, and I will give it.

And  ¹Jacob said to him, You indeed know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me.

For you had little before I came, and it has spread into a multitude, and Jehovah has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own house also?

And he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything. Just do this one thing for me: Let me again feed your flock and keep it.

Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted animal, that is, every black animal among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such will be my wages.

So my righteousness will testify for me later, when you come concerning my wages, by what is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the sheep, if found with me, will be counted stolen.

And Laban said, Fine; let it be according to your word.

But on that day  ¹Laban removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.

And he set a distance of a three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

And Jacob took rods of fresh poplar and almond and plane trees and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods.

And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, in the watering places where the flocks came to drink; and they bred when they came to drink.

And the flocks bred before the rods; and the flocks brought forth young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flock toward the streaked 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.

And whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the flock in the troughs so that they might breed among the rods;

But when the flock was feebler, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

And the man became spread out exceedingly, and had large flocks, and female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.