Chapter 6

28:16. And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.

28:17. And trembling, he said: How terrible is this place? this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

28:18. And Jacob arising in the morning, took the stone which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it.

28:19. And he called the name of the city Bethel, which before was called Luza.

Bethel.... This name signifies the house of God.

28:20. And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall keep me in the way, by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

28:21. And I shall return prosperously to my father’s house: the Lord shall be my God:

28:22. And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall be called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.

Genesis Chapter 29

Jacob serveth Laban seven years for Rachel: but is deceived with Lia: he afterwards marrieth Rachel. Lia bears him four sons.

29:1. Then Jacob went on in his journey, and came into the east country.

29:2. And he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying by it: for the beasts were watered out of it, and the mouth thereof was closed with a great stone.

29:3. And the custom was, when all the sheep were gathered together, to roll away the stone, and after the sheep were watered, to put it on the mouth of the well again.

29:4. And he said to the shepherds: Brethren, whence are you? They answered: Of Haran.

29:5. And he asked them, saying: Know you Laban, the son of Nachor? They said: We know him.

29:6. He said: Is he in health? He is in health, say they: and behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh with his flock.

29:7. And Jacob said: There is yet much day remaining, neither is it time to bring the flocks into the folds again: first give the sheep drink, and so lead them back to feed.

29:8. They answered: We cannot, till all the cattle be gathered together, and we remove the stone from the well’s mouth, that we may water the flocks.

29:9. They were yet speaking, and behold Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she fed the flock.

29:10. And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be his cousin german, and that they were the sheep of Laban, his uncle: he removed the stone wherewith the well was closed.

29:11. And having watered the flock, he kissed her: and lifting up his voice wept.

29:12. And he told her that he was her father’s brother, and the son of Rebecca: but she went in haste and told her father.

29:13. Who, when he heard that Jacob his sister’s son was come, ran forth to meet him: and embracing him, and heartily kissing him, brought him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey,

29:14. He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were expired,

29:15. He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have.

29:16. Now he had two daughters, the name of the elder was Lia; and the younger was called Rachel.

29:17. But Lia was blear-eyed: Rachel was well favoured, and of a beautiful countenance.

29:18. And Jacob being in love with her, said: I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter.

29:19. Laban answered: It is better that I give her to thee than to another man; stay with me.

29:20. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love.

29:21. And he said to Laban: Give me my wife; for now the time is fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.

29:22. And he, having invited a great number of his friends to the feast, made the marriage.

29:23. And at night he brought in Lia, his daughter, to him,

29:24. Giving his daughter a handmaid, named Zelpha. Now when Jacob had gone in to her according to custom, when morning was come he saw it was Lia.

29:25. And he said to his father-in-law: What is it that thou didst mean to do? did not I serve thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me?

29:26. Laban answered: It is not the custom in this place, to give the younger in marriage first.

29:27. Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her also, for the service that thou shalt render me other seven years.

29:28. He yielded to his pleasure: and after the week was past, he married Rachel:

29:29. To whom her father gave Bala, for her servant.

29:30. And having at length obtained the marriage he wished for, he preferred the love of the latter before the former, and served with him other seven years.

29:31. And the Lord seeing that he despised Lia, opened her womb, but her sister remained barren.

29:32. And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ruben, saying: The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me.

29:33. And again she conceived and bore a son, and said: Because the Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me: and she called his name Simeon.

29:34. And she conceived the third time, and bore another son, and said: Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons: and therefore she called his name Levi.

29:35. The fourth time she conceived and bore a son, and said: Now will I praise the Lord: and for this she called him Juda. And she left bearing.

Genesis Chapter 30

Rachel, being barren, delivereth her handmaid to Jacob; she beareth two sons. Lia ceasing to bear, giveth also her handmaid, and she beareth two more. Then Lia beareth other two sons and one daughter. Rachel beareth Joseph. Jacob, desirous to return home, is hired to stay for a certain part of the flock’s increase, whereby he becometh exceeding rich.

30:1. And Rachel seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.

30:2. And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?

30:3. But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.

30:4. And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,

30:5. When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.

30:6. And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my voice, giving me a son; and therefore she called his name Dan.

30:7. And again Bala conceived, and bore another,

30:8. For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called him Nephthali.

30:9. Lia perceiving that she had left of bearing, gave Zelpha, her handmaid, to her husband.

30:10. And when she had conceived, and brought forth a son,

30:11. She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.

30:12. Zelpha also bore another.

30:13. And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.

30:14. And Ruben going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel said: Give me part of thy son’s mandrakes.

30:15. She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son’s mandrakes? Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son’s mandrakes.

30:16. And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired thee for my son’s mandrakes. And he slept with her that night.

30:17. And God heard her prayers; and she conceived: and bore a fifth son:

30:18. And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

30:19. And Lia conceived again, and bore the sixth son,

30:20. And said: God hath endowed me with a good dowry; this turn also my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons: and therefore she called his name Zabulon.

30:21. After whom she bore a daughter, named Dina.

30:22. The Lord also remembering Rachel, heard her, and opened her womb.

30:23. And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken away my reproach.

30:24. And she called his name Joseph: saying: The Lord give me also another son.

30:25. And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father-in-law: Send me away, that I may return into my country, and to my land.

30:26. Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served thee, that I may depart: thou knowest the service that I have rendered thee.

30:27. Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight: I have learned, by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake.

30:28. Appoint thy wages which I shall give thee.

30:29. But he answered: Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how great thy possession hath been in my hands.

30:30. Thou hadst but little before I came to thee, and now thou art become rich: and the Lord hath blessed thee at my coming. It is reasonable, therefore, that I should now provide also for my own house.

30:31. And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require nothing; but if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed and keep thy sheep again.

30:32. Go round through all thy flocks, and separate all the sheep of divers colours, and speckled; and all that is brown and spotted, and of divers colours, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall be my wages.

30:33. And my justice shall answer for me tomorrow before thee, when the time of the bargain shall come; and all that is not of divers colours, and spotted, and brown, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall accuse me of theft.

30:34. And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest.

30:35. And he separated the same day the she-goats, and the sheep, and the he-goats, and the rams of divers colours, and spotted; and all the flock of one colour, that is, of white and black fleece, he delivered into the hands of his sons.

30:36. And he set the space of three days journey betwixt himself and his son-in-law, who fed the rest of his flock.

30:37. And Jacob took green rods of poplar, and of almond, and of plane-trees, and pilled them in part: so when the bark was taken off, in the parts that were pilled, there appeared whiteness: but the parts that were whole, remained green: and by this means the colour was divers.

30:38. And he put them in the troughs, where the water was poured out; that when the flocks should come to drink, they might have the rods before their eyes, and in the sight of them might conceive.

30:39. And it came to pass, that in the very heat of coition, the sheep beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and speckled.

30:40. And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the rams; and all the white and the black were Laban’s, and the rest were Jacob’s, when the flocks were separated one from the other.

30:41. So when the ewes went first to ram, Jacob put the rods in the troughs of water before the eyes of the rams, and of the ewes, that they might conceive while they were looking upon them.

30:42. But when the later coming was, and the last conceiving, he did not put them. And those that were lateward, became Laban’s; and they of the first time, Jacob’s.

30:43. And the man was enriched exceedingly, and he had many flocks, maid-servants and men-servants, camels and asses.

Genesis Chapter 31

Jacob’s departure: he is pursued and overtaken by Laban. They make a covenant.

31:1. But after that he had heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying: Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s, and being enriched by his substance is become great.

31:2. And perceiving also, that Laban’s countenance was not towards him as yesterday and the other day.

31:3. Especially the Lord saying to him: Return into the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.

31:4. He sent, and called Rachel and Lia into the field, where he fed the flocks,

31:5. And said to them: I see your father’s countenance is not towards me as yesterday and the other day: but the God of my father hath been with me.

31:6. And you know that I have served your father to the uttermost of my power.

31:7. Yea your father hath also overreached me, and hath changed my wages ten times: and yet God hath not suffered him to hurt me.

31:8. If at any time, he said: The speckled shall be thy wages: all the sheep brought forth speckled: but when he said on the contrary: Thou shalt take all the white one for thy wages: all the flocks brought forth white ones.

31:9. And God hath taken your father’s substance, and given it to me.

31:10. For after the time came of the ewes conceiving, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in my sleep, that the males which leaped upon the females were of divers colours, and spotted, and speckled.

31:11. And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob. And I answered: Here I am.

31:12. And he said: Lift up thy eyes, and see that all the males leaping upon the females, are of divers colours, spotted and speckled. For I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee.

31:13. I am the God of Bethel, where thou didst anoint the stone, and make a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and go out of this land, and return into thy native country.

31:14. And Rachel and Lia answered: Have we any thing left among the goods and inheritance of our father’s house?

31:15. Hath he not counted us as strangers, and sold us, and eaten up the price of us?

31:16. But God hath taken our father’s riches, and delivered them to us, and to our children: wherefore, do all that God hath commanded thee.

31:17. Then Jacob rose up, and having set his children and wives upon camels, went his way.

31:18. And he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went forward to Isaac, his father, to the land of Chanaan.

31:19. At that time Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole away her father’s idols.

Her father’s idols.... By this it appears that Laban was an idolater; and some of the fathers are of opinion that Rachel stole away these idols to withdraw him from idolatry, removing the occasion of his sin.

31:20. And Jacob would not confess to his father-in-law that he was flying away.

31:21. And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad,

31:22. It was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob fled.

31:23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days; and overtook him in the mount of Galaad.

31:24. And he saw in a dream God, saying to him: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.

31:25. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and when he, with his brethren, had overtaken him, he pitched his tent in the same mount of Galaad.

31:26. And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away, without my knowledge, my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

31:27. Why wouldst thou run away privately, and not acquaint me, that I might have brought thee on the way with joy, and with songs, and with timbrels, and with harps?

31:28. Thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and daughters; thou hast done foolishly; and now indeed,

31:29. It is in my power to return thee evil; but the God of your father said to me yesterday: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.

31:30. Suppose thou didst desire to go to thy friends, and hadst a longing after thy father’s house: why hast thou stolen away my gods?

31:31. Jacob answered: That I departed unknown to thee, it was for fear lest thou wouldst take away thy daughters by force.

31:32. But, whereas, thou chargest me with theft: with whomsoever thou shalt find thy gods, let him be slain before our brethren. Search, and if thou find any of thy things with me, take them away. Now when he said this, he knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.

31:33. So Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and of Lia, and of both the handmaids, and found them not. And when he was entered into Rachel’s tent,

31:34. She, in haste, hid the idols under the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them: and when he had searched all the tent, and found nothing,

31:35. She said: Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee, because it has now happened to me according to the custom of women. So his careful search was in vain.

31:36. And Jacob being angry, said in a chiding manner: For what fault of mine, and for what offence on my part hast thou so hotly pursued me,

31:37. And searched all my household stuff? What hast thou found of all the substance of thy house? lay it here before my brethren, and thy brethren, and let them judge between me and thee.

31:38. Have I, therefore, been with thee twenty years? thy ewes and goats were not barren, the rams of thy flocks I did not eat:

31:39. Neither did I shew thee that which the beast had torn; I made good all the damage: whatsoever was lost by theft, thou didst exact it of me:

31:40. Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep departed from my eyes.

31:41. And in this manner have I served thee in thy house twenty years, fourteen for thy daughters, and six for thy flocks: thou hast changed also my wages ten times.

31:42. Unless the God of my father, Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had stood by me, peradventure now thou hadst sent me away naked: God beheld my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday.

31:43. Laban answered him: The daughters are mine, and the children, and thy flocks, and all things that thou seest are mine: what can I do to my children, and grandchildren?

31:44. Come, therefore, let us enter into a league; that it may be for a testimony between me and thee.

31:45. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a title.

31:46. And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they, gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it.

31:47. And Laban called it, The witness heap; and Jacob, The hillock of testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.

31:48. And Laban said: This heap shall be a witness between me and thee this day, and therefore the name thereof was called Galaad, that is, The witness heap.

31:49. The Lord behold and judge between us, when we shall be gone one from the other.

31:50. If thou afflict my daughters, and if thou bring in other wives over them: none is witness of our speech but God, who is present and beholdeth.

31:51. And he said again to Jacob: Behold this heap, and the stone which I have set up between me and thee,

31:52. Shall be a witness: this heap, I say, and the stone, be they for a testimony, if either I shall pass beyond it going towards thee, or thou shalt pass beyond it thinking harm to me.

31:53. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nachor, the God of their father, judge between us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac:

31:54. And after he had offered sacrifices in the mountain, he called his brethren to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there:

31:55. But Laban arose in the night, and kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them: and returned to his place.

Genesis Chapter 32

Jacob’s vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his wrestling with an angel.

32:1. Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him.

32:2. And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps.

32:3. And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom:

32:4. And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day:

32:5. I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.

32:6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.

32:7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,

32:8. Saying: If Esau come to one company, and destroy it, the other company that is left, shall escape.

32:9. And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac: O Lord who saidst to me, Return to thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee.

32:10. I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.

32:11. Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him; lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children.

32:12. Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

32:13. And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau,

32:14. Two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

32:15. Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten of their foals.

32:16. And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove.

32:17. And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee?

32:18. Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob’s: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau; and he cometh after us.

32:19. In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him.

32:20. And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.

32:21. So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.

32:22. And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

32:23. And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

32:24. He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till morning.

A man, etc.... This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee 12.4. He is called God, ver. 28 and 30, because he represented the person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered (ver. 28,) that he might learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau, nor any other man, should have power to hurt him.—It was also spiritual, as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging and at last obtaining the angel’s blessing.

32:25. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

32:26. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

32:27. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

32:28. But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?

32:29. Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.

32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

Phanuel.... This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing of God.

32:31. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.