jacob

²²And when he had arisen early, he took his two wives, and the same number of handmaids, with his eleven sons, and he crossed over the ford of Jabbok. ²³And having delivered over all the things that belonged to him, ²⁴he remained alone. And behold, a man wrestled with him until morning. ²⁵And when he saw that he would not be able to overcome him, he touched the nerve of his thigh, and immediately it withered. ²⁶And he said to him, “Release me, for now the dawn ascends.” He responded, “I will not release you, unless you bless me.” ²⁷Therefore he said, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.”

⁹Then God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him, ¹⁰saying: “You will no longer be called Jacob, for your name shall be Israel.” And he called him Israel, ¹¹and he said to him: “I am Almighty God: increase and multiply. Tribes and peoples of nations will be from you, and kings will go forth from your loins. ¹²And the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your offspring after you.” ¹³And he withdrew from him. ¹⁴In truth, he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him, pouring out libations over it, and pouring oil,

²⁶Isaac was sixty years old when the little ones were born to him.

³In the womb, he supplanted his brother; for in his good fortune, he had been guided by an angel. ⁴And he prevailed over an angel, for he had been strengthened. He wept and petitioned him. He found him in Bethel, and there he has spoken to us.

¹⁰Meanwhile Jacob, having departed from Beersheba, continued on to Haran. ¹¹And when he had arrived at a certain place, where he would rest after the setting of the sun, he took some of the stones that lay there, and placing them under his head, he slept in the same place. ¹²And he saw in his sleep: a ladder standing upon the earth, with its top touching heaven, also, the Angels of God ascending and descending by it, ¹³and the Lord, leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land, in which you sleep, I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴And your offspring will be like the dust of the earth. You will spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the Meridian. And in you and in your offspring, all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵And I will be your guardian wherever you will journey, and I will bring you back into this land. Neither will I dismiss you, until I have accomplished all that I have said.”

²I have loved you, says the Lord, and you have said, “In what way have you loved us?” Was not Esau brother to Jacob, says the Lord? And have I not loved Jacob, ³but held hatred for Esau? And I have set his mountains in solitude, and his inheritance with the serpents of the desert.

¹Then Jacob called his sons, and he said to them: “Gather together, so that I may announce what will happen to you in the last days. ²Gather together and listen, O sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father. ³Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the beginning of my sorrow: first in gifts, greater in authority. ⁴You are being poured out like water, may you not increase. For you climbed onto your father’s bed, and you defiled his resting place. ⁵The brothers Simeon and Levi: vessels of iniquity waging war. ⁶Let not my soul go by their counsel, nor my glory be within their meeting. For in their fury they killed a man, and in their self-will they undermined a wall.

¹Now Isaac was old, and his eyes were cloudy, and so he was not able to see. And he called his elder son Esau, and he said to him, “My son?” And he responded, “Here I am.” ²His father said to him: “You see that I am old, and I do not know the day of my death. ³Take your weapons, the quiver and the bow, and go out. And when you have taken something by hunting, ⁴make from it a small meal for me, just as you know I like, and bring it, so that I may eat and my soul may bless you before I die.” ⁵And when Rebekah had heard this, and he had gone out into the field to fulfill his father’s order, ⁶she said to her son Jacob: “I heard your father speaking with your brother Esau, and saying to him,

¹⁰And she was not alone. For Rebecca also, having conceived by Isaac our father, from one act, ¹¹when the children had not yet been born, and had not yet done anything good or bad (such that the purpose of God might be based on their choice), ¹²and not because of deeds, but because of a calling, it was said to her: “The elder shall serve the younger.” ¹³So also it was written: “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.”

¹And Israel, setting out with all that he had, arrived at the Well of the Oath. And sacrificing victims there to the God of his father Isaac, ²he heard him, by a vision in the night, calling him, and saying to him: “Jacob, Jacob.” And he answered him, “Behold, here I am.” ³God said to him: “I am the most strong God of your father. Do not be afraid. Descend into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. ⁴I will descend with you to that place, and I will lead you back from there, returning. Also, Joseph will place his hands over your eyes. ⁵Then Jacob rose up from the Well of the Oath. And his sons took him, with their little ones and wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry the old man, ⁶along with all that he possessed in the land of Canaan. And he arrived in Egypt with all his offspring:

¹⁰Meanwhile Jacob, having departed from Beersheba, continued on to Haran. ¹¹And when he had arrived at a certain place, where he would rest after the setting of the sun, he took some of the stones that lay there, and placing them under his head, he slept in the same place. ¹²And he saw in his sleep: a ladder standing upon the earth, with its top touching heaven, also, the Angels of God ascending and descending by it, ¹³and the Lord, leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land, in which you sleep, I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴And your offspring will be like the dust of the earth. You will spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the Meridian. And in you and in your offspring, all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵And I will be your guardian wherever you will journey, and I will bring you back into this land. Neither will I dismiss you, until I have accomplished all that I have said.”

¹⁹Likewise, these are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Abraham conceived Isaac, ²⁰who, when he was forty years old, took Rebekah, the sister of Laban, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian from Mesopotamia, as a wife. ²¹And Isaac beseeched the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And he heard him, and he gave conception to Rebekah. ²²But the little ones struggled in her womb. So she said, “If it was to be so with me, what need was there to conceive?” And she went to consult the Lord. ²³And responding, he said, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be divided out of your womb, and one people will overcome the other people, and the elder will serve the younger.” ²⁴Now the time had arrived to give birth, and behold, twins were discovered in her womb.

³Most importantly, the Lord was saying to him, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your generation, and I will be with you.”