Tanakh - The Holy Scriptures . Various Authors

his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's. ²⁰And Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, in that he told him not that he fled. ²¹So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over ⁴⁴the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

²²And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. ²³And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁴And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said unto him: 'Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.' ²⁵And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain; and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁶And Laban said to Jacob: 'What hast thou done, that thou hast outwitted me, and carried away my daughters as though captives of the sword? ²⁷Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and outwit me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp; ²⁸and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? now hast thou done foolishly. ²⁹It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spoke unto me yesternight, saying: Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. ³⁰And now that thou art surely gone, because thou sore longest after thy father's house, wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?' ³¹And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'Because I was afraid; for I said: Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. ³²With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live; before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee.'— For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.— ³³And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the saddle of the camel, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not. ³⁵And she said to her father: 'Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me.' And he searched, but found not the teraphim. ³⁶And Jacob was wroth, and strove with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me? ³⁷Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two. ³⁸These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten. ³⁹That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bore the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰Thus I was: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes. ⁴¹These twenty years have I been in thy house: I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. ⁴²Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been on my side, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and gave judgment yesternight.' ⁴³And Laban answered and said unto Jacob: 'The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine; and what can I do this day for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.' ⁴⁵And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said unto his brethren: 'Gather stones'; and they took stones, and made a heap. And they did eat there by the heap. ⁴⁷And Laban called it ⁴⁵Jegar-sahadutha; but Jacob called it ⁴⁶Galeed. ⁴⁸And Laban said: 'This heap is witness between me and thee this day.' Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; ⁴⁹and ⁴⁷Mizpah, for he said: 'The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives beside my daughters, no man being with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.' ⁵¹And Laban said to Jacob: 'Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set up betwixt me and thee. ⁵²This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. ⁵³The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us.' And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain.

32And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. And Laban departed, and returned unto his place. ²And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ³And Jacob said when he saw them: 'This is God's camp.' And he called the name of that place ⁴⁸Mahanaim.

      וישלח

      ⁴And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁵And he commanded them, saying: 'Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now. ⁶And I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and men-servants and maid-servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.' ⁷And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: 'We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.' ⁸Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. And he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps. ⁹And he said: 'If Esau come to the one camp, and smite it, then the camp which is left shall escape.' ¹⁰And Jacob said: 'O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who saidst unto me: Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good; ¹¹I am not worthy of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two camps. ¹²Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. ¹³And Thou saidst: I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' ¹⁴And he lodged there that night; and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁵two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁶thirty milch camels and their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. ¹⁷And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and said unto his servants: 'Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.' ¹⁸And he commanded the foremost, saying: 'When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying: Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? ¹⁹then thou shalt say: They are thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord, even unto Esau; and, behold, he also is behind us.' ²⁰And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: 'In this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him; ²¹and ye shall say: Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us.' For he said: 'I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me.' ²²So the present passed over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.

²³And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²⁴And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. ²⁵And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁶And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. ²⁷And he said: 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' And he said: 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.' ²⁸And he said unto him: 'What is thy name?' And he said: 'Jacob.' ²⁹And he said: 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but ⁴⁹Israel; for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.' ³⁰And Jacob asked him, and said: 'Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.' And he said: 'Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?' And he blessed him there. ³¹And