ויצא

Jacob left Beer-sheba and traveled toward Haran. When the sun set, he stopped at a lonely place for the night. He took a stone, set it under his head, and lay down to sleep. In a dream he saw a stairway standing on the earth with its top reaching the sky, and angels of God going up and down. God stood beside him and promised, “The land you are lying on will be given to you and your children. Your family will spread in every direction, and all families of the earth will be blessed through you. I am with you, I will protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back.”

Jacob woke up trembling. “Surely God is in this place, and I didn’t know it,” he said. Early in the morning he set the stone up as a pillar and poured oil on it. He named the place Bethel, meaning “House of God.” Jacob also made a vow to serve God and set aside a tithe from what he received.

Jacob reached the land of the Easterners and saw a well with a huge stone over its mouth. Shepherds waited until all the flocks gathered before rolling it away. Jacob asked if they knew Laban of Haran. They did, and just then Laban’s daughter Rachel arrived, shepherding her father’s sheep. Jacob rolled the stone aside and watered the flock. He kissed Rachel and wept, telling her he was her relative, Rebekah’s son. Rachel ran home, and Laban hurried out to welcome Jacob.

After a month, Laban asked what wages Jacob wanted. Jacob loved Rachel and agreed to work seven years to marry her. But at the wedding Laban brought Leah, the older sister, instead. Jacob worked another seven years and then married Rachel too. Leah had sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel, unable to have children, gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob; Bilhah bore Dan and Naphtali. Leah gave her maid Zilpah; Zilpah bore Gad and Asher. Later Leah had more children, and God remembered Rachel; she bore Joseph.

After Joseph was born, Jacob asked Laban to let him return home with his family. Laban begged him to stay, saying he had learned that God blessed him because of Jacob. Jacob proposed wages: the speckled and spotted animals from the flocks. Laban agreed, but secretly removed many of them. In time Jacob’s own flocks increased. He became very prosperous, with many animals and servants.

Laban’s sons complained, and Jacob saw Laban’s attitude change. God told Jacob to return to his native land and promised to be with him. Rachel and Leah agreed to leave. Jacob packed his wives and children on camels and drove away his livestock. While Laban was shearing sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols, and Jacob slipped away across the Euphrates toward Gilead.

Laban chased him for seven days, but God warned Laban in a dream not to harm Jacob. After searching the tents and not finding the idols, Laban and Jacob argued, then made a pact with a stone mound and a shared meal. Laban went home. As Jacob continued, angels of God met him, and he named the place Mahanaim.