The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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,

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,

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.

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,

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.

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

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:

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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:

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

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

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

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.

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

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:

I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and men-servants, and women-servants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.

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.

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,

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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

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

And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

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

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

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.

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

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?

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.

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

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

Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.

And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia and of Rachel, and of the two handmaids.

And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last.

And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground seven times, until his brother came near.

Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept.

And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their children, and said: What mean these? And do they belong to thee? He answered: They are the children which God hath given to me, thy servant.

Then the handmaids and their children came near and bowed themselves.

Lia also, with her children, came near and bowed down in like manner; and last of all, Joseph and Rachel bowed down.

And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I might find favour before my lord.

But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for thyself.

And Jacob said: Do not so I beseech thee, but if I have found favour in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be gracious to me,

And take the blessing which I have brought thee, and which God hath given me, who giveth all things. He took it with much ado at his brother's earnest pressing him,

And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy journey.

And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender children, and sheep, and kine with young: which if I should cause to be overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die.

May it please my lord to go before his servant: and I will follow softly after him, as I shall see my children to be able, until I come to my lord in Seir.

Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people, at least, who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said: There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favour, my lord, in thy sight.

So Esau returned that day, the way that he came, to Seir.

And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents.

And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and he dwelt by the town.

And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem, for a hundred lambs.

And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel.

And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that country.

And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin.

And his soul was fast knit unto her; and whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words.

And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to wife.

But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back.

And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to Jacob,

Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed, they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel, and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob's daughter.

And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing for your daughter: give her him to wife:

And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your daughters, and take you our daughters.

And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and possess it.

Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find favour in your sight, and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give:

Raise the dowry, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife.

The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully, being enraged at the deflowering of their sister:

We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; which with us is unlawful and abominable.

But in this we may be allied with you, if you will be like us, and all the male sex among you be circumcised:

Then will we mutually give and take your daughters, and ours; and we will dwell with you, and will be one people:

But if you will not be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart.

Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem, his son:

And the young man made no delay, but forthwith fulfilled what was required: for he loved the damsel exceedingly, and he was the greatest man in all his father's house.

And going into the gate of the city, they spoke to the people: