The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Why hast thou hidden thyself to flee, and deceivest me, and hast not declared to me, and I send thee away with joy and with songs, with tabret and with harp,

and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? — now thou hast acted foolishly in doing [so];

my hand is to God to do evil with you, but the God of your father yesternight hath spoken unto me, saying, Take heed to thyself from speaking with Jacob from good unto evil.

'And now, thou hast certainly gone, because thou hast been very desirous for the house of thy father; why hast thou stolen my gods?'

And Jacob answereth and saith to Laban, 'Because I was afraid, for I said, Lest thou take violently away thy daughters from me;

with whomsoever thou findest thy gods — he doth not live; before our brethren discern for thyself what [is] with me, and take to thyself:' and Jacob hath not known that Rachel hath stolen them.

And Laban goeth into the tent of Jacob, and into the tent of Leah, and into the tent of the two handmaidens, and hath not found; and he goeth out from the tent of Leah, and goeth into the tent of Rachel.

And Rachel hath taken the teraphim, and putteth them in the furniture of the camel, and sitteth upon them; and Laban feeleth all the tent, and hath not found;

and she saith unto her father, 'Let it not be displeasing in the eyes of my lord that I am not able to rise at thy presence, for the way of women [is] on me;' and he searcheth, and hath not found the teraphim.

And it is displeasing to Jacob, and he striveth with Laban; and Jacob answereth and saith to Laban, 'What [is] my transgression? what my sin, that thou hast burned after me?

for thou hast felt all my vessels: what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? set here before my brethren, and thy brethren, and they decide between us both.

'These twenty years I [am] with thee: thy ewes and thy she-goats have not miscarried, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten;

the torn I have not brought in unto thee — I, I repay it — from my hand thou dost seek it; I have been deceived by day, and I have been deceived by night;

I have been [thus]: in the day consumed me hath drought, and frost by night, and wander doth my sleep from mine eyes.

'This [is] to me twenty years in thy house: I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou changest my hire ten times;

unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been for me, surely now empty thou hadst sent me away; mine affliction and the labour of my hands hath God seen, and reproveth yesternight.'

And Laban answereth and saith unto Jacob, 'The daughters [are] my daughters, and the sons my sons, and the flock my flock, and all that thou art seeing [is] mine; and to my daughters — what do I to these to-day, or to their sons whom they have born?

and now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and it hath been for a witness between me and thee.'

And Jacob taketh a stone, and lifteth it up [for] a standing pillar;

and Jacob saith to his brethren, 'Gather stones,' and they take stones, and make a heap; and they eat there on the heap;

and Laban calleth it Jegar-Sahadutha; and Jacob hath called it Galeed.

And Laban saith, 'This heap [is] witness between me and thee to-day;' therefore hath he called its name Galeed;

Mizpah also, for he said, 'Jehovah doth watch between me and thee, for we are hidden one from another;

if thou afflict my daughters, or take wives beside my daughters — there is no man with us — see, God [is] witness between me and thee.'

And Laban saith to Jacob, 'Lo, this heap, and lo, the standing pillar which I have cast between me and thee;

this heap [is] witness, and the standing pillar [is] witness, that I do not pass over this heap unto thee, and that thou dost not pass over this heap and this standing pillar unto me — for evil;

the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, doth judge between us — the God of their father,' and Jacob sweareth by the Fear of his father Isaac.

And Jacob sacrificeth a sacrifice in the mount, and calleth to his brethren to eat bread, and they eat bread, and lodge in the mount;

and Laban riseth early in the morning, and kisseth his sons and his daughters, and blesseth them; and Laban goeth on, and turneth back to his place.

And Jacob hath gone on his way, and messengers of God come upon him;

and Jacob saith, when he hath seen them, 'This [is] the camp of God;' and he calleth the name of that place 'Two Camps.'

And Jacob sendeth messengers before him unto Esau his brother, towards the land of Seir, the field of Edom,

and commandeth them, saying, 'Thus do ye say to my lord, to Esau: Thus said thy servant Jacob, With Laban I have sojourned, and I tarry until now;

and I have ox, and ass, flock, and man-servant, and maid-servant, and I send to declare to my lord, to find grace in his eyes.'

And the messengers turn back unto Jacob, saying, 'We came in unto thy brother, unto Esau, and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him;'

and Jacob feareth exceedingly, and is distressed, and he divideth the people who [are] with him, and the flock, and the herd, and the camels, into two camps,

and saith, 'If Esau come in unto the one camp, and have smitten it — then the camp which is left hath been for an escape.'

And Jacob saith, 'God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah who saith unto me, Turn back to thy land, and to thy kindred, and I do good with thee:

I have been unworthy of all the kind acts, and of all the truth which Thou hast done with thy servant — for, with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

'Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I am fearing him, less he come and have smitten me — mother beside sons;

and Thou — Thou hast said, I certainly do good with thee, and have set thy seed as the sand of the sea, which is not numbered because of the multitude.'

And he lodgeth there during that night, and taketh from that which is coming into his hand, a present for Esau his brother:

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

suckling camels and their young ones thirty, cows forty, and bullocks ten, she-asses twenty, and foals ten;

and he giveth into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and saith unto his servants, 'Pass over before me, and a space ye do put between drove and drove.'

And he commandeth the first, saying, 'When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and hath asked thee, saying, Whose [art] thou? and whither goest thou? and whose [are] these before thee?

then thou hast said, Thy servant Jacob's: it [is] a present sent to my lord, to Esau; and lo, he also [is] behind us.'

And he commandeth also the second, also the third, also all who are going after the droves, saying, 'According to this manner do ye speak unto Esau in your finding him,

and ye have said also, Lo, thy servant Jacob [is] behind us;' for he said, 'I pacify his face with the present which is going before me, and afterwards I see his face; it may be he lifteth up my face;'

and the present passeth over before his face, and he hath lodged during that night in the camp.

And he riseth in that night, and taketh his two wives, and his two maid-servants, and his eleven children, and passeth over the passage of Jabbok;

and he taketh them, and causeth them to pass over the brook, and he causeth that which he hath to pass over.

And Jacob is left alone, and one wrestleth with him till the ascending of the dawn;

and he seeth that he is not able for him, and he cometh against the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh is disjointed in his wrestling with him;

and he saith, 'Send me away, for the dawn hath ascended:' and he saith, 'I send thee not away, except thou hast blessed me.'

And he saith unto him, 'What [is] thy name?' and he saith, 'Jacob.'

And he saith, 'Thy name is no more called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast been a prince with God and with men, and dost prevail.'

And Jacob asketh, and saith, 'Declare, I pray thee, thy name;' and he saith, 'Why [is] this, thou askest for My name?' and He blesseth him there.

And Jacob calleth the name of the place Peniel: for 'I have seen God face unto face, and my life is delivered;'

and the sun riseth on him when he hath passed over Penuel, and he is halting on his thigh;

therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew which shrank, which [is] on the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because He came against the hollow of Jacob's thigh, against the sinew which shrank.

And Jacob lifteth up his eyes, and looketh, and lo, Esau is coming, and with him four hundred men; and he divideth the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two maid-servants;

and he setteth the maid-servants and their children first, and Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.

And he himself passed over before them, and boweth himself to the earth seven times, until his drawing nigh unto his brother,

and Esau runneth to meet him, and embraceth him, and falleth on his neck, and kisseth him, and they weep;

and he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the women and the children, and saith, 'What [are] these to thee?' And he saith, 'The children with whom God hath favoured thy servant.'

And the maid-servants draw nigh, they and their children, and bow themselves;

and Leah also draweth nigh, and her children, and they bow themselves; and afterwards Joseph hath drawn nigh with Rachel, and they bow themselves.

And he saith, 'What to thee [is] all this camp which I have met?' and he saith, 'To find grace in the eyes of my lord.'

And Esau saith, 'I have abundance, my brother, let it be to thyself that which thou hast.'

And Jacob saith, 'Nay, I pray thee, if, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, then thou hast received my present from my hand, because that I have seen thy face, as the seeing of the face of God, and thou art pleased with me;

receive, I pray thee, my blessing, which is brought to thee, because God hath favoured me, and because I have all [things];' and he presseth on him, and he receiveth,

and saith, 'Let us journey and go on, and I go on before thee.'

And he saith unto him, 'My lord knoweth that the children [are] tender, and the suckling flock and the herd [are] with me; when they have beaten them one day, then hath all the flock died.

Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant, and I — I lead on gently, according to the foot of the work which [is] before me, and to the foot of the children, until that I come unto my lord, to Seir.'

And Esau saith, 'Let me, I pray thee, place with thee some of the people who [are] with me;' and he said, 'Why [is] this? I find grace in the eyes of my lord.'

And turn back on that day doth Esau on his way to Seir;

and Jacob hath journeyed to Succoth, and buildeth to himself a house, and for his cattle hath made booths, therefore hath he called the name of the place Succoth.

And Jacob cometh in to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which [is] in the land of Canaan, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and encampeth before the city,

and he buyeth the portion of the field where he hath stretched out his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitah;

and he setteth up there an altar, and proclaimeth at it God — the God of Israel.

And Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she hath borne to Jacob, goeth out to look on the daughters of the land,

and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, seeth her, and taketh her, and lieth with her, and humbleth her;

and his soul cleaveth to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and he loveth the young person, and speaketh unto the heart of the young person.

And Shechem speaketh unto Hamor his father, saying, 'Take for me this damsel for a wife.'

And Jacob hath heard that he hath defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob kept silent till their coming.

And Hamor, father of Shechem, goeth out unto Jacob to speak with him;

and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it [is] very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob — and so it is not done.

And Hamor speaketh with them, saying, 'Shechem, my son, his soul hath cleaved to your daughter; give her, I pray you, to him for a wife,

and join ye in marriage with us; your daughters ye give to us, and our daughters ye take to yourselves,

and with us ye dwell, and the land is before you; dwell ye and trade [in] it, and have possessions in it.'

And Shechem saith unto her father, and unto her brethren, 'Let me find grace in your eyes, and that which ye say unto me, I give;

multiply on me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I give as ye say unto me, and give to me the young person for a wife.'

And the sons of Jacob answer Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and they speak (because he defiled Dinah their sister),

and say unto them, 'We are not able to do this thing, to give our sister to one who hath a foreskin: for it [is] a reproach to us.

'Only for this we consent to you; if ye be as we, to have every male of you circumcised,

then we have given our daughters to you, and your daughters we take to ourselves, and we have dwelt with you, and have become one people;

and if ye hearken not unto us to be circumcised, then we have taken our daughter, and have gone.'

And their words are good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor's son;

and the young man delayed not to do the thing, for he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he is honourable above all the house of his father.