28 And so Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded to him, and said, Do not thou take a wife of the kin of Canaan;

² but go thou, and walk forth into Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bethuel, [the] father of thy mother, and take to thee from thence a wife of the daughters of Laban, thine uncle. (but go thou forth to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, the father of thy mother, and get a wife for thyself from there, of one of the daughters of thy uncle Laban.)

³ Soothly Almighty God bless thee (And may Almighty God bless thee), and make thee to increase, and multiply thee, (so) that thou be into companies of peoples;

⁴ and God give to thee the blessing of Abraham, and to thy seed after thee, that thou wield the land of thy pilgrimage, which he promised to thy grand-sire. (and may God give thee the blessing of Abraham, and thy descendants after thee, so that thou possessest this land where thou art now living, which he promised to thy grandfather.)

⁵ And when Isaac had let go Jacob, Jacob went forth, and came into Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel of Syria, the brother of Rebecca, his mother. (And so when Isaac had let Jacob go, he went forth, and came to Paddan-aram, and to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of his mother Rebecca.)

⁶ Forsooth Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him (away) into Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should wed a wife of thence, and that after the blessing he commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; (And Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him away to Paddan-aram, so that he would wed a wife from there, and that after his blessing he had commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan;)

⁷ and that Jacob obeyed to his father and mother, and went into Syria; (and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother, and had gone away to Paddan-aram;)

⁸ also Esau proved thereby that his father beheld not gladly the daughters of Canaan. (and so Esau understood by this that his father did not approve of the daughters of Canaan.)

⁹ And (so) Esau went to Ishmael, and wedded a(nother) wife, without these which he had before (in addition to the two whom he had already wed), Mahalath^[a], the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the sister of Nebajoth.

¹⁰ Therefore Jacob went out of Beersheba, and went to Haran. (And so Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran.)

¹¹ And when he had come to some place, and would rest therein after the going down of the sun, he took (some) of the stones that lay there, and he put (them) under his head, and slept in the same place.

¹² And he saw in [his] sleep a ladder standing on the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; and he saw God’s angels going up and going down thereby,

¹³ and the Lord nighed to the ladder, saying to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and (the) God of Isaac; I shall give to thee and to thy seed the land in which thou sleepest.

¹⁴ And thy seed shall be as the dust of [the] earth, (and) thou shalt be alarged to the east, and west, and to the north, and south; and all the lineages of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee and in thy seed (and all the families of the earth shall pray to be blessed as thee and thy descendants be blessed/and through thee and thy descendants, I shall bless all the families of the earth).

¹⁵ And I shall be thy keeper, whither ever thou shalt go; and I shall lead thee again into this land, and I shall not leave thee, no but I shall fulfill all [the] things which I have said (and I shall not leave thee, until I have fulfilled all the things which I have promised).

¹⁶ And when Jacob had waked of [the] sleep, he said, Verily the Lord is in this place, and I knew not. (And when Jacob had awakened from his sleep, he said, Truly the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.)

¹⁷ And he said dreading, How fearedful, or worshipful, is this place! Here is none other thing, no but the house of God, and the gate of heaven. (And he said with fear, or with reverence, How fearful, or how worshipful, is this place! This is nothing else, but the House of God, or Bethel, yea, the gateway to heaven/yea, heaven’s gate!)

¹⁸ Therefore Jacob rose early, and took the stone which he had put under his head, and raised (it) up into a title, or (a) sign, and poured out oil (from) above. (And so Jacob rose up early, and took the stone which he had put under his head, and set it up as a sacred pillar, and poured oil on top of it.)

¹⁹ And he called the name of that city Bethel, which was called Luz before. (And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the city that was there before was called Luz.)

²⁰ Also Jacob avowed a vow, and said, If God is with me, and keepeth me in the way in which I go (And Jacob vowed a vow, and said, If God is with me, and keepeth me safe on the way on which I go), and giveth to me loaves to eat, and clothes to be clothed with,

²¹ and I turn again in prosperity to the house of my father, the Lord shall be into God to me. (and I return safety to my father’s house, then the Lord shall be my God.)

²² And this stone, which I raised into a title, shall be called the house of God; and I shall offer tithes to thee of all things which thou shalt give to me. (And this stone, which I raised up as a sacred pillar, shall be called the House of God; and I shall offer a tithe, or a tenth, to thee, of all the things which thou shalt give me.)

29 Therefore Jacob passed forth, and came into the east land;

² and he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep resting beside it, for why (the) sheep were watered thereof, and the mouth thereof was closed with a great stone.

³ And the custom was that when all the sheep were gathered together, they should turn away the stone, and when the flocks were watered, they should put it (back) again on the mouth of the well.

⁴ And Jacob said to the shepherds, Brethren, of whence be ye? Which answered, Of Haran (And they answered, We come from Haran).

⁵ And he asked them and said, Whether ye know Laban, the son of Nahor? (And) They said, We know him.

⁶ Jacob said, Is he whole? (Jacob asked, Is he well?) (And) They said, He is in (a) good state; and lo! Rachel, his daughter, cometh with his flock.

⁷ And Jacob said, Yet much of the day is to come, and it is not (the) time that the flocks be led again to the folds; soothly give ye drink to the sheep, and so lead ye them again to meat (and then take ye them back to the pasture).

⁸ Which answered, We may not till all the sheep be gathered together, and till we remove the stone from the mouth of the well, to water the flocks (then we shall water the flocks).

⁹ Yet (while) they spake, and lo! Rachel came with the sheep of her father.

¹⁰ And when Jacob saw her, and knew (her to be) the daughter of (Laban,) his mother’s brother, and the sheep (to be) of Laban his uncle, he removed the stone with which the well was closed; and when the flock was watered,

¹¹ he kissed her, and he wept with voice raised (and with his voice raised up, he wept for joy).

¹² And Jacob showed to her that he was the brother of her father, and the son of Rebecca; and she hasted, and told to her father. (And Jacob told her that he was her father’s kinsman, and Rebecca’s son; and she hastened home, and told her father.)

¹³ And when he had heard, that Jacob, the son of his sister, came, he ran to meet him, and he embraced Jacob, and kissed him, and led him into his house. Forsooth when the causes of the journey were heard,

¹⁴ Laban answered, Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after that the days of a month were filled,

¹⁵ Laban said to Jacob, Whether for thou art my brother, thou shalt serve me freely? say thou what meed thou shalt take. (Laban said to Jacob, Though thou art my kinsman, shalt thou serve me for nothing? Nay! say what reward thou shalt take.)

¹⁶ Forsooth Laban had two daughters, the name of the elder was Leah, soothly the younger was called Rachel;

¹⁷ but Leah was bleary-eyed, and Rachel was of fair face, and lovely in sight. (and Leah was blurry-eyed, but Rachel had a beautiful face, and was lovely to look at.)

¹⁸ And Jacob loved Rachel, and (so he) said, I shall serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.

¹⁹ Laban answered, It is better that I give her to thee than to another man; dwell thou with me.

²⁰ Therefore Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and the days seemed few to him for the greatness of (his) love.

²¹ And (at last) he said to Laban, Give thou my wife to me, for the time is fulfilled that I enter [in] to her.

²² And (so) when many companies of friends were called to the feast, he made [the] weddings,

²³ and in the eventide Laban brought in to him Leah his daughter, (but in the evening, Laban brought in his daughter Leah to Jacob, but Jacob was too drunk to know,)

²⁴ and gave an handmaid (and Laban gave his slave-girl), Zilpah by name, to his daughter.

²⁵ And when Jacob had entered [in] to her (as) by custom, when the morrowtide was made, he saw Leah, and he said to his wife’s father, What is it that thou wouldest do? whether I served not thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me? (And after Jacob had slept with his wife, as by custom, when the morning was made, he saw that it was Leah, and he said to his wife’s father, What hast thou done to me? did I not serve thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me?)

²⁶ Laban answered, It is not custom in our place that we give first the younger daughter to weddings; (And Laban answered, It is not the custom in our place that we give the younger daughter first in a wedding;)

²⁷ fulfill thou the week of days of this wedding, and I shall give to thee also this Rachel, for the work in which thou shalt serve me by other seven years. (so fulfill thou a week of days, or seven days, for this wedding, and then I shall also give thee Rachel, for the work in which thou shalt serve me for another seven years.)

²⁸ Jacob assented to the covenant, and when the week was passed, he wedded Rachel,

²⁹ to whom her father had given Bilhah (for) an handmaid. (to whom her father had given his slave-girl Bilhah.)

³⁰ And at the last Jacob used the weddings desired, and set the love of the latter wife before the first; and Jacob served Laban seven other years. (And so at last Jacob had the desired wedding, and put the love of the latter wife ahead of the first wife; and Jacob served Laban for another seven years.)

³¹ Forsooth the Lord saw that Jacob despised Leah, that is, (that he) loved her less than Rachel, and (so) he opened Leah’s womb, while her sister dwelled barren.

³² And Leah childed a son conceived (And Leah conceived, and bare a son), and she called his name Reuben, and said, The Lord hath seen my meekness; now mine husband shall love me.

³³ And again she conceived, and childed a son, and said, For the Lord saw that I was despised, he gave also this son to me (he also gave me this son); and she called his name Simeon.

³⁴ And she conceived the third time, and childed another son, and she said also (and then she said), Now mine husband shall be coupled to me, for I have childed three sons to him; and therefore she called his name Levi.

³⁵ The fourth time she conceived, and childed a son, and said, Now I shall acknowledge to the Lord; and therefore she called his name Judah; and ceased to child. (And the fourth time she conceived, and bare a son, she said, Now I shall praise the Lord; and so she called his name Judah; and ceased to bear any more children.)