Genesis 29:32-35:18

Complete Jewish Bible

³²Le’ah conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Re’uven [see, a son!], for she said, “It is because Adonai has seen how humiliated I have been, but now my husband will love me.” ³³She conceived again, gave birth to a son and said, “It is because Adonai has heard that I am unloved; therefore he has given me this son also.” So she named him Shim‘on [hearing]. ³⁴Once more she conceived and had a son; and she said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore she named him Levi [joining]. ³⁵She conceived yet again, had a son and said, “This time I will praise Adonai”; therefore she named him Y’hudah [praise]. Then she stopped having children.

30 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing children for Ya‘akov, she envied her sister and said to Ya‘akov, “Give me children, or I will die!” ²This made Ya‘akov angry at Rachel; he answered, “Am I in God’s place? He’s the one who is denying you children.” ³She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go, sleep with her, and let her give birth to a child that will be laid on my knees, so that through her I too can build a family.” ⁴So she gave him Bilhah her slave-girl as his wife, and Ya‘akov went in and slept with her. ⁵Bilhah conceived and bore Ya‘akov a son. ⁶Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor; indeed he has heard me and given me a son.” Therefore she called him Dan [he judged].

⁷Bilhah Rachel’s slave-girl conceived again and bore Ya‘akov a second son. ⁸Rachel said, “I have wrestled mightily with my sister and won,” and called him Naftali [my wrestling].

⁹When Le’ah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah her slave-girl and gave her to Ya‘akov as his wife. ¹⁰Zilpah Le’ah’s slave-girl bore Ya‘akov a son; ¹¹and Le’ah said, “Good fortune has come,” calling him Gad [good fortune].

¹²Zilpah Le’ah’s slave-girl bore Ya‘akov a second son; ¹³and Le’ah said, “How happy I am! Women will say I am happy!” and called him Asher [happy].

(iv) ¹⁴During the wheat harvest season Re’uven went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Le’ah. Rachel said to Le’ah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes [so that I can be fertile].” ¹⁵She answered, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you have to take my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel said, “Very well; in exchange for your son’s mandrakes, sleep with him tonight.” ¹⁶When Ya‘akov came in from the field in the evening, Le’ah went out to meet him and said, “You have to come and sleep with me, because I’ve hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Ya‘akov slept with her that night. ¹⁷God listened to Le’ah, and she conceived and bore Ya‘akov a fifth son. ¹⁸Le’ah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my slave-girl to my husband.” So she called him Yissakhar [hire, reward].

¹⁹Le’ah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Ya‘akov. ²⁰Le’ah said, “God has given me a wonderful gift. Now at last my husband will live with me, since I have borne him six sons.” And she called him Z’vulun [living together].

²¹After this, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah [controversy over rights].

²²Then God took note of Rachel, heeded her prayer and made her fertile. ²³She conceived, had a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴She called him Yosef [may he add], saying, “May Adonai add to me another son.”

²⁵After Rachel had given birth to Yosef, Ya‘akov said to Lavan, “Send me on my way, so that I can return to my own place, to my own country. ²⁶Let me take my wives, for whom I have served you, and my children; and let me go. You know very well how faithfully I have served you.” ²⁷Lavan answered him, “If you regard me favorably, then please listen: I have observed the signs that Adonai has blessed me on account of you. (v) ²⁸Name your wages,” he said; “I will pay them.” ²⁹Ya‘akov replied, “You know how faithfully I have served you and how your livestock have prospered under my care. ³⁰The few you had before I came have increased substantially; Adonai has blessed you wherever I went. But now, when will I provide for my own household?” ³¹Lavan said, “What should I give you?” “Nothing,” answered Ya‘akov, “just do this one thing for me: once more I will pasture your flock and take care of it. ³²I will also go through the flock and pick out every speckled, spotted or brown sheep, and every speckled or spotted goat; these and their offspring will be my wages. ³³And I will let my integrity stand as witness against me in the future: when you come to look over the animals constituting my wages, every goat that isn’t speckled or spotted and every sheep that isn’t brown will count as stolen by me.” ³⁴Lavan replied, “As you have said, so be it.”

³⁵That day Lavan removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted and all the female goats that were speckled or spotted, every one with white on it, and all the brown sheep; turned them over to his sons; ³⁶and put three days’ distance between himself and Ya‘akov. Ya‘akov fed the rest of Lavan’s flocks.

³⁷Ya‘akov took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white streaks on them by peeling off the bark. ³⁸Then he set the rods he had peeled upright in the watering troughs, so that the animals would see them when they came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, ³⁹the animals mated in sight of the rods and gave birth to streaked, speckled and spotted young. ⁴⁰Ya‘akov divided the lambs and had the animals mate with the streaked and the brown in the flock of Lavan. He also kept his own livestock separate and did not have them mix with Lavan’s flock. ⁴¹Whenever the hardier animals came into heat, Ya‘akov would set up the rods in the watering troughs; so that the animals would see them and conceive in front of them; ⁴²but he didn’t set up the rods in front of the weaker animals. Thus the more feeble were Lavan’s and the stronger Ya‘akov’s. ⁴³In this way the man became very rich and had large flocks, along with male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.

31 But then he heard what Lavan’s sons were saying: “Ya‘akov has taken away everything that our father once had. It’s from what used to belong to our father that he has gotten so rich.” ²He also saw that Lavan regarded him differently than before. ³Adonai said to Ya‘akov, “Return to the land of your ancestors, to your kinsmen; I will be with you.” ⁴So Ya‘akov sent for Rachel and Le’ah and had them come to the field where his flock was. ⁵He said to them, “I see by the way your father looks that he feels differently toward me than before; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage. ⁸If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to streaked young. ⁹This is how God has taken away your father’s animals and given them to me. ¹⁰Once, when the animals were mating, I had a dream: I looked up and there in front of me the male goats which mated with the females were streaked, speckled and mottled. ¹¹Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Ya‘akov!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²He continued, ‘Raise your eyes now, and look: all the male goats mating with the females are streaked, speckled and mottled; for I have seen everything Lavan has been doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Beit-El, where you anointed a standing-stone with oil, where you vowed your vow to me. Now get up, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.’” ¹⁴Rachel and Le’ah answered him, “We no longer have any inheritance from our father’s possessions; ¹⁵and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us. ¹⁶Nevertheless, the wealth which God has taken away from our father has become ours and our children’s anyway; so whatever God has told you to do, do.”

(vi) ¹⁷Then Ya‘akov got up, put his sons and wives on the camels, ¹⁸and carried off all his livestock, along with all the riches he had accumulated, the livestock in his possession which he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, to go to Yitz’chak his father in the land of Kena‘an.

¹⁹Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father, ²⁰and Ya‘akov outwitted Lavan the Arami by not telling him of his intended flight. ²¹So he fled with everything he had: he departed, crossed the [Euphrates] River and set out for the hill-country of Gil‘ad. ²²Not until the third day was Lavan told that Ya‘akov had fled.

²³Lavan took his kinsmen with him and spent the next seven days pursuing Ya‘akov, overtaking him in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. ²⁴But God came to Lavan the Arami in a dream that night and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.”

²⁵When Lavan caught up with Ya‘akov, Ya‘akov had set up camp in the hill-country; so Lavan and his kinsmen set up camp in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. ²⁶Lavan said to Ya‘akov, “What do you mean by deceiving me and carrying off my daughters as if they were captives taken in war? ²⁷Why did you flee in secret and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and lyres. ²⁸You didn’t even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye! What a stupid thing to do! ²⁹I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be careful that you don’t say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.’ ³⁰Granted that you had to leave, because you longed so deeply for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” ³¹Ya‘akov answered Lavan, “Because I was afraid. I said, ‘Suppose you take your daughters away from me by force?’ ³²But if you find your gods with someone, that person will not remain alive. So with our kinsmen to witness, if you spot anything that I have which belongs to you, take it back.” Ya‘akov did not know that Rachel had stolen them. ³³Lavan went into Ya‘akov’s tent, then into Le’ah’s tent and into the tent of the two slave-girls; but he did not find them. He left Le’ah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household gods, put them in the saddle of the camel and was sitting on them. Lavan felt all around the tent but did not find them. ³⁵She said to her father, “Please don’t be angry that I’m not getting up in your presence, but it’s the time of my period.” So he searched, but he didn’t find the household gods.

³⁶Then Ya‘akov became angry and started arguing with Lavan. “What have I done wrong?” he demanded. “What is my offense, that you have come after me in hot pursuit? ³⁷You have felt around in all my stuff, but what have you found of all your household goods? Put it here, in front of my kinsmen and yours, so that they can render judgment between the two of us! ³⁸I have been with you for these twenty years! Your female sheep and goats haven’t aborted their young, and I haven’t eaten the male animals in your flocks. ³⁹If one of your flock was destroyed by a wild animal, I didn’t bring the carcass to you but bore the loss myself. You demanded that I compensate you for any animal stolen, whether by day or by night. ⁴⁰Here’s how it was for me: during the day thirst consumed me, and at night the cold — my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹These twenty years I’ve been in your house — I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock; and you changed my wages ten times! ⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Avraham, the one whom Yitz’chak fears, had not been on my side, by now you would certainly have already sent me away with nothing! God has seen how distressed I’ve been and how hard I’ve worked, and last night he passed judgment in my favor.”

(vii) ⁴³Lavan answered Ya‘akov, “The daughters are mine, the children are mine, the flocks are mine, and everything you see is mine! But what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? ⁴⁴So now, come, let’s make a covenant, I and you; and let it stand as a testimony between me and you.” ⁴⁵Ya‘akov took a stone and set it upright as a standing-stone. ⁴⁶Then Ya‘akov said to his kinsmen, “Gather some stones”; and they took stones, made a pile of them and ate there by the pile of stones. ⁴⁷Lavan called it Y’gar-Sahaduta [“pile of witness” in Aramaic], while Ya‘akov called it Gal-‘Ed [“pile of witness” in Hebrew].

⁴⁸Lavan said, “This pile witnesses between me and you today.” This is why it is called Gal-‘Ed ⁴⁹and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, “May Adonai watch between me and you when we are apart from each other. ⁵⁰If you cause pain to my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, then, even if no one is there with us, still God is witness between me and you.” ⁵¹Lavan also said to Ya‘akov, “Here is this pile, and here is this standing-stone, which I have set up between me and you. ⁵²May this pile be a witness, and may the standing-stone be a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile to you, and you will not pass beyond this pile and this standing-stone to me, to cause harm. ⁵³May the God of Avraham and also the god of Nachor, the god of their father, judge between us.” But Ya‘akov swore by the One his father Yitz’chak feared. ⁵⁴Ya‘akov offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to the meal. They ate the food and spent the whole night on the mountain.

32 (Maftir) ^(31:55)Early in the morning Lavan got up, kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them. Then Lavan left and returned to his own place. ²⁽¹⁾Ya‘akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ³⁽²⁾When Ya‘akov saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and called that place Machanayim [two camps].

Haftarah Vayetze: Hoshea (Hosea) 12:13(12)–14:10(9) (A); 11:7–12:12(11) (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Vayetze: Yochanan (John) 1:43–51

Parashah 8: Vayishlach (He sent) 32:4(3) –36:43

⁴⁽³⁾Ya‘akov sent messengers ahead of him to ‘Esav his brother toward the land of Se‘ir, the country of Edom, ⁵⁽⁴⁾with these instructions: “Here is what you are to say to my lord ‘Esav: ‘Your servant Ya‘akov says, “I have been living with Lavan and have stayed until now. ⁶⁽⁵⁾I have cattle, donkeys and flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending to tell this news to my lord, in order to win your favor.” ’” ⁷⁽⁶⁾The messengers returned to Ya‘akov saying, “We went to your brother ‘Esav, and he is coming to meet you; with him are four hundred men.”

⁸⁽⁷⁾Ya‘akov became greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people, flocks, cattle and camels with him into two camps, ⁹⁽⁸⁾saying, “If ‘Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, at least the camp that is left will escape.” ¹⁰⁽⁹⁾Then Ya‘akov said, “God of my father Avraham and God of my father Yitz’chak, Adonai, who told me, ‘Return to your country and your kinsmen, and I will do you good’: ¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾I’m not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown your servant, since I crossed the Yarden with only my staff. But now I have become two camps. ¹²⁽¹¹⁾Please! Rescue me from my brother ‘Esav! I’m afraid of him, afraid he’ll come and attack me, without regard for mothers or children. ¹³⁽¹²⁾You said, ‘I will certainly do you good and make your descendants as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea, which are so many they can’t be counted.’”

(ii) ¹⁴⁽¹³⁾He stayed there that night; then he chose from among his possessions the following as a present for ‘Esav his brother: ¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾two hundred female goats and twenty males, two hundred female sheep and twenty males, ¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾thirty milk-camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten colts. ¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾He turned them over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Cross over in front of me, and keep a space between each drove and the next one.” ¹⁸⁽¹⁷⁾He instructed the servant in front, “When ‘Esav my brother meets you and asks you, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these?’ ¹⁹⁽¹⁸⁾then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Ya‘akov, and they are a present he has sent to my lord ‘Esav; and Ya‘akov himself is just behind us.’” ²⁰⁽¹⁹⁾He also instructed the second servant, and the third, and all that followed the droves, “When you encounter ‘Esav, you are to speak to him in the same way, ²¹⁽²⁰⁾and you are to add, ‘And there, just behind us, is your servant Ya‘akov.’” For he said, “I will appease him first with the present that goes ahead of me; then, after that, I will see him myself — and maybe he will be friendly toward me.” ²²⁽²¹⁾So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

²³⁽²²⁾He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok. ²⁴⁽²³⁾He took them and sent them across the stream, then sent his possessions across; ²⁵⁽²⁴⁾and Ya‘akov was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁶⁽²⁵⁾When he saw that he did not defeat Ya‘akov, he struck Ya‘akov’s hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him. ²⁷⁽²⁶⁾The man said, “Let me go, because it’s daybreak.” But Ya‘akov replied, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁸⁽²⁷⁾The man asked, “What is your name?” and he answered, “Ya‘akov.” ²⁹⁽²⁸⁾Then the man said, “From now on, you will no longer be called Ya‘akov, but Isra’el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed.” ³⁰⁽²⁹⁾Ya‘akov asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why are you asking about my name?” and blessed him there.

(iii) ³¹⁽³⁰⁾Ya‘akov called the place P’ni-El [face of God], “Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared.” ³²⁽³¹⁾As the sun rose upon him he went on past P’ni-El, limping at the hip. ³³⁽³²⁾This is why, to this day, the people of Isra’el do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket — because the man struck Ya‘akov’s hip at its socket.

33 Ya‘akov raised his eyes and looked out; and there was ‘Esav coming, and four hundred men with him. So Ya‘akov divided the children between Le’ah, Rachel and the two slave-girls, ²putting the slave-girls and their children first, Le’ah and her children second, and Rachel and Yosef last. ³Then he himself passed on ahead of them and prostrated himself on the ground seven times before approaching his brother. ⁴‘Esav ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him; and they wept. ⁵Esav looked up; on seeing the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Ya‘akov answered, “The children God has graciously given to your servant.”

(iv) ⁶Then the slave-girls approached with their children, and they prostrated themselves; ⁷Le’ah too and her children approached and prostrated themselves; and last came Yosef and Rachel; and they prostrated themselves. ⁸‘Esav asked, “What was the meaning of this procession of droves I encountered?” and he answered, “It was to win my lord’s favor.” ⁹‘Esav replied, “I have plenty already; my brother, keep your possessions for yourself.” ¹⁰Ya‘akov said, “No, please! If now I have won your favor, then accept my gift. Just seeing your face has been like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me. ¹¹So please accept the gift I have brought you, for God has dealt kindly with me and I have enough.” Thus he urged him, until he accepted it.

¹²‘Esav said, “Let’s break camp and get going. I’ll go first.” ¹³Ya‘akov said to him, “My lord knows that the children are small, and the sheep and cattle suckling their young concern me, because if they overdrive them even one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Instead, please, let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the cattle ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Se‘ir.” ¹⁵‘Esav replied, “Then let me leave with you some of the people I have with me.” But Ya‘akov said, “There’s no need for my lord to be so kind to me.” ¹⁶So ‘Esav left that day to return to Se‘ir. ¹⁷Ya‘akov went on to Sukkot, where he built himself a house and put up shelters for his cattle. This is why the place is called Sukkot [shelters].

¹⁸Having traveled from Paddan-Aram, Ya‘akov arrived safely at the city of Sh’khem, in Kena‘an, and set up camp near the city. ¹⁹From the sons of Hamor Sh’khem’s father he bought for one hundred pieces of silver the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent. ²⁰There he put up an altar, which he called El-Elohei-Yisra’el [God, the God of Isra’el].

34 (v) One time Dinah the daughter of Le’ah, whom she had borne to Ya‘akov, went out to visit the local girls; ²and Sh’khem the son of Hamor the Hivi, the local ruler, saw her, grabbed her, raped her and humiliated her. ³But actually he was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Ya‘akov; he fell in love with the girl and tried to win her affection. ⁴Sh’khem spoke with his father Hamor and said, “Get this girl for me; I want her to be my wife.”

⁵When Ya‘akov heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Ya‘akov restrained himself until they came. ⁶Hamor the father of Sh’khem went out to Ya‘akov to speak with him ⁷just as Ya‘akov’s sons were coming in from the field. When they heard what had happened, the men were saddened and were very angry at the outrage this man had committed against Isra’el by raping Ya‘akov’s daughter, something that is simply not done. ⁸But Hamor said to them, “My son Sh’khem’s heart is set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife; ⁹and intermarry with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You will live with us, and the land will be available to you — you’ll live, do business and acquire possessions here.”

¹¹Then Sh’khem said to her father and brothers, “Only accept me, and I will give whatever you tell me. ¹²Ask as large a bride-price as you like, I’ll pay whatever you tell me. Just let me marry the girl.” ¹³The sons of Ya‘akov answered Sh’khem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴They said to them, “We can’t do it, because it would be a disgrace to give our sister to someone who hasn’t been circumcised. ¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to what you are asking: that you become like us by having every male among you get circumcised. ¹⁶Then we’ll give our daughters to you, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves, and we’ll live with you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you won’t do as we say and get circumcised, then we’ll take our daughter and go away.” ¹⁸What they said seemed fair to Hamor and Sh’khem the son of Hamor, ¹⁹and the young man did not put off doing what was asked of him, even though he was the most respected member of his father’s family, because he so much wanted Ya‘akov’ s daughter.

²⁰Hamor and Sh’khem his son came to the entrance of their city and spoke with its leading men: ²¹“These people are peaceful toward us; therefore let them live in the land and do business in it; for, as you can see, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives for ourselves, and we’ll give them our daughters. ²²But the people will consent to live with us and become one people only on this condition: that every male among us gets circumcised, as they themselves are circumcised. ²³Won’t their cattle, their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s consent to do what they ask, and then they will live with us.” ²⁴Everyone going out the city’s gate listened to Hamor and Sh’khem his son; so every male was circumcised, every one that went out the gate of the city.

²⁵On the third day after the circumcision, when they were in pain, two of Ya‘akov’s sons, Shim‘on and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, boldly descended on the city and slaughtered all the males. ²⁶They killed Hamor and Sh’khem his son with their swords, took Dinah out of Sh’khem’s house, and left. ²⁷Then the sons of Ya‘akov entered over the dead bodies of those who had been slaughtered and plundered the city in reprisal for defiling their sister. ²⁸They took their flocks, cattle and donkeys, and everything else, whether in the city or in the field, ²⁹everything they owned. Their children and wives they took captive, and they looted whatever was in the houses.

³⁰But Ya‘akov said to Shim‘on and Levi, “You have caused me trouble by making me stink in the opinion of the local inhabitants, the Kena‘ani and the P’rizi. Since I don’t have many people, they’ll align themselves together against me and attack me; and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” ³¹They replied, “Should we let our sister be treated like a whore?”

35 God said to Ya‘akov, “Get up, go up to Beit-El and live there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled ‘Esav your brother.” ²Then Ya‘akov said to his household and all the others with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that you have with you, purify yourselves, and put on fresh clothes. ³We’re going to move on and go up to Beit-El. There I will build an altar to God, who answered me when I was in such distress and stayed with me wherever I went.” ⁴They gave Ya‘akov all the foreign gods in their possession and the earrings they were wearing, and Ya‘akov buried them under the pistachio tree near Sh’khem. ⁵While they were traveling, a terror from God fell upon the cities around them, so that none of them pursued the sons of Ya‘akov.

⁶Ya‘akov and all the people with him arrived at Luz (that is, Beit-El) in the land of Kena‘an. ⁷He built there an altar and called the place El-Beit-El [God of Beit-El], because it was there that God was revealed to him, at the time when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸Then D’vorah, Rivkah’s nurse, died. She was buried below Beit-El under the oak, which was given the name Alon-Bakhut [oak of weeping].

⁹After Ya‘akov arrived from Paddan-Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Ya‘akov, but you will be called Ya‘akov no longer; your name will be Isra’el.” Thus he named him Isra’el. ¹¹God further said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed a group of nations, will come from you; kings will be descended from you. (A: vi) ¹²Moreover, the land which I gave to Avraham and Yitz’chak I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.” ¹³Then God went up from him there where he had spoken with him. (S: vi) ¹⁴Ya‘akov set up a standing-stone in the place where he had spoken with him, a stone pillar. Then he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵Ya‘akov called the place where God spoke with him Beit-El.

¹⁶Then they traveled on from Beit-El, and while there was still some distance to go before arriving in Efrat, Rachel went into labor, and she had great difficulty with it. ¹⁷While she was undergoing this hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t worry, this is also a son for you.” ¹⁸But she died in childbirth. As she was dying she named her son Ben-Oni [son of my grief], but his father called him Binyamin [son of the right hand, son of the south].