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Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin.
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He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him.
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May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”
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After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.
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But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
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You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
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Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
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When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you.
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Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran.
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Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides.
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When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
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Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
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Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
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Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?” “We’re from Harran,” they replied.
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Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
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When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
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Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
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He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
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He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’
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He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
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But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
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Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask.
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Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male.
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Jacob Returns to Bethel
Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
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There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
