Study Desk

And he saw the Lord standing above them. He said, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and your children after you the land where you are lying.

They will be like the dust of the earth. You will spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south. Good will come to all the families of the earth because of you and your children.

When Rachel saw that she had not given birth to any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I am going to die!"

Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, the woman who serves me. Go in to her, and let her give birth for me. Even I may have children through her."

Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served. Let me leave, for you know how much I have served you."

All the riches that God has taken away from our father belong to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you to do."

Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels.

Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters. The children are my children. And the flocks are my flocks. All that you see is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children who were born to them?

Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the power of Esau. For I am afraid of him. I am afraid he will come and kill us all, the mothers with the children.

But You said, ‘I will bring good to you. I will make your children like the sand of the sea. There will be too many to number.'"

But he got up that same night and crossed the Jabbok River, with his two wives, the two women who served him, and his eleven children.

Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two women who served him.

He put the women who served him and their children in front, and Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them.

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and the children. He said, "Who are these with you?" Jacob said, "They are the children whom God, in His loving-favor, has given your servant."

Then the women who served Jacob came near with their children, and they bowed to the ground.

Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed to the ground. Then Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed to the ground.

But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are weak. And there are young ones in my flocks that need milk. If they are made to go a long way in one day, all the flocks will die.

Let my lord go in front of his servant. And I will be slow in coming to my lord at Seir. I will go as fast as the cattle in front of me and as the children are able."

Then God said to him, "I am the All-powerful God. Have many children and add to your number. A nation and a group of nations will come from you. Kings will come from you.

I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac. This land I will give to your children and their children's children after you."