Study Desk

So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the hill country of Gilead.

So he gathered a group of his relatives and set out in hot pursuit. He caught up with Jacob seven days later in the hill country of Gilead.

she said to her father, "Please, sir, forgive me if I don't get up for you. I'm having my monthly period." So Laban continued his search, but he could not find the household idols.

So come, let's make a covenant, you and I, and it will be a witness to our commitment."

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument.

Then he told his family members, "Gather some stones." So they gathered stones and piled them in a heap. Then Jacob and Laban sat down beside the pile of stones to eat a covenant meal.

I call on the God of our ancestors—the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Nahor—to serve as a judge between us." So Jacob took an oath before the fearsome God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line.

When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, "This is God's camp!" So he named the place Mahanaim.

So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp.

Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and his two servant wives.

So Esau turned around and started back to Seir that same day.

So all the men in the town council agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every male in the town was circumcised.

Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have ruined me! You've made me stink among all the people of this land—among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!"

So Jacob told everyone in his household, "Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing.

So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem.

As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob's family.

saying, "Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel." So God renamed him Israel.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

So Jacob returned to his father, Isaac, in Mamre, which is near Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had both lived as foreigners.

So Esau (also known as Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.