eclared that he was Esau, and
obtained what he wanted. When Esau returned from the hunt he saw what
Jacob had done, and his grief was bitter and profound. He cried out in his
agony, "Bless me even me, also, O my father." And Isaac said: "Thy brother
came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing." And Esau said, "Is
he not rightly named Jacob--that is, a supplanter--for he hath supplanted me
these two times: he took away my birthright, and behold now he hath taken
away my blessing." "And he lifted up his voice and wept." Isaac, then
moved, declared that his dwelling should be the fatness of the earth, even
though he should serve his brother,--that he should live by the sword, and
finally break the yoke from off his neck. This was all Esau could wring
from his father. He hated Jacob with ill-concealed resentment, as was to
be expected, and threatened to kill him on his father's death. Rebekah
advised Jacob to flee to his uncle, giving as an excuse to Isaac, that he
sought a wife in Mesopotamia. This pleased Isaac, who regarded a marriage
with a Canaanite as the greatest calamity. So he again gave him his
blessing, and advised him to select one of the daughters of Laban for his
wife. And Jacob departed from his father's house, and escaped the wrath of
Esau. But Esau, seeing that his Hittite wife was offensive to his father,
married also one of the daughters of Ishmael, his cousin.

(M58) Jacob meanwhile pursued his journey. Arriving at a certain place
after sunset, he lay down to sleep, with stones for his pillow, and he
dreamed that a ladder set up on the earth reached the heavens, on which
the angels of God ascended and descended, and above it was the Lord
himself, the God of his father, who renewed all the promises that had been
made to Abraham of the future prosperity of his house. He then continued
his journey till he arrived in Haran, by the side of a well. Thither
Rachel, the daughter of Laban, came to draw water for the sheep she
tended. Jacob rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and
watered her flock, and kissed her, and wept, for he had found in his
cousin his bride. He then told her who he was, and she ran and told her
father that his nephew had come, Isaac's son, and Laban was filled with
joy, and kissed Jacob and brought him to his house, where he dwelt a month
as a guest.

(M59) An agreement was then made that Jacob should serve Laban seven
years, and receive in return for his services his