The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 1: Genesis

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29:25. And he said to his father in law: What is it that thou didst mean
to do? did not I serve thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me?

29:26. Laban answered: It is not the custom in this place, to give the
younger in marriage first.

29:27. Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her
also, for the service that thou shalt render me other seven years.

29:28. He yielded to his pleasure: and after the week was past, he
married Rachel:

29:29. To whom her father gave Bala, for her servant.

29:30. And having at length obtained the marriage he wished for, he
preferred the love of the latter before the former, and served with him
other seven years.

29:31. And the Lord seeing that he despised Lia, opened her womb, but
her sister remained barren.

29:32. And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ruben,
saying: The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me.

29:33. And again she conceived and bore a son, and said: Because the
Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me: and she
called his name Simeon.

29:34. And she conceived the third time, and bore another son, and said:
Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three
sons: and therefore she called his name Levi.

29:35. The fourth time she conceived and bore a son, and said: Now will
I praise the Lord: and for this she called him Juda. And she left
bearing.

Genesis Chapter 30

Rachel, being barren, delivereth her handmaid to Jacob; she beareth two
sons. Lia ceasing to bear, giveth also her handmaid, and she beareth two
more. Then Lia beareth other two sons and one daughter. Rachel beareth
Joseph. Jacob, desirous to return home, is hired to stay for a certain
part of the flock's increase, whereby he becometh exceeding rich.

30:1. And Rachel seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and
said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.

30:2. And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath
deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?

30:3. But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that
she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.

30:4. And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,

30:5. When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.

30:6. And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my
voice, giving me a son; and therefore she called his name Dan.

30:7. And again Bala conceived, and bore another,

30:8. For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I
have prevailed: and she called him Nephthali.

30:9. Lia perceiving that she had left of bearing, gave Zelpha, her
handmaid, to her husband.

30:10. And when she had conceived, and brought forth a son,

30:11. She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.

30:12. Zelpha also bore another.

30:13. And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me
blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.

30:14. And Ruben going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the
field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel
said: Give me part of thy son's mandrakes.

30:15. She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast
taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son's mandrakes?
Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son's
mandrakes.

30:16. And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to
meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired
thee for my son's mandrakes. And he slept with her that night.

30:17. And God heard her prayers; and she conceived: and bore a fifth
son:

30:18. And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid
to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

30:19. And Lia conceived again, and bore the sixth son,

30:20. And said: God hath endowed me with a good dowry; this turn also
my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons: and
therefore she called his name Zabulon.

30:21. After whom she bore a daughter, named Dina.

30:22. The Lord also remembering Rachel, heard her, and opened her womb.

30:23. And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken away my
reproach.

30:24. And she called his name Joseph: saying: The Lord give me also
another son.

30:25. And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father in law: Send
me away, that I may return into my country, and to my land.

30:26. Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served thee,
that I may depart: thou knowest the service that I have rendered thee.

30:27. Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight: I have
learned, by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake.

30:28. Appoint thy wages which I shall give thee.

30:29. But he answered: Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how
great thy possession hath been in my hands.

30:30. Thou hadst but little before I came to thee, and now thou art
become rich: and the Lord hath blessed thee at my coming. It is
reasonable, therefore, that I should now provide also for my own house.

30:31. And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require
nothing; but if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed and keep thy
sheep again.

30:32. Go round through all thy flocks, and separate all the sheep of
divers colours, and speckled; and all that is brown and spotted, and of
divers colours, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall be my
wages.

30:33. And my justice shall answer for me tomorrow before thee, when the
time of the bargain shall come; and all that is not of divers colours,
and spotted, and brown, as well among the sheep as among the goats,
shall accurse me of theft.

30:34. And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest.

30:35. And he separated the same day the she goats, and the sheep, and
the he goats, and the rams of divers colours, and spotted; and all the
flock of one colour, that is, of white and black fleece, he deliverdd
into the hands of his sons.

30:36. And he set the space of three days journey betwixt himself and
his son in law, who fed the rest of his flock.

30:37. And Jacob took green rods of poplar, and of almond, and of plane
trees, and pilled them in part: so when the bark was taken off, in the
parts that were pilled, there appeared whiteness: but the parts that
were whole, remained green: and by this means the colour was divers.

30:38. And he put them in the troughs, where the water was poured out;
that when the flocks should come to drink, they might have the rods
before their eyes, and in the sight of them might conceive.

30:39. And it came to pass, that in the very heat of coition, the sheep
beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and
speckled.

30:40. And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the troughs
before the eyes of the rams; and all the white and the black were
Laban's, and the rest were Jacob's, when the flocks were separated one
from the other.

30:41. So when the ewes went first to ram, Jacob put the rods in the
troughs of water before the eyes of the rams, and of the ewes, that they
might conceive while they were looking upon them.

30:42. But when the later coming was, and the last conceiving, he did
not put them. And those that were lateward, became Laban's; and they of
the first time, Jacob's.

30:43. And the man was enriched exceedingly, and he had many flocks,
maidservants and menservants, camels and asses.

Genesis Chapter 31

Jacob's departure: he is pursued and overtaken by Laban. They make a
covenant.

31:1. But after that he had heard the words of the sons of Laban,
saying: Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and being
enriched by his substance is become great.

31:2. And perceiving also, that Laban's countenance was not towards him
as yesterday and the other day.

31:3. Especially the Lord saying to him: Return into the land of thy
fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.

31:4. He sent, and called Rachel and Lia into the field, where he fed
the flocks,

31:5. And said to them: I see your father's countenance is not towards
me as yesterday and the other day: but the God of my father hath been
with me.

31:6. And you know that I have served your father to the uttermost of my
power.

31:7. Yea your father hath also overreached me, and hath changed my
wages ten times: and yet God hath not suffered him to hurt me.

31:8. If at any time, he said: The speckled shall be thy wages: all the
sheep brought forth speckled: but when he said on the contrary: Thou
shalt take all the white one for thy wages: all the flocks brought forth
white ones.

31:9. And God hath taken your father's substance, and given it to me.

31:10. For after the time came of the ewes conceiving, I lifted up my
eyes, and saw in my sleep, that the males which leaped upon the females
were of divers colours, and spotted, and speckled.

31:11. And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob. And I
answered: Here I am.

31:12. And he said: Lift up thy eyes, and see that all the males leaping
upon the females, are of divers colours, spotted and speckled. For I
have seen all that Laban hath done to thee.

31:13. I am the God of Bethel, where thou didst anoint the stone, and
make a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and go out of this land, and
return into thy native country.

31:14. And Rachel and Lia answered: Have we any thing left among the
goods and inheritance of our father's house?

31:15. Hath he not counted us as strangers, and sold us, and eaten up
the price of us?

31:16. But God hath taken our father's riches, and delivered them to us,
and to our children: wherefore, do all that God hath commanded thee.

31:17. Then Jacob rose up, and having set his children and wives upon
camels, went his way.

31:18. And he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever he had
gotten in Mesopotamia, and went forward to Isaac, his father, to the
land of Chanaan.

31:19. At that time Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole
away her father's idols.

Her father's idols... By this it appears that Laban was an idolater; and
some of the fathers are of opinion that Rachel stole away these idols to
withdraw him from idolatry, removing the occasion of his sin.

31:20. And Jacob would not confess to his father in law that he was
flying away.

31:21. And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and
having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad,

31:22. It was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob fled.

31:23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven
days; and overtook him in the mount of Galaad.

31:24. And he saw in a dream God, saying to him: Take heed thou speak
not any thing harshly against Jacob.

31:25. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and when he, with
his brethren, had overtaken him, he pitched his tent in the same mount
of Galaad.

31:26. And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away,
without my knowledge, my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

31:27. Why wouldst thou run away privately, and not acquaint me, that I
might have brought thee on the way with joy, and with songs, and with
timbrels, and with harps?

31:28. Thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and daughters; thou
hast done foolishly; and now indeed,

31:29. It is in my power to return thee evil; but the God of your father
said to me yesterday: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against
Jacob.

31:30. Suppose thou didst desire to go to thy friends, and hadst a
longing after thy father's house: why hast thou stolen away my gods?

31:31. Jacob answered: That I departed unknown to thee, it was for fear
lest thou wouldst take away thy daughters by force.

31:32. But, whereas, thou chargest me with theft: with whomsoever thou
shalt find thy gods, let him be slain before our brethren. Search, and
if thou find any of thy things with me, take them away. Now when he said
this, he knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.

31:33. So Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and of Lia, and of both the
handmaids, and found them not. And when he was entered into Rachel's
tent,

31:34. She, in haste, hid the idols under the camel's furniture, and sat
upon them: and when he had searched all the tent, and found nothing,

31:35. She said: Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before
thee, because it has now happened to me according to the custom of
women. So his careful search was in vain.

31:36. And Jacob being angry, said in a chiding manner: For what fault
of mine, and for what offence on my part hast thou so hotly pursued me,

31:37. And searched all my household stuff? What hast thou found of all
the substance of thy house? lay it here before my brethren, and thy
brethren, and let them judge between me and thee.

31:38. Have I, therefore, been with thee twenty years? thy ewes and
goats were not barren, the rams of thy flocks I did not eat:

31:39. Neither did I shew thee that which the beast had torn; I made
good all the damage: whatsoever was lost by theft, thou didst exact it
of me:

31:40. Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep
departed from my eyes.

31:41. And in this manner have I served thee in thy house twenty years,
fourteen for thy daughters, and six for thy flocks: thou hast changed
also my wages ten times.

31:42. Unless the God of my father, Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had
stood by me, peradventure now thou hadst sent me away naked: God beheld
my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday.

31:43. Laban answered him: The daughters are mine, and the children, and
thy flocks, and all things that thou seest are mine: what can I do to my
children, and grandchildren?

31:44. Come, therefore, let us enter into a league; that it may be for a
testimony between me and thee.

31:45. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a title.

31:46. And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they,
gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it.

31:47. And Laban called it, The witness heap; and Jacob, The hillock of
testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.

31:48. And Laban said: This heap shall be a witness between me and thee
this day, and therefore the name thereof was called Galaad, that is, The
witness heap.

31:49. The Lord behold and judge between us, when we shall be gone one
from the other.

31:50. If thou afflict my daughters, and if thou bring in other wives
over them: none is witness of our speech but God, who is present and
beholdeth.

31:51. And he said again to Jacob: Behold this heap, and the stone which
I have set up between me and thee,

31:52. Shall be a witness: this heap, I say, and the stone, be they for
a testimony, if either I shall pass beyond it going towards thee, or
thou shalt pass beyond it thinking harm to me.

31:53. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nachor, the God of their
father, judge betweeen us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father
Isaac:

31:54. And after he had offered sacrifices in the mountain, he called
his brethren to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there:

31:55. But Laban arose in the night, and kissed his sons and daughters,
and blessed them: and returned to his place.

Genesis Chapter 32

Jacob's vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his
wrestling with an angel.

32:1. Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God
met him.

32:2. And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he
called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps.

32:3. And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the
land of Seir, to the country of Edom:

32:4. And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord
Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and
have been with him until this day:

32:5. I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and
womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find
favour in thy sight.

32:6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy
brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred
men.

32:7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people
that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the
camels, into two companies,

32:8. Saying: If Esau come to one company, and destroy it, the other
company that is left, shall escape.

32:9. And Jacob said: O God of my fahter Abraham, and God of my father
Isaac: O Lord who saidst to me, Return to thy land, and to the place of
thy birth, and I will do well for thee.

32:10. I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth
which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over
this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.

32:11. Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly
afraid of him; lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the
children.

32:12. Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my
seed like the sand of the sea, which connot be numbered for multitude.

32:13. And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the
things which he had, presents for his brother Esau,

32:14. Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and
twenty rams,

32:15. Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty
bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals.

32:16. And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by
itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a
space between drove and drove.

32:17. And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau,
and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are
these before thee?

32:18. Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a
present to my lord Esau; and he cometh after us.

32:19. In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all
that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when
ye find him.

32:20. And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after
us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before,
and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.

32:21. So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in
the camp.

32:22. And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids,
with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

32:23. And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

32:24. He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till
morning.

A man, etc... This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee
12.4. He is called God, ver. 28 and 30, because he represented the
person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by
God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered (ver. 28,) that he might
learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau,
nor any other man, should have power to hurt him.-It was also spiritual,
as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging and at last obtaining the
angel's blessing.

32:25. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the
sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

32:26. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He
answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

32:27. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

32:28. But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for
if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail
against men?

32:29. Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He
answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same
place.

32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have
seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

Phanuel... This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing
of God.

32:31. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel;
but he halted on his foot.

32:32. Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the
sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his
thigh and it shrank.

Genesis Chapter 33

Jacob and Esau meet: Jacob goeth to Salem, where he raiseth an altar.

33:1. And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four
hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia and of Rachel, and of
the two handmaids.

33:2. And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia
and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last.

33:3. And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground
seven times, until his brother came near.

33:4. Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping
him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept.

33:5. And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their children, and
said: What mean these? And do they belong to thee? He answered: They are
the children which God hath given to me, thy servant.

33:6. Then the handmaids and their children came near and bowed
themselves.

33:7. Lia also, with her children, came near and bowed down in like
manner; and last of all, Joseph and Rachel bowed down.

33:8. And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I
might find favour before my lord.

33:9. But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for
thyself.

33:10. And Jacob said: Do not so I beseech thee, but if I have found
favour in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have
seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be
gracious to me,

33:11. And take the blessing which I have brought thee, and which God
hath given me, who giveth all things. He took it with much ado at his
brother's earnest pressing him,

33:12. And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy
journey.

33:13. And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender
children, and sheep, and kine with young: which if I should cause to be
overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die.

33:14. May it please my lord to go before his servant: and I will follow
softly after him, as I shall see my children to be able, until I come to
my lord in Seir.

33:15. Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people, at least,
who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said:
There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favour, my
lord, in thy sight.

33:16. So Esau returned that day, the way that he came, to Seir.

33:17. And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched
tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents.

33:18. And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is
in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and
he dwelt by the town.

33:19. And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his
tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem, for a hundred
lambs.

33:20. And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty
God of Israel.

Genesis Chapter 34

Dina is ravished, for which the Sichemites are destroyed.

34:1. And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that
country.

34:2. And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that
land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with
her, ravishing the virgin.

34:3. And his soul was fast knit unto her; and whereas she was sad, he
comforted her with sweet words.

34:4. And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to
wife.

34:5. But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed
in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back.

34:6. And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to
Jacob,

34:7. Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed,
they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel,
and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob's daughter.

34:8. And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing
for your daughter: give her him to wife:

34:9. And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your
daughters, and take you our daughters.

34:10. And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and
possess it.

34:11. Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find
favour in your sight, and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give:

34:12. Raise the dowry, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you
shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife.

34:13. The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully,
being enraged at the deflowering of their sister:

Deceitfully... The sons of Jacob, on this occasion, were guilty of a
grievous sin, as well by falsely pretending religion, as by excess of
revenge: though otherwise their zeal against so foul a crime was
commendable.

34:14. We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is
uncircumcised; which with us is unlawful and abominable.

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