<p class="bodytext">So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, &#8220;You must not marry a Canaanite woman!<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Early<n id="1" /> in the morning Jacob<n id="2" /> took the stone he had placed near his head<n id="3" /> and set it up as a sacred stone.<n id="4" /> Then he poured oil on top of it.

When Jacob explained<n id="1" /> to Rachel that he was a relative of her father<n id="2" /> and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father.

<p class="bodytext">Jacob did as Laban said.<n id="1" /> When Jacob<n id="2" /> completed Leah&#8217;s bridal week,<n id="3" /> Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.<n id="4" />

Jacob became furious<n id="1" /> with Rachel and exclaimed, &#8220;Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">After Rachel had given birth<n id="1" /> to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, &#8220;Send<n id="2" /> me on my way so that I can go<n id="3" /> home to my own country.<n id="4" />

Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey,<n id="1" /> while<n id="2" /> Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban&#8217;s flocks.p>

<p class="bodytext">But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible.

When the stronger females were in heat,<n id="1" /> Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

Jacob also deceived<n id="1" /> Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving.<n id="2" />

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Be careful<n id="2" /> that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I left secretly because I was afraid!&#8221;<n id="1" /> Jacob replied to Laban. &#8220;I thought<n id="2" /> you might take your daughters away from me by force.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">So Laban entered Jacob&#8217;s tent, and Leah&#8217;s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols.<n id="1" /> Then he left Leah&#8217;s tent and entered Rachel&#8217;s.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Jacob became angry<n id="1" /> and argued with Laban. &#8220;What did I do wrong?&#8221; he demanded of Laban.<n id="2" /> &#8220;What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit?<n id="3" />

Then he<n id="1" /> said to his relatives, &#8220;Gather stones.&#8221; So they brought stones and put them in a pile.<n id="2" /> They ate there by the pile of stones.

May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor,<n id="1" /> the gods of their father, judge between us.&#8221; Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared.<n id="2" />

When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This is the camp of God!&#8221; So he named that place Mahanaim.<n id="2" />p>

He commanded them, &#8220;This is what you must say to my lord Esau: &#8216;This is what your servant<n id="1" /> Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

<p class="bodytext">The messengers returned to Jacob and said, &#8220;We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.&#8221;