Thus did Isaac pray to God, thinking his prayers had been made for
Esau. He had but just finished them, when Esau came in from hunting. And
when Isaac perceived his mistake, he was silent: but Esau required that
he might be made partaker of the like blessing from his father that his
brother had partook of; but his father refused it, because all his prayers
had been spent upon Jacob: so Esau lamented the mistake. However, his father
being grieved at his weeping, said, that he should excel in
hunting and strength of body, in arms, and all such sorts of work; and
should obtain glory for ever on those accounts, he and his posterity after
him; but still should serve his brother. Now the mother delivered Jacob, when she was afraid that his brother
would inflict some punishment upon him because of the mistake about the
prayers of Isaac; for she persuaded her husband to take a wife for Jacob
out of Mesopotamia , of her own kindred, Esau having married already Basemmath,
the daughter of Ismael, without his father’s consent; for Isaac did not
like the Canaanites, so that he disapproved of Esau’s former marriages,
which made him take Basemmath to wife, in order to please him; and indeed
he had a great affection for her. CONCERNING JACOB’S FLIGHT INTO MESOPOTAMIA, BY REASON OF
 THE FEAR HE WAS IN OF HIS BROTHER. Now Jacob was sent by his mother to Mesopotamia , in order to marry
Laban her brother’s daughter (which marriage was permitted by Isaac, on
account of his obsequiousness to the desires of his wife); and he accordingly
journeyed through the land of Canaan ; and because he hated the people of
that country, he would not lodge with any of them, but took up his lodging
in the open air, and laid his head on a heap of stones that he had gathered
together. At which time he saw in his sleep such a vision standing by him:
- he seemed to see a ladder that reached from the earth unto heaven, and
persons descending upon the ladder that seemed more excellent than human;
and at last God himself stood above it, and was plainly visible to him,
who, calling him by his name, spake to him in these words: — O Jacob, it is not fit for thee, who art the son of a good
father, and grandson of one who had obtained a great reputation for his
eminent virtue, to be dejected at thy present circumstances, but to hope
for better times, for thou shalt have great abundance of all good things,
by my assistance: for I brought Abraham hither, out of Mesopotamia , when
he was driven away by his kinsmen, and I made thy father a happy man, nor
will I bestow a lesser degree of happiness on thyself: be of good courage,
therefore, and under my conduct proceed on this thy journey, for the marriage
thou goest so zealously about shall be consummated. And thou shalt have
children of good characters, but their multitude shall be innumerable;
and they shall leave what they have to a still more numerous posterity,
to whom, and to whose posterity, I give the dominion of all the land, and
their posterity shall fill the entire earth and sea, so far as the sun
beholds them: but do not thou fear any danger, nor be afraid of the many
labors thou must undergo, for by my providence I will direct thee what
thou art to do in the time present, and still much more in the time to
come. Such were the predictions which God made to Jacob; whereupon he became
very joyful at what he had seen and heard; and he poured oil on the stones,
because on them the prediction of such great benefits was made. He also
vowed a vow, that he would offer sacrifices upon them, if he lived and
returned safe; and if he came again in such a condition, he would give
the tithe of what he had gotten to God. He also judged the place to be
honorable and gave it the name of Bethel , which, in the Greek, is interpreted,
 The House of God. So he proceeded on his journey to Mesopotamia , and at length came
to Haran ; and meeting with shepherds in the suburbs, with boys grown up,
and maidens sitting about a certain well, he staid with them, as wanting
water to drink; and beginning to discourse with them, he asked them whether
they knew such a one as Laban, and whether he was still alive. Now they
all said they knew him, for he was not so inconsiderable a person as to
be unknown to any of them; and that his daughter fed her father’s flock
together with them; and that indeed they wondered that she was not yet
come, for by her means thou mightest learn more exactly whatever thou desirest
to know about that family. While they were saying this the damsel came,
and the other shepherds that came down along with her. Then they showed
her Jacob, and told her that he was a stranger, who came to inquire about
her father’s affairs. But she, as pleased, after the custom of children,
with Jacob’s coming, asked him who he was, and whence he came to them,
and what it was he lacked that he came thither. She also wished it might
he in their power to supply the wants he came about.