¹ In the meantime God said to Jacob: Arise, and go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau thy brother.

² And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments.

³ Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar to God: who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompanied me in my journey.

⁴ So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem.

⁵ And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went away.

⁶ And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed Bethel: he and all the people that were with him.

⁷ And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.

⁸ At the same time Debora the nurse of Rebecca died, and was buried at the foot of Bethel under an oak: and the name of that place was called, The oak of weeping.

⁹ And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,

¹⁰ Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel.

¹¹ And said to him: I am God Almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of Nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

¹² And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

¹³ And he departed from him.

¹⁴ But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him: pouring drink offerings upon it, and pouring oil thereon:

¹⁵ And calling the name of that place Bethel.

¹⁶ And going forth from thence, he came in the springtime to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,

¹⁷ By reason of her hard labor she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.

¹⁸ And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, The son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of the right hand.

¹⁹ So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, that is Bethlehem.

²⁰ And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulcher: this is the pillar of Rachel's monument, to this day.

²¹ Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.

²² And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala, the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³ The sons of Lia: Ruben the firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Juda, and Issachar, and Zebulon.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Bala, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphthali.

²⁶ The sons of Zelpha, Lia's handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

²⁷ And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee, this is Hebron: Wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

²⁸ And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

²⁹ And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹ And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold Siba the servant of Miphiboseth came to meet him with two asses, laden with two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs, and a vessel of wine.

² And the king said to Siba: What mean these things? And Siba answered: The asses are for the king's household to sit on: and the loaves and the figs for thy servants to eat, and the wine to drink if any man be faint in the desert.

³ And the king said: Where is thy master's son? And Siba answered the king: He remained in Jerusalem, saying: To day will the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.

⁴ And the king said to Siba: I give thee all that belonged to Miphiboseth. And Siba said: I beseech thee let me find grace before thee, my lord, O king.

⁵ And king David came as far as Bahurim: and behold there came out from thence a man of the kindred of the house of Saul named Semei, the son of Gera, and coming out he cursed as he went on,

⁶ And he threw stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people, and all the warriors walked on the right, and on the left side of the king.

⁷ And thus said Semei when he cursed the king: Come out, come out, thou man of blood, and thou man of Belial.

⁸ The Lord hath repaid thee for all the blood of the house of Saul: because thou hast usurped the kingdom in his stead, and The Lord hath given the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and behold thy evils press upon thee, because thou art a man of blood.

⁹ And Abisai the son of Sarvia said to the king: Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? I will go, and cut off his head.

¹⁰ And the king said: What have I to do with you, ye sons of Sarvia? Let him alone and let him curse: for the Lord hath bid him curse David: and who is he that shall dare say, why hath he done so?

¹¹ And the king said to Abisai, and to all his servants: Behold my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now a son of Jemini? let him alone that he may curse as the Lord hath bidden him.

¹² Perhaps the Lord may look upon my affliction, and the Lord may render me good for the cursing of this day.

¹³ And David and his men with him went by the way. And Semei by the hill's side went over against him, cursing, and casting stones at him, and scattering earth.

¹⁴ And the king and all the people with him came weary, and refreshed themselves there.

¹⁵ But Absalom and all his people came into Jerusalem, and Achitophel was with him.

¹⁶ And when Chusai the Arachite, David's friend, was come to Absalom, he said to him: God save thee, O king, God save thee, O king.

¹⁷ And Absalom said to him: Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Why wentest thou not with thy friend?

¹⁸ And Chusai answered Absalom: Nay: for I will be his, whom the Lord hath chosen, and all this people, and all Israel, and with him will I abide.

¹⁹ Besides this, whom shall I serve? is it not the king's son? as I have served thy father, so will I serve thee also.

²⁰ And Absalom said to Achitophel: Consult what we are to do.

²¹ And Achitophel said to Absalom: Go in to the concubines of thy father, whom he hath left to keep the house: that when all Israel shall hear that thou hast disgraced thy father, their hands may be strengthened with thee.

²² So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and he went in to his father's concubines before all Israel.

²³ Now the counsel of Achitophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man should consult God: so was all the counsel of Achitophel, both when he was with David, and when he was with Absalom.