with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make her boast in the Lord:

The meek shall hear thereof, and be glad.

O magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

And their faces shall never be confounded.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,

And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, And delivereth them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

O fear the Lord, ye his saints:

For there is no want to them that fear him.

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:

But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

Th.—Genesis xxviii, 10-22; Psalms xxxiv,

1-10.

Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east. And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and lo, three flocks of sheep lying there by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and the stone upon the well's mouth was great. And thither were all the flocks gathered; and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in its place. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is it well with him? And they said, It is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed

them. And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep.

While he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep; for she kept them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son; and she ran and told her father. And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.

And Laban said to him,

Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? Tell me, what shall thy wages be? And Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah's eyes were tender;

but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. And Jacob loved Rachel; and he said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee than that I should give her to another man: abide with

me.

And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but

a few days for the love he had to her. And Laban made a feast and in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him.

And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? And Laban said, It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. We will give thee the other also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. And he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife.

And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. And Laban said unto him, If I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry. What shall I give thee? And Jacob And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me aught; if thou wilt do this thing for me I will again feed thy flock. I will pass through thy flock to-day removing every speckled and spotted one, and of such shall be my hire.

And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree; and peeled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau; Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now: and I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and menservants and maidservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

And he lodged there that night; and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother; two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats,