d he said:

"Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it! I thought
that I was all alone, but God has been with me. This place is the house
of God; it is the gate of heaven!"

And Jacob took the stone on which his head had rested, and he set it up
as a pillar, and poured oil on it as an offering to God. And Jacob named
that place Bethel, which in the language that Jacob spoke means "The
House of God."

And Jacob made a promise to God at that time, and said:

"If God really will go with me and will keep me in the way that I go,
and will give me bread to eat and will bring me to my father's house in
peace, then the Lord shall be my God: and this stone shall be the house
of God, and of all that God gives me I will give back to God one-tenth
as an offering."

Then Jacob went onward in his long journey. He walked across the river
Jordan in a shallow place, feeling his way with his staff; he climbed
mountains and journeyed beside the great desert on the east, and at last
came to the city of Haran. Beside the city was the well, where Abraham's
servant had met Jacob's mother, Rebekah; and there, after Jacob had
waited for a time, he saw a young woman coming with her sheep to give
them water.

Then Jacob took off the flat stone that was over the mouth of the well,
and drew water and gave it to the sheep. And when he found that this
young woman was his own cousin Rachel, the daughter of Laban, he was so
glad that he wept for joy. And at that moment he began to love Rachel,
and longed to have her for his wife.

[Illustration: _Jacob went onward in his long journey_]

Rachel's father, Laban, who was Jacob's uncle, gave a welcome to Jacob,
and took him into his home.

And Jacob asked Laban if he would give his daughter, Rachel, to him as
his wife; and Jacob said, "If you give me Rachel, I will work for you
seven years."

And Laban said, "It is better that you should have her, than that a
stranger should marry her."

So Jacob lived seven years in Laban's house, caring for his sheep and
oxen and camels; but his love for Rachel made the time seem short.

At last the day came for the marriage; and they brought in the bride,
who, after the manner of that land, was covered with a thick veil, so
that her face could not be seen. And she was married to Jacob, and when
Jacob lifted up her veil he found that he had married, not Rachel, but
her older sister, Leah, who was not beautiful, and whom Jacob did not
love a