Genesis 32, Jacob Wrestles

When Jacob left the home of his father Isaac, he was fleeing his brother Esau, headed to Laban's home, seeking a bride.  On the road, at night, he had a dream in which God stood at the top of a long ramp and repeated the promises made previously to Abraham and Isaac. Later Jacob, fleeing Laban, headed back to Canaan and toward Seir. (Mount Seir, traditionally the home of the Edomites, is in southwest Jordan, east and south of Jerusalem. See this Wikipedia page.)  Jacob is retracing a path he took twenty years before.

Genesis 32:1-5, Two camps

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my master Esau: `Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'"

We are briefly alerted that Jacob met angels. Then the story moves on to the upcoming conflict with Esau.

The name "Mahanaim" means "two camps".  "Two camps" will have several meanings in this story.

Genesis 32:6-8, Four hundred men
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape."

The Hebrew word machaneh (מַחֲנֶה) means "camp". The NIV translates that word as "group" here but it is essentially the same word as Mahanaim, above. So the concept of "two camps" (Mahanaim) continues.  

Jacob expects violence from Esau. The old feud, caused long ago by Jacob's deceit, still festers. When one is a deceiver, this is always a concern.

Genesis 32:9-12, But You promised!

Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, `Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.

"Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, `I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

Jacob reminds God of His covenant promise.

Throughout the book of Genesis, there is a certain honest selfishness in the way humans deal with God. I find this refreshing.

Genesis 32:13-20, A train of gifts for Esau

He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds." 

He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, `To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' then you are to say, `They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'"

He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, `Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me."

Jacob prepares a large train of gifts for Esau, to soften him up.  Each is to arrive, one after the other, hoping to persist in getting Esau's attention and eventual goodwill.

Genesis 32:21-23, Jacob separates from his possessions

So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.

Jacob finally sends his family and possessions across the Jabbok. He is now alone. The tension of this coming meeting has reached its height.

Genesis 32:24-29, Jacob finally wrestles with God

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." 

But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

The man asked him, "What is your name?" 

"Jacob," he answered.

Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." 

Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." 

But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.

What a strange story. A determined Jacob wrestles with a stranger, a stranger who names him Israel, "one who struggles with God." It would seem, of course, that the stranger (angel?) had more power than demonstrated in this wrestling contest. That supernatural being will not give Jacob his own name, but blesses him.

We will see, throughout the Torah, that God often honors people who "wrestle". He gently chastises Sarah when she doubts His promise of a son; YHWH argues with Moses repeatedly in Exodus. YHWH, although a very scary God, intervenes personally in lives and seems to take pleasure in the conversation.

Genesis 32:30-32, Jacob limps

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.

The Hebrew word panim (פָנִים) means "face" or "before". Combine that word with the general word "el" for "god" and one has Peniel, the "face of God." Crooked and deceitful Jacob has come face-to-face with God and now has been made literally crooked; he must walk with a limp.  The deceiver has faced numerous reckonings and must grow and mature. (Wrestling with God, whether physically or metaphorically, presumably forces this maturity on one.)

The last verse offers a tribal instruction for remembering this event.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

The Hebrew name Machanayim 

מַחֲניִם

means "two camps." Like most languages, Hebrew has singular and plural forms for its nouns but -- somewhat special to Semitic languages -- it also has a dual ending, which usually means "exactly two." That ending often appears in nouns where there are naturally pairs, such as two eyes, two legs, etc.. But in this chapter, the singular machaneh mentioned in the paragraph after verse 8, above, is dualized to give the place where Jacob meets the angels. The Hebrew dual is an interesting concept; see this article for more.

Some Random Thoughts

Jacob leads a stressful life, borne out of his natural tendency for deception. Occasionally one meets a person who seems to rely on deception. In my professional life I knew one woman who could not trust what others said because (I think) she believed that everyone lied. She certainly was dishonest; she seemed to always be on the make, and because of that, she seemed to believe everyone else was also.  I have also met several rather poisonous people that I would call "gaslighters." They could say one thing in one place and the complete opposite a moment later, and ever deny any deceit. I identified one of these individuals (an assistant pastor!) by eventually taking copious notes and collaborating with a colleague that saw what I saw. This individual did a lot of damage -- but along the way was fired from the pastorate, fired from a teaching job (for preying on high school girls) and divorced by his wife. I don't know if he was ever truly aware of his deceit; there is a certain mental condition, I think, in which one lies even to oneself.

The great deceiver Jacob pays a price, but over time is confronted and (slowly) changed. It is not easy to wrestle with God!

First published Feb 7, 2023; updated Feb 6, 2026

Genesis 31, Leaving Laban

Jacob has lived with Laban for twenty years. He now has a family of four wives/concubines and at least a dozen children. He is quite wealthy, with a large flock and many servants. But he is far north of the land promised to his father and grandfather.  It is time to go south.

Genesis 31:1-9, Time to leave

Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father." And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been.

Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you." 

So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me.

If he said, `The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, `The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me.

Jacob will return to the land of his father and brother. He is motivated partly by growing distrust from Laban's sons... and then told by YHWH it is time to leave.

Jacob sees the speckled or streaked newborns as evidence of God's support for him. He explains how this happened....

Genesis 31:10-13, Blessed by God
"In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, `Jacob.' I answered, `Here I am.'  And he said, `Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'"

Jacob learns in a vision that God has deliberately intervened in his prosperity. This is the same God that he had worshiped earlier at Bethel (Genesis 28:10-22) on the way north, twenty years before.

Genesis 31:14-16,  Jacob's wives express their support

Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you."

Jacob's wives agree with Jacob, against their father. Walton suggests that Laban may have assimilated, in his dealings, the dowries that would have gone with his daughters and so his daughters don't see any wealth coming to them, unless it comes from their husband, Jacob.

We will see later that in fact one of the daughters steals some valuables as she leaves.

Genesis 31:17-21, Jacob runs
Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household gods. Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.

Despite God's blessing, Jacob feels the need to continue his deceptions, and to run from Laban.  Meanwhile, Laban's daughter Rachel, daughter of a deceiver and married to another one, steals her father's "household gods." (These are presumably small figurines representing gods that Laban -- and Rachel? -- worship.)

To return to Canaan, Jacob must travel south and west, first crossing the Euphrates River. Throughout the Old Testament, "the River" often refers to the mighty Euphrates, which flows southeast out of Turkey into the Persian Gulf.

Genesis 31:22-24, Laban chases Jacob 

On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."

Laban pursues Jacob and eventually catches him. But God gives instructions to Laban in a dream.

Genesis 31:25-29, Laban confronts Jacob

Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too.

Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You've deceived me, and you've carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing.

"I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, `Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.' "

Laban's complaints have some merit. But this is a deceiver talking to a deceiver. One doubts if Laban would have really held a going-away party for Jacob.

Genesis 31:30-35, Laban and Rachel's gods

Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?"

Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it." 

Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah's tent, he entered Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.

Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period." So he searched but could not find the household gods.

Jacob has made rash claims about his family's integrity. Rachel defends her unwillingness to move by claiming that she is in her menstrual period and so cannot move. Alter points out that Israelites reading this story would have appreciated the indignity (to the gods) represented by Rachel perched on top of them.

The existence of these gods (small idols) is a mystery. Both Laban and Jacob make claims to having a personal god in YHWH, the God of Abraham, but the polytheistic culture is all around them. It is even conceivable that one or both of them view YHWH as their "favorite god" or the god of that region.

Genesis 31:36-42, Jacob's response

Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. "What is my crime?" he asked Laban. "What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.

"I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you."

Jacob confronts Laban and Laban's deception. Laban is in a very weak place, for Jacob is also correct here and God has given Laban a warning.  And -- this man, Jacob, is married to Laban's daughters and is father of his grandchildren!

Genesis 31:43-47, Reconciled

Laban answered Jacob, "The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us."

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

The two men are reconciled.  As was the culture of the day, one created a heap of stones as a memorial to mark the spot.  (Once again, Jacob associates actions with memorable stones.) According to the NIV, the Aramaic "Jegar Sahadutha" means "witness heap", as does the Hebrew "Galeed." 

Genesis 31:48-55, Don't mistreat my daughters!
Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me."

Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." 

So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.

The two men depart after making a treaty and separating their tribes by a boundary marker.  Among the instructions from Laban: "Don't mistreat my daughters" and "Don't marry anyone else!"

Laban calls on the God of the brothers Abraham and Nahor as his witness.  Laban is a grandson of Nahor; Jacob is a grandson of Abraham. Both Nahor and Abraham were sons of Terah (Genesis 11:26.)

The name Mizpah is a variant on the Hebrew mistpeh (מִצְפֶּה), which means "lookout" or "watchtower". That name, and the names of the "heaps" of stones that the two men construct, reveals a certain underlying caution or skepticism. Even the statement that Laban makes, 

"May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other"

is not a blessing but a warning. Laban is saying "YHWH is watching you!! Treat my family fairly!"

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is tson, a noun meaning "flock", or "small cattle."  

צאֹן

The word appears 274 times in the Old Testament since it was a standard sign of wealth.

Some Random Thoughts

Often the main characters of Genesis express their trust in YHWH. He is the God or Highest God of the gods.  It is not always clear if the individuals believe in other, secondary gods. For this reason, it is not surprising that Laban has some personal idols and that his youngest daughter takes them for herself. Both Laban and Jacob make claims to having a personal god in Yahweh, the God of Abraham, but the polytheistic culture is all around them.

First published Feb 6, 2023; updated Feb 5, 2026

Genesis 30, Jacob's Children

Leah has borne Jacob four sons and Rachel has no children. This is too much for Rachel.

Genesis 30:1-8, Dan and Naphtali
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!"

Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"

Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family." So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan.

 Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." So she named him Naphtali.

This passage is so strange to us. To Western minds, the dueling over maidservants ("Sleep with mine!") is bizarre. But in the ancient Near East, a woman's role was to produce children and Rachel is threatened by her infertility. This is apparently a common issue in polygamous marriages -- the favorite wife is infertile while the second wife is not. (see I Samuel 1, with Hannah and Elkanah.)

According to the NIV footnotes; Dan means "he has vindicated"; Naphtali means "my struggle." Both names may reflect the fight between sisters Leah and Rachel.

Genesis 30:9-13, Zilpah bears Gad and Asher

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" So she named him Gad.

Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.

We don't know why Leah stopped having children. It is possible that she is just infertile for a time, or that Jacob stops sleeping with her.

According to the NIV footnotes, we are not sure if the Hebrew translated "What good fortune" could be translated "A troop is coming!" Gad can mean "good fortune" or "a troop". But Asher is a variant on osher (אֹשֶׁר), which means "happy." Notice how important was the naming of a child, almost always done by the mother.

Genesis 30:14-18, Issachar
During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" 

"Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."

So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." 

So he slept with her that night. God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.

The two wives continue to duel over Jacob's stud services. That Leah negotiates with Rachel for a night with Jacob suggests that maybe Jacob had indeed quit sleeping with her.

As Alter and Walton point out, mandrakes were rumored to be an aphrodisiac. They show up in the romance of Song 7:12-13.

NIV footnotes: Issachar sounds like the Hebrew "for reward".

Genesis 30:19-21, Zebulun and Dinah

Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.

Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

Leah has now borne Jacob six healthy sons, an impressive feat in that culture and one that surely should have earned her honor. (NIV footnotes: Zebulun probably means "honor.")

The story adds, briefly, a mention of a daughter. No explanation for the name Dinah is given. The narrator probably sees this as unimportant as she will not be the father of a tribe but Dinah does play a role in an upcoming tragedy. It is not clear if Dinah is Jacob's only daughter. In Genesis 37:35 & 46:7, when discussing the family of Jacob, the noun "daughters" is in the plural, but that word could also refer to granddaughters.

Genesis 30:22-24, Joseph
Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." She named him Joseph, and said, "May the LORD add to me another son."

Finally Rachel has the child she has been desiring. She now wants a "troop" like Leah has produced and so wants a second son. (NIV footnotes: Joseph means "may he add.") Sadly, delivering the second son will kill Rachel.

We will see later that the family rivalry between Rachel and Leah eventually progresses to a dangerous rivalry between Rachel's son, Joseph, and his brothers.

Genesis 30:25-30, Time to leave Laban
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you."

But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you."

He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"

Jacob has a large family (eleven sons, one daughter) and has worked for Laban for twenty years.

Jacob's request is reasonable.  After this it gets weird...

Genesis 30:31-36, Spotted and speckled goats

"What shall I give you?" he asked. 

"Don't give me anything," Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."

"Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons.

Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.

The flock is divided by color.  The dark, speckled goats are to be Jacob's. Laban, as sneaky as Jacob, immediately pulls aside the desired goats and separates them so that (in his mind) there is little chance of Jacob's flock having the desired traits.

There is probably wordplay here, says Walton. The Hebrew word translated "white" is laban (לָבָן.), which is also the name of Jacob's father-in-law. Laban has chosen the "laban" animals.

Genesis 30:37-43, Jacob has a plan for speckled sheep
Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals.

Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.

In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

I don't understand Jacob's plan. It does not make sense genetically. But the writer describes a plan of Jacob's to make sure that the speckled goats (his) are healthy.  

Regardless of the reason, Jacob's goats are healthy and this will cause resentment between the two families, both led by men who believe in deceit and trickery.

Some of this passage is a summary -- during Jacob's twenty years with Laban, he has become quite wealthy.

The tension is building between Laban and Jacob. Both are greedy and dishonest ... and fairly wealthy.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is meod, meaning "very", "great", "exceedingly".

 מְאֹד

The word occurs early in the Hebrew of verse 43, doubled for emphasis, to express Jacob's wealth.

Some Random Thoughts

We continue to observe ANE culture. Nothing in this chapter is really a guide to animal genetics. But it is a guide to the ANE view of animal husbandry -- and the cultural definition of wealth.

First published Feb 4, 2023; updated Feb 4, 2026

Genesis 29, Look, Rachel!

Jacob flees his home and his brother Esau.  He is headed for Haran, the home of Laban, looking for a wife.  (The town of Haran/Harran was probably northeast, across the Euphrates River. See this Wikipedia page.)  In his journey, God meets Jacob and renews His covenant. Jacob has declared YHWH to be his God.

Genesis 29:1-6, Jacob visits Laban

Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" 

"We're from Haran," they replied.

 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?" 

"Yes, we know him," they answered.

 Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" 

"Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

Jacob has found the relatives in Haran whom he was seeking. And there is a young woman walking towards him! Laban is Jacob's uncle, the brother of Rebekah.

Genesis 29:7-12, Rachel!
"Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture."

"We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep."

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

Here comes Rachel! As Robert Alter points out, Rachel is introduced with considerable drama.  There is a suggestion that Jacob's reaction is to be "Oh, wow!"

The stone apparently protects the well. This is the second important stone in Jacob's life.

Jacob sees Rachel and, in her presence, rolls the stone away from the mouth of the well.  He displays both kindness and strength in front of this young woman. Several commentators observe that throughout the Torah, meeting at a well is a type, a stage for future bride and groom.

Rachel offers dramatic relief to young Jacob. Why does Jacob weep?  What does Rachel think of this?

Genesis 29:13-20, Seven years for Rachel
As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things.

Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,  Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.

Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."

Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

We are expected to feel the passion of this love story. Although strange to modern ears, this is natural enough to the Jewish ears (of that day) that there is no attempt to explain it to the reader.

Laban's endorsement of Jacob seems typical of a father-in-law.  "Ah, well, I guess better you than some one worse."

Genesis 29:21-24, "I want to lie with her"
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."

So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.

Jacob has served his time and deserves to start his marriage. He insists on having Rachel (indeed, he says he wants to "lie with her") and so Laban holds a wedding feast. But instead of giving Jacob Rachel, he gives him Leah. (And Leah receives a gift of a servant girl, Zilpah.)

In this paragraph and the next, the narrator names the wife's maidservant.  The maidservant will play an important role.

Genesis 29:25-27, Married to ... Leah?!
When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"

Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."

The deceiver has been deceived!  Laban is equal to Jacob in sneakiness -- deception and counter-deception will be a theme throughout Jacob's time with Laban! 

Can one hear Laban's criticism in his reply to Jacob?  "We don't put the younger above the older!" Has Laban heard of Jacob's theft of the birthright?

Genesis 29:28-30, Seven years for Rachel
And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.

Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Some commentators point out that this does not mean that Jacob had to wait seven years to marry Rachel.  It is likely that Rachel was then added as a wife one week after Jacob's marriage to Leah, with the agreement that Jacob now would work for another seven years.

Genesis 29:31-34, The first three of Jacob's children
When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon. 

Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi. 

That Rachel is barren while Leah conceives would imply they are both the wives of Jacob, at the same time. But we also have a number of years passing rapidly here, through three pregnancies.

According to the NIV footnotes, each name has a meaning: "Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for 'he has seen my misery'; the name means 'see, a son'." Simeon probably means "one who hears". Levi sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for "attached". 

Listen to Leah's pleas. It is poignant in its despair. She hopes that by providing her husband with sons, that he will genuinely have affection for her. Each of the first three sons is named after that hope.

Genesis 29:35, One more 
She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

The name Judah is a variant on the Hebrew word meaning "to give thanks", "to praise." This time the name simply represent praise and thanks for one more son. Has Leah decided to no longer seek her husband's affection?

After seven years with Leah and Rachel, Jacob has four sons, all through Leah.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is yadah 

יָדָה

a verb meaning "to give thanks", "to praise." Apparently a noun form of this verb would keep the main three consonants but insert hu (הוּ) with slight changes of accent to obtain Yehuddah (יְהוּדָה), that is, Judah.

Some Random Thoughts

There is a lot we don't know about a culture that allows Jacob to spend an intimate night with his wife without realizing who he is with. Of course the night was pitch black but still... presumably Jacob knew very little about the woman he was with? Wouldn't he recognize her voice? Or laugh? Just as Isaac could not tell the differences between Esau and Jacob (even with voices and smells), Jacob is fooled by Leah. (Did she disguise her voice? Say little?) There is certainly a bit of "Gotcha!" or "karma" to this story.

First published Feb 3, 2023; updated Feb 3, 2026

Genesis 28, Stairway to Heaven

Jacob has been sent away by Rebekah, so that he might find a wife.

Genesis 28:1-5, Jacob leaves Isaac
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

"May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."

Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Despite Isaac's anger at Jacob's deceit, he follows up the (stolen) blessing with instructions and blessings for Jacob. And sends him to Laban, where he, Isaac himself, found a beautiful woman. Maybe Jacob will have the same success? The trip to Paddam Aram is probbly over 500, miles, quite a journey. A map and summary is here.

"God Almighty" is a translation of the Hebrew name, "El-Shaddai". The blessing Isaac gives Jacob is so natural to that culture: "May El-Shaddai ... increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples." And this blessing does indeed come true!

Genesis 28:6-9, Esau's response

Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman," and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.

Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

Esau picks up a wife who is not Canaanite. He marries a cousin, Mahalath. Does he hope to regain his father's blessing? Although the cultural setting is strange to us, the desire of a son to please his father (or mother) is very modern. 

Genesis 28:10-15, Stairway to heaven

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

This trip, which includes fleeing from his brother, is surely stressful for Jacob. As he flees, YHWH meets Jacob and renews the promise made previously to his grandfather and father. For Jacob, the covenant promise occurs in a dream.

Robert Alter, in his commentaries on the Torah, suggests that the stone was not a pillow -- that would be uncomfortable! -- but was a protective barrier that Jacob would have pressed up against. (I envision Jacob lying on his side, with his head and back against this large rock.)

Alter also argues that the word translated "stairway" is most likely a ramp leading up to an altar, as was common in ziggurats.  (See the image here.) In this case YHWH Himself stands at the top of the ramp.

Genesis 28:16-22, Jacob at Bethel

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

The Hebrew word bayith (בּיִת) means "house" and when El ("god") is added to it, becomes (in verse 19) Beth-el, "house of God". The author believes his (original) readers we may have heard of Luz, but that location, which will appear throughout the Old Testament, will hereafter be called Bethel.

Jacob appears to still have a somewhat conditional relationship with YHWH. "If God is with him... then He will be Jacob's God...." Several decades later, with two wives (one pregnant), two concubines, eleven sons, at least one daughter, and a large flock of animals, a much more mature Jacob returns to Bethel in Genesis 35:1-15 and renews his vows and the covenant.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is Shadday, or Shaddai, 

שַׁדַּי

meaning The Almighty. It appears only 48 times in the Old Testament, often inked with El  (אֵל), a generic name for God, as in verse 3 above. The rarity of the use of the name El-Shaddai, (God Almighty), raises interesting questions and Hebrew scholars attempt to understand its rare occurrence. (Contrast the rarity of El-Shaddai with the appearance the name YHWH, which shows up over 6000 times!)

Some Random Thoughts

In college I met a beautiful woman through a particular campus ministry. And I married her. Later, when my eldest son headed off to college, I told him my story and said, "There are some cute girls in Crusade!" And I was right! He too found the love of his life through the same ministry! (Like his father, Jacob also will find love at Laban's home.)

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First published Feb 2, 2023; updated Feb 2, 2026

Imago Dei

A recent small group conversation discussed legalism in Christianity and other religions.  A friend (Coralee) asked, "What is it about us that makes us want to make Rules?"  My wife, Jan, later generalized this question to me as, "Is human rule-making due to our being made in the image of God? What human characteristics are due to us being in God's image?"

Genesis 1:27 says that God made mankind, male and female, in His image. If we are in the image of God, how does that manifest itself in our life and culture? And, recognizing the fall, what aspects of our life and culture are due to the fall,  not to being in God's image?

As Jan and I discussed this, it is clear that some things do follow from God's image, as they are characteristics of both God and humans.  Our desire for community is inherited from God; God desires our communion with Him and in Genesis 2 recognizes that Adam cannot be alone. Indeed, loneliness is torture to many of us; we all want to be part of a small commune!

Our creative desires come from God, the Creator.  Our love of Beauty follows from the One who looked on His creation and said, "It is good."  Indeed, most forms of art can be traced to our desire to Create Beauty.

In Genesis 1, God creates Structure out of Chaos; He organize the earth and nature, separating light from darkness, sky from sea.  In my experiences in math and science, it is a natural human desire to classify and organize the world around us. It is from this structure that we put objects in boxes and create rules.

In Genesis 2:19-20, God brings the animals to Adam and he names them.  The Old Testament concept of "naming" implied some type of understanding or prediction about the object -- notice how Eve and other mothers name their sons! -- and so we see there the first step in cataloguing the world around us. Some might even argue that the biological process of taxonomy flows out of our image of God. (For example, see the pdf Taxonomic Theology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Biblical and Biological Theology of Naming by professors Stovell and Morris.)

Mankind's desire for justice come from God's Righteousness and from our recognition that people made in the image of God are invested with value and significance. 

This video at the Bible Project argues that the prohibitions against idolatry (pervasive in the Old Testament) come from the fact that we are God's image!  God has already made special images of Himself and it is us!

Wikipedia has an article in the Image of God.  There it suggests three slightly different views of this concept: the Substantive, Relational and Functional.  These are described there as: 

"The Substantive view locates the image of God in shared characteristics between God and humanity such as rationality or morality. A Relational understanding argues that the image is found in human relationships with God and each other. A Functional view interprets the image of God as a role or function whereby humans act on God’s behalf and serve to represent God in the created order."

I argue that all three views are correct -- we receive rationality and morality (and creativity) from God and our desire for justice and community comes out of human relationships and our desire to represent God in these relationships.

In mathematics we describe functions as mapping one set into another; the elements in the second set, the range of the function, are the images of the first set. God has created a mapping into the brains (the intellect, soul, heart) of these little human beings so that we react in various ways that display that image.  This mapping is not one-to-one; much is lost in that mapping, but in many ways our thoughts, our joys and creativity, our desire for justice, are all shadows of the mind of God!  

A day will come when we leave these Shadowlands... but it is not yet.

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First published Jan 29, 2023; updated Feb 1, 2026

Genesis 27, The Birthright

The book of Genesis takes a dozen chapters to describe the life of Abraham and then a couple more to tell us of Isaac. Isaac's son Esau was born seconds before his twin, Jacob. In the ANE culture this means that Esau's inheritance is twice Jacob's and Esau is expected to be the true representative of Isaac's line. But that does not happen.... Indeed, the rest of the book of Genesis will be spent on the true hero of Genesis, the wily and deceptive Jacob (later named Israel.) Even sneaky Jacob will have a covenant with God! But he cannot then be sneaky forever....

Genesis 27:1-4, Isaac to give a blessing

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." 

"Here I am," he answered.

Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."

Despite the frustrations brought by Esau (at the end of chapter 25) Esau is still the oldest and by tradition deserves his father's blessing. Isaac plans a small blessing ceremony, involving a meal, taking advantage of Esau's special talent for hunting.

Genesis 27:5-10, Rebekah's plot

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, `Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

Rebekah encourages the younger son to deceive her husband. (Think on the cultural and family dynamics that make this the best way to say, "Isaac really deserves more!" Both Rebekah and Jacob, the son she loves the most, practice deception.)

Genesis 27:11-17, Jacob's trickery
Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing." 

His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

Rebekah goes to quite a lot of work here, covering fine details in order to make the trick succeed! There is considerable risk here.

Genesis 27:18-23, Hairy Jacob
He went to his father and said, "My father." 

"Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing." 

Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" 

"The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."  He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

Defeating Esau requires that this be done before Esau returns. But this quick meal causes Isaacs to be suspicious... and so Jacob brings God into the lie! Still, despite the statement of God's intervention, Isaac is suspicious. He draws Jacob close. Jacob and Rebekah expected this and their second layer of deception works!

This is a household where the husband does not trust his wife or his sons.

Genesis 27:24-29 Jacob steals Isaac's blessing
"Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. 

"I am," he replied.

Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." 

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank.

Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness-- an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

To pull this off, Jacob tells a sequence of lies. Isaac smells the clothes of Esau and enjoys the scenes it invokes, a field blessed by God (with harvest or rain.) The traditional blessing was believed to bestow power and primality. The blessed son is the one whom the other children are to obey.

Genesis 27:30-38, Esau's weeping
After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."

His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" 

"I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."

Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him--and indeed he will be blessed!"

When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me--me too, my father!"

But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?"

Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?"

Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.

The elaborate scam is completed just in time, for Esau shows up shortly after Jacob leaves. Esau quickly learns of the deceitful play by Jacob and his mother. Esau responds to Jacob's name: "he who grasps the heel", a phrase that Esau interpreted figurately, that is, Jacob trips up people; he deceives them.

As best as I can see, Jacob did not "trick" Esau into giving up the birthright but did take advantage of Esau's hunger.

Genesis 27:39-46, Esau's grudge
His father Isaac answered him, "Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.  But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck."

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living."

Of course Esau will be angry!

If Jacob stays at home there will be violence. Rebekah's frustrations with the Hittite women, and with Esau's wives, is used as an excuse to send Jacob away.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is aqeb, 

עָקֵב

a masculine noun meaning "heel" or "hoof." By adding a prefix vav (יַ), we have a name, Yaaqob (יַעֲקֹב, Jacob.) The associated verb is aqab (עָקַב), meaning "to grab the heel". This can be a euphemism for trickery or deceit; one imagines a foot race in which a runner reaches forward and grabs the heel of the runner in front of him, bringing that runner down, then racing past him.

Some Random Thoughts

In this conflict over the birthright, our narrator provides interesting details and dialogue. At no point is there a suggestion of judgment, but it is assumed that the birthright carries power, as do verbal blessings. The ancient readers of this document probably believed this also and saw, in the birthright and in the blessing, divine confirmation of Israel's future domination.

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First published Feb 1, 2023; updated Jan 31, 2026