On the first of the month Jacob told all the people of his household: ‘Purify yourselves and change your clothes; we are to set out and go up to Bethel where I made a vow, on the day that I ran away from my brother Esau, to the one who has been with me and brought me back safely to this land. Remove the foreign gods which are among you’.

They handed over the foreign gods, their earrings and necklaces, and the idols that Rachel had stolen from her father Laban. She gave everything to Jacob, and he burned them, broke them into pieces, ruined them, and hid them beneath the oak which is in the land of Shechem.

On the first of the seventh month he went up to Bethel. He built an altar at the place where he had slept and had set up a pillar. He sent word to his father Isaac and to his mother Rebecca as well to come to him to his sacrifice.

Isaac said: ‘Let my son Jacob come so that I can see him before I die’.

Jacob went to his father Isaac and his mother Rebecca in the house of his father Abraham. He took two of his sons with him — Levi and Judah. He came to his father Isaac and his mother Rebecca.

Rebecca went out of the tower into the tower gates to kiss Jacob and hug him because she had revived at the time she heard (the report): ‘Your son Jacob has now arrived’. She kissed him.

When she saw his two sons, she recognized them. She said to him: ‘Are these your sons, my son’? She hugged them, kissed them, and blessed them as follows: ‘Through you Abraham’s descendants will become famous. You will become a blessing on the earth’.

Jacob went in to his father Isaac, to his bedroom where he was lying down. His two children were with him. He took his father’s hand, bent down, and kissed him. Isaac hung on his son Jacob’s neck and cried on his neck.

Then the shadow passed from Isaac’s eyes and he saw Jacob’s two sons — Levi and Judah — and said: ‘Are these your sons, my son, because they look like you’?

He told him that they were indeed his sons: ‘You have noticed correctly that they are indeed my sons’.

When they came up to him, he turned and kissed them and hugged both of them together.

A spirit of prophecy descended into his mouth. He took Levi by his right hand and Judah by his left hand.

He turned to Levi first and began to bless him first. He said to him: ‘May the Lord of everything — he is the Lord of all ages — bless you and your sons throughout all ages.

May the Lord give you and your descendants extremely great honor;may he make you and your descendants (alone) out of all humanity approach himto serve in his temple like the angels of the presence and like the holy ones.The descendants of your sons will be like them in honor, greatness, and holiness.May he make them great throughout all ages.

They will be princes, judges, and leaders of all the descendants of Jacob’s sons.They will declare the word of the Lord justlyand will justly judge all his verdicts.They will tell my ways to Jacoband my paths to Israel.The blessing of the Lord will be placed in their mouths,so that they may bless all the descendants of the beloved.

Your mother named you Levi,and she has given you the right name.You will become one who is joined to the Lordand a companion of all Jacob’s sons.His table is to belong to you;you and your sons are to eat (from) it.May your table be filled throughout all history;may your food not be lacking throughout all ages.

May all who hate you fall before you,and all your enemies be uprooted and perish.May the one who blesses you be blessed,and any nation that curses you be cursed’.

Then he said to Judah:May the Lord give you the power and strength to trample on all who hate you.Be a prince — you and one of your sons — for Jacob’s sons.May your name and the name of your sons be onethat goes and travels around in the entire earth and the regions.Then the nations will be frightened before you;all the nations will be disturbed;all peoples will be disturbed.

May Jacob’s help be in you;May Israel’s safety be found in you.

At the time when you sit on the honorable throne that is rightly yours,there will be great peace for all the descendants of the beloved’s sons.The one who blesses you will be blessed,and all who hate and trouble you,and those, too, who curse youwill be uprooted and destroyed from the earthand are to be cursed.

He turned, kissed him again, and hugged him. He was very happy that he had seen the sons of his true son Jacob.

He moved out from between his feet, fell down, and bowed to him. He then blessed them. He rested there near his father Isaac that night. They ate and drank happily.

He made Jacob’s two sons sleep, one on his right, one on his left; and it was credited to him as something righteous.

That night Jacob told his father everything — how the Lord had shown him great kindness, that he had directed all his ways favorably and had protected him from every evil one.

Isaac blessed the God of his father Abraham who had not put an end to his mercy and faithfulness for the son of his servant Isaac.

In the morning Jacob told his father Isaac the vow that he had made to the Lord, the vision that he had seen, that he had built an altar and everything was ready for offering the sacrifice before the Lord as he had vowed, and that he had come to put him on a donkey.

But Isaac said to his son Jacob: ‘I am unable to come with you because I am old and unable to put up with the trip. Go safely, my son, because I am 165 years of age today. I am no longer able to travel. Put your mother on an animal and let her go with you.

I know, my son, that it was on my account that you came. Blessed be this day on which you have seen me alive and I, too, have seen you, my son.

Be successful and carry out the vow that you made. Do not delay (in carrying out) your vow because you will be held accountable regarding the vow. Now hurry to perform it. May the one who has made everything, to whom you made the vow, be pleased (with it)’.

He said to Rebecca: ‘Go with your son Jacob’.

When Jacob recalled the prayer with which his father had blessed him and his two sons — Levi and Judah — he was very happy and blessed the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac.

He said: ‘Now I know that I and my sons, too, have an eternal hope before the God of all’. This is the way it is ordained regarding the two of them, and it is entered for them as an eternal testimony on the heavenly tablets just as Isaac blessed them.