A reading from the book of Genesis. Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying,

Jacob has taken all that was our fathers, and from what was our fathers he has gained all this wealth.

And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob,

return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred,

and I will be with you. So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was,

and said to them, I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before,

but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength,

"'yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times,

"'but God did not permit him to harm me.

"'If he said, the spotted shall be your wages,

"'then all the flock bore spotted,

"'and if he said the striped shall be your wages,

"'then all the flock bore striped.

Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats

that made it with the flocks were striped, spotted, and modeled.

Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob, and I said, Here I am. And he said,

Lift up your eyes and see. All the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted,

and modeled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you

anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land

and return to the land of your kindred. Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him,

Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? Are we not regarded by him as foreigners?

...