O Jacob mounted a camel, and away he went. And when the sun began to set, he looked about him, and he was in a wild country where nobody lived, and where the only roof in sight was the round roof of the sky. So he lay down on the hard ground and put a smooth stone under his head for a pillow, and went to sleep, for he was tired. And in the night he dreamed a dream.
He thought that the night sky was all bright above him, and that there was a ladder of light reaching from earth to heaven, and that there were angels climbing up and climbing down, and that at the top of the ladder was God himself, who said, “Jacob, this land on which you sleep shall some time belong to you and to your children, and your family shall grow into a great nation and be a blessing to the world.” Then all was dark again, till the morning sun shone upon the sleeper.
That morning, after Jacob had said his prayers, he took the stone which he had used for a pillow, and a lot of other stones, and piled them up to mark the place. And he asked God to protect him from all the dangers of the way and to bring him home again in peace; and he promised that he would try to please God. For, in spite of the mean things that he had done, there was a great deal of good in Jacob.
So he journeyed and he journeyed, and by and by he came to the river Jordan, and his camel carried him over, wading across a shallow place. And then he journeyed, and he journeyed, and he journeyed, till by and by he came to the river Euphrates, and even over this wide river did his camel carry him, finding a shallow place and wading across. And one day about noon he came to a well in a field, and three flocks of sheep were lying by it, but the mouth of the well was covered with a great stone.
And Jacob spoke to the shepherds and said, “Brothers, where do you live?”
And they said, “We live in Haran.” And that was the very place for which Jacob was looking.
And Jacob said, “Do you know anybody there named Laban?”
“Yes,” they said, “we know him.”
“Is he well?”
“Yes, he is very well, and there at this moment comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”