And I said: "I am about to recount Scriptures to you; I am not eager to display a construction of arguments in mere art; for I have no such ability, but grace alone has been given to me from God to understand His Scriptures, of which grace I exhort all to become partakers freely and without grudging, so that I may not also on this account incur judgment in that judgment which God the Maker of all is about to make through my Lord Jesus Christ."
And Trypho said: "This too you do worthily of godliness; but you seem to me to be using irony, in saying that you do not possess a power of skillful arguments." And I again answered: "Since it seems to you that these things are so, let it be; but I am truly persuaded that it is so. But that I may rather now make the remaining proofs, give heed." And he said: "Speak."
And I said: "It is again written by Moses, brothers, I said, that this one who appeared to the patriarchs, called God, is also called both angel and Lord; so that from these things too you may recognize that He ministers to the Father of all, as you have already agreed, and being persuaded through more proofs you may remain firm."
Then the word of God, expounding through Moses the things concerning Jacob the grandson of Abraham, says thus: "And it came to pass, when the flocks conceived in the womb, that I saw them with my eyes in sleep; and behold, the he-goats and the rams, leaping upon the flocks and the she-goats, were white-streaked and speckled and ash-spotted. And the angel of God said to me in sleep: Jacob, Jacob."
"And I said: What is it, Lord? And He said: Lift up your eyes and see the he-goats and the rams leaping upon the flocks and the she-goats, white-streaked and speckled and ash-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God who appeared to you in the place of God, where you anointed for Me a pillar there and vowed to Me a vow there. Now therefore arise and go out from this land, and depart into the land of your birth, and I will be with you."
And again, speaking in other words concerning Jacob himself, it says thus: "And rising up that night, he took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok; and he took them and crossed the stream, and brought over all that was his. But Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until morning. And he saw that he could not prevail against him, and he touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob's thigh became numb while he wrestled with him. And he said to him: Let me go, for the dawn has come up."
"But he said: I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him: What is your name? And he said: Jacob. And he said to him: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name; for you have prevailed with God, and with men you shall be mighty. And Jacob asked and said: Tell me your name. And he said: Why is it that you ask this, my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place 'Form of God' (Peniel); for I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved."
And again, in another passage announcing concerning the same Jacob, He says this: "And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people who were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place Bethel; for there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother Esau. And Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca, died, and was buried below Bethel under the oak; and Jacob called its name 'Oak of mourning.' And God appeared to Jacob again at Luz, when he came out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and blessed him. And God said to him: 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.'"
When all had nodded their heads in agreement, I said: "As for the words which announce how He appeared to him when he was fleeing his brother Esau—this One who is both Angel and God and Lord, who appeared to Abraham in the form of a man, and wrestled with Jacob himself in the form of a man—reckoning it necessary to declare them to you, I speak."
These are the words: "And Jacob went out from the well of the oath and journeyed to Haran. And he came to a place and slept there, for the sun had set. And he took of the stones of that place and put them under his head, and slept in that place and dreamed; and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, whose top reached to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord stood upon it."
"And He said: 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and of Isaac. Do not fear. The land on which you are sleeping I will give to you and to your seed; and your seed shall be as the sand of the earth, and it shall spread abroad to the sea and the south and the north and the east, and in you and in your seed shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with you, guarding you in every way you go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not forsake you until I have done all that I have spoken to you.'"
"And Jacob awoke out of his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.' And he was afraid, and said, 'How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.' And Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And Jacob called the name of that place 'House of God'; and the name of the city was formerly Ulammaus (Luz)."