Jacob is the third of the patriarchs, son of Isaac and Rebekah and younger twin of Esau. His name (Ya'aqov) is linked in the narrative to the heel and to supplanting, and the Genesis story turns on that theme: he grasps Esau's heel at birth, buys his brother's birthright for a bowl of stew, and, at Rebekah's urging, deceives the blind Isaac into giving him the blessing meant for the elder son.
Fleeing Esau's anger, he journeys to his uncle Laban, where he labours long years for his wives Leah and Rachel, himself deceived by Laban into marrying the elder sister first, and prospers. Returning home, on the night before he must face Esau, he wrestles until dawn with a mysterious figure at the ford of the Jabbok (Peniel), refusing to release him without a blessing, and is given a new name: Israel, explained as one who strives with God. He limps away from the encounter, marked for life.
His twelve sons, by Leah, Rachel and their maidservants, become the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel, so that the nation is quite literally named for him. Reconciliation with Esau follows, and in old age Jacob goes down into Egypt to be reunited with his lost son Joseph.