Genesis 29:1–30:43
1 Then Jacob 1went on his journey, and came to the land of athe sons of the east.
2 He looked, and 1saw aa well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.
3 When all the flocks were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.
4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from aHaran.”
5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban the ason of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”
6 And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is aRachel his daughter coming with the sheep.”
7 He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.”
8 But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10 When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11 Then Jacob akissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept.
12 Jacob told Rachel that he was a 1arelative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and bshe ran and told her father.
13 So when aLaban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and bembraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he related to Laban all these things.
14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my 1relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall ayour wages be?”
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17 And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was abeautiful of form and 1face.
18 Now Jacob aloved Rachel, so he said, “bI will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days abecause of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my 1time is completed, that I may ago in to her.”
22 Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.
23 Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her.
24 Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.
25 So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “aWhat is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you bdeceived me?”
26 But Laban said, “It is not 1the practice in our place to 2marry off the younger before the firstborn.
27 “Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which ayou shall serve with me for another seven years.”
28 Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
29 Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.
30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed ahe loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with 1Laban for banother seven years.
31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was 1unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 Leah conceived and bore a son and named him 1Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has 2aseen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”
33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “aBecause the Lord has 1heard that I am 2unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.
34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become 1attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named aLevi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will 1praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him 2aJudah. Then she stopped bearing.
1 Now when Rachel saw that ashe bore Jacob no children, 1she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “bGive me children, or else I die.”
2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has awithheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 She said, “aHere is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bbear on my knees, that 1athrough her I too may have children.”
4 So ashe gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, “God has 1avindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him 2Dan.
7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With 1mighty wrestlings I have 2wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “1How fortunate!” So she named him 2Gad.
12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 Then Leah said, “1Happy am I! For women awill call me happy.” So she named him 2Asher.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found amandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my 1wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband 1will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then aGod remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and bopened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has ataken away my reproach.”
24 She named him Joseph, saying, “aMay the Lord 1give me another son.”
25 Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “aSend me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.
26 “Give me my wives and my children afor whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have 1rendered you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If now 1it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined athat the Lord has blessed me on your account.”
28 He 1continued, “aName me your wages, and I will give it.”
29 But he said to him, “aYou yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have 1fared with me.
30 “For you had little before 1I came and it has 2increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you 3wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:
32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every aspeckled and spotted sheep and every black 1one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
33 “So my 1honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my 2wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”
34 Laban said, “1Good, let it be according to your word.”
35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the 1care of his sons.
36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Then Jacob 1took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was 2in the rods.
38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they 1mated when they came to drink.
39 So the flocks 1mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40 Jacob separated the lambs, and 1made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 Moreover, whenever the 1stronger of the flock 2were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might 3mate by the rods;
42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the 1stronger Jacob’s.
43 So athe man 1became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.