Genesis 28–31

CHAPTER 28

Jacob Is Sent to Laban

¹So Isaac called Jacob and ^ablessed him and commanded him and said to him, “^bYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

²“Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of ^aBethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

³“May ^1aGod Almighty ^bbless you and ^cmake you fruitful and ^dmultiply you, that you may become an ^eassembly of peoples.

⁴“May He also give you the ^ablessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, that you may ^bpossess the land of your ^csojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵Then ^aIsaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, “^aYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

⁷and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸So Esau saw that ^athe daughters of Canaan were displeasing ¹in the sight of his father Isaac;

⁹and Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, ^abesides the wives that he had.

Jacob’s Dream

¹⁰Then Jacob departed from ^aBeersheba and went toward ^bHaran.

¹¹And he reached ¹a ^acertain place and spent the night there because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it ²under his head and lay down in that place.

^12aThen he had a dream, and behold, a ¹ladder stood on the earth with its top touching heaven; and behold, ^bthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³And behold, ^aYahweh stood ¹above it and said, “I am Yahweh, ^bthe God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it ^cto you and to ^dyour seed.

¹⁴“And your seed will also be like ^athe dust of the earth, and you will ¹spread out ^bto the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and ^cin you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

¹⁵“Behold, ^aI am with you and ^bwill keep you wherever you go. And ^cI will bring you back to this land; for ^dI will not forsake you until I have done what I have ¹promised you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob ^aawoke from his sleep and said, “^bSurely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.”

¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “^aHow fearsome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸So Jacob rose early in the morning and took ^athe stone that he had put ¹under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

¹⁹And he called the name of that place ^1aBethel; however, ²previously the name of the city had been ^bLuz.

²⁰Then Jacob ^amade a vow, saying, “^bIf God will be with me and will keep me on this journey on which I am going, and will give me ^1cfood to eat and garments to wear,

²¹and ^aI return to my father’s house in peace, ^bthen Yahweh will be my God.

²²“Now this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, ^awill be God’s house, and ^bof all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

CHAPTER 29

Jacob’s Love for Rachel

¹Then Jacob ¹took up his journey and came to the land of ^athe sons of the east.

²And he looked, and behold, ^aa well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they gave water to the flocks to drink. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.

³And all the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and give water to the sheep to drink and return the stone back to its place on the mouth of the well.

⁴And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from ^aHaran.”

⁵Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the ^ason of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

⁶And 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.”

⁷And he said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Give water to the sheep to drink, and go, pasture them.”

⁸But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we give water to the sheep to drink.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰Now it happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and gave water to the flock of Laban his mother’s brother to drink.

¹¹Then Jacob ^akissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept.

¹²And 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.

¹³So it happened that when ^aLaban heard the report of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and he ^bembraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he recounted to Laban all these things.

¹⁴And Laban said to him, “Surely you are ^amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him one month.

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my ¹relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall ^ayour wages be?”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was ^abeautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.

¹⁸Now Jacob ^aloved Rachel, so he said, “^bI will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”

²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his sight but a few days ^abecause of his love for her.

Laban Deceives Jacob

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may ^ago in to her.”

²²And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.

²³Now it happened in the evening that he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her.

²⁴Laban also gave his servant-woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a servant-woman.

²⁵Now it happened 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?”

²⁶But Laban said, “It is not ¹the practice in our place to give the younger before the firstborn.

²⁷“Fulfill 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.”

²⁸And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

²⁹Laban also gave his servant-woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant-woman.

³⁰So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed ^ahe loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with ¹Laban for ^banother seven years.

³¹And Yahweh saw that Leah was ¹unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

³²So Leah conceived and bore a son and named him ¹Reuben, for she said, “Because Yahweh has ^2aseen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”

³³Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “^aBecause Yahweh has ¹heard that I am ²unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be ¹joined to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named ^aLevi.

³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will ¹praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him ^2aJudah. Then she stopped bearing.

CHAPTER 30

The Sons of Jacob

¹Then Rachel saw that ^ashe bore Jacob no children, so ¹she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “^bGive me children, or else I die.”

²Then 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?”

³And she said, “^aHere is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may ^bbear on my knees, that ^1cthrough her I too may obtain children.”

⁴So ^ashe gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has ^1arendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him ²Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸So Rachel said, “With ¹mighty wrestlings I have ²wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.

⁹Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Then Leah said, “¹How fortunate!” So she named him ²Gad.

¹²And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

¹³Then Leah said, “¹Happy am I! For women ^awill call me happy.” So she named him ²Asher.

¹⁴And in the days of the 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.”

¹⁵But 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 will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶Then Jacob came in from the field in the evening. And 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.

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸And Leah said, “God has given me my ¹wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband ¹will honor me because I…