Genesis 29–30

Chapter 29

Jacob Meets Rachel

¹Then Jacob ¹went on his journey, and came to the land of ^athe sons of the east.

²He 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.

³When 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.

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

⁵He 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.”

⁷He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, 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 water the sheep.”

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

¹⁰When 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.

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

¹²Jacob 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 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.

¹⁴Laban said to him, “Surely you are ^amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a 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 of form and ¹face.

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

¹⁹Laban 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 seemed to him but a few days ^abecause of his love for her.

Laban’s Treachery

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my ¹time is completed, that I may ^ago in to her.”

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

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

²⁴Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.

²⁵So 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?”

²⁶But 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.”

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

²⁹Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.

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

³¹Now the Lord saw that Leah was ¹unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

³²Leah 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.”

³³Then 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.

³⁴She 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.

³⁵And 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.

Chapter 30

The Sons of Jacob

¹Now 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.”

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?”

³She said, “^aHere is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may ^bbear on my knees, that ¹through her I too may have children.”

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

⁵Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

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

⁷Rachel’s maid 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.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

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

¹²Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

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

¹⁴Now 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.”

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 may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When 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.

¹⁷God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

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

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

²⁰Then 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.

²¹Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

²²Then ^aGod remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and ^bopened her womb.

²³So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has ^ataken away my reproach.”

²⁴She named him Joseph, saying, “^aMay the Lord ¹give me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

²⁵Now 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.”

²⁷But Laban said to him, “If now ¹it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined ^athat the Lord has blessed me on your account.”

²⁸He ¹continued, “^aName me your wages, and I will give it.”

²⁹But 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?”

³¹So 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:

³²let 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.”

³⁴Laban said, “¹Good, let it be according to your word.”

³⁵So 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.

³⁶And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Then 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.

³⁸He 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.

³⁹So the flocks ¹mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰Jacob 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.

⁴¹Moreover, 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;

⁴²but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the ¹stronger Jacob’s.

⁴³So ^athe man ¹became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.