Genesis 29–35

Jacob Arrives in Northwest Mesopotamia

29Then Jacob continued his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. ²He looked and saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying nearby, because they drank water from this well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³When all the flocks would gather there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place.

⁴Jacob said to the shepherds there, “My brothers, where are you from?”

They answered, “We are from Haran.”

⁵Then Jacob asked, “Do you know Laban, grandson of Nahor?”

They answered, “We know him.”

⁶Then Jacob asked, “How is he?”

They answered, “He is well. Look, his daughter Rachel is coming now with his sheep.”

⁷Jacob said, “But look, it is still the middle of the day. It is not time for the sheep to be gathered for the night, so give them water and let them go back into the pasture.”

⁸But they said, “We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered. Then we will roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep.”

⁹While Jacob was talking with the shepherds, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, because it was her job to care for the sheep. ¹⁰When Jacob saw Laban’s daughter Rachel and Laban’s sheep, he went to the well and rolled the stone from its mouth and watered Laban’s sheep. Now Laban was the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s mother. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and cried. ¹²He told her that he was from her father’s family and that he was the son of Rebekah. So Rachel ran home and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him. Laban hugged him and kissed him and brought him to his house, where Jacob told Laban everything that had happened.

¹⁴Then Laban said, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

Jacob Is Tricked

Jacob stayed there a month. ¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, “You are my relative, but it is not right for you to work for me without pay. What would you like me to pay you?”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters. The older was Leah, and the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was very beautiful. ¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel, so he said to Laban, “Let me marry your younger daughter Rachel. If you will, I will work seven years for you.”

¹⁹Laban said, “It would be better for her to marry you than someone else, so stay here with me.” ²⁰So Jacob worked for Laban seven years so he could marry Rachel. But they seemed like just a few days to him because he loved Rachel very much.

²¹After seven years Jacob said to Laban, “Give me Rachel so that I may marry her. The time I promised to work for you is over.”

²²So Laban gave a feast for all the people there. ²³That evening he brought his daughter Leah to Jacob, and they had sexual relations. ²⁴(Laban gave his slave girl Zilpah to his daughter to be her servant.) ²⁵In the morning when Jacob saw that he had had sexual relations with Leah, he said to Laban, “What have you done to me? I worked hard for you so that I could marry Rachel! Why did you trick me?”

²⁶Laban said, “In our country we do not allow the younger daughter to marry before the older daughter. ²⁷But complete the full week of the marriage ceremony with Leah, and I will give you Rachel to marry also. But you must serve me another seven years.”

²⁸So Jacob did this, and when he had completed the week with Leah, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. ²⁹(Laban gave his slave girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ³⁰So Jacob had sexual relations with Rachel also, and Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Jacob worked for Laban for another seven years.

Jacob’s Family Grows

³¹When the Lord saw that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, he made it possible for Leah to have children, but not Rachel. ³²Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ⁿ because she said, “The Lord has seen my troubles. Surely now my husband will love me.”

³³Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon ⁿ and said, “The Lord has heard that I am not loved, so he has given me this son.”

³⁴Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Levi ⁿ and said, “Now, surely my husband will be close to me, because I have given him three sons.”

³⁵Then Leah gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, ⁿ because she said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Then Leah stopped having children.

30When Rachel saw that she was not having children for Jacob, she envied her sister Leah. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” ²Jacob became angry with her and said, “Can I do what only God can do? He is the one who has kept you from having children.”

³Then Rachel said, “Here is my slave girl Bilhah. Have sexual relations with her so she can give birth to a child for me. Then I can have my own family through her.”

⁴So Rachel gave Bilhah, her slave girl, to Jacob as a wife, and he had sexual relations with her. ⁵She became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. ⁶Rachel said, “God has judged me innocent. He has listened to my prayer and has given me a son,” so she named him Dan. ⁿ

⁷Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. ⁸Rachel said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I have won.” So she named that son Naphtali. ⁿ

⁹Leah saw that she had stopped having children, so she gave her slave girl Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰When Zilpah had a son, ¹¹Leah said, “I am lucky,” so she named him Gad. ^{n 12}Zilpah gave birth to another son, ¹³and Leah said, “I am very happy! Now women will call me happy,” so she named him Asher. ⁿ

¹⁴During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the field and found some mandrake ⁿ plants and brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵Leah answered, “You have already taken away my husband, and now you are trying to take away my son’s mandrakes.”

But Rachel answered, “If you will give me your son’s mandrakes, you may sleep with Jacob tonight.”

¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field that night, Leah went out to meet him. She said, “You will have sexual relations with me tonight because I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.

¹⁷Then God answered Leah’s prayer, and she became pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son ¹⁸and said, “God has given me what I paid for, because I gave my slave girl to my husband.” So Leah named her son Issachar. ⁿ

¹⁹Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. ²⁰She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will honor me, because I have given him six sons,” so she named him Zebulun. ^{n 21}Later Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²²Then God remembered Rachel and answered her prayer, making it possible for her to have children. ²³When she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, she said, “God has taken away my shame,” ²⁴and she named him Joseph. ⁿ Rachel said, “I wish the Lord would give me another son.”

Jacob Tricks Laban

²⁵After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Now let me go to my own home and country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children and let me go. I have earned them by working for you, and you know that I have served you well.”

²⁷Laban said to him, “If I have pleased you, please stay. I know the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸Tell me what I should pay you, and I will give it to you.”

²⁹Jacob answered, “You know that I have worked hard for you, and your flocks have grown while I cared for them. ³⁰When I came, you had little, but now you have much. Every time I did something for you, the Lord blessed you. But when will I be able to do something for my own family?”

³¹Laban asked, “Then what should I give you?”

Jacob answered, “I don’t want you to give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I will come back and take care of your flocks. ³²Today let me go through all your flocks. I will take every speckled or spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. That will be my pay. ³³In the future you can easily see if I am honest. When you come to look at my flocks, if I have any goat that isn’t speckled or spotted or any lamb that isn’t black, you will know I stole it.”

³⁴Laban answered, “Agreed! We will do what you ask.” ³⁵But that day Laban took away all the male goats that had streaks or spots, all the speckled and spotted female goats (all those that had white on them), and all the black sheep. He told his sons to watch over them. ³⁶Then he took these animals to a place that was three days’ journey away from Jacob. Jacob took care of all the flocks that were left.

³⁷So Jacob cut green branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. ³⁸He put the branches in front of the flocks at the watering places. When the animals came to drink, they also mated there, ³⁹so the flocks mated in front of the branches. Then the young that were born were streaked, speckled, or spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob separated the young animals from the others, and he made them face the streaked and dark animals in Laban’s flock. Jacob kept his animals separate from Laban’s. ⁴¹When the stronger animals in the flock were mating, Jacob put the branches before their eyes so they would mate near the branches. ⁴²But when the weaker animals mated, Jacob did not put the branches there. So the animals born from the weaker animals were Laban’s, and those born from the stronger animals were Jacob’s. ⁴³In this way Jacob became very rich. He had large flocks, many male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob Runs Away

31One day Jacob heard Laban’s sons talking. They said, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned, and in this way he has become rich.” ²Then Jacob noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been before. ³The Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land where your ancestors lived, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob told Rachel and Leah to…