Genesis 28–31

28Then Isaac called Jacob and ^ablessed him, and ¹charged him, and said to him: ^b“You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ^2cArise, go to ^dPadan Aram, to the house of ^eBethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of ^fLaban your mother’s brother.

³“May ^gGod Almighty bless you,

And make you ^hfruitful and multiply you,

That you may be an assembly of peoples;

⁴And give you ⁱthe blessing of Abraham,

To you and your descendants with you,

That you may inherit the land

^jIn ²which you are a stranger,

Which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

⁶Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. ⁸Also Esau saw ^kthat the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. ⁹So Esau went to Ishmael and ^ltook ^mMahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, ⁿthe sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Jacob’s Vow at Bethel

¹⁰Now Jacob ^owent out from Beersheba and went toward ^pHaran. ¹¹So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²Then he ^qdreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there ^rthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

^13sAnd behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ^t“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; ^uthe land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴Also your ^vdescendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad ^wto the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and ^xin your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵Behold, ^yI am with you and will ^zkeep ³you wherever you go, and will ^abring you back to this land; for ^bI will not leave you ^cuntil I have done what I have spoken to you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in ^dthis place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

¹⁸Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, ^eset it up as a pillar, ^fand poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹And he called the name of ^gthat place ⁴Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. ^20hThen Jacob made a vow, saying, “If ⁱGod will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me ^jbread to eat and clothing to put on, ²¹so that ^kI come back to my father’s house in peace, ^lthen the Lord shall be my God. ²²And this stone which I have set as a pillar ^mshall be God’s house, ⁿand of all that You give me I will surely give a ⁵tenth to You.”

Jacob Meets Rachel

29So Jacob went on his journey ^aand came to the land of the people of the East. ²And he looked, and saw a ^bwell in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. ³Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth.

⁴And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?”

And they said, “We are from ^cHaran.”

⁵Then he said to them, “Do you know ^dLaban the son of Nahor?”

And they said, “We know him.”

⁶So he said to them, ^e“Is he well?”

And they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel ^fis coming with the sheep.”

⁷Then he said, “Look, it is still ¹high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

⁸But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”

⁹Now while he was still speaking with them, ^gRachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and ^hrolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ¹¹Then Jacob ⁱkissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. ¹²And Jacob told Rachel that he was ^jher father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. ^kSo she ran and told her father.

¹³Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that ^lhe ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things. ¹⁴And Laban said to him, ^m“Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, ⁿwhat should your wages be?” ¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷Leah’s eyes were ²delicate, but Rachel was ^obeautiful of form and appearance.

¹⁸Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, ^p“I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”

¹⁹And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.” ²⁰So Jacob ^qserved seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may ^rgo in to her.” ²²And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and ^smade a feast. ²³Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. ²⁴And Laban gave his maid ^tZilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. ²⁵So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you ^udeceived me?”

²⁶And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our ³country, to give the younger before the firstborn. ^27vFulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”

²⁸Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also. ²⁹And Laban gave his maid ^wBilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid. ³⁰Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also ^xloved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban ^ystill another seven years.

The Children of Jacob

³¹When the Lord ^zsaw that Leah was ⁴unloved, He ^aopened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name ⁵Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely ^blooked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.” ³³Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am ⁶unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name ⁷Simeon. ³⁴She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called ⁸Levi. ³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name ^cJudah. ⁹Then she stopped bearing.

30Now when Rachel saw that ^ashe bore Jacob no children, Rachel ^benvied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, ^cor else I die!”

²And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, ^d“Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³So she said, “Here is ^emy maid Bilhah; go in to her, ^fand she will bear a child on my knees, ^gthat I also may ¹have children by her.” ⁴Then she gave him Bilhah her maid ^has wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has ⁱjudged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name ²Dan. ⁷And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “With ³great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name ⁴Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and ^jgave her to Jacob as wife. ¹⁰And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Then Leah said, ⁵“A troop comes!” So she called his name ⁶Gad. ¹²And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³Then Leah said, “I am happy, for the daughters ^kwill call me blessed.” So she called his name ⁷Asher.

¹⁴Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, ^l“Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But she said to her, ^m“Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”

And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, 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.” And he lay with her that night.

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name ⁸Issachar. ¹⁹Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name ⁹Zebulun. ²¹Afterward she bore a ⁿdaughter, and called her name ¹Dinah.

²²Then God ^oremembered Rachel, and God listened…