Genesis 29 - 30 - Legacy Standard Bible

Genesis 29 - 30

Jacob’s Love for Rachel

Then Jacob took up his journey and came to the land of the sons of the east. 2 And he looked, and behold, a 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. 3 And 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. 4 And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.” 5 Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son 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 Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.” 7 And 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.” 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 give water to the sheep to drink.” 9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 Now 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. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father. 13 So it happened that when Laban heard the report of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and he embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he recounted to Laban all these things. 14 And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him one month. 15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your 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 beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance. 18 Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 And 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 were in his sight but a few days because of his love for her.

Laban Deceives Jacob

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” 22 And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. 23 Now it happened in the evening that he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her. 24 Laban also gave his servant-woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a servant-woman. 25 Now it happened 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 with you? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 But Laban said, “It is not the 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 you shall serve with me for another seven years.” 28 And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. 29 Laban also gave his servant-woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant-woman. 30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years. 31 And Yahweh saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 So Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because Yahweh has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” 33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because Yahweh has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. 34 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. 35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

The Sons of Jacob

Then Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, so she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give 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 withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 And she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may obtain children.” 4 So she gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has rendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. 7 And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali. 9 Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. 12 And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher. 14 And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes 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 will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 Then 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. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 And Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19 Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband will honor 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 God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh give me another son.”

Jacob Names His Wages

25 Now it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own land. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; I have interpreted an omen that Yahweh has blessed me on your account.” 28 And he continued to say, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.” 29 But he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me. 30 For you had little before I came, but it has spread out to a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you at every step of mine. 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 speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. 33 So my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. 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 And Laban said, “Behold, 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 care of his sons. 36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks. 37 Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the trough, that is, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and he made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he set his own herds apart and did not set them with Laban’s flock. 41 Now it would be that, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the trough, so that they might mate by the rods; 42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 So the man spread out exceedingly and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.