-
Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
-
While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd.
-
When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.
-
Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
-
He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
-
Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,
-
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
-
Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.
-
Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”
-
So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
-
When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”
-
And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
-
Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant.
-
Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
-
Jacob’s Children
When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless.
-
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
-
Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.
-
Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
-
Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.
-
During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
-
But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
-
Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive.
-
Jacob’s Flocks Increase
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.
-
So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were.
-
Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate?
