Leah and Rachel

Childrens

29 Jacob continued on his journey and arrived at the land of the people of the East. 2 He looked and saw a well in the field, and there were three flocks of sheep lying down by it; for from that well they watered the flocks; but there was a large stone over the well. 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds used to roll away the stone and water the sheep and then put the stone back in its place over the well.

4 Jacob said to the men, ‘My friends, from where do you come?’ They said, ‘We are from Haran.’ 5 Then he said to them, ‘Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?’ They said, ‘We know him.’ 6 He said to them, ‘Is all well with him?’ They said, ‘All is well; indeed, this is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.’ 7 He said, ‘See, the sun is still high! It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep and feed them.’ 8 But they said, ‘We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll away the stone from the well; then we will water the sheep.’

9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she was a shepherdess. 10 When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. 12 When Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, she ran and told her father.

13 As soon as Laban heard about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, put his arms round him, kissed him many times, and brought him to his home. When Jacob told Laban all that had happened, 14 Laban said to him, ‘Surely you are my bone and my flesh.’ So he remained with him a whole month.

15 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘Should you serve me for nothing simply because you are related to me? Tell me what shall be your wages?’ 16 Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were dull, but Rachel was beautiful. 18 Jacob loved Rachel, and so he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.’ 19 Laban said, ‘It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to any other man. Stay with me.’ 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days, because he loved her so.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife, for my time is up, and let me marry her.’ 22 So Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. 23 In the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob received her as his wife. 24 At the same time Laban gave his slave-girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah.

25 When in the morning Jacob found it was Leah, he said to Laban, ‘What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?’ 26 Laban said, ‘It is not the custom among us to give the younger in marriage before the older. 27 Remain with this one during the marriage week, then we will give you the other also for the service which you will give me during seven more years.’ 28 Jacob did so: he remained with Leah during the marriage week. Then Laban gave him Rachel his daughter to be his wife, 29 and his slave-girl Bilhah to serve Rachel. 30 Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and loved Rachel more than Leah. So he had to serve Laban seven years more.Shorter

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was spurned, he gave her the gift of motherhood; Rachel, however, was barren. 32 So Leah gave birth to a son whom she named Reuben[fn]; for she said, ‘The Lord has seen my affliction; now my husband will love me.’ 33 She gave birth to another son; and said, ‘Because the Lord has heard that I am spurned, he has given me this one also’; and she called his name Simeon[fn]. 34 She gave birth to another 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 Levi[fn]. 35 She gave birth to another son and said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord’; therefore she called his name Judah[fn] then she stopped having children.

30 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she was jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, ‘Give me children or else I will die.’ 2 But Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in God’s place? Who has withheld offspring from you?’ 3 She said, ‘Here is my slave-girl Bilhah, go to her, so that she may bear sons who can be laid on my knees and I also may obtain children though her.’ 4 So she gave him Bilhah her slave-girl for a wife, and Jacob slept with her. 5 When Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son, 6 Rachel said, ‘God has judged me and has also heard my voice and has given me a son.’ So she called his name Dan[fn].

7 Bilhah, Rachel’s slave-girl conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, ‘With superhuman wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed’; so she called his name Naphtali[fn].

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah her slave-girl, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Zilpah, Leah’s slave-girl bore Jacob a son. 11 Leah said, ‘Fortunate!’ and she called his name Gad. 12 Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, 13 and Leah said, ‘Happy am I! Now women will call me happy’, and she called his name Asher.

14 One time, during the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, ‘Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.’ 15 But Leah said to her, ‘Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband, that you would also take away my son’s mandrakes?’ Rachel said, ‘In exchange for your son’s mandrakes, Jacob can sleep with you tonight.’ 16 So when Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, ‘You sleep with me tonight, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.’ So he slept with her that night.

17 God heard Leah’s prayer, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, ‘God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave-girl to my husband’; so she called his name Issachar[fn]. 19 Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 She said, ‘God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honour me, because I have borne him six sons’; and she called him Zebulun[fn]. 21 And afterwards she had a daughter and named her Dinah.Shorter

22 Then God remembered Rachel and heard her prayer and gave her a child. 23 She conceived and gave birth to a son and said, ‘God has taken away my disgrace.’ 24 She called his name Joseph[fn], saying, ‘the Lord will add to me another son.’Students

25 When Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away, so that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, so that I may go; for you know the service which I have rendered you.’ 27 But Laban said to him, ‘If now I have found favour in your eyes — I have divined that the Lord has blessed me for your sake. 28 State exactly to me your wages and I will pay them.’

29 Jacob answered him, ‘You know how I have served you and what your cattle have become under my care; 30 for it was little which you had before I came, but now it has greatly increased, since the Lord has blessed you wherever I went. But now, when am I to provide for my own house as well?’ 31 Laban said, ‘What should I give you?’

Jacob said, ‘You do not need to give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock; I will again keep it. 32 If I can go through all your flock today, and remove from it every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; these will be my wages. 33 So my honesty will testify for me later, when you come to inspect my wages: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs has been stolen by me.’ 34 Laban said, ‘Good, let it be as you say.’ 35 But he removed that day the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were striped and spotted, every one that had white on it, and all the black ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hands of his sons. 36 Then he put the distance of a three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 Jacob, however, took fresh rods of white poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. 38 He set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink (and they conceived when they came to drink) 39 so that the flocks conceived before the rods. Therefore the flocks brought forth striped, speckled and spotted offspring. 40 Jacob separated the lambs, and he set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and the black animals in the flock of Laban and he put his own droves apart and did not put them near Laban’s flock.

41 Whenever the stronger animals of the flock conceived, Jacob laid the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, so that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the animals were weak, he did not put them in. In this way the weaker became Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob.

43 So the man increased in wealth exceedingly, and had large flocks, and male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

31 Now Jacob heard Laban’s sons say, ‘Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from that which was our father’s he has acquired all these riches.’ 2 Now Jacob observed that Laban was not so favorably inclined to him as formerly. 3 The Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your ancestors, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’ 4 Then Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where his flocks were, 5 and said to them, ‘I see that your father is not so favorably inclined toward me as formerly; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7 Your father, however, has deceived me and changed my wages ten times; but God has not allowed him to do me harm. 8 If your father said, “The speckled will be your wages,” then all the flock bore speckled offspring, but if he said: “The striped will be your wages,” then all the flock have striped offspring. 9 God has taken away the possessions of your father and given them to me. 10 At the time when the flock breed, I looked up, and saw in a dream, that the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and piebald. 11 The messenger of God said to me in a dream, “Jacob!” and I said, “Here I am.” 12 And he said, “Look! All the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and piebald: for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar of stone, where you made a vow to me. Now arise, leave this land, and return to the land where you were born.” ’

14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him, ‘There is no longer any inheritance for us in our father’s house. 15 Are we not considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us and goes on to consume the money paid for us. 16 Since all the riches which God has taken away from our father is ours and our children’s, do whatever God has told you to do.’

17 Then Jacob rose up and put his sons and his wives on camels, 18 and drove away all his cattle and all the cattle which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, in order to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 19 And while Laban was gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the household gods that were her father’s. 20 So Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean — he did not tell him that he was going to flee. 21 So he fled with all he had; crossing the river Euphrates heading towards the hill-country of Gilead.

22 When it was reported to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his tribesmen with him, and pursued him for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night, and said to him, ‘Take care that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.’ 25 When Laban caught up with Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country; and Laban with his relatives encamped in same hill country of Gilead.

26 Laban said to Jacob, ‘What have you done? You have deceived me and carried away my daughters like captives of war! 27 Why did you flee secretly, stealing away from me without telling me? I would have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp — 28 but you did not allow me to kiss my sons and daughters. You have acted foolishly. 29 It was in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, “Take care that you do not speak to Jacob, neither good nor bad.” 30 But now, since you are surely going because you long so earnestly for your father’s house, why have you stolen my gods?’

31 Jacob answered Laban, ‘I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 The one with whom you find your gods will be put to death; in the presence of our kinsmen investigate for yourself what is with me and take it.’ Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s gods. 33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s, and into the tent of the two slave-girls, but he did not find his gods. Then he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and was sitting on them, so that when Laban had searched all about the tent, he did not find them. 35 She said to her father, ‘Do not be angry that I cannot rise before you, my lord, for it is that time of the month that women have.’ And though he searched thoroughly, he did not find the household gods.

36 Then Jacob became angry and challenged Laban. ‘What is my crime?’ he said, ‘What is my offense, that you have pursued hotly after me? 37 Alhough you have gone through all through my things, what have you found of all your household possessions? Declare it here before my kinsmen and yours, so that they may decide which of us two is in the right. 38 In all these twenty years that have I been with you, your ewes and female goats have not miscarried their young, neither did I eat the rams of your flocks. 39 I did not bring to you the animals which were killed by wild beasts; I bore the loss of it myself; from my hand you required compensation, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 This was how I was: in the day the heat consumed me, and by night the frost, and sleep deserted me. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty. But God has seen my affliction and the labour of my hands, and he rebuked you last night.’

43 Then Laban answered Jacob, ‘The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my grandchildren, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine, but what can I do today for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne? 44 Come, let us make a solemn agreement, I and you, and let there be a witness between me and you.’

45 So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar, 46 and said to the members of his family, ‘Gather stones.’ When they had taken stones and made a heap, they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahaduthap[fn]; but Jacob called it Galeed[fn]. 48 ‘This heap’, Laban said, ‘is witness between me and you today.’ This is why it was called Galeed, 49 and Mizpah[fn], for Laban said, ‘May the Lord watch between me and you when we are absent one from another, 50 so that you may not maltreat my daughters nor take other wives besides my daughters. No one is with us; but beware: God is witness between me and you.’

51 Moreover, Laban said to Jacob, ‘See this heap, and the pillar which I have set up between me and you. 52 This heap is a witness and the pillar is a witness that I should not pass beyond this heap to you and that you must not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, with hostile intent. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor’ (the God of their ancestors) ‘judge between us.’ And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice there on the mountain and called his kinsmen to eat bread, and they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

55 Then early in the morning Laban arose, and, when he had kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them, he departed and returned to his home.

32 Jacob went on his way and the messengers of God met him. 2 When he saw them, Jacob said, ‘This is God’s camp;’ so he named the place ‘Mahanaim[fn].’