1. Jacob arrives at his uncle's house

ch29 ¹ Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. ² And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there [were] three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone [was] upon the well's mouth. ³ And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.

⁴ And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence [be] ye? And they said, Of Haran [are] we. ⁵ And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know [him]. ⁶ And he said unto them, [Is] he well? And they said, [He is] well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.

⁷ And he said, Lo, [it is] yet high day, neither [is it] time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go [and] feed [them]. ⁸ And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and [till] they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep. ⁹ And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep: for she kept them. ¹⁰ And 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 rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. ¹¹ And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹² And Jacob told Rachel that he [was] her father's brother,

and that he [was] Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father. ¹³ And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.

2. Jacob marries Leah and Rachel

¹⁴ And Laban said to him, Surely thou [art] my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. ¹⁵ And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou [art] my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what [shall] thy wages [be]? ¹⁶ And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder [was] Leah, and the name of the younger [was] Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah [was] tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. ¹⁸ And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. ¹⁹ And Laban said, [It is] better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. ²⁰ And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him [but] a few days, for the love he had to her.

²¹ And Jacob said unto Laban, Give [me] my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. ²² And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. ²³ And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her. ²⁴ And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid [for] an handmaid.

²⁵ And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it [was] Leah: and he said to Laban, What [is] this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? ²⁶ And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. ²⁸ And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. ²⁹ And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid. ³⁰ And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

³¹ And when the LORD saw that Leah [was] hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel [was] barren.

1. ³² And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
2. ³³ And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I [was] hated, he hath therefore given me this [son] also: and she called his name Simeon.
3. ³⁴ And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
4. ³⁵ And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.
5. ch30 ¹ And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. ² And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, [Am] I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? ³ And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. ⁴ And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. ⁵ And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. ⁶ And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.
6. ⁷ And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. ⁸ And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
7. ⁹ When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. ¹⁰ And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. ¹¹ And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
8. ¹² And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. ¹³ And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
9. ¹⁴ And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁵ And she said unto her, [Is it] a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁶ And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. ¹⁷ And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. ¹⁸ And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.
10. ¹⁹ And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. ²⁰ And Leah said, God hath endued me [with] a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.
11. ²¹ And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
12. ²² And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. ²³ And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: ²⁴ And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

3. Jacob became exceedingly prosperous

²⁵ And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. ²⁶ Give [me] my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. ²⁷ And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, [tarry: for] I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸ And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give [it].

²⁹ And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. ³⁰ For [it was] little which thou hadst before I [came], and it is [now] increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?

³¹ And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed [and] keep thy flock: ³² I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire. ³³ So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that [is] not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. ³⁴ And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. ³⁵ And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, [and] every one that had [some] white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave [them] into the hand of his sons. ³⁶ And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷ And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which [was] in the rods. ³⁸ And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹ And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. ⁴¹ And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴² But when the cattle were feeble, he put [them] not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. ⁴³ And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

4. Jacob flees

4.1 He prepares to leave in obedience to God’s command

ch31 ¹ And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that [was] our father's; and of [that] which [was] our father's hath he gotten all this glory. ² And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it [was] not toward him as before.

³ And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

⁴ And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, ⁵ And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it [is] not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. ⁶ And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. ⁷ And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. ⁸ If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. ⁹ Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given [them] to me. ¹⁰ And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle [were] ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. ¹¹ And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, [saying], Jacob: And I said, Here [am] I. ¹² And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle [are] ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. ¹³ I [am] the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, [and] where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

¹⁴ And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, [Is there] yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? ¹⁵ Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. ¹⁶ For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that [is] ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.




4.2 Jacob fled from the house of Laban

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; ¹⁸ And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹ And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that [were] her father's. ²⁰ And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face [toward] the mount Gilead.



4.3 Laban’s Pursuit

²² And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. ²³ And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead. ²⁴ And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

²⁵ Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. ²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives [taken] with the sword? ²⁷ Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? ²⁸ And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in [so] doing. ²⁹ It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. ³⁰ And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? ³¹ And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.

³² With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what [is] thine with me, and take [it] to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. ³³ And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maidservants' tents; but he found [them] not. Then went he out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found [them] not. ³⁵ And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women [is] upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.

³⁶ And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What [is] my trespass? what [is] my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? ³⁷ Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? set [it] here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. ³⁸ This twenty years [have] I [been] with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. ³⁹ That which was torn [of beasts] I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, [whether] stolen by day, or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ [Thus] I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. ⁴¹ Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. ⁴² Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked [thee] yesternight.




4.4 The farewell between Jacob and Laban

⁴³ And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, [These] daughters [are] my daughters, and [these] children [are] my children, and [these] cattle [are] my cattle, and all that thou seest [is] mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have born? ⁴⁴ Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

⁴⁵ And Jacob took a stone, and set it up [for] a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. ⁴⁷ And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, This heap [is] a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; ⁴⁹ And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take [other] wives beside my daughters, no man [is] with us; see, God [is] witness betwixt me and thee.

⁵¹ And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold [this] pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; ⁵² This heap [be] witness, and [this] pillar [be] witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.

⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.