¹ These are the words of the agreement which Moses was ordered by the Lord to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the agreement which he made with them in Horeb.

² And Moses said in the hearing of all Israel, You have seen all the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land;

³ The great tests which your eyes saw, and the signs and wonders:

⁴ But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears.

⁵ For forty years I have been your guide through the waste land: your clothing has not become old on your backs, or your shoes on your feet.

⁶ You have had no bread, or wine, or strong drink: so that you might see that I am the Lord your God.

⁷ When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to make war against us and we overcame them:

⁸ And we took their land and gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for their heritage.

⁹ So keep the words of this agreement and do them, so that it may be well for you in everything you do.

¹⁰ You have come here today, all of you, before the Lord your God; the heads of your tribes, the overseers, and those who are in authority over you, with all the men of Israel,

¹¹ And your little ones, your wives, and the men of other lands who are with you in your tents, down to the wood-cutter and the servant who gets water for you:

¹² With the purpose of taking part in the agreement of the Lord your God, and his oath which he makes with you today:

¹³ And so that he may make you his people today, and be your God, as he has said to you, and as he made an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ And not with you only do I make this agreement and this oath;

¹⁵ But with everyone who is here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are not here:

¹⁶ (For you have in mind how we were living in the land of Egypt; and how we came through all the nations which were on your way;

¹⁷ And you have seen their disgusting doings, and the images of wood and stone and silver and gold which were among them:)

¹⁸ So that there may not be among you any man or woman or family or tribe whose heart is turned away from the Lord our God today, to go after other gods and give them worship; or any root among you whose fruit is poison and bitter sorrow;

¹⁹ If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:

²⁰ The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of The Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and The Lord will take away his name completely from the earth.

²¹ He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law.

²² And future generations, your children coming after you, and travellers from far countries, will say, when they see the punishments of that land and the diseases which the Lord has sent on it;

²³ And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath:

²⁴ Truly all the nations will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? what is the reason for this great and burning wrath?

²⁵ Then men will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he took them out of the land of Egypt:

²⁶ And they went after other gods and gave them worship, gods who were strange to them, and whom he had not given them:

²⁷ And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against this land, to send on it all the curse recorded in this book:

²⁸ Rooting them out of their land, in the heat of his wrath and passion, and driving them out into another land, as at this day.

²⁹ The secret things are the Lord our God's: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children's for ever, so that we may do all the words of this law.

¹ Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.

² He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was large.

³ There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place.

⁴ Jacob said to them, "My relatives, where are you from?" They said, "We are from Haran."

⁵ He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him."

⁶ He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep."

⁷ He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them."

⁸ They said, "We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep."

⁹ While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them.

¹⁰ It happened, 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 Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.

¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son. She ran and told her father.

¹³ It happened, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.

¹⁴ Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh." He lived with him for a month.

¹⁵ Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?"

¹⁶ Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷ Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive.

¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel. He said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

¹⁹ Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me."

²⁰ Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.

²¹ Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her."

²² Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

²³ It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her.

²⁴ Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid.

²⁵ It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"

²⁶ Laban said, "It is not done so 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 will serve with me yet seven other years."

²⁸ Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife.

²⁹ Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid.

³⁰ He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

³¹ Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

³² Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, "Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me."

³³ She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, "Because Yahweh has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also." She named him Simeon.

³⁴ She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi.

³⁵ She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, "This time will I praise Yahweh." Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.