¹ Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East.

² And there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep: and on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone.

³ And all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away, they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole.

⁴ Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran.

⁵ And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have.

⁶ And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.

⁷ Then Jacob said, The sun is still high and it is not time to get the cattle together: get water for the sheep and go and give them their food.

⁸ And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the water-hole; then we will get water for the sheep.

⁹ While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them.

¹⁰ Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.

¹¹ And weeping for joy, Jacob gave Rachel a kiss.

¹² And Rachel, hearing from Jacob that he was her father's relation and that he was the son of Rebekah, went running to give her father news of it.

¹³ And Laban, hearing news of Jacob, his sister's son, came running, and took Jacob in his arms, and kissing him, made him come into his house. And Jacob gave him news of everything.

¹⁴ And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother are you to be my servant for nothing? say now, what is your payment to 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 clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form.

¹⁸ And Jacob was in love with Rachel; and he said, I will be your servant seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.

¹⁹ And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man: go on living here with me.

²⁰ And Jacob did seven years' work for Rachel; and because of his love for her it seemed to him only a very little time.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife so that I may have her, for the days are ended.

²² And Laban got together all the men of the place and gave a feast.

²³ And in the evening he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him, and he went in to her.

²⁴ And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah, to be her waiting-woman.

²⁵ And in the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? was I not working for you so that I might have Rachel? why have you been false to me?

²⁶ And Laban said, In our country we do not let the younger daughter be married before the older.

²⁷ Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years.

²⁸ And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife.

²⁹ And Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman.

³⁰ Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah; and he went on working for Laban for another seven years.

³¹ Now the Lord, seeing that Leah was not loved, gave her a child; while Rachel had no children.

³² And Leah was with child, and gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Reuben: for she said, The Lord has seen my sorrow; now my husband will have love for me.

³³ Then she became with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Because it has come to the Lord's ears that I am not loved, he has given me this son in addition: and she gave him the name Simeon.

³⁴ And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Now at last my husband will be united to me, because I have given him three sons: so he was named Levi.

³⁵ And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son: and she said, This time I will give praise to the Lord: so he was named Judah; after this she had no more children for a time.

¹ When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

² Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

³ She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."

⁴ She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵ 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." Therefore called she his name Dan.

⁷ Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸ Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.

⁹ When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰ Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.

¹¹ Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.

¹² Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.

¹³ Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me Happy." She named him Asher.

¹⁴ Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, 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 She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

¹⁶ Jacob came 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." He lay with her that night.

¹⁷ God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸ Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.

¹⁹ Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰ Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.

²¹ Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

²² God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.

²³ She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

²⁴ She named him Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."

²⁵ 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 country.

²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."

²⁷ Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake."

²⁸ He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."

²⁹ He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.

³⁰ For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"

³¹ He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

³² I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.

³³ So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."

³⁴ Laban said, "Behold, let it be according to your word."

³⁵ That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

³⁶ He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷ Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

³⁸ He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

³⁹ The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.

⁴¹ It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;

⁴² but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

⁴³ The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.