¹⁸ Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”

Social Responsibility

¹⁶ “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to anyone and has sex with her, he must pay the customary bride price and marry her. ¹⁷ But if her father refuses to let him marry her, the man must still pay him an amount equal to the bride price of a virgin.

¹² No matter what dowry or gift you demand, I will gladly pay it—just give me the girl as my wife.”

⁴¹ Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for fourteen years earning your two daughters, and then six more years for your flock. And you changed my wages ten times!

² So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver^[a] and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.^[b]

¹⁴ David then sent this message to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son: “Give me back my wife Michal, for I bought her with the lives^[a] of 100 Philistines.”

³⁰ So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.

²⁰ So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.