²⁷ “Your servant my father^(A) said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.^(B)

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac^(A)

¹⁶ Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath,^(B) Rachel^(C) began to give birth and had great difficulty. ¹⁷ And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife^(D) said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”^{(E) 18} As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.^[a](F) But his father named him Benjamin.^[b](G)

²² Then God remembered Rachel;^(A) he listened to her^(B) and enabled her to conceive.^{(C) 23} She became pregnant and gave birth to a son^(D) and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”^{(E) 24} She named him Joseph,^[a](F) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”^(G)

Jacob’s Flocks Increase

²⁵ After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way^(H) so I can go back to my own homeland.^(I)

²⁸ And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.^(A)

¹⁸ Jacob was in love with Rachel^(A) and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”^(B)

¹⁹ Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel,^(C) but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.^(D)

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.^(E)”