⁹ While he was still speaking with them, ^(A)Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰ Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹² And Jacob told Rachel that he was ^(B)her father's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah's son, ^(C)and she ran and told her father.

¹³ As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, ^(D)he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, ¹⁴ and Laban said to him, ^(E)“Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” ¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah's eyes were weak,^[a] but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, ^(F)“I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” ¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob ^(G)served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” ²² So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and ^(H)made a feast. ²³ But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. ²⁴ (Laban gave^{[b] (I)}his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) ²⁵ And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” ²⁶ Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. ^27 (J)Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” ²⁸ Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ²⁹ (Laban gave ^(K)his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ³⁰ So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban ^(L)for another seven years.

Jacob's Children

³¹ When the Lord saw that Leah was ^(M)hated, ^(N)he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

30 When Rachel saw that ^(A)she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”

²² Then God ^(A)remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and ^(B)opened her womb. ²³ She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away ^(C)my reproach.” ²⁴ And she called his name Joseph,^[a] saying, ^(D)“May the Lord add to me another son!”

Jacob's Prosperity

²⁵ As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children ^(E)for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.”

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw ^(A)that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(B)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

¹⁷ So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in ^(A)Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's ^(B)household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[a] Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the ^(C)Euphrates,^[b] and ^(D)set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^(A)rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

¹⁸ And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;^{[a] (A)}but his father called him Benjamin.^{[b] 19} So ^(B)Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to ^(C)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰ and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is ^(D)the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day.

¹¹ Then all the people who were ^(A)at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, ^(B)who together ^(C)built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in ^(D)Ephrathah and ^(E)be renowned in Bethlehem,