| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Then Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the land of the east. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2He saw a well in the distance. Three flocks of sheep and goats lay in an open field beside it, waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone covered the mouth of the well. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3It was the custom there to wait for all the flocks to arrive before removing the stone and watering the animals. Afterward the stone would be placed back over the mouth of the well. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Jacob went over to the shepherds and asked, “Where are you from, my friends?” “We are from Haran,” they answered. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5“Do you know a man there named Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” he asked. “Yes, we do,” they replied. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6“Is he doing well?” Jacob asked. “Yes, he’s well,” they answered. “Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock now.” |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Jacob said, “Look, it’s still broad daylight—too early to round up the animals. Why don’t you water the sheep and goats so they can get back out to pasture?” |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8“We can’t water the animals until all the flocks have arrived,” they replied. “Then the shepherds move the stone from the mouth of the well, and we water all the sheep and goats.” |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10And because Rachel was his cousin—the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother—and because the sheep and goats belonged to his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the well and moved the stone from its mouth and watered his uncle’s flock. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12He explained to Rachel that he was her cousin on her father’s side—the son of her aunt Rebekah. So Rachel quickly ran and told her father, Laban. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story, |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!” Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month, |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.” |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Since 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.” |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19“Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20So 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. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.” |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24(Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.) |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?” |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26“It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27“But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.” |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29(Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years. Jacob’s Many Children |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.” |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, “The LORD heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 34Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. He was named Levi, for she said, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!” |
| 35[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 35Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the LORD!” And then she stopped having children. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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