Study Desk

And Laban said to him, "You certainly are my bone and my flesh." And he stayed with him a month.

Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me."

Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may have relations with her."

Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob had relations with her.

So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, "What is this that you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?"

"Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me, for another seven years."

So Jacob had relations with Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

Then she said, "Here is my female slave Bilhah: have relations with her that she may give birth on my knees, so that by her I too may obtain a child."

So she gave him her slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her.

So Rachel said, "With mighty wrestling I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed." And she named him Naphtali.

But she said to her, "Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son's mandrakes also?" So Rachel said, "Therefore he may sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."

When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must have relations with me, for I have indeed hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night.

Then Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good gift; finally my husband will acknowledge me as his wife, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.

But Laban said to him, "If it pleases you at all, stay with me; I have determined by divination that the LORD has blessed me on your account."

But Jacob said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me.

"So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen."

So he removed on that day the striped or spotted male goats, and all the speckled or spotted female goats, every one with white on it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and put them in the care of his sons.

Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban's flock.

Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

and said to them, "I see your father's attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.