Study Desk

So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran.

So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, "You must not marry any of these Canaanite women.

So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother's brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.

So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael's family and married one of Ishmael's daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife's name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son.

Jacob 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?"

He 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.

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.

Finally, 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."

So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast.

So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too.

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.

So 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."

So Rachel gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn't getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

So that evening, as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You must come and sleep with me tonight!" she said. "I have paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found." So that night he slept with Leah.

Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Please release me so I can go home to my own country.

But he didn't do this with the weaker ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob's.

So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching his flock.

All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you."

So Jacob put his wives and children on camels,