Study Desk

She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “The Lord heard that I am unloved and has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.”

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

Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan.

Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher.

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

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your herds have fared with me.

As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

So Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels.

So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two concubines, but he found nothing. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent.

She said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave women.

So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?”