Study Desk

So Laban gathered all the people of the place and held a feast.

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?"

Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

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 conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also." So she named him Simeon.

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.

Then Leah said, "How fortunate!" So she named him Gad.

Then Leah said, "Happy am I! For women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.

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 given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband." So she named him Issachar.

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.

So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, "God has taken away my disgrace."

Now it came about, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, so that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

So he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:

"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.

So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks delivered striped, speckled, and spotted offspring.