Jacob’s New Family

Jacob walked on to the land of the east, to find his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother. In a wide plain he came to a well with a great stone over its mouth, where the shepherds watered their sheep. And while he stood talking with them — look! — a young shepherdess came walking with her father’s flock. It was Rachel, Laban’s own daughter. When Jacob saw Rachel, he went and rolled the great stone from the well all by himself, and watered her father’s sheep. Then he kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept, and told her he was her father’s own family — Rebekah’s son. Rachel ran to tell her father, and Laban came running, hugged Jacob, kissed him, and brought him home. Laban said to him, “You are my own bone and my own flesh!”

After Jacob had stayed a month, Laban said, “You should not work for me for nothing just because you are family. Tell me — what should your pay be?” Now Laban had two daughters. The older was named Leah, and the younger was Rachel — and Rachel was beautiful, and Jacob loved her. So Jacob said, “I will work for you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.” Laban agreed. And Jacob worked seven whole years for Rachel — but they seemed to him like only a few days, because he loved her so much.

At last the wedding day came, and Laban made a great feast. But that evening, Laban played a trick: instead of Rachel, he brought his older daughter Leah to be married — and in the morning, look, it was Leah! Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I work for Rachel? Why have you tricked me?” And Laban answered, “In our country the younger is never married before the older. Finish this wedding week, and I will give you Rachel too — for seven more years of work.” So Jacob finished the wedding week, and Laban gave him Rachel as his wife too — and Jacob worked another seven years. And he loved Rachel more than Leah.

The years went by, and God gave Jacob a big family — sons and a daughter. Leah’s sons came first: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, and more after them. But Rachel had no children, and she waited, and waited. Then God remembered Rachel: she had a baby boy, and she named him Joseph. Jacob’s flocks grew too. He kept working for Laban, and God blessed everything he did, until Jacob had great flocks of sheep and goats, and camels and donkeys and servants. But Laban kept changing Jacob’s pay, and his sons grumbled that Jacob had grown too rich. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family — and I will be with you.” So Jacob set his wives and children on the camels, gathered all his flocks and everything he owned, and set out for the land of Canaan, back toward home. Laban came hurrying after him, and they had words — but in the end they made peace. They set up a pile of stones as a marker between them, and Laban kissed his daughters and grandchildren goodbye and blessed them, and went home.