Jacob’s Marriages

1 And he went on his journey, and came to the land of the east, to Laban, the brother of Rebekah, and he was with him, and served him for Rachel his daughter one week. 2 And in the first year of the third week [2122] he said to him: 'Give me my wife, for whom I have served you seven years'; and Laban said to Jacob: 'I will give you your wife.' 3 And Laban made a feast, and took Leah his elder daughter, and gave (her) to Jacob as a wife, and gave her Zilpah his female servant as a female servant; and Jacob did not know, for he thought that she was Rachel. 4 And he went in to her, and look, she was Leah; and Jacob was angry with Laban, and said to him: 'Why have you treated me this way? Did I not serve you for Rachel and not for Leah? Why have you wronged me? Take your daughter, and I will go; for you have done evil to me.' 5 For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah; for Leah's eyes were weak,⁠a but her form was very handsome; but Rachel had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form. 6 And Laban said to Jacob: 'That is not how things are done in our country, to give the younger before the elder.' And it is not right to do this; for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets, that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder; but one gives the older daughter first and the younger afterward — and the man who does so, his guilt is recorded in heaven, and none is righteous that does this thing, for this deed is evil before the Lord. 7 And command the children of Israel that they not do this thing; let them neither take nor give the younger before they have given the elder, for it is very wicked. 8 And Laban said to Jacob: 'Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give you Rachel, so that you may serve me another seven years, so that you may pasture my sheep as you did in the former week.' 9 And on the day when the seven days of the feast of Leah had passed, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob, so that he might serve him another seven years, and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah, as a female servant. 10 And he served yet another seven years for Rachel, for Leah had been given to him for nothing.

The Births of Jacob’s Children

11 And the Lord opened the womb of Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a son, and he named him Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week [2122]. 12 But the womb of Rachel was closed, for the Lord saw that Leah was hated and Rachel loved. 13 And again Jacob went in to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a second son, and he named him Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month, and in the third year of this week [2124]. 14 And again Jacob went in to Leah, and she conceived, and bore him a third son, and he named him Levi, in the new moon of the first month in the sixth year of this week [2127]. 15 And again Jacob went in to her, and she conceived, and bore him a fourth son, and he named him Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth week [2129]. 16 And on account of all this Rachel envied Leah, for she did not bear, and she said to Jacob: 'Give me children'; and Jacob said: 'Have I withheld from you the fruits of your womb? Have I abandoned you?' 17 And when Rachel saw that Leah had borne four sons to Jacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, she said to him: 'Go in to Bilhah my female servant, and she will conceive, and bear a son to me.' (And she gave (him) Bilhah her female servant as a wife). 18 And he went in to her, and she conceived, and bore him a son, and he named him Dan, on the ninth of the sixth month, in the sixth year of the third week [2127]. 19 And Jacob went in again to Bilhah a second time, and she conceived, and bore Jacob another son, and Rachel named him Naphtali, on the fifth of the seventh month, in the second year of the fourth week [2130]. 20 And when Leah saw that she had become unable to conceive and did not bear, she envied Rachel, and she also gave her female servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and Leah named him Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month, in the third year of the fourth week [2131]. 21 And he went in again to her, and she conceived, and bore him a second son, and Leah named him Asher, on the second of the eleventh month, in the fifth year of the fourth week [2133]. 22 And Jacob went in to Leah, and she conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Issachar,⁠b on the fourth of the fifth month, in the fourth year of the fourth week,[2132] and she gave him to a nurse. 23 And Jacob went in again to her, and she conceived, and bore two (children), a son and a daughter, and she named the son Zebulun, and the name of the daughter Dinah, in the seventh of the seventh month, in the sixth year of the fourth week [2134]. 24 And the Lord was gracious to Rachel, and opened her womb, and she conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Joseph, on the new moon of the fourth month, in the sixth year in this fourth week [2134].

Jacob’s Work for Laban

25 And in the days when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban: 'Give me my wives and sons, and let me go to my father Isaac, and let me establish a household of my own; for I have completed the years in which I have served you for your two daughters, and I will go to the house of my father.' 26 And Laban said to Jacob: 'Stay with me for your wages, and pasture my flock for me again, and take your wages.' 27 And they agreed with one another that he should give him as his wages those of the lambs and young goats which were born black and spotted and white, (these) were to be his wages. 28 And all the sheep gave birth to spotted and speckled and black, variously marked, and they gave birth to again lambs like themselves, and all that were spotted were Jacob's and those which were not were Laban's. 29 And Jacob's possessions multiplied greatly, and he possessed oxen and sheep and donkeys and camels, and male and female servants. 30 And Laban and his sons envied Jacob, and Laban took back his sheep from him, and he observed him with evil intent.