Bereshis 29
29
1Then Ya'akov went on his journey, and came into the eretz of the bnei kedem.
2And he looked, and hinei a be'er in the sadeh, and, hinei, there were shloshah edrei tzon lying by it; for out of that be'er they watered the edarim: and a great even (stone) was upon the mouth of the be'er.
3And to there were all the edarim gathered: and they rolled the even (stone) from the mouth of the be'er, and watered the tzon, and put the even (stone) again upon the mouth of the be'er in its place.
4And Ya'akov said unto them, My brethren, where are you from? And they said, Of Charan are we.
5And he said unto them, Know ye Lavan ben Nachor? And they said, We know him.
6And he said unto them, Is the shalom with him? And they said, Shalom; and, hinei, Rachel his bat cometh with the tzon.
7And he said, Look, the sun is still high, neither is it time that the flock should be gathered together; water ye the tzon, and go and feed them.
8And they said, We cannot, until all the edarim be gathered together, and till they roll the even (stone) from the mouth of the be'er; then we water the tzon.
9And while he yet spoke with them, Rachel came with the tzon of her av; for she was a ro'ah (shepherdess).
10And it came to pass, when Ya'akov saw Rachel bat Lavan achi immo, and the tzon of Lavan achi immo, that Ya'akov went near, and rolled the even (stone) from the mouth of the be'er, and watered the tzon of Lavan achi immo.
11And Ya'akov kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.
12And Ya'akov told Rachel that he was the relative of her av, and that he was ben Rivkah; and she ran and told her av.
13And it came to pass, when Lavan heard the news of Ya'akov ben achoto, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his bais. And he told Lavan all these things.
14And Lavan said to him, Surely thou art my etzem (bone) and my basar. And he abode with him the space of a chodesh (month).
15And Lavan said unto Ya'akov, Because thou art my relative, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall thy maskoret (wages) be?
16And Lavan had two banot: the shem of the elder was Leah, and the shem of the younger was Rachel.
17Leah had weak eyes; but Rachel was yafeh and lovely in form.
18And Ya'akov loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee sheva shanim for Rachel thy bat haketannah (younger daughter).
19And Lavan said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another ish; abide with me.
20And Ya'akov served sheva shanim for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few yamim, because of the ahavah he had for her.
21And Ya'akov said unto Lavan, Give me my isha, for my yamim are completed, that I may go in unto her.
22And Lavan gathered together all the anshei hamakom, and made a mishteh (feast).
23And it came to pass in the erev, that he took Leah his bat, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
24And Lavan gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah shifchato (his maid) for a shifchah.
25And it came to pass, that in the boker, hinei, it was Leah! And he said to Lavan, What is this thou hast done unto me? Did not I serve with thee for Rachel? So why then hast thou deceived me?
26And Lavan said, It must not be so done in our land, to give the younger before the bechirah.
27Finish her shvu'a (week), and we will give thee this also for the avodah (service, work) which thou shalt do for me yet sheva shanim acherot.
28And Ya'akov did so, and fulfilled her shvu'a; and he gave him Rachel his bat to be his isha also.
29And Lavan gave to his bat Rachel Bilhah his shifchah to be her shifchah.
30And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served him yet sheva shanim acherot.
31And when Hashem saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb but Rachel was barren.
32And Leah conceived, and bore a ben, and she called shmo Reuven: for she said, Surely Hashem hath looked upon my misery; now therefore my ish will love me.
33And she conceived again, and bore ben; and said, Because Hashem hath heard I was hated, He hath therefore given me this also; and she called shmo Shim'on.
34And she conceived again, and bore ben; and said, Now this time will my ish yillaveh (become attached) unto me, because I have born him shloshah banim: therefore was shmo called Levi.
35And she conceived again, and bore ben; and she said, Now will odeh (I praise) Hashem; therefore she called shmo Yehudah; and stopped giving birth.
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Bereshis 29: TOJB2011
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.
Genesis 29
29
Chapter 29
Jacob and Laban
1Jacob continued on his journey. He came to the land where the people from the east live. 2He saw a well in a field. Three groups of sheep lay near it. Shepherds took water from the well to give to their sheep. There was a large stone that covered the top of the well. 3The shepherds waited until all the sheep were there together. Then they removed the stone from the top of the well. They gave their sheep water to drink, and then they put the stone back on the top of the well.
4Jacob asked the shepherds, ‘My brothers, where are you from?’ The shepherds replied, ‘We are from Haran.’ 5Jacob said, ‘Do you know Laban? He is Nahor's grandson.’ The shepherds replied, ‘Yes, we know him.’ 6Jacob asked them, ‘Is he in good health?’ They replied, ‘Yes, he is. Look. Here comes his daughter now, with their sheep. Her name is Rachel.’ 7Jacob said to them, ‘The sun is still high in the sky. It is not yet the right time to bring all the sheep together. So give them some water now. Then they can go back to the fields and eat more grass.’ 8The shepherds said, ‘We cannot do that. We have to wait until all the sheep are here together. Then we can remove the big stone from the well and we can give water to the sheep.’
9When Jacob was speaking to the shepherds, Rachel arrived there. She brought her father's sheep with her. She was taking care of them.
10Jacob saw Rachel. She was the daughter of his uncle Laban. Jacob saw that she had Laban's sheep with her. So Jacob went to the well and he removed the big stone. Then he gave water to Laban's sheep. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel. He began to weep loudly. #29:11 Jacob cried because he was happy to find his relatives.
12Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father, Laban. He told her that he was Rebekah's son. So Rachel ran home to tell her father.
13When Laban heard what Rachel said, he went quickly to meet Jacob, his sister's son. He put his arms round Jacob and he kissed him. Laban brought Jacob to his home. Jacob told Laban all his news. 14Then Laban said, ‘Yes, you really are my own relative.’ So Jacob stayed with Laban for a month.
15Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘You should not work for me for nothing because you are my relative. Tell me what I should pay you.’ 16Laban had two daughters. The name of the older daughter was Leah. The name of the younger daughter was Rachel. 17Leah had weak eyes. But Rachel's face and her body were beautiful. 18Jacob loved Rachel. He said to Laban, ‘I will work for you for seven years. In return, I want to marry your younger daughter, Rachel.’ 19Laban said, ‘It is better for you to marry her than another man. Stay here with me.’
20Jacob worked for seven years to have Rachel as his wife. But the years passed very quickly because Jacob loved Rachel very much. Seven years seemed like only a few days to Jacob.
Jacob marries Leah and Rachel
21After seven years, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife. My time to work for you is finished and I want to marry her.’ 22Laban called all the people in that place to come together. He prepared a big meal for them to eat. 23When evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and he gave her to Jacob. Jacob slept that night with her as his wife. 24Laban gave his female servant to Leah to be her servant. Her name was Zilpah.
25When morning came, Jacob saw that he had slept with Leah! He said to Laban, ‘You have done a very bad thing to me! I worked for you to get Rachel as my wife. Why have you deceived me?’ 26Laban replied, ‘In our land, we do not give the younger daughter to a man first. We let the older daughter marry first. 27So finish this week of Leah's marriage. Then we will give you Rachel to marry too. But you must work for another seven years.’ #29:27 Laban had deceived Jacob. A marriage week was the seven days of the feast. Jacob had to sleep with his wife Leah until the end of the week.
28So Jacob did what Laban said. He finished the marriage week with Leah. Then Laban gave Rachel to Jacob to be his wife. 29Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to Rachel to become her servant. 30Jacob also slept with Rachel. He loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. He worked for Laban for seven more years.
31The Lord saw that Jacob did not love Leah. So he let her become pregnant. But Rachel did not give birth to any children. 32Leah became pregnant and she gave birth to a son. She called him Reuben. She said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen how sad I am. My husband will love me now because I have given birth to a son.’
33Leah became pregnant again. She gave birth to another son. She said, ‘The Lord has given me another son because he knows that I am not loved.’ She called this son Simeon.
34Leah became pregnant again. Later, she gave birth to another son. She said, ‘Now I have given my husband three sons, so he will want to stay with me.’ She called this son Levi.
35Leah became pregnant again. She gave birth to another son. She said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ She called this son Judah. Then she stopped giving birth to children.
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