“Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”
While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her fatherʼs sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his motherʼs brother Laban, with Labanʼs sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncleʼs sheep.
Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.
He told Rachel that he was Rebekahʼs son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.
Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.
Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasnʼt it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”
And Jacob did just that. He finished the weekʼs celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.
Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.
When the Lordsaw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.
Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”
Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.
And Rachelʼs servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.
Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your sonʼs mandrakes.”
But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my sonʼs mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your sonʼs mandrakes.”
Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,
Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.
So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were,
And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our fatherʼs house?
Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her fatherʼs household idols.
If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
So Laban went into Jacobʼs tent, then Leahʼs tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leahʼs tent and entered Rachelʼs tent.
Now Rachel had taken Labanʼs household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.
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 maidservants.
He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.
Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.
Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachelʼs tomb to this day.
The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
The sons of Rachelʼs maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Jacobʼs wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
These are the sons of Rachel born to Jacob—fourteen in all.
These are the sons of Jacob born to Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.
Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).