He set out on foot and came to the eastern land, to Laban, Rebecca’s brother. He remained with him and served him in exchange for his daughter Rachel for one week.

During the first year of the third week [2122] he said to him: ‘Give me my wife for whom I have served you seven years’. Laban said to Jacob: ‘I will give you your wife’.

Laban prepared a banquet, took his older daughter Leah, and gave (her) to Jacob as a wife. He gave her Zilpah, his servant girl, as a maid. But Jacob was not aware (of this) because Jacob thought she was Rachel.

He went in to her, and, to his surprise, she was Leah. Jacob was angry at Laban and said to him: ‘Why have you acted this way? Was it not for Rachel that I served you and not for Leah? Why have you wronged me? Take your daughter and I will go because you have done a bad thing to me’.

For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah because Leah’s eyes were weak, though her figure was very lovely; but Rachel’s eyes were beautiful, her figure was lovely, and she was very pretty.

Laban said to Jacob: ‘It is not customary in our country to give the younger daughter before the older one’. (It is not right to do this because this is the way it is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets: that no one should give his younger daughter before his older one, but he should first give the older and after her the younger. Regarding the man who acts in this way they will enter a sin in heaven. There is no one who is just and does this because this action is evil in the Lord’s presence.

Now you order the Israelites not to do this. They are neither to take nor give the younger before giving precedence to the older because it is very wicked).

Laban said to Jacob: ‘Let the seven days of the banquet for this one go by; then I will give you Rachel so that you serve me a second (term of) seven years by tending my flocks as you did during the first week’.

At the time when the seven days of Leah’s banquet had passed by, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob so that he would serve him a second (term of) seven years. He gave her Bilhah, Zilpah’s sister, as a maid.

He served seven years a second time for Rachel because Leah had been given to him for nothing.

When the Lord opened Leah’s womb, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. He named him Reuben on the fourteenth day of the ninth month during the first year of the third week [2122].

Now Rachel’s womb was closed because the Lord saw that Leah was hated but Rachel was loved.

Jacob again went in to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. He named him Simeon on the twenty-first of the tenth month and during the third year of this week [2124].

Jacob again went in to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a third son for him. He named him Levi on the first of the first month during the sixth year of this week [2127].

He went in yet another time to her and she gave birth to a fourth son. He named him Judah on the fifteenth of the third month during the first year of the fourth week [2129].

Through all of this Rachel was jealous of Leah, since she was not bearing children. She said to Jacob: ‘Give me children’. Jacob said to her: ‘Have I withheld the product of your womb from you? Have I abandoned you’?

When Rachel saw that Leah had given birth to four sons for Jacob — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah — she said to him: ‘Go in to my servant girl Bilhah. Then she will become pregnant and give birth to a son for me’.

So he went in, she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son for him. He named him Dan on the ninth of the sixth month during the sixth year of the third week [2127].

Jacob once again went in to Bilhah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Rachel named him Naphtali on the fifth of the seventh month during the second year of the fourth week [2130].

When Leah saw that she had become barren and was not bearing children, she grew jealous of Rachel and also gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Leah named him Gad on the twelfth of the eighth month during the third year of the fourth week [2131].

He again went in to her, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a second son for him. Leah named him Asher on the second of the eleventh month during the fifth year of the fourth week [2133].

Then Jacob went in to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. He named him Issachar on the fourth (day) of the fifth month during the fourth year of the fourth week [2132]. She gave him to a nurse.

Again Jacob went in to her. She became pregnant and gave birth to twins: a son and a daughter. She named the son Zebulun and the daughter Dinah on the seventh (of the) seventh month, during the sixth year, the fourth weeic [2134].

Then the Lord was kind to Rachel. He opened her womb, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Joseph on the first of the fourth month, during the sixth year in this fourth week [2134].

At the time when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban: ‘Give me my wives and my children so that I may go to my father Isaac and make a house for myself, because I have completed the years during which I served you in exchange for your two daughters. Then I will go to my father’s house’.

Laban said to Jacob: ‘Stay with me in exchange for your wages. Tend my flocks for me again and take your wages’.

They agreed among themselves that he would give him his wages; all the lambs and kids which were born a dark gray color and dark mixed with white were to be his wages.

All the dark-colored sheep kept giving birth to all with variously colored spots of every kind and various shades of dark gray. The sheep would again give birth to (lambs) which looked like them. All with spots belonged to Jacob and those without spots to Laban.

Jacob’s possessions grew very large; he acquired cattle, sheep, donkeys, camels, and male and female servants.

When Laban and his sons became jealous of Jacob, Laban took back his sheep from him and kept his eye on him for evil purposes.