CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]. Common English Bible

CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]

said, "I'd rather give her to you than to another man. Stay with me."

²⁰Jacob worked for Rachel for seven years, but it seemed like a few days because he loved her. ²¹Jacob said to Laban, "The time has come. Give me my wife so that I may sleep with her."²²So Laban invited all the people of that place and prepared a banquet. ²³However, in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴Laban had given his servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her servant. ²⁵In the morning, there she was--Leah! Jacob said to Laban, "What have you done to me? Didn't I work for you to have Rachel? Why did you betray me?"

²⁶Laban said, "Where we live, we don't give the younger woman before the oldest. ²⁷Complete the celebratory week with this woman. Then I will give^r you this other woman too for your work, if you work for me seven more years."²⁸So that is what Jacob did. He completed the celebratory week with this woman, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ²⁹Laban had given his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant. ³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He worked for Laban seven more years.

Jacob's sons are born

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to have children. ³²Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben^s because she said, "The LORD saw my harsh treatment, and now my husband will love me."³³She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son. She said, "The LORD heard that I was unloved, so he gave me this son too," and she named him Simeon.^t ³⁴She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son. She said, "Now, this time my husband will embrace me,^u since I have given birth to three sons for him." So she named him Levi.^v ³⁵She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son. She said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah.^w Then she stopped bearing children.

Genesis 30When Rachel realized that she could bear Jacob no children, Rachel became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, "Give me children! If you don't, I may as well be dead."

²Jacob was angry at Rachel and said, "Do you think I'm God? God alone has kept you from giving birth!"

³She said, "Here's my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will give birth for me. Because of her, I will also have children."⁴So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife, and he slept with her. ⁵Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶Rachel said, "God has judged in my favor, heard my voice, and given me a son." So she named him Dan.^x ⁷Rachel's servant Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸Rachel said, "I've competed fiercely with my sister, and now I've won." So she named him Naphtali.^y

⁹When Leah realized that she had stopped bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife. ¹⁰Leah's servant Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob, ¹¹and Leah said, "What good luck!" So she named him Gad.^z ¹²Leah's servant Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob, ¹³and Leah said, "I'm happy now because women call me happy." So she named him Asher.^a

¹⁴During the wheat harvest, Reuben found some erotic herbs^b in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Give me your son's erotic herbs."

¹⁵Leah replied, "Isn't it enough that you've taken my husband? Now you want to take my son's erotic herbs too?"

Rachel said, "For your son's erotic herbs, Jacob^c may sleep with you tonight."

¹⁶When Jacob came back from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must sleep with me because I've paid for you with my son's erotic herbs." So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷God responded to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸Leah said, "God gave me what I paid for, what I deserved for giving my servant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.^d ¹⁹Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob, ²⁰and she said, "God has given me a wonderful gift. Now my husband will honor me since I've borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.^e ²¹After this, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²²Then God remembered Rachel, responded to her, and let her conceive. ²³She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my shame."²⁴She named him Joseph,^f saying to herself, May the LORD give me another son.

God blesses Jacob and Laban

²⁵After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me off so that I can go to my own place and my own country. ²⁶Give me my wives and children whom I've worked for, and I will go. You know the work I've done for you."

²⁷Laban said to him, "Do me this favor. I've discovered by a divine sign that the LORD has blessed me because of you,²⁸so name your price and I will pay it."

²⁹Jacob said to him, "You know how I've worked for you, and how well your livestock have done with me. ³⁰While in my care, what little you had has multiplied a great deal. The LORD blessed you wherever I took your livestock.^g Now, when will I be able to work for my own household too?"

³¹Laban said, "What will I pay you?"

Jacob said, "Don't pay me anything. If you will do this for me, I will take care of your flock again, and keep a portion.^h ³²I will go through the entire flock today, taking out all of the speckled and spotted sheep, all of the black male lambs, and all of the spotted and speckled female goats. That will be my price. ³³I will be completely honest with you: when you come to check on our agreement, every female goat with me that isn't speckled or spotted and every male lamb with me that isn't black will be considered stolen."

³⁴Laban said, "All right; let's do it."³⁵However, on that very day Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats and all of the speckled and spotted female goats--any with some white in it--and all of the black male lambs, and gave them to his sons. ³⁶He put a three-day trip between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was watching the rest of Laban's flock.

³⁷Then Jacob took new branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees; and he peeled white stripes on them, exposing the branches' white color. ³⁸He set the branches that he had peeled near the watering troughs so that they were in front of the flock when they drank, because they often mated when they came to drink. ³⁹When the flock mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to striped, speckled, and spotted young. ⁴⁰Jacob sorted out the lambs, turning the flock to face the striped and black ones in Laban's flock but keeping his flock separate, setting them apart from Laban's flock. ⁴¹Whenever the strongest of the flock mated, Jacob put the branches in front of them near the watering troughs so that they mated near the branches. ⁴²But he didn't put branches up for the weakest of the flock. So the weakest became Laban's and the strongest Jacob's. ⁴³The man Jacob became very, very rich: he owned large flocks, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob's household leaves Laban

Genesis 31Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob took everything our father owned and from it he produced all of this wealth."²And Jacob saw that Laban no longer liked him as much as he used to.

³Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

⁴So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah and summoned them into the field where his flock was. ⁵He said to them, "I am aware that your father no longer likes me as much as he used to. But my father's God has been with me. ⁶You know that I've worked for your father as

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