These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, seven in all.

“I left secretly because I was afraid!” ¹  Jacob replied to Laban. “I thought ²  you might take your daughters away from me by force. ³ 

Jacob did as Laban said. ¹  When Jacob ²  completed Leah’s bridal week, ³  Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ⁴ 

Jacob ¹  had marital relations ²  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ³  for seven more years. ⁴ 

In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! ¹  So Jacob ²  said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! ³  Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked ⁴  me?”

So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. ¹  Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. ² 

(Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle ¹  and sat on them.) ²  Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them. ³ 

This is what ¹  Moses said to the assembly of Israel ²  in the Transjordanian ³  wastelands, the arid country opposite ⁴  Suph, ⁵  between ⁶  Paran ⁷  and Tophel, ⁸  Laban, ⁹  Hazeroth, and Di Zahab

Laban replied ¹  to Jacob, “These women ²  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ³  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ⁴  or the children to whom they have given birth?

So Abraham’s servant ¹  went to the house and unloaded ²  the camels. Straw and feed were given ³  to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. ⁴ 

When food was served, ¹  he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.” ²  “Tell us,” Laban said. ³ 

So that day Laban ¹  removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care ²  of his sons.

So Laban asked, ¹  “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” ²  Jacob replied, ³  “but if you agree to this one condition, ⁴  I will continue to care for ⁵  your flocks and protect them:

It was also called Mizpah ¹  because he said, “May the Lord watch ²  between us ³  when we are out of sight of one another. ⁴ 

Laban said to him, ¹  “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! ²  Why are you standing out here when I have prepared ³  the house and a place for the camels?”

Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink. ¹ 

In the evening he brought his daughter Leah ¹  to Jacob, ²  and Jacob ³  had marital relations with her. ⁴ 

When Jacob explained ¹  to Rachel that he was a relative of her father ²  and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father.

So he took his relatives ¹  with him and pursued Jacob ²  for seven days. ³  He caught up with ⁴  him in the hill country of Gilead.

Then he ¹  said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they brought stones and put them in a pile. ²  They ate there by the pile of stones.