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.

Then Laban said to him, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” ¹  So Jacob ²  stayed with him for a month. ³ 

Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ¹  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ²  Tell me what your wages should be.”

Since Jacob had fallen in love with ¹  Rachel, he said, “I’ll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.”

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. ¹  But they seemed like only a few days to him ²  because his love for her was so great. ³ 

Finally Jacob said ¹  to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time of service is up. ²  I want to have marital relations with her.” ³ 

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 

Jacob became furious ¹  with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” ² 

After Rachel had given birth ¹  to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send ²  me on my way so that I can go ³  home to my own country. ⁴ 

When the stronger females were in heat, ¹  Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. ¹  So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban ²  and the stronger animals to Jacob.

The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers ¹  and to your relatives. I will be with you.” ² 

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.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, ¹  “Be careful ²  that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.” ³ 

“What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me ¹  and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war! ² 

I have ¹  the power to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, ‘Be careful ²  that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.’ ³ 

“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 

“Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you,” Laban said to Jacob. ¹ 

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice ¹  on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. ²  They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ¹  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.