Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

of the place, and made a feast. ²³And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her. ²⁴And Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid unto his daughter Leah for a handmaid. ²⁵And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah; and he said to Laban: 'What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?' ²⁶And Laban said: 'It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the first-born. ²⁷Fulfil the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.' ²⁸And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week; and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife. ²⁹And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her handmaid. ³⁰And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

³¹And the Lord saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said: 'Because the Lord ³⁰hath looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.' ³³And she conceived again, and bore a son; and said: 'Because the Lord ³¹hath heard that I am hated, He hath therefore given me this son also.' And she called his name ³²Simeon. ³⁴And she conceived again, and bore a son; and said: 'Now this time will my husband be ³³joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons.' Therefore was his name called Levi. ³⁵And she conceived again, and bore a son; and she said: 'This time will I ³⁴praise the Lord.' Therefore she called his name ³⁵Judah; and she left off bearing.

30And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said unto Jacob: 'Give me children, or else I die.' ²And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said: 'Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?' ³And she said: 'Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may be builded up through her.' ⁴And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife; and Jacob went in unto her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ⁶And Rachel said: 'God hath ³⁶judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son.' Therefore called she his name Dan. ⁷And Bilhah Rachel's handmaid conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸And Rachel said: 'With mighty wrestlings have I ³⁷wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed.' And she called his name Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said: 'Fortune is come!' And she called his name ³⁸Gad. ¹²And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a second son. ¹³And Leah said: 'Happy am I! for the daughters will call me happy.' And she called his name ³⁹Asher. ¹⁴And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah: 'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.' ¹⁵And she said unto her: 'Is it a small matter that thou hast taken away my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also?' And Rachel said: 'Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes.' ¹⁶And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said: 'Thou must come in unto me; for I have surely hired thee with my son's mandrakes.' And he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸And Leah said: 'God hath given me my ⁴⁰hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰And Leah said: 'God hath endowed me with a good dowry; now will my husband ⁴¹dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.' And she called his name Zebulun. ²¹And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. ²²And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bore a son, and said: 'God ⁴²hath taken away my reproach.' ²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying: 'The Lord ⁴³add to me another son.'

      ²⁵And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban: 'Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go; for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee.' ²⁷And Laban said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thine eyes—I have observed the signs, and the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.' ²⁸And he said: 'Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.' ²⁹And he said unto him: 'Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle have fared with me. ³⁰For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it hath increased abundantly; and the Lord hath blessed thee whithersoever I turned. And now when shall I provide for mine own house also?' ³¹And he said: 'What shall I give thee?' And Jacob said: 'Thou shalt not give me aught; if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it. ³²I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every dark one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire. ³³So shall my righteousness witness against me hereafter, when thou shalt come to look over my hire that is before thee: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and dark among the sheep, that if found with me shall be counted stolen.' ³⁴And Laban said: 'Behold, would it might be according to thy word.' ³⁵And he removed that day the he-goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the dark ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. ³⁷And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks conceived at the sight of the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs—he also set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark in the flock of Laban— and put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban's flock. ⁴¹And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; ⁴²but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in; so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. ⁴³And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses.

31And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying: 'Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this wealth.' ²And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime. ³And the Lord said unto Jacob: 'Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.' ⁴And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, ⁵and said unto them: 'I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me. ⁶And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. ⁷And your father hath mocked me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. ⁸If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus: The streaked shall be thy wages; then bore all the flock streaked. ⁹Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. ¹⁰And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. ¹¹And the angel of God said unto me in the dream: Jacob; and I said: Here am I. ¹²And he said: Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled; for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. ¹³I am the God of Beth-el, where thou didst anoint a pillar, where thou didst vow a vow unto Me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity.' ¹⁴And Rachel and