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29 : 1 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples.
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29 : 2 There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large.
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29 : 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well`s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
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29 : 4 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We`re from Haran," they replied.
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29 : 5 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor`s grandson?" "Yes, we know him," they answered.
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29 : 6 Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."
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29 : 7 Look, he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture."
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29 : 8 We can`t, they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep."
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29 : 9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father`s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
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29 : 10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother`s brother, and Laban`s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle`s sheep.
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29 : 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
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29 : 12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
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29 : 13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister`s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things.
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29 : 14 Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,
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29 : 15 Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."
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29 : 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
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29 : 17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.
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29 : 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I`ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
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29 : 19 Laban said, "It`s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me."
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29 : 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
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29 : 21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
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29 : 22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.
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29 : 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.
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29 : 24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
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29 : 25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn`t I? Why have you deceived me?"
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29 : 26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
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29 : 27 Finish this daughter`s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
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29 : 28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
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29 : 29 Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.
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29 : 30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
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29 : 31 When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
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29 : 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."
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29 : 33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.
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29 : 34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.
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29 : 35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
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