Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.

So the man entered the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The matter comes from the Lord; so we cannot speak to you bad or good.

and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!

Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

So when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he related to Laban all these things.

Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may go in to her.”

Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.

Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.

So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?”

But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn.

Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.

So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

But Laban said to him, “If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account.”

Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.”

And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.

Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.”

Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.

He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.

And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.

When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,

God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them.

Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?

Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?

Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed,

Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me.

Early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now;

These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons.

These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all.