(Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.) Laban rushed out to meet the man at the spring.

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

When food was served, he said, "I will not eat until I have said what I want to say." "Tell us," Laban said.

Then Laban and Bethuel replied, "This is the Lord's doing. Our wishes are of no concern.

When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran.

Leave immediately for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

So he said to them, "Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?" "We know him," they said.

When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he went over and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.

When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister's son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban how he was related to him.

Then Laban said to him, "You are indeed my own flesh and blood." So Jacob stayed with him for a month.

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

(Now Laban had two daughters; the older one was named Leah, and the younger one Rachel.

Laban replied, "I'd rather give her to you than to another man. Stay with me."

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

So Laban invited all the people of that place and prepared a feast.

(Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)

In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What in the world have you done to me! Didn't I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked me?"

"It is not our custom here," Laban replied, "to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.

Jacob did as Laban said. When Jacob completed Leah's bridal week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

(Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)

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

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

But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, for I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me on account of you."

So Laban asked, "What should I give you?" "You don't need to give me a thing," Jacob replied, "but if you agree to this one condition, I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them:

"Agreed!" said Laban, "It will be as you say."

So that day Laban 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 of his sons.

Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, while Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban's flocks.

Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban's flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban's flocks.

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

Jacob heard that Laban's sons were complaining, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich at our father's expense!"

When Jacob saw the look on Laban's face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed.

Then he said, 'Observe that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you.

While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father.

Jacob also deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving.

Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left.

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

Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too.

"What have you done?" Laban demanded of Jacob. "You've deceived me and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war!

"I left secretly because I was afraid!" Jacob replied to Laban. "I thought you might take your daughters away from me by force.

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. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

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

Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. "What did I do wrong?" he demanded of Laban. "What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit?

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

Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

Laban said, "This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement today." That is why it was called Galeed.

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

Early in the morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home.

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

These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen in all.

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