As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.

Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked and the completely dark sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn’t put them with Laban’s sheep.

Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.”

He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flock.

And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same.

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.

When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead.

Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me?

Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.

So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.

Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

A meal was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”

So Laban said, “Please speak.”

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter.

Isaac was 40 years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

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

“Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked them.

They answered, “We know him.”

Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.”

After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.

Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.”

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.”

So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast.

That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.

When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

Laban answered, “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.

And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.

Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”

Then Laban said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

Laban asked, “What should I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.

“Good,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.

As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

And He said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

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

On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war!

She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.

Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed

Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me.

He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

These were the sons of Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—that she bore to Jacob: 16 persons.

These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore to Jacob: seven persons.

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

The gatekeepers’ descendants included:

Shallum’s descendants, Ater’s descendants, Talmon’s descendants, Akkub’s descendants, Hatita’s descendants, Shobai’s descendants, in all 139

The gatekeepers included:

Shallum’s descendants, Ater’s descendants, Talmon’s descendants, Akkub’s descendants, Hatita’s descendants, Shobai’s descendants 138.

The inheritance of Simeon’s descendants was within the territory of Judah’s descendants, because the share for Judah’s descendants was too large for them. So Simeon’s descendants received an inheritance within Judah’s portion.

When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it was a mistake and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s.

At noon Elijah mocked them. He said, “Shout loudly, for he’s a god! Maybe he’s thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s on the road. Perhaps he’s sleeping and will wake up!”

Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than Ithamar’s, they were divided accordingly: 16 heads of ancestral houses were from Eleazar’s descendants, and eight heads of ancestral houses were from Ithamar’s.

The descendants of Solomon’s servants included:

Sotai’s descendants, Hassophereth’s descendants, Peruda’s descendants,

Shephatiah’s descendants, Hattil’s descendants, Pochereth-hazzebaim’s descendants, and Ami’s descendants.

Abishua’s son, Phinehas’s son,
Eleazar’s son, Aaron the chief priest’s son

The descendants of Solomon’s servants included:

Sotai’s descendants, Sophereth’s descendants,
Perida’s descendants,

Shephatiah’s descendants, Hattil’s descendants,
Pochereth-hazzebaim’s descendants, Amon’s descendants.

Like a servant’s eyes on his master’s hand,
like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand,
so our eyes are on the Lord our God
until He shows us favor.

The lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans, and their allotted territory lay between Judah’s descendants and Joseph’s descendants.

Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben’s tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad’s tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh’s tribe.

Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the parcel of land Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 qesitahs. It was an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.

These are the names of Esau’s sons:
Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah,
and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israel’s territory again. The Lord’s hand was against the Philistines all of Samuel’s life.

“Where is your master’s grandson?” the king asked.

“Why, he’s staying in Jerusalem,” Ziba replied to the king, “for he said, ‘Today, the house of Israel will restore my grandfather’s kingdom to me.’”

Since the Lord had decreed that Ahithophel’s good advice be undermined in order to bring about Absalom’s ruin, Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s advice.”

So Solomon banished Abiathar from being the Lord’s priest, and it fulfilled the Lord’s prophecy He had spoken at Shiloh against Eli’s family.

The Lord will bring back his own blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David’s knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple’s construction.

Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to Hadad’s son Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there along with Pharaoh’s sons.

Now Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king; he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city where Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

select the most qualified of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.

Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying:

If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, bring me the heads of your master’s sons at this time tomorrow at Jezreel.

All 70 of the king’s sons were being cared for by the city’s prominent men.

Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?”

They answered, “We’re Ahaziah’s relatives. We’ve come down to greet the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons.”

Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, secretly rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. So he was hidden from Athaliah and was not killed.

So King Joash of Judah took all the consecrated items that his ancestors—Judah’s kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah—had consecrated, along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the king’s palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

The rest of the events of Jehoash’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the power he had to wage war against Judah’s King Amaziah, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

He also carried off from there all the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king’s palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the Lord’s sanctuary, just as God had predicted.

Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite woman. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the Lord’s sight, so He put him to death.

Appaim’s son: Ishi.
Ishi’s son: Sheshan.
Sheshan’s descendant: Ahlai.

You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their punishment.

But if the priest’s daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no children, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may share her father’s food. But no outsider may share it.

As for the rest of Levi’s sons:
from Amram’s sons: Shubael;
from Shubael’s sons: Jehdeiah.

All these men were under their own fathers’ authority for the music in the Lord’s temple, with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of God’s temple. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the king’s authority.

“Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me out of all my father’s household to be king over Israel forever. For He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah, my father’s household, and from my father’s sons, He was pleased to make me king over all Israel.

They ate and drank with great joy in the Lord’s presence that day.

Then, for a second time, they made David’s son Solomon king; they anointed him as the Lord’s ruler, and Zadok as the priest.

So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.

All of Solomon’s work was carried out from the day the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple until it was finished. So the Lord’s temple was completed.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa, Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to deny access to anyone—going or coming—to Judah’s King Asa.

Jehoshabeath, the king’s daughter, rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. Now Jehoshabeath was the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest. Since she was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah so that she did not kill him.