So he asked them, "How's he doing?" "Very well," they answered. "As a matter of fact, look over there! That's his daughter Rachel, coming here with his sheep."

While he was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep, since she was a shepherdess.

When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, accompanied by Laban's sheep, Jacob approached the well, rolled the stone from the opening of the well, and then watered his mother's brother Laban's flock.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to cry out loud.

Jacob told Rachel that he was related to her father, since he was Rebekah's son, so she ran and told her father.

Now Laban happened to have two daughters. The older one was named Leah and the younger was named Rachel.

Leah looked rather plain, but Rachel was lovely in form and appearance.

Jacob loved Rachel, so he made this offer to Laban: "I'll serve you for seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but it seemed like only a few days because of his love for her.

The next morning, Jacob realized that it was Leah! "What have you done to me?" he demanded of Laban. "Didn't I serve you for seven years in order to marry Rachel? Why did you deceive me?"

So Jacob completed another seven years' work, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

Laban also gave his woman servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maidservant.

Jacob also married Rachel, since he loved her. He served Laban another full seven years' work for Rachel.

Later, the LORD noticed that Leah was being neglected, so he made her fertile, while Rachel remained childless.

Rachel noticed that she was not bearing children for Jacob, so because she envied her sister Leah, she told Jacob, "If you don't give me sons, I'm going to die!"

That made Jacob angry with Rachel, so he asked her, "Can I take God's place, who has not allowed you to conceive?"

Rachel responded, "Here's my handmaid Bilhah. Go have sex with her. She can bear children on my knees so I can have children through her."

So Rachel gave Jacob her woman servant Bilhah to be his wife, and Jacob had sex with her.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me! He has heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore, she named him Dan.

Rachel's servant conceived again and bore a second son for Jacob,

so Rachel said, "I've been through a mighty struggle with my sister and won." She named him Naphtali.

Some time later, during the wheat harvest season, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field and brought them back for his mother Leah. Then Rachel told Leah, "Please give me your son's mandrakes."

In response, Leah asked her, "Wasn't it enough that you've taken away my husband? Now you also want to take my son's mandrakes!" But Rachel replied, "Okay, let's let Jacob sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."

Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,

After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob told Laban, "Send me off so that I can go back to my place and country.

Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where his flock was

Then Rachel and Leah asked him, "Do we have anything left of inheritance remaining in our father's house?

Meanwhile, Laban had been out shearing his sheep. While he was away, Rachel stole her father's personal idols.

Now as to your gods, if you find someone has them in their possession, he's a dead man. Take our relatives as witnesses, search through our belongings, and take whatever belongs to you that's in my possession." But Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

So Laban entered Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the tents of the two maid servants, but he didn't find them. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent.

Meanwhile, Rachel had taken the idols, placed them inside the saddle of her camel, and sat on them. Laban searched through the whole tent, but found nothing.

Then Rachel told her father, "Sir, please don't be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence. It's that time of the month." So Laban searched for the idols, but never did find them.

When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah's children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups.

Then he positioned the women servants and their children first, then Leah and her children next, and then Rachel and Joseph after them.

Leah also approached, and she and her children bowed low. After this, Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed low.

Later, they set out from Beth-el. While still a long way from Ephrathah, Rachel started to have trouble giving birth.

Just before she died, Rachel called her son's name Ben-oni, but his father Jacob named him Benjamin.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrathah, also known as Bethlehem.

Jacob erected a pillar over her grave, and that pillar stands over Rachel's grave to this day.

Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

Rachel's servant Bilhah's sons were Dan and Naphtali.

Jacob's wife Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

These were all the sons of Rachel, who were born for Jacob fourteen in all.

These were sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel. She bore these children for Jacob seven in all.

"Now as for me, Rachel died after I arrived in Canaan from Paddan, much to my sorrow. While I was on my journey to Ephrathah (also known as Bethlehem), I buried her there."

Then all of the assembled people, including the elders who were there, said, "We are witnesses! May the LORD make this woman who enters your house like Rachel and Leah, who together established the house of Israel. May you prosper in Ephrathah, and may you excel in Bethlehem!

When you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They'll tell you, "The donkeys you went to look for have been found. Now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and he's anxious about you. He's asking, "What will I do about my son?'

This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter crying. Rachel is crying, and she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no longer alive."