Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he came out quickly to the man at the water-spring.

Then the man came into the house, and Laban took their cords off the camels and gave them dry grass and food, and he gave to him and the men who were with him water for washing their feet.

Then Laban and Bethuel said in answer, This is the Lord's doing: it is not for us to say Yes or No to you.

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

So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban;

But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

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

And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have.

Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.

And Laban, hearing news of Jacob, his sister's son, came running, and took Jacob in his arms, and kissing him, made him come into his house. And Jacob gave him news of everything.

And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.

Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother are you to be my servant for nothing? say now, what is your payment to be?

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

And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man: go on living here with me.

Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife so that I may have her, for the days are ended.

And Laban got together all the men of the place and gave a feast.

And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah, to be her waiting-woman.

And in the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? was I not working for you so that I might have Rachel? why have you been false to me?

And Laban said, In our country we do not let the younger daughter be married before the older.

And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife.

And Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman.

Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah; and he went on working for Laban for another seven years.

Now after the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go away to my place and my country.

And Laban said, If you will let me say so, do not go away; for I have seen by the signs that the Lord has been good to me because of you.

And Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything; but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me:

And Laban said, Let it be as you say.

And sent them three days' journey away: and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flock.

These lambs Jacob kept separate; and he put his flock in a place by themselves and not with Laban's flock.

But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put the sticks before them; so that the feebler flocks were Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's.

Now it came to the ears of Jacob that Laban's sons were saying, Jacob has taken away all our father's property, and in this way he has got all this wealth.

And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before.

And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and coloured: for I have seen what Laban has done to you.

Now Laban had gone to see to the cutting of the wool of his sheep; so Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house.

And Jacob went away secretly, without giving news of his flight to Laban the Aramaean.

And on the third day Laban had news of Jacob's flight.

Then God came to Laban in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.

Now when Laban overtook him, Jacob had put up his tent in the hill-country; and Laban and his brothers put up their tents in the hill-country of Gilead.

And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war?

And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force.

So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there; and he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's.

Now Rachel had taken the images, and had put them in the camels' basket, and was seated on them. And Laban, searching through all the tent, did not come across them.

Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion?

Then Laban, answering, said, These women are my daughters and these children my children, the flocks and all you see are mine: what now may I do for my daughters and for their children?

And the name Laban gave it was Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob gave it the name of Galeed.

And Laban said, These stones are a witness between you and me today. For this reason its name was Galeed,

And Laban said, See these stones and this pillar which I have put between you and me;

And early in the morning Laban, after kissing and blessing his daughters, went on his way back to his country.

And he gave them orders to say these words to Esau: Your servant Jacob says, Till now I have been living with Laban:

These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her.

These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons.

The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, in the order of their families.

And these are the names of the sons of Gershon, by their families: Libni and Shimei.

And they went on from Rimmon-perez, and put up their tents in Libnah.

And they went on from Libnah, and put up their tents in Rissah.

These are the words which Moses said to all Israel on the far side of Jordan, in the waste land in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran on the one side, and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Makkedah and came to Libnah, and made an attack on it;

Then Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Libnah to Lachish, and took up their position against it and made an attack on it,

And the Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel, and on the second day he took it, putting it and every person in it to the sword without mercy, as he had done to Libnah.

The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan;

And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Libnah with its grass-lands;

And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah to this day. And at the same time, Libnah made itself free.

So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah, for it had come to his ears that he had gone away from Lachish.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, ruling in Jerusalem for three months; his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

And these are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.

Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,

The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son,

And to the sons of Aaron they gave Hebron, the town to which men might go in flight and be safe, and Libnah with its outskirts, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its outskirts,

So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, to this day: and at the same time Libnah made itself free from his rule; because he was turned away from the Lord, the God of his fathers.

The children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub,

The children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Salmai,

So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah: for it had come to his ears that the king of Assyria had gone away from Lachish.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.