"Is he well?" Jacob asked. They replied, "He is well. Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep, for she was tending them.

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.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep loudly.

When Jacob explained to Rachel that he was a relative of her father and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father.

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

Leah's eyes were tender, but Rachel had a lovely figure and beautiful appearance.)

Since Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, he said, "I'll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel."

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. But they seemed like only a few days to him because his love for her was so great.

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?"

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.

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to become pregnant while Rachel remained childless.

When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children or I'll die!"

Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"

So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son." That is why she named him Dan.

Bilhah, Rachel's servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son.

Then Rachel said, "I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won." So she named him Naphtali.

At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Give me some of your son's mandrakes."

But Leah replied, "Wasn't it enough that you've taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes too?" "All right," Rachel said, "he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."

Then God took note of Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant.

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.

So Jacob sent a message for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where his flocks were.

Then Rachel and Leah replied to him, "Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house?

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

Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives identify whatever is yours and take it." (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)

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.

Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord. I cannot stand up in your presence because I am having my period." So he searched thoroughly, but did not find the idols.

Jacob looked up and saw that Esau was coming along with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants.

He put the servants and their children in front, with Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them.

Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.

They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, Rachel went into labor -- and her labor was hard.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Jacob set up a marker over her grave; it is the Marker of Rachel's Grave to this day.

The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

The sons of Rachel the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.

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

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

But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died -- to my sorrow -- in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.

When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel's tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin's border. They will say to you, 'The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two! He is asking, "What should I do about my son?"'

The Lord says, "A sound is heard in Ramah, a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone."

"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone."