Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
- BSB Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
- NKJV Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”
- NASB Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
- NLT Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jacob, in love with Rachel, offers to serve Laban seven years to marry her.
Overview
Lacking a bride-price to offer, Jacob pledges seven years of labor as the cost for Rachel. His generous offer testifies to the depth of his love. This bargain becomes the framework within which Laban will deceive him and extend his service.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Hos 12:12Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.
- Exod 22:16–17“If a man entices a virgin who isn’t pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife.
- Gen 34:12Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”
- Gen 29:30He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
- Hos 3:2So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.
- Gen 29:20Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.
- Gen 31:41These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
- 2 Sam 3:14David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Deliver me my wife Michal, whom I was given to marry for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 29:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.