So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.
- KJV And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
- NKJV So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.
- NASB So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him like only a few days because of his love for her.
- NLT So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.
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 serves seven years for Rachel, and they seem to him like only a few days because of his love.
Overview
The seven years pass swiftly for Jacob because of his deep love for Rachel. This beautiful picture of love's power to lighten long labor stands among Scripture's most tender lines. It also heightens the bitterness of the deception that will follow on his wedding night.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Cor 13:7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
- Eph 5:2and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- Hos 12:12Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife—for a wife he tended sheep.
- Song 8:6–7Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- Gen 24:67And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.
- 2 Cor 5:14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.
- Gen 30:26Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”
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 29:20 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.