So Jacob had relations with Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.
Parallel translations
- WEB He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
- KJV And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
- BSB Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.
- ESV So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.
- NKJV Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.
- NLT So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 marries Rachel, loves her more than Leah, and serves Laban another seven years.
Overview
Jacob's greater love for Rachel sets up the painful rivalry between the sisters that follows. The favoritism echoes the divided affections that have troubled this family across generations. Into this flawed and strained home, God will nonetheless bring the children of promise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 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.
- Gen 31:15Aren’t we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money.
- Gen 29:20Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.
- Gen 44:27Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons:
- Matt 10:37He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
- Gen 29:18Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”
- Gen 29:31Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
- 1 Sam 18:17–27Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh’s battles.” For Saul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.”
- Gen 44:20We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’
- Gen 30:25–26When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.
- 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.
- John 12:25He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.
- Deut 21:15If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated;
- Luke 14:26“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
- Matt 6:24“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
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 29:30 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.