Jacob walked on and finally came near Harlan. He saw a well in the ground, and a big stone covered the wellhead. Three groups of sheep are lying by the well, and several shepherds are sitting and resting. Jacob asked them where they came from. They answered from Harlan. Jacob asked them if they knew Laban, Nahor's grandson. The shepherd replied in unison, "Yes." Here they come! Jacob said, "The sun is still high, and it is not time to close the sheepfold. Why not let the sheep drink water first and then eat grass? " The shepherd replied, "according to our rules here, we can't remove the stone manhole cover until the sheep have gathered, and then cover the big stone when the sheep have finished drinking." Jacob saw Rachel and the sheep coming to the well. He quickly stepped forward, removed the heavy stone manhole cover by himself, let his uncle's sheep drink water first, and then went to Rachel and kissed her. Excited, he burst into tears and told Rachel, "I'm your cousin, the son of your aunt Rebecca." Rachel flew home and told the news to her father Laban. When Laban learned that his nephew Jacob had come, he was very happy and ran out to meet him. They hugged and kissed each other tightly. Laban welcomed Jacob home, and Jacob told everything that happened at home. Laban said happily, "You are really my own flesh and blood!" " "
Jacob stayed in Laban's house for a month, helping his uncle herd sheep and doing all kinds of chores. Laban thought it was inappropriate to go on like this, so he said to Jacob, "Although you and I are close relatives, we can't let you work for me for nothing. Tell me, what do you want? Laban has two daughters. The eldest daughter, Leah, has big eyes and is not amazing; The youngest daughter Rachel is beautiful and lovely. Jacob loves Rachel very much, so he said to Laban, "If you marry Rachel, I will work for you for seven years." Laban readily promised, "that's great. It's better to marry her to you than to marry someone else, so that you can stay with me. "
Seven years have passed in an instant. Jacob asked Laban to keep his promise and marry Rachel to him. Laban held a wedding banquet and invited all the local people to celebrate. Jacob was so happy that he couldn't help having a few more drinks. Finally, he fell asleep on his wedding night because he was too drunk. I woke up the next morning and saw that the bride was Leah. Jacob asked Laban angrily why he lied to him. Laban said: "According to local customs, my sister can't get married before her sister. If you work for me for another seven years, I will let Rachel marry you seven days after the wedding reception. " In order to get Rachel, Jacob had to agree to Laban's terms. Seven days later, Laban married Rachel to Jacob. Jacob took two more wives, but Jacob got Leah pregnant and gave birth to a child. Leah had four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
When Rachel saw that her sister had a baby, she was very jealous. She said to Jacob, "Give me the baby quickly, or I will die." Jacob was very angry and said, "God forbid you to have children. What can I do? " Rachel gave her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob as a concubine, so that the child born to Bilhah would be named after her. Bilhah bore Jacob two sons, and Rachel was very happy and named them Dan and Naphtali.
Leah saw that Rachel had given her handmaid to Jacob as a concubine, so she also gave Zilpah her handmaid to Jacob as a concubine. Zilpah also bore Jacob two sons, named Gad and Asher.
One day, Reuben, Leah's son, picked some mandrakes in the field and took them back to his mother. Rachel wants some when she finds out. Leah was very angry and said, "isn't it enough that you took my husband?" You still want to take my son's eggplant? " In order to get eggplant, Rachel said that she would let Jacob sleep with Leah that night.
That night, Jacob went home, and Leah came out to meet him and said to him, "You must sleep with me tonight. This is my right, at the expense of my son's mandrake. " After that, Leah bore Jacob two sons, Issachar and Zebulun, and a daughter named Dinah.
When Rachel became fertile, she kept praying to God. God listened to her prayers, which made her pregnant and gave birth to a son named Yue Se.
After Rachel gave birth to Yue Se, Jacob worked in Laban's house 14 years. He missed his hometown very much, so he told Laban that he wanted to take his wife and children home, which was the reward of his hard work for Laban for many years. Laban knew that he had changed from a small family to a rich man today because God cared for Jacob and blessed his family, so he kept Jacob again and again and said, "Say as much as you want!" " Jacob said, "God has blessed you with my steps." Now that you are rich, when can I get married? "If you agree with my suggestion, I can stay and continue to work for you. From today on, pick out all the black sheep and striped goats in your flock as my salary. This will not only distinguish me from your sheep, but also make it easy to know whether I am honest or not. In the future, if you find any spotted goats or black sheep in my flock, I will steal them. "
Laban readily agreed to this suggestion. On the same day, he picked out the spotted and striped goats and black sheep from the flock and gave them to his son to eat grass in a place more than three days away from Jacob. Jacob herded the rest of Laban's sheep.
In order to enable sheep to breed lambs with stripes and spots, Jacob picked some young branches of poplars, apricots and maples, peeled off some of their skins, exposed the white stripes on the branches, and then inserted them into the water tank where sheep drank water. Sheep mated with striped branches when drinking water will give birth to spotted or striped lambs. Strong sheep mate and Jacob cuttings; If the thin sheep mate, he will pull out the branches. So the strong lamb belongs to Jacob, and the weak lamb belongs to Laban. Jacob became rich, with many slaves, sheep, camels and so on.
Jacob's wealth made Laban very unhappy, and he was no longer warm and friendly to Jacob. Laban's sons also whispered to Jacob that Jacob had embezzled their father's property and that Jacob could not stay any longer. God sent Jacob back to his hometown.
So Jacob called Leah and Rachel and told them that their father had deducted his salary more than ten times, and it didn't matter to him now. He also talked about how the Lord God blessed him, stayed with him and made him what he is today. Now God told him to leave here and go back to his hometown. Leah and Rachel were also very dissatisfied with their father and agreed to go to Canaan according to God's command.
When Laban went out to shear the sheep, Jacob fled secretly with all his family, all his livestock and belongings. Before leaving, Rachel stole the idol of her father's house. They crossed the river and headed for Mount Gilead. After three days, Laban learned the news and led his people to catch up. They pursued Jacob in Mount Gilead for seven days. That night, God gave him a dream to be careful not to speak well or ill of Jacob. The next day, both sides camped on Mount Gilead. Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you steal my daughter away? If you tell me, I will play the piano, drum and sing happily to see you off. Now you won't even give me a chance to kiss my daughter and grandchildren goodbye. I could have killed you, but your father's God warned me not to say anything good or bad to you last night. I know you miss home, anxious to return, but why did you steal my idol? " Jacob said, "I ran away secretly because I was afraid you would stop your daughter from coming with me." But I didn't take your idol. Search if you don't believe me. Everyone you find will die. If you recognize your things, you can take them away. "Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the idol.
Laban went into the tents of Jacob, Leah and two maidservants one by one, searched them carefully and found nothing, and then went into Rachel's tent. Rachel hid the idol in the camel's basket and sat on it herself. She said to her father, "I have my period, so I can't stand up and salute." Please forgive me! " Laban found nothing in Rachel's tent.
At this time, Jacob could no longer hold back his anger and vented his accumulated resentment for twenty years to Laban. He said, "What law have I broken? What crime? I want you to chase me! You searched all my things. What did you find? Which one is yours, you take it out and let everyone judge. I've been in your house for 20 years. Your ewe has never had a miscarriage, and I've never eaten your ram. I paid for all the sheep torn by wild animals, and all the sheep stolen day and night. Exposure during the day, frost at night, and I haven't had a good sleep. I worked for your family for 20 years. I worked for 14 years and married your two daughters. I served your flock for 6 years, but you reduced my salary tenfold. If the gods of Abraham and Isaac had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my bitterness and hardship, so he blamed you last night. "
When Laban heard this, he realized that he was wrong and said, "My daughter is mine, my nephew is mine, my sheep and everything in front of you are mine. How could I hurt them? Come, let's make an appointment as evidence of reconciliation. " So the two sides took some stones and piled them up as a memorial to the Covenant. Laban said, "This pile of stones is evidence between you and me. If you abuse my daughter and have a new love in the future, I don't know, but God will see it clearly. After that, I will never cross this stone pile to harm you, and you must never harm me. " That night, they offered sacrifices to God on the mountain, invited everyone to have dinner and then had a rest. The next morning, Laban kissed his daughter and grandchildren, blessed them, said goodbye to them, and then went home with his troops.