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3 6. And Laban said to Jacob: "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the elder." 4 And it is not right to do this; for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tables, 5 that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder--but the elder one giveth first and after her the younger--and the man who doeth so, they set down guilt against him in heaven, and none is righteous that doeth this thing, for this deed is evil before the Lord.
1 And Laban said to Jacob: "Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give thee Rachel, 2 that thou mayest serve me another seven years, that thou mayest pasture my sheep as thou didst in the former week." 9. And on the day when the seven days of the feast of Leah had passed, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob, that he might serve him another seven years, and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah 3 as a handmaid. 10. And he served yet other seven years for Rachel, for Leah had been given to him for nothing. 11. And the Lord opened the womb of Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob a son, and he 4 called his name
5 on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week. 12. But the womb of Rachel was closed, for the Lord saw that Leah was hated and Rachel loved. 13. And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a second son, and he called his name
1, and pasture my flock for me again, and take thy wages." 27. And they agreed with one another that he should give him as his wages those of the lambs and kids which were born black and spotted and white, 2 (these) were to be his wages. 28. And all the sheep brought forth spotted and speckled and black, variously marked, 3 and they brought forth again lambs like themselves, and all that were spotted were Jacob's and those which were not were Laban's. 29. And Jacob's possessions multiplied exceedingly, and he possessed oxen and sheep 4 and asses and camels, and menservants and maidservants. 30. And Laban and his sons envied Jacob, and Laban took back his sheep from him, and he observed him with evil intent.
Footnotes
147:1 i. e. seven years. For 1 cf. Gen. xxix. 1, 20.
147:2 For 2-4 cf. Gen. xxix. 21-25.
147:3 Cf. Gen. xxix. 17-18a.
147:4 Cf. Gen. xxix. 26.
147:5 The comment of the angels. This rule seems to be unknown to tradition.
148:1 For 8-10 cf. Gen. xxix. 27-29.
148:2 The marriage of two living sisters to the same man is expressly forbidden in the Mosaic Law; cf. Lev. xviii. 18.
148:3 According to Test. Naphtali i. also, Bilhah and Zilpah were sisters. in later Jewish tradition they are represented as daughters of Laban; cf. e. g. Pirḳe de R. Eliezer, xxxvi.
148:4 Gen. xxix. 32 has "she called.".
148:5 The twelve sons of Jacob appear in our text in the same order as in Gen. xxix. 32-34, xxx. 1-24, xxxv. 17-18, viz. (1) Reuben; (2) Simeon; (3) Levi; (4) Judah; (5) Dan; (6) Naphtali; (7) Gad; (8) Asher; (9) Issachar; (110) Zebulon; (11) Joseph; (12) Benjamin. A different order is given in Gen. xlix. and in the Test. XII Patriarchs. The order of birth, as given in Jubilees, is complicated by textual difficulties; see Charles ad loc.
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