The Book of Jubilees

Jubilees 28

1And he went on his journey, and came to the land of the east, to Laban, the brother of Rebecca,

2and he was with him, and served him for Rachel his daughter one week.

3And in the first year of the third week he said unto him: "Give me my wife, for whom I have served thee seven years;"

4and Laban said unto Jacob. "I will give thee thy wife."

5And Laban made a feast, and took Leah his elder daughter, and gave (her) to Jacob as a wife, and gave her Zilpah his handmaid for an handmaid;

6and Jacob did not know, for he thought that she was Rachel.<br>And he went in unto her, and behold, she was Leah;

7and Jacob was angry with Laban, and said unto him: "Why hast thou dealt thus with me? Did not I serve thee for Rachel and not for Leah? Why hast thou wronged me?

8Take thy daughter, and I will go; for thou hast done evil to me."

9For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah; for Leah's eyes were weak, but her form was very handsome; but Rachel had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form.

10And Laban said to Jacob: "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the elder." And it is not right to do this;

11for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tables, 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....

12And command thou the children of Israel that they do not this thing; let them neither take nor give the younger before they have given the elder, for it is very wicked.

13And Laban said to Jacob: "Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give thee Rachel, that thou mayest serve me another seven years, that thou mayest pasture my sheep as thou didst in the former week."

14And 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,

15and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah as a handmaid.

16And he served yet other seven years for Rachel, for Leah had been given to him for nothing.

17And the Lord opened the womb of Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob a son, and he called his name Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week.

18But the womb of Rachel was closed, for the Lord saw that Leah was hated and Rachel loved.

19And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a second son, and he called his name Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month, and in the third year of this week.

20And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare him a third son, and he called his name Levi, in the new moon of the first month in the sixth year of this week.

21And again Jacob went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a fourth son, and he called his name Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth week.

22And on account of all this Rachel envied Leah, for she did not bear, and she said to Jacob: "Give me children";

23and Jacob said: "Have I withheld from thee the fruits of thy womb? Have I forsaken thee?"

24And when Rachel saw that Leah had borne four sons to Jacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, she said unto him: "Go in unto Bilhah my handmaid, and she will conceive, and bear a son unto me."

25(And she gave (him) Bilhah her handmaid to wife.) And he went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a son, and he called his name Dan, on the ninth of the sixth month, in the sixth year of the third week.

26And Jacob went in again unto Bilhah a second time, and she conceived, and bare Jacob another son, and Rachel called his name Naphtali, on the fifth of the seventh month, in the second year of the fourth week.

27And when Leah saw that she had become sterile and did not bear, she envied (Rachel) and she also gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob to wife,

28and she conceived, and bare a son, and Leah called his name Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month, in the third year of the fourth week.

29And he went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a second son, and Leah called his name Asher, on the second of the eleventh month, in the fifth year of the fourth week.

30And Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Issachar, on the fourth of the fifth month, in the fourth year of the fourth week, and she gave him to a nurse.

31And Jacob went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare two (children), a son and a daughter, and she called the name of the son Zebulon, and the name of the daughter Dinah, in the seventh of the seventh month, in the sixth year of the fourth week.

32And the Lord was gracious to Rachel, and opened her womb, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Joseph, on the new moon of the fourth month, in the sixth year in this fourth week.

33And in the days when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban: "Give me my wives and sons, and let me go to my father Isaac, and let me make me an house;

34for I have completed the years in which I have served thee for thy two daughters, and I will go to the house of my father."

35And Laban said to Jacob: "Tarry with me for thy wages, and pasture my flock for me again, and take thy wages."

36And 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, (these) were to be his wages.

37And all the sheep brought forth spotted and speckled and black, variously marked, and they brought forth again lambs like themselves, and all that were spotted were Jacob's and those which were not were Laban's.

38And Jacob's possessions multiplied exceedingly, and he possessed oxen and sheep and asses and camels, and menservants and maidservants.

39And Laban and his sons envied Jacob, and Laban took back his sheep from him, and he observed him with evil intent.