1And Jacob lifted his feet and went to the land of the people of the east.
2And he looked, and here was a well in the field, and here were three flocks of sheep lying by it, because they watered the flocks from that well, and the stone on the mouth of the well was big,
3and all the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and would water the sheep and then would put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.
4And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?”
And they said, “We’re from Haran.”
5And he said to them, “Do you know Laban, son of Nahor?”
And they said, “We know.”
6And he said to them, “Is he well?”
And they said, “Well. And here’s Rachel, his daughter, coming with the sheep.”
7And he said, “Here, it will still be daytime for a long time, not the time for gathering the livestock. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.”
8And they said, “We can’t until all the flocks will be gathered and they’ll roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and then we’ll water the sheep.”
9He was still speaking with them, and Rachel came with her father’s sheep, because she was a shepherdess.
10And it was when Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother: and he went over and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother.
11And Jacob kissed Rachel and raised his voice and wept.
12And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kin and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.
13And it was, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, that he ran to him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14And Laban said to him, “You are indeed my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.
15And Laban said to Jacob, “Is it right because you’re my brother that you should work for me for free? Tell me what your pay should be.”
16And Laban had two daughters. The older one’s name was Leah, and the younger one’s name was Rachel.
17And Leah’s eyes were tender, and Rachel had an attractive figure and was beautiful.
18And Jacob loved Rachel.
And he said, “I’ll work for you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”
19And Laban said, “Better for me to give her to you than for me to give her to another man. Live with me.”
20And Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they were like a few days in his eyes because of his loving her.
21And Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, because my days have been completed, and let me come to her.”
22And Laban gathered all the people of the place and made a feast.
23And it was in the evening, and he took Leah, his daughter, and brought her to him. And he came to her.
24And Laban gave her his maid Zilpah—to Leah, his daughter, as a maid.
25And it was in the morning, and here she was: Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you’ve done to me? Didn’t I work with you for Rachel? And why have you deceived me?”
26And Laban said, “It’s not done like that in our place, to give the younger one before the firstborn.
29:26. the firstborn. Not the younger before the “older” (as many translations mistakenly have it) but the younger before the firstborn. Jacob, who appropriated his brother’s birthright, now suffers because of the birthright of his beloved’s sister!
27Complete this week, and this one will be given to you as well—for the work that you’ll do with me: another seven years.”
28And Jacob did so; and he completed this week, and he gave him Rachel, his daughter, for a wife.
29And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to Rachel, his daughter—to her as a maid.
30And he also came to Rachel. And he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked with him another seven years.
31And YHWH saw that Leah was hated, and He opened her womb, and Rachel was infertile.
32And Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son and called his name Reuben because she said, “Because YHWH looked at my suffering, so that now my man will love me.”
29:32. and [she] called his name Reuben. Jacob’s two wives name their own children and those born by their maids. In other cases the fathers name the children. What is the convention, and what are the exceptions? The record of who names whom in Genesis is:
Eve names Cain.
The text does not say who names Abel.
Eve and Adam are both said to have named Seth (4:25; 5:3).
Lamech names Noah.
Lot’s elder daughter names Moab.
Lot’s younger daughter names Ben-ammi (Ammon).
An angel tells Hagar to name Ishmael, but Abraham names him.
Abraham (obeying God) names Isaac.
“They” (meaning both Isaac and Rebekah?) name Esau.
“He” (meaning Esau himself? or Jacob?) calls Esau Edom.
“He” (meaning Isaac?) names Jacob.
Leah names Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah.
“He” (meaning Jacob?) names Levi.
Rachel names Dan, Naphtali, Joseph, and Ben-oni, but Jacob names him Benjamin.
Judah names Er, Perez, and Zerah.
Judah’s first wife names Onan and Shelah.
Joseph names Ephraim and Manasseh.
Here are two possible explanations of this picture: (1) There is no clear pattern here whatever, and we can learn from this that we do not have to squeeze a great lesson out of every single distribution of wording in the Torah. (2) We can observe that the person who does the naming in each story is the person on whom that particular story is primarily focused. This works in every case except the naming of Levi, Onan, and Shelah (and arguably Cain): not 100 percent, but enough cases to be worth noting. Thus the rivalry between Leah and Rachel is the focus of this story, and so it should not come as a surprise that the naming is ascribed to them.
33And she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because YHWH listened because I was hated and gave me this one, too.” And she called his name Simeon.
34And she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now, this time my man will become bound to me because I’ve given birth to three sons for him.” On account of this his name was called Levi.
35And she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I’ll praise YHWH.” On account of this she called his name Judah. And she stopped giving birth.
