5. “Do you know a man there named Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” he asked.“Yes, we do,” they replied.
6. “Is he doing well?” Jacob asked.“Yes, he’s well,” they answered. “Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock now.”
7. Jacob said, “Look, it’s still broad daylight—too early to round up the animals. Why don’t you water the sheep and goats so they can get back out to pasture?”
8. “We can’t water the animals until all the flocks have arrived,” they replied. “Then the shepherds move the stone from the mouth of the well, and we water all the sheep and goats.”
9. Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd.
10. And because Rachel was his cousin—the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother—and because the sheep and goats belonged to his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the well and moved the stone from its mouth and watered his uncle’s flock.
11. Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud.
12. He explained to Rachel that he was her cousin on her father’s side—the son of her aunt Rebekah. So Rachel quickly ran and told her father, Laban.
13. As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story,
14. Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!”After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month,
15. Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.”
16. Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel.
17. There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face.
18. Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”