Genesis 29:21-30

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Bible Text

[21] Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her." [22] Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. [23] It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her. [24] Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. [25] It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" [26] Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the first born. [27] Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years." [28] Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. [29] Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid. [30] He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

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Maps for this passage

The Journeys of Abraham and the PatriarchsThe journeys of Abraham and the patriarchs from Ur through Canaan and into Egypt.

Canaan in the Patriarchal AgeCanaan during the patriarchal period, before the Israelite conquest.

Historical maps are public-domain atlas plates, digitized by Wikimedia Commons.

“The East” denotes the region east of Canaan, especially Mesopotamia; Haran was a city in northern Mesopotamia where Jacob’s maternal relatives lived. These locations frame Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel within God’s providential preservation of the covenant family outside Canaan.

Places in this passage

Genesis 29:21-30 mentions East and Haran.