By ¹  the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, ²  and he ceased ³  on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could, ¹ 

Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. ¹  Then I’ll depart, ²  because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.” ³ 

God blessed the seventh day and made it holy ¹  because on it he ceased all the work that he ²  had been doing in creation. ³ 

One day ¹  he went into the house to do his work when none of the household servants ²  were there in the house.

“You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, ¹  “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. ² 

Jacob ¹  had marital relations ²  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ³  for seven more years. ⁴ 

Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ¹  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ²  Tell me what your wages should be.”

Complete my older daughter’s bridal week. ¹  Then we will give you the younger one ²  too, in exchange for seven more years of work.” ³ 

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. ¹  But they seemed like only a few days to him ²  because his love for her was so great. ³ 

In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! ¹  So Jacob ²  said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! ³  Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked ⁴  me?”

This was my lot ¹  for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave ²  for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

Indeed, ¹  you had little before I arrived, ²  but now your possessions have increased many times over. ³  The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. ⁴  But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” ⁵ 

If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ²  and he rebuked you last night.”

This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹  was taking care of ²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁵  to their father.

He named him Noah, ¹  saying, “This one will bring us comfort ²  from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.”

When you try to cultivate ¹  the ground it will no longer yield ²  its best ³  for you. You will be a homeless wanderer ⁴  on the earth.”

The Lord God took the man and placed ¹  him in the orchard in ²  Eden to care for it and to maintain it. ³ 

Since Jacob had fallen in love with ¹  Rachel, he said, “I’ll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.”

So the Lord God expelled him ¹  from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.