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Christian Standard Bible ®

Genesis 29:27

Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.”

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Betrothal;   Children;   Contracts;   Covetousness;   Dishonesty;   Jacob;   Laban;   Marriage;   Rachel;   Seven;   Wages;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Weeks;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Dowry;   Leah;   Marriage;   Rachel;   Sabbath;   Weeks;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Jacob;   Laban;   Marriage;   Rachel;   Sabbath;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Marriage;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Sabbath;   Week;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Dowry;   Incest;   Jacob;   Laban;   Number Systems and Number Symbolism;   Service;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Israel;   Jacob;   Marriage;   Time;   Tribes of Israel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Marriage;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Dowry;   Laban ;   Leah ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Laban;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Canaan (2);   Nahor;   Week;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Sabbath;   Week;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Sabbath;   Weeks;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Law in the Old Testament;   Number;   Rachel;   Sabbath;   Week;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Daughter in Jewish Law;   Laban;   Rachel;   Week;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
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."
King James Version
Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Lexham English Bible
Complete the week of this one, then I will also give you the other, on the condition that you will work for me another seven years."
New Century Version
But complete the full week of the marriage ceremony with Leah, and I will give you Rachel to marry also. But you must serve me another seven years."
New English Translation
Complete my older daughter's bridal week. Then we will give you the younger one too, in exchange for seven more years of work."
Amplified Bible
"Finish the week [of the wedding feast] for Leah; then we will give you Rachel also, and in return you shall work for me for seven more years."
New American Standard Bible
"Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me, for another seven years."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Fulfill seuen yeeres for her, and we wil also giue thee this for the seruice, which thou shalt serue me yet seuen yeeres more.
Legacy Standard Bible
Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years."
Contemporary English Version
After you spend this week with Leah, you may also marry Rachel. But you will have to work for me another seven years."
Complete Jewish Bible
Finish the marriage week of this one, and we'll give you the other one also in exchange for the work you will do for me during yet another seven years."
Darby Translation
Fulfil the week [with] this one: then we will give thee the other one also, for the service that thou shalt serve me yet seven other years.
Easy-to-Read Version
Continue for the full week of the marriage ceremony, and I will also give you Rachel to marry. But you must serve me another seven years."
English Standard Version
Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
George Lamsa Translation
Finish the wedding feast for this one, and then I will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me yet another seven years.
Good News Translation
Wait until the week's marriage celebrations are over, and I will give you Rachel, if you will work for me another seven years."
Literal Translation
Fulfill the week of this one and we will also give you this other one, for the service which you will serve with me, yet another seven years.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Holde out this weke, & I will geue the this also, for the seruyce yt thou shalt do me yet seuen yeares more.
American Standard Version
Fulfil the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Bible in Basic English
Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Passe out this weeke, & then we wyll geue thee this also for the seruice whiche thou shalt serue me yet seuen yeres more.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Fulfil the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.'
King James Version (1611)
Fulfill her weeke, and wee will giue thee this also, for the seruice which thou shalt serue with mee, yet seuen other yeeres.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Fulfil then her sevens, and I will give to thee her also in return for thy labour, which thou labourest with me, yet seven other years.
English Revised Version
Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Berean Standard Bible
Finish this week's celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
fille thou the wouke of daies of this couplyng, and Y schal yyue to thee also this Rachel, for the werk in which thou schalt serue me bi othere seuene yeer.
Young's Literal Translation
fulfil the week of this one, and we give to thee also this one, for the service which thou dost serve with me yet seven other years.'
Webster's Bible Translation
Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also, for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
World English Bible
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."
New King James Version
Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years."
New Living Translation
"But wait until the bridal week is over; then we'll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me."
New Life Bible
Complete the wedding week of this one. Then we will give you the other one also if you work for me seven years more."
New Revised Standard
Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Fulfil the week of this one, - then must we give thee, the other one also, for the service wherewith thou shalt serve with me, yet seven years more.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her also, for the service that thou shalt render me other seven years.
Revised Standard Version
Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
Update Bible Version
Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me yet another seven years.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years."

Contextual Overview

15Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” 16Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. 17Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. 18Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.” 20So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. 21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Since my time is complete, give me my wife, so I can sleep with her.” 22So Laban invited all the men of the place and sponsored a feast. 23That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

week: Genesis 2:2, Genesis 2:3, Genesis 8:10-12, Leviticus 18:18, Judges 14:10, Judges 14:12, Malachi 2:15, 1 Timothy 6:10

we will: Genesis 29:20

Reciprocal: Genesis 7:4 - For Genesis 31:15 - sold us Ruth 4:10 - have I

Cross-References

Genesis 29:2
He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. But a large stone covered the opening of the well.
Genesis 29:3
The shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when all the flocks were gathered there. Then they would return the stone to its place over the well’s opening.
Genesis 29:10
As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.
Genesis 29:12
He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.
Leviticus 18:18
You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime.
Judges 14:10
His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do.
Judges 14:12
“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.
Malachi 2:15
Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Fulfil her week,.... Not Rachel's week, or a week of years of servitude for her, but Leah's week, or the week of seven days of feasting for her marriage; for a marriage feast used to be kept seven days, according to the Jewish writers t, and as it seems from

Judges 14:17; and the Targum of Jerusalem fully expresses this sense,

"fulfil the week of the days of the feast of Leah;''

and to the same sense the Targum of Jonathan, Aben Ezra and Jarchi:

and we will give this also; meaning Rachel that stood by; and the sense is, that he and his wife, if he had any, or his friends about him, would give to Jacob Rachel also to be his wife, upon the following condition:

for the service which thou shall serve with me yet seven other years; which shows the avaricious temper of the man.

t T. Hieros. Moed Katon, fol. 80. 4. Pirke Eliezer, c. 16, 36.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Jacob’s Marriage

6. רחל rāchēl, Rachel, “a ewe.”

16. לאה lê'âh, Leah, “wearied.”

24. זלפה zı̂lpâh, Zilpah, “drop?”

29. בלהה bı̂lhâh, Bilhah, “timidity.”

32. ראוּבן re'uvbēn, Reuben, “behold a son.” A paronomasia in allusion to the phrase בעניי ראה be‛ānyı̂y rā'âh. Derivatives and compounds, being formed by the common speaker, are sometimes founded upon resemblance in sound, and not always on precise forms of the original sentence which prompted them.

33. שׁמעין shı̂m‛ôn, Shim‘on, “hearing, answer.”

34. לוי lêvı̂y, Levi, “junction, union.”

35. יחוּדה yehûdâh, Jehudah, “praised.”

In this chapter and the following, Jacob grows from a solitary fugitive with a staff in his hand Genesis 32:10 to be the father of a large family and the owner of great wealth. He proves himself to be a man of patience and perseverance, and the Lord according to promise is with him.

Genesis 29:1-8

Jacob arrives at the well of Haran. “The land of the sons of the east.” The points of the heavens were defined by the usage of practical life, and not by the standard of a science yet unknown. Hence, the east means any quarter toward the sunrising. Haran was about four degrees east of Beer-sheba, and five and a half degrees north. The distance was about four hundred and fifty miles, and therefore it would take Jacob fifteen days to perform the journey at thirty miles a day. If he reached Bethel the first night, he must have travelled about fifty miles the first day. After this he proceeds on his journey without any memorable incident. In the neighborhood of Haran he comes upon a well, by which lay three flocks. This is not the well near Haran where Abraham’s servant met Rebekah. It is in the pasture grounds at some distance from the town. On its mouth was a large stone, indicating that water was precious, and that the well was the common property of the surrounding natives. The custom was to gather the flocks, roll away the stone, which was too great to be moved by a boy or a female, water the flocks, and replace the stone. Jacob, on making inquiry, learns that Haran is at hand, that Laban is well, and that Rachel is drawing nigh with her father’s flocks. Laban is called by Jacob the son of Nahor, that is, his grandson, with the usual latitude of relative names in Scripture Genesis 28:13. “The day is great.” A great part of it yet remains. It is not yet the time to shut up the cattle for the night; “water the sheep and go feed them.” Jacob may have wished to meet with Rachel without presence of the shepherds. “We cannot.” There was a rule or custom that the flocks must be all assembled before the stone was rolled away for the purpose of watering the cattle. This may have been required to insure a fair distribution of the water to all parties, and especially to those who were too weak to roll away the stone.

Genesis 29:9-14

Jacob’s interview with Rachel, and hospitable reception by Laban. Rachel’s approach awakens all Jacob’s warmth of feeling. He rolls away the stone, waters the sheep, kisses Rachel, and bursts into tears. The remembrance of home and of the relationship of his mother to Rachel overpowers him. He informs Rachel who he is, and she runs to acquaint her father. Laban hastens to welcome his relative to his house. “Surely my bone and my flesh art thou.” This is a description of kinsmanship probably derived from the formation of the woman out of the man Genesis 2:23. A month here means the period from new moon to new moon, and consists of twenty-nine or thirty days.

Genesis 29:15-20

Jacob serves seven years for Rachel. “What shall thy wages be?” An active, industrious man like Jacob was of great value to Laban. “Two daughters.” Daughters in those countries and times were also objects of value, for which their parents were accustomed to receive considerable presents Genesis 24:53. Jacob at present, however, is merely worth his labor. He has apparently nothing else to offer. As he loves Rachel, he offers to serve seven years for her, and is accepted. Isaac loved Rebekah after she was sought and won as a bride for him. Jacob loves Rachel before he makes a proposal of marriage. His attachment is pure and constant, and hence the years of his service seem but days to him. The pleasure of her society both in the business and leisure of life makes the hours pass unnoticed. It is obvious that in those early days the contact of the sexes before marriage was more unrestrained than it afterward became.

Genesis 29:21-30

Jacob is betrayed into marrying Leah, and on consenting to serve other seven years obtains Rachel also. He claims his expected reward when due. “Made a feast.” The feast in the house of the bride’s father seems to have lasted seven days, at the close of which the marriage was completed. But the custom seems to have varied according to the circumstances of the bridegroom. Jacob had no house of his own to which to conduct the bride. In the evening: when it was dark. The bride was also closely veiled, so that it was easy for Laban to practise this piece of deceit. “A handmaid.” It was customary to give the bride a handmaid, who became her confidential servant Genesis 24:59, Genesis 24:61. In the morning Jacob discovers that Laban had overreached him. This is the first retribution Jacob experiences for the deceitful practices of his former days. He expostulates with Laban, who pleads the custom of the country.

It is still the custom not to give the younger in marriage before the older, unless the latter be deformed or in some way defective. It is also not unusual to practise the very same trick that Laban now employed, if the suitor is so simple as to be off his guard. Jacob, however, did not expect this at his relative’s hands, though he had himself taken part in proceedings equally questionable. “Fulfill the week of this.” If this was the second day of the feast celebrating the nuptials of Leah, Laban requests him to Complete the week, and then he will give him Rachel also. If, however, Leah was fraudulently put upon him at the close of the week of feasting, then Laban in these words proposes to give Rachel to Jacob on fulfilling another week of nuptial rejoicing. The latter is in the present instance more likely. In either case the marriage of Rachel is only a week after that of Leah. Rather than lose Rachel altogether, Jacob consents to comply with Laban’s terms.

Rachel was the wife of Jacob’s affections and intentions. The taking of a second wife in the lifetime of the first was contrary to the law of nature, which designed one man for one woman Genesis 2:21-25. But the marrying of a sister-in-law was not yet incestuous, because no law had yet been made on the subject. Laban gives a handmaid to each of his daughters. To Rebekah his sister had been given more than one Genesis 24:61. Bondslaves had been in existence long before Laban’s time Genesis 16:1. “And loved also Rachel more than Leah.” This proves that even Leah was not unloved. At the time of his marriage Jacob was eighty-four years of age; which corresponds to half that age according to the present average of human life.

Genesis 29:31-35

Leah bears four sons to Jacob. “The Lord saw.” The eye of the Lord is upon the sufferer. It is remarkable that both the narrator and Leah employ the proper name of God, which makes the performance of promise a prominent feature of his character. This is appropriate in the mouth of Leah, who is the mother of the promised seed. “That Leah was hated” - less loved than Rachel. He therefore recompenses her for the lack of her husband’s affections by giving her children, while Rachel was barren. “Reuben” - behold a son. “The Lord hath looked on my affliction.” Leah had qualities of heart, if not of outward appearance, which commanded esteem. She had learned to acknowledge the Lord in all her ways. “Simon” - answer. She had prayed to the Lord, and this was her answer. “Levi” - union, the reconciler. Her husband could not, according to the prevailing sentiments of those days, fail to be attached to the mother of three sons. “Judah” - praised. Well may she praise the Lord; for this is the ancestor of the promised seed. It is remarkable that the wife of priority, but not of preference, is the mother of the seed in whom all nations are to be blessed. Levi the reconciler is the father of the priestly tribe. Simon is attached to Judah. Reuben retires into the background.

Reuben may have been born when Jacob was still only eighty-four, and consequently Judah was born when Jacob was eighty-seven.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 29:27. Fulfil her week — The marriage feast, it appears, lasted seven days; it would not therefore have been proper to break off the solemnities to which all the men of the place had been invited, Genesis 29:22, and probably Laban wished to keep his fraud from the public eye; therefore he informs Jacob that if he will fulfil the marriage week for Leah, he will give him Rachel at the end of it, on condition of his serving seven other years. To this the necessity of the case caused Jacob to agree; and thus Laban had fourteen years' service instead of seven: for it is not likely that Jacob would have served even seven days for Leah, as his affection was wholly set on Rachel, the wife of his own choice. By this stratagem Laban gained a settlement for both his daughters. What a man soweth, that shall he reap. Jacob had before practised deceit, and is now deceived; and Laban, the instrument of it, was afterwards deceived himself.


 
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