Genesis of Ethics: Jacob Climbs the Marriage Ladder

             
Genesis 28
10      Yaakov went out from Be’er-Sheva and went toward Harran,
11      and encountered a certain place.
He had to spend the night there, for the sun had come in.
Now he took one of the stones of the place
and set it at his head
and lay down in that place.
12      And he dreamt:
Here, a ladder was set up on the earth,
its top reaching the heavens,
and here: messengers of God were going up and down on it.
13      And here:
Yhwh was standing over against him.
He said:
I am Yhwh,
the God of Avraham your father and the God of Yitzhak.
The land on which you lie
I give to you and to your seed.
14      Your seed will be like the dust of the earth;
you will burst forth, to the Sea, to the east, to the north, to the Negev.
All the clans of the soil will find blessing through you and through your seed!
15      Here, I am with you,
I will watch over you wherever you go
and will bring you back to this soil;
indeed, I will not leave you
until I have done what I have spoken to you.
16      Yaakov awoke from his sleep
and said:
Why,
Yhwh is in this place,
and I, I did not know it!
17      He was awestruck and said:
How awe-inspiring is this place!
This is none other than a house of God,
and that is the gate of heaven!
18      Yaakov started-early in the morning,
he took the stone that he had set at his head
and set it up as a standing-pillar
and poured oil on top of it.
19      And he called the name of the place: Bet-El/House of God—
however, Luz was the name of the city in former times.
20      And Yaakov vowed a vow, saying:
If God will be with me
and will watch over me on this way that I go
and will give me food to eat and a garment to wear,
21       and if I come back in peace to my father’s house—
Yhwh shall be God to me,
22       and this stone that I have set up as a standing-pillar shall become a house of God,
and everything that you give me
I shall tithe, tithe it to you.

                  and the following passage

Genesis 29
1      Yaakov lifted his feet and went to the land of the Easterners.
2       He looked around him, and there: a well in the field, and there were three herds of sheep crouching
near it,
for from that well they used to give the herds to drink.
Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large,
3        so when all the herds were gathered there,
they used to roll the stone from the mouth of the well, give the sheep to drink, and put the stone back on the mouth
of the well in its place.
4      Now Yaakov said to them:
Brothers, where are you from?
They said:
We are from Harran.
5      He said to them:
Do you know Lavan, son of Nahor?
They said:
We know him.
6       He said to them:
Is all well with him?
They said:
It is well—
and here comes Rahel his daughter with the sheep!
7       He said:
Indeed, it is still broad daylight,
it is not time to gather in the livestock,
so give the sheep to drink and go back, tend them.
8       But they said:
We cannot, until all the herds have been gathered;
only then do they roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and then we give the sheep to drink.
9      While he was still speaking with them,
Rahel came with the sheep that were her father’s
—for she was a shepherdess.
10      Now it was when Yaakov saw Rahel, the daughter of Lavan
and the sheep of Lavan his mother’s brother,
that Yaakov came close,
he rolled the stone from the mouth of the well
and gave drink to the sheep of Lavan his mother’s brother.
11      Then Yaakov kissed Rahel, and lifted up his voice and wept.
12      And Yaakov told Rahel
that he was her father’s brother
and that he was Rivka’s son.
She ran and told her father.
13      Now it was, as soon as Lavan heard the tidings concerning Yaakov, his sister’s son,
that he ran to meet him, embraced him and kissed him, and brought him into his house.
And he recounted all these events to Lavan.
14      Lavan said to him:
Without doubt you are my bone, my flesh!
And he stayed with him the days of a Renewing-of-the-Moon.
15      Lavan said to Yaakov:
Just because you are my brother, should you serve me for nothing?
Tell me, what shall your wages be?
16      Now Lavan had two daughters: the name of the elder was Lea, the name of the younger was Rahel.
17      Lea’s eyes were delicate, but Rahel was fair of form and fair to look at.
18      And Yaakov fell in love with Rahel.
He said:
I will serve you seven years for Rahel, your younger daughter.
19      Lavan said:
My giving her to you is better than my giving her to another man;
stay with me.
20      So Yaakov served seven years for Rahel,
yet they were in his eyes as but a few days, because of his love for her.
21      Then Yaakov said to Lavan:
Come-now, (give me) my wife, for my days-of-labor have been fulfilled,
so that I may come in to her.
22      Lavan gathered all the people of the place together and made a drinking-feast.
23      Now in the evening
he took Lea his daughter and brought her to him,
and he came in to her.
24      Lavan also gave her Zilpa his maid,
for Lea his daughter as a maid.
25      Now in the morning:
here, she was Lea!
He said to Lavan:
What is this that you have done to me!
Was it not for Rahel that I served you?
Why have you deceived me?
26      Lavan said:
Such is not done in our place, giving away the younger before the firstborn;
27      just fill out the bridal-week for this one, then we shall give you that one also,
for the service which you will serve me for yet another seven years.
28      Yaakov did so—he fulfilled the bridal-week for this one,
and then he gave him Rahel his daughter as a wife.
29      Lavan also gave Rahel his daughter Bilha his maid,
for her as a maid.
30      So he came in to Rahel also,
and he loved Rahel also,
more than Lea.
Then he served him for yet another seven years.

Translation: The Schocken Bible © Everett Fox

The Schochen Bible
The Genesis of Ethics