Bible Strands
Genesis 29:30
Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The biblical narrator addresses the reader at the moment Jacob consummates his marriage to Rachel immediately after his wedding night with Leah, marking the continuation of his contractual labor for Laban.
The words — The Hebrew uses וַ/יָּבֹא (va/i.ya.Vo'), literally "and he went," as a standard narrative euphemism for sexual relations, and וַ/יֶּאֱהַב (va/i.ye.'e.Hav), literally "and he loved," to state Jacob's explicit preference for Rachel over Leah.
The thread — This preferential love and the resulting extended service are established in Genesis 29:18 and Genesis 29:20, where Jacob's affection makes the initial seven years seem brief, and are later tallied in Genesis 31:41 as part of the fourteen years he labored for both daughters.
Why it lands — The text records a factual continuation of Jacob's labor and a blunt statement of marital preference, providing the direct narrative condition for Genesis 29:31 where divine action responds to Leah's unloved status.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
Cross-references
- Genesis 31:41 Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
- Genesis 29:18 Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
- Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
- Genesis 31:15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
- Genesis 44:27 And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.
- Matthew 10:37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;
- Genesis 29:31 When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
- Genesis 30:25 Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.
- Genesis 44:20 And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
- Deuteronomy 21:15 If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,