Book of Jubilees
Chapter XXVIII
And he went on his journey, and came to the land of- the east, to Laban, the brother of Rebecca, and he was with him, and served him for Rachel his daughter one week. } And in the first year of the third week he said unto him : " Give me my wife, for whom I have served thee seven years; " and Laban said unto Jacob. " I will give thee thy wife."
And Laban made a feast, and took Leah his elder daughter, and gave (her) to Jacob as a wife, and gave her Zilpah his handmaid for an handmaid ; and Jacob did not know, for he thought that she was Rachel.
And he went in unto her, and behold, she was Leah; and Jacob was angry with Laban, and said unto him : " Why hast thou dealt thus with me ? Did not I serve thee for Rachel and not for Leah? Why hast thou wronged me? Take thy daughter, and I will go ; for thou hast done evil to me."
For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah ; for Leah's eyes were weak, buther form was very handsome ; but Rachel had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form.
And Laban said to Jacob : "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the elder." And it is not right to do this ; for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tables,* that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder — but the elder one giveth first and after her the younger —and the man who doeth so, they set down guilt against him in heaven, and none is righteous that doeth this thing, for this deed is evil before the Lord. 1 ♦. #. seven years. For cf. Gen. xxix. , 20.
And command thou the children of Israel that they do not this thing ; let them neither take nor give the younger before they have given the elder, for it is very wicked.
And Laban said to Jacob : " Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give thee Rachel, that thou mayest serve me another seven years, that thou mayest pasture my sheep as thou didst in the former week."
And on the day when the seven days of the feast of Leah had passed, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob, thathe might serve him another seven years, and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah,' as a handmaid.
And the Lord opened the womb of Leah, and she con- ceived and Dare Jacob a son, and he called his name 2122 a.m. Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week.
And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a second son, and he called his name 2124 a.m. Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month, and in the third year of this week.
And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare him a third son, and he called his name Levi, in the new 2127 a.m. moon of the first month in the sixth year of this week. 4 Gen. xxix. has " she called."
And again Jacob went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a fourth son, and he called his name Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the |first| year of the jfourthf week.
And on account of all this Rachel envied Leah, for she did not bear, and she said to Jacob : " Give me children " ; and Jacob said : " Have I withheld from thee the fruits of thy womb? Have I forsaken thee? "
And when Rachel saw that Leah had borne four sons to Jacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, she said unto him : " Go in unto Bilhah my hand- maid, and she will conceive, and bear a son unto me."
(And she gave (him) Bilhah her handmaid to wife.) And he went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a son, and he called his name Dan, on the ninth of, the sixth month, in the |sixth| year of the fthirdf week.
And Jacob went in again unto Bilhah a second time, and she conceived, and bare Jacob another son, and Rachel called his name Naphtali, on the fifth. of the seventh month, in the second year of the fourth week.
And when Leah saw that she had become sterile and did not bear, she envied (Rachel) and she also gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob to wife, and she conceived, and bare a son, and Leah called his name Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month, in the third year of the fourth week.
And he went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a second son, and Leah called his name Asher, on the second of the eleventh month, in the ffifthf year of the fourth week.
And Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Issachar, on the fourth of the fifth month, in the |fourth| year of the fourth week, and she gave him to a nurse.
And Jacob went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare two (children), a son and a daughter, and she called the name of the son Zebulon, and the name of the daughter Dinah, in the seventh of the seventh month, in the sixth year of the fourth v»cek.