Bible Verses About Laban: Jacob becomes his servant

Lavan said to him, "Why should you work for me for nothing, just because you are my relative? Tell me how much I should pay you."

Now Lavan had two daughters; the name of the older was Le'ah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

Le'ah's eyes were weak; but Rachel was good-looking, with beautiful features.

Ya'akov had fallen in love with Rachel and said, "I will work for you seven years in exchange for Rachel your younger daughter."

Lavan answered, "Better that I give her to you than to someone else; stay with me."

So Ya'akov worked seven years for Rachel, and it seemed only a few days to him, because he was so much in love with her.

Lavan answered him, "If you regard me favorably, then please listen: I have observed the signs that ADONAI has blessed me on account of you.

Name your wages," he said; "I will pay them."

Ya'akov replied, "You know how faithfully I have served you and how your livestock have prospered under my care.

The few you had before I came have increased substantially; ADONAI has blessed you wherever I went. But now, when will I provide for my own household?"

Lavan said, "What should I give you?""Nothing," answered Ya'akov, "just do this one thing for me: once more I will pasture your flock and take care of it.

I will also go through the flock and pick out every speckled, spotted or brown sheep, and every speckled or spotted goat; these and their offspring will be my wages.

And I will let my integrity stand as witness against me in the future: when you come to look over the animals constituting my wages, every goat that isn't speckled or spotted and every sheep that isn't brown will count as stolen by me."

Lavan replied, "As you have said, so be it."

That day Lavan removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted and all the female goats that were speckled or spotted, every one with white on it, and all the brown sheep; turned them over to his sons;

and put three days' distance between himself and Ya'akov. Ya'akov fed the rest of Lavan's flocks.

Ya'akov took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white streaks on them by peeling off the bark.

Then he set the rods he had peeled upright in the watering troughs, so that the animals would see them when they came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,

the animals mated in sight of the rods and gave birth to streaked, speckled and spotted young.

Ya'akov divided the lambs and had the animals mate with the streaked and the brown in the flock of Lavan. He also kept his own livestock separate and did not have them mix with Lavan's flock.

Whenever the hardier animals came into heat, Ya'akov would set up the rods in the watering troughs; so that the animals would see them and conceive in front of them;

but he didn't set up the rods in front of the weaker animals. Thus the more feeble were Lavan's and the stronger Ya'akov's.

In this way the man became very rich and had large flocks, along with male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.