Genesis Chapter 29

Jacob meets Rachel at a well, serves Laban seven years for her, is tricked into marrying Leah, and the LORD gives the unloved Leah four sons.

Genesis 29:1-8

Arrival at the Well of Haran

Genesis 29:9-14

Rachel at the Well and Laban’s Welcome

Genesis 29:15-20

Seven Years of Service for Rachel

Genesis 29:21-30

The Exchange in the Dark

Genesis 29:31-35

The LORD Sees Leah

Genesis 29:1

After the night at Bethel, Jacob resumes his journey with a new step. The Hebrew says literally that he “lifted up his feet,” an expression found nowhere else in this form. The phrase suggests a traveller set in motion with fresh resolve, as though the vision of the ladder and the promise of God’s company had lightened his burden. The man who left Beersheba in fear of Esau now walks under a pledge: “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest” (Genesis 28:15).

“The land of the people of the east” is a broad designation. Elsewhere it can describe desert tribes beyond the Jordan or peoples farther off in Mesopotamia. Here it refers to Paddan-aram, the region around Haran in upper Mesopotamia, some four hundred and fifty miles from Beersheba, a journey of several weeks on foot. The vague wording keeps the reader alongside Jacob, who does not yet know exactly where he has arrived.

In Genesis, movement eastward often carries an uneasy note. Adam and Eve were driven out on the east of Eden, Cain settled east of Eden, and the builders of Babel travelled from the east. Jacob is heading away from the land promised to him, into the house of a shrewd relative, and he will remain there twenty years. Yet the Lord who met him at Bethel goes with him. Exile from the land of promise does not mean exile from God’s presence, and the long years ahead will become the school in which the supplanter is reshaped.

Study Links

Cross References

Genesis 28:15Genesis 28:2Genesis 25:20

Word / Phrase Notes

וַיִּשָּׂא יַעֲקֹב רַגְלָיו (wayyissa’ ya‘aqov raglav) — Jacob went on his journey

Literally “Jacob lifted his feet.” The idiom is unusual and best read in context as resuming the journey with energy and purpose after the Bethel encounter. It need not be pressed into a technical meaning; the narrative simply shows a traveller moving forward under God’s promise.

Genesis 28:10Genesis 28:20-22

בְּנֵי־קֶדֶם (bene-qedem) — the people of the east

Qedem means “front” or “east,” the direction one faced when orienting oneself. The phrase covers peoples east of Canaan, from Transjordan to Mesopotamia. Here it points to Paddan-aram, also called “the country of Syria” (Aram) in Hosea.