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Leah and Rachel
How Leah and Rachel are linked in Scripture, with every passage where their stories cross.
How they are linked
Leah and Rachel were rivals.
Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, while Leah bore sons and Rachel was barren. Rachel envied her sister, and the two bargained over Reuben's mandrakes for a night with Jacob.
he loved also Rachel more than Leah
Genesis 29:30, King James Version
Rachel envied her sister
Genesis 30:1, King James Version
With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister
Genesis 30:8, King James Version
Where they cross: Genesis 30:14-16
Leah and Rachel were siblings.
Leah and Rachel were Laban's two daughters, and both became Jacob's wives. Together they agreed to leave their father's house with Jacob, saying Laban "hath sold us".
And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel
Genesis 29:16, King James Version
And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him
Genesis 31:14, King James Version
Where they cross: Genesis 31:14-16
Notes are commentary, checked against the cited verses in a separate review. Quoted words are Scripture.
Every passage, in order
Genesis 29:16
16And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
Genesis 29:30
30And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
Genesis 30:1
1And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Genesis 30:8
8And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
Genesis 30:14-16
14And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.
15And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes.
16And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
Genesis 31:14-16
14And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
16For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.
King James Version