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30 ¶ And when Rachel saw that she gave Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, Give me sons, or else I will die.

And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.

And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife; and Jacob went in unto her.

And Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son unto Jacob.

And Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan.

And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again and gave birth to a second son unto Jacob.

And Rachel said, With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali.

When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took Zilpah, her maid and gave her Jacob to wife.

10 And Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son unto Jacob.

11 And Leah said, Good venture has come; and she called his name Gad.

12 And Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a second son unto Jacob.

13 And Leah said, Blessed am I, for the daughters will call me blessed; and she called his name Asher.

14 ¶ And 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.

15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband and would thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes.

16 And 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.

17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son unto Jacob.

18 And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband; and she called his name Issachar.

19 And Leah conceived again and gave birth to the sixth son unto Jacob.

20 And Leah said, God has endued me with a good dowry; now my husband will dwell with me because I have born him six sons; and she called his name Zebulun.

21 And afterwards she gave birth to a daughter and called her name Dinah.

22 And God remembered Rachel and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.

23 And she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, God has taken away my reproach;

24 and she called his name Joseph, saying, Let the LORD add unto me another son.

25 ¶ And it came to pass when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, and I shall go unto my place and to my land.

26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.

27 And Laban said unto him, Let me now find grace in thine eyes, I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for thy sake.

28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.

29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee and how many livestock thou hast with me.

30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude, and the LORD has blessed thee since my coming; and now when shall I provide for my own house also?

31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything; if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock.

32 I will pass through all thy flock today, setting apart all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown rams among the rams, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire.

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me tomorrow, when my hire shall come before thy face; each one that is not speckled and spotted among my goats and brown among my sheep shall be counted stolen with me.

34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36 And he set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 ¶ And Jacob took rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut tree and peeled white strakes in them and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink.

39 And the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted sheep.

40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and put with his flock the ringstraked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them together with Laban’s sheep.

41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger sheep conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the sheep in the gutters that they might conceive among the rods.

42 But when the sheep were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.

43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had many sheep, and maidslaves and menslaves, and camels, and asses.

30 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children,(A) she became jealous of her sister.(B) So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God,(C) who has kept you from having children?”(D)

Then she said, “Here is Bilhah,(E) my servant.(F) Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”(G)

So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife.(H) Jacob slept with her,(I) and she became pregnant and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me;(J) he has listened to my plea and given me a son.”(K) Because of this she named him Dan.[a](L)

Rachel’s servant Bilhah(M) conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.”(N) So she named him Naphtali.[b](O)

When Leah(P) saw that she had stopped having children,(Q) she took her servant Zilpah(R) and gave her to Jacob as a wife.(S) 10 Leah’s servant Zilpah(T) bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “What good fortune!”[c] So she named him Gad.[d](U)

12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me(V) happy.”(W) So she named him Asher.[e](X)

14 During wheat harvest,(Y) Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants,(Z) which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough(AA) that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”

“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”(AB)

16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”(AC) So he slept with her that night.

17 God listened to Leah,(AD) and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.”(AE) So she named him Issachar.[f](AF)

19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor,(AG) because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.[g](AH)

21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.(AI)

22 Then God remembered Rachel;(AJ) he listened to her(AK) and enabled her to conceive.(AL) 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son(AM) and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”(AN) 24 She named him Joseph,[h](AO) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”(AP)

Jacob’s Flocks Increase

25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way(AQ) so I can go back to my own homeland.(AR) 26 Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you,(AS) and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”

27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes,(AT) please stay. I have learned by divination(AU) that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”(AV) 28 He added, “Name your wages,(AW) and I will pay them.”

29 Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you(AX) and how your livestock has fared under my care.(AY) 30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been.(AZ) But now, when may I do something for my own household?(BA)

31 “What shall I give you?” he asked.

“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat.(BB) They will be my wages.(BC) 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored,(BD) will be considered stolen.(BE)

34 “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs,(BF) and he placed them in the care of his sons.(BG) 36 Then he put a three-day journey(BH) between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond(BI) and plane trees(BJ) and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.(BK) 38 Then he placed the peeled branches(BL) in all the watering troughs,(BM) so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat(BN) and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches.(BO) And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.(BP) 40 Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals(BQ) that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. 41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat,(BR) Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,(BS) 42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.(BT) 43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.(BU)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 30:6 Dan here means he has vindicated.
  2. Genesis 30:8 Naphtali means my struggle.
  3. Genesis 30:11 Or “A troop is coming!”
  4. Genesis 30:11 Gad can mean good fortune or a troop.
  5. Genesis 30:13 Asher means happy.
  6. Genesis 30:18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for reward.
  7. Genesis 30:20 Zebulun probably means honor.
  8. Genesis 30:24 Joseph means may he add.