Genesis
Chapter 30
1 When Rachel saw she had no children for Jacob, she was jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”
2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I God, who has kept you from having children?”
3 She said, “Here is my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her so she can have children for me, and I can also build a family through her.”
4 She gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and Jacob slept with her.
5 Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob.
6 Rachel said, “God has judged me, has heard my voice, and has given me a son; so she named him Dan.”
7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob.
8 Rachel said, “I’ve struggled hard with my sister and I have won,” so she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah realized she couldn’t have more children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son.
11 Leah said, “A group is coming,” and she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to Jacob’s second son.
13 Leah said, “I am happy because women will say I am lucky,” and she named him Asher.
14 Reuben went during the wheat harvest, found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 She asked her, “Isn’t it enough that you took my husband? Now do you want to take my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel replied, “Okay, he can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah met him, saying, “You must come to me; I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” So, he slept with her that night.
17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Jacob’s fifth son.
18 Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.
19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a sixth son.
20 Leah said, “God has given me a great gift; now my husband will stay with me because I have given birth to six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Later she had a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 God remembered Rachel, listened to her, and made it possible for her to have children.
23 She became pregnant and had a son, and said, “God has removed my disgrace.”
24 She named him Joseph and said, “God will give me another son.”
25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go back to my own home and country.”
26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have worked for you, and let me leave: because you know how much I have worked for you.
27 Laban said to him, “Please, if you like me, stay here, because I have seen that God has blessed me because of you.”
28 He said, “Tell me what to pay you, and I will give it.”
29 He said to him, “You know how I worked for you and how your animals were under my care.”
30 When I arrived, you had little, but now you have much because God has blessed you since I came. Now, when can I start to provide for my own family?
31 He asked, “What should I give you?” And Jacob replied, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you agree to do this for me, I will continue to take care of your sheep.”
32 Today, I will go through all your sheep and goats and pick out all the animals with spots and speckles, and the brown sheep. Those will be my payment.
33 My goodness will speak for me in the future. When it’s time to settle my wages, any goat that isn’t speckled and spotted, and any sheep that isn’t brown, will be considered stolen by me.
34 Laban said, “I hope it can be as you say.”
35 That day, he separated the male goats with stripes and spots, all the female goats with speckles and spots, everyone with white on them, and all the brown sheep, and put them under his sons’ care.
36 He traveled for three days away from Jacob, and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban’s sheep.
37 Jacob took branches from green poplar, hazel, and chestnut trees; he peeled white stripes on them, making the white underneath show on the branches.
38 He put the stripped branches in the water troughs so that when the sheep came to drink, they would mate by the branches.
39 The herds bred in front of the sticks and gave birth to striped, speckled, and spotted animals.
40 Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the striped ones and all the brown ones in Laban’s flock; he kept his flocks apart and didn’t mix them with Laban’s animals.
41 Whenever the strong sheep became pregnant, Jacob would place the sticks in front of the sheep at the watering troughs so they would mate near the sticks.
42 When the weak animals mated, he did not put the sticks there, so the weaker animals became Laban’s and the stronger ones Jacob’s.
43 The man became very rich, with many cattle, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.