30
1 When
Rachel saw that
she bore Jacob
no children,
Rachel envied
her sister. She said
to Jacob, “Give
me children, or
else I will
die.”
2 Jacob’s anger
burned against
Rachel, and
he said, “Am I
in God’s place, who
has withheld from
you the fruit
of the womb?”
3 She said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah.
Go in to
her, that she
may bear on
my knees, and
I also may
obtain children by
her.”
4 She gave
him Bilhah her
servant as wife,
and Jacob went
in to her.
5 Bilhah
conceived, and
bore Jacob a
son.
6 Rachel
said, “God has
judged me, and
has also heard
my voice, and
has given me
a son.” Therefore
she called his
name Dan.
7 Bilhah,
Rachel’s servant,
conceived again,
and bore Jacob
a second son.
8 Rachel
said, “I have
wrestled with
my sister with mighty
wrestlings, and
have prevailed.”
She named him
Naphtali.
9 When
Leah saw that
she had finished
bearing, she took
Zilpah, her
servant, and gave
her to Jacob
as a wife.
10 Zilpah,
Leah’s servant,
bore Jacob a
son.
11 Leah
said, “How fortunate!”
She named him
Gad.
12 Zilpah,
Leah’s servant,
bore Jacob a
second son.
13 Leah
said, “Happy am I,
for the daughters
will call
me happy.” She
named him Asher.
14 Reuben
went in the
days of wheat
harvest, and 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 Leah said
to her, “Is
it a small
matter that you
have taken away
my husband? Would you
take away my
son’s mandrakes,
also?”
Rachel said, “Therefore
he will lie
with you tonight
for your son’s
mandrakes.”
16 Jacob
came from the
field in the
evening, and Leah
went out to
meet him, and
said, “You must
come in to
me; for I
have surely hired
you with my
son’s mandrakes.”
He lay with
her that night.
17 God
listened to Leah,
and she conceived,
and bore Jacob
a fifth son.
18 Leah
said, “God has
given me my
hire, because I
gave my servant
to my husband.”
She named him
Issachar.
19 Leah
conceived again,
and bore a
sixth son to
Jacob.
20 Leah
said, “God has
endowed me with
a good dowry.
Now my husband
will live with
me, because I
have borne him
six sons.” She
named him Zebulun.
21 Afterwards,
she bore a
daughter, and
named her Dinah.
22 God
remembered Rachel,
and God listened
to her, and
opened her womb.
23 She
conceived, bore a
son, and said, “God
has taken away my reproach.”
24 She
named him
Joseph,
saying, “May the
LORD add another
son to me.”
25 When
Rachel had borne
Joseph, Jacob said
to Laban, “Send
me away, that
I may go
to my own
place, and to
my country.
26 Give
me my wives and
my children for
whom I have
served you, and
let me go;
for you know
my service with
which I have
served you.”
27 Laban said
to him, “If
now I have
found favor in
your eyes, stay
here, for I
have divined that
the LORD has
blessed me for
your sake.”
28 He said, “Appoint
me your wages,
and I will
give it.”
29 Jacob said
to him, “You
know how I
have served you,
and how your
livestock have
fared with me.
30 For
it was little
which you had
before I came,
and it has
increased to a
multitude. The
LORD has blessed
you wherever I
turned. Now when
will I provide
for my own
house also?”
31 Laban said,
“What shall I
give you?”
Jacob said, “You
shall not give
me anything. If
you will do
this thing for
me, I will
again feed your
flock and keep
it.
32 I
will pass through
all your flock
today, removing
from there every
speckled and
spotted one, and
every black one
among the sheep,
and the spotted
and speckled among
the goats. This
will be my
hire.
33 So
my righteousness
will answer for
me hereafter, when
you come
concerning my hire
that is before
you. Every one
that is not
speckled and
spotted among the
goats, and black
among the sheep,
that might be with
me, will
be considered stolen.”
34 Laban
said, “Behold, let
it be according to
your word.”
35 That
day, he removed
the male goats
that were streaked
and spotted, and
all the female
goats that were
speckled and
spotted, every one
that had white
in it, and
all the black
ones among the
sheep, and gave
them into the
hand of his
sons.
36 He
set three days’
journey between himself
and Jacob, and
Jacob fed the
rest of Laban’s
flocks.
37 Jacob
took to himself
rods of fresh
poplar, almond,
and plane tree,
peeled white
streaks in them,
and made the
white appear which
was in the
rods.
38 He
set the rods
which he had
peeled opposite
the flocks in
the watering
troughs where the
flocks came to
drink. They conceived when they
came to drink.
39 The
flocks conceived before
the rods, and
the flocks
produced streaked, speckled,
and spotted.
40 Jacob
separated the
lambs, and set
the faces of
the flocks toward
the streaked and
all the black
in Laban’s flock.
He put his
own droves apart,
and didn’t put
them into Laban’s
flock.
41 Whenever
the stronger of
the flock
conceived, Jacob
laid the rods
in front of the
eyes of the
flock in
the watering troughs,
that they might
conceive among the
rods;
42 but
when the flock
were feeble,
he didn’t put them
in. So the
feebler were
Laban’s, and the
stronger Jacob’s.
43 The man
increased exceedingly,
and had large
flocks, female
servants and male
servants, and
camels and donkeys.