Genesis 30

1¶ 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.

2And 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?

3And 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.

4And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife; and Jacob went in unto her.

5And Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son unto Jacob.

6And Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan.

7And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again and gave birth to a second son unto Jacob.

8And Rachel said, With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali.

9When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took Zilpah, her maid and gave her Jacob to wife.

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

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

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

13And 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.

15And 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.

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.

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

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

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

20And 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.

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

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

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

24and 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.

26Give 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.

27And 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.

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

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

30For 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?

31And 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.

32I 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.

33So 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.

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

35And 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.

36And 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.

38And 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.

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

40And 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.

41And 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.

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

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

The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International

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Genesis 30

1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’

2Jacob became angry with her and said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?’

3Then she said, ‘Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.’

4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6Then Rachel said, ‘God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.’ Because of this she named him Dan.#30:6 Dan here means he has vindicated.

7Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Then Rachel said, ‘I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.’ So she named him Naphtali.#30:8 Naphtali means my struggle.

9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, ‘What good fortune!’#30:11 Or ‘A troop is coming!’ So she named him Gad.#30:11 Gad can mean good fortune or a troop.

12Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, ‘How happy I am! The women will call me happy.’ So she named him Asher.#30:13 Asher means happy.

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

15But she said to her, ‘Wasn’t it enough 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.’

16So 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.’ So he slept with her that night.

17God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Then Leah said, ‘God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar.#30:18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for reward.

19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Then Leah said, ‘God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honour, because I have borne him six sons.’ So she named him Zebulun.#30:20 Zebulun probably means honour.

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

22Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, ‘God has taken away my disgrace.’ 24She named him Joseph,#30:24 Joseph means may he add. and said, ‘May the Lord add to me another son.’

Jacob’s flocks increase

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

27But Laban said to him, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.’ 28He added, ‘Name your wages, and I will pay them.’

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

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: 32let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-coloured lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33And 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-coloured, will be considered stolen.’

34‘Agreed,’ said Laban. ‘Let it be as you have said.’ 35That 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-coloured lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.

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

The Holy Bible, New International Version® (Anglicised), NIV®

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