Genesis 30
30
The Sons of Jacob
1When Rachel saw that she conceived no children for Jacob, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.” 2Then Jacob became furious with Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has denied you children?” 3She said, “Here, take my maid Bilhah and go in to her; and [when the baby comes] she shall #This ritual symbolized that the wife was providing the child for her husband through a surrogate mother.deliver it [while sitting] on my knees, so that by her I may also have children [to count as my own].” 4So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [#I.e. concubine (see note 22:24).secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6Then Rachel said, “God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid].” So she named him Dan (He judged). 7Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 8So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).
9When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [#I.e. concubine (see note 22:24).secondary] wife. 10Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob. 11Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad (good fortune). 12Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 13Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy).
14Now at the time of wheat harvest Reuben [the eldest child] went and found some #A narcotic plant thought by ancient peoples to be an aphrodisiac or cure for infertility.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.” 15But Leah answered, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Jacob shall sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me [tonight], for I have in fact hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. 17God listened and answered [the prayer of] Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she named him #Related to Hebrew for “reward.”Issachar. 19Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. 20Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good [marriage] gift [for my husband]; now he will live with me [regarding me with honor as his wife], because I have given birth to six sons.” So she named him #Possibly related to Hebrew for “home” or “elevated place.”Zebulun. 21Afterward she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22Then God remembered [the prayers of] Rachel, and God thought of her and opened her womb [so that she would conceive]. 23So she conceived and gave birth to a son; and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation.” 24She named him Joseph (may He add) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
Jacob Prospers
25Now when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go back to my own place and to my own country. 26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the work which I have done for you.” 27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” 28He said, “Name your wages, and I will give it [to you].” 29Jacob answered him, “You know how I have served you and how your possessions, your cattle and sheep and goats, have fared with me. 30For you had little before I came and it has increased and multiplied abundantly, and the Lord has favored you with blessings wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household?” 31Laban asked, “What shall I give you?” Jacob replied, “You shall not give me anything. But if you will do this one thing for me [which I now propose], I will again pasture and keep your flock: 32Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every dark or black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages. 33So my honesty will be evident for me later, when you come [for an accounting] concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark among the young lambs, if found with me, shall be considered stolen.” 34And Laban said, “Good! Let it be done as you say.” 35So on that same day Laban [secretly] removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one with white on it, and all the dark ones among the sheep, and put them in the care of his sons. 36And he put [a distance of] three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was then left in care of the rest of Laban’s flock.
37Then Jacob took branches of fresh poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white in the branches. 38Then he set the branches which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated and conceived when they came to drink. 39So the flocks mated and conceived by the branches, and the flocks #The success of Jacob’s action was undoubtedly the answer to an unrecorded prayer. Later (31:7-12), Jacob gives God the credit for what happened, citing a special dream that he had from God.gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring. 40Jacob separated the lambs, and [as he had done with the peeled branches] he made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the dark or black in the [new] flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart by themselves and did not put them [where they could breed] with Laban’s flock. 41Furthermore, whenever the stronger [animals] of the flocks were breeding, Jacob would place the branches in the sight of the flock in the watering troughs, so that they would mate and conceive among the branches; 42but when the flock was sickly, he did not put the branches there; so the sicker [animals] were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43So Jacob became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks [of sheep and goats], and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
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Genesis 30
30
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