Genesis 30
30
1But Rachel had not borne Jacob any children, and so she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”
2Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “I can't take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.”
3She said, “Here is my slave Bilhah; sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. In this way I can become a mother through her.” 4So she gave Bilhah to her husband, and he had intercourse with her. 5Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. 6Rachel said, “God has judged in my favour. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son”; so she named him Dan.#30.6 Dan: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “judge in favour”. 7Bilhah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Rachel said, “I have fought a hard fight with my sister, but I have won”; so she named him Naphtali.#30.8 Naphtali: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “fight”.
9When Leah realized that she had stopped having children, she gave her slave Zilpah to Jacob as his wife. 10Then Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Leah said, “I have been lucky”; so she named him Gad.#30.11 Gad: This name in Hebrew means “luck”. 12Zilpah bore Jacob another son, 13and Leah said, “How happy I am! Now women will call me happy”; so she named him Asher.#30.13 Asher: This name in Hebrew means “happy”.
14During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found mandrakes,#30.14 mandrakes: Plants which were believed to produce fertility and were used as love-charms. which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.”
15Leah answered, “Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you are even trying to take away my son's mandrakes.”
Rachel said, “If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.”
16When Jacob came in from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You are going to sleep with me tonight, because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes.” So he had intercourse with her that night.
17God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband”; so she named her son Issachar.#30.18 Issachar: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “a man is hired” and “there is reward”. 19Leah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now my husband will accept me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she named him Zebulun.#30.20 Zebulun: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “accept” and “gift”. 21Later she bore a daughter, whom she named Dinah.
22Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son. 24May the LORD give me another son”; so she named him Joseph.#30.24 Joseph: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “may he give another” and “he has taken away”.
Jacob's Bargain with Laban
25After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go, so that I can return home. 26Give me my wives and children that I have earned by working for you, and I will leave. You know how well I have served you.”
27Laban said to him, “Let me say this: I have learnt by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you. 28Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
29Jacob answered, “You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care. 30The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I went.#30.30 wherever I went; or because of me. Now it is time for me to look out for my own interests.”
31“What shall I pay you?” Laban asked.
Jacob answered, “I don't want any wages. I will continue to take care of your flocks if you agree to this suggestion: 32Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb#30.32 One ancient translation every black lamb; Hebrew every spotted and speckled lamb, and every black lamb. and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want. 33In the future you can easily find out if I have been honest. When you come to check up on my wages, if I have any goat that isn't speckled or spotted or any sheep that isn't black, you will know that it has been stolen.”
34Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.” 35But that day Laban removed the male goats that had stripes or spots and all the females that were speckled and spotted or which had white on them; he also removed all the black sheep. He put his sons in charge of them, 36and then went away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flocks.
37Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. 38He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink. 39So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban's flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban's.
41When the healthy animals were mating, Jacob put the branches in front of them at the drinking troughs, so that they would breed among the branches. 42But he did not put the branches in front of the weak animals. Soon Laban had all the weak animals, and Jacob all the healthy ones. 43In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Genesis 30
30
1And when Rachel (ewe) saw that she bore Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) no children, Rachel (ewe) envied her sister; and said unto Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of), Give me children, or else I die.
2And Ya’akov’s (he who holds onto the heel of) anger was kindled against Rachel (ewe): and he said, [Am] I in God-Elōhīm’s [The Living Word - The Many Powered] stead, who has withheld from youi the fruit of the womb?
3And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah (troubled; timid), 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 female servant to wife: and Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) went in unto her.
5And Bilhah conceived, and bore Ya’akov a son.
6And Rachel (ewe) said, God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan (Judge).
7And Bilhah Rachel’s [ewe] maid conceived again, and bore Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) a second son.
8And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naftali (My Wrestling).
9When Le’ah (weary; grieved) saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah (a tickling; a sprinkle) her maid, and gave her Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) to wife.
10And Zilpah (a tickling; a sprinkle) Le’ah’s (weary; grieved) maid bore Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) a son.
11And Le’ah (weary; grieved) said, A troop comes: and she called his name Gad (troop; good fortune with much effort).
12And Zilpah, Leah’s maid bore Ya’akov a second son.
13And Le’ah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous): and she called his name Asher (happy).
14And Re’uven (behold a son) went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Le’ah (weary; grieved). Then Rachel (ewe) said to Le’ah (weary; grieved), Give me, I pray youi, of youri son’s mandrakes.
15And she said unto her, [Is it] a small matter that youi hast taken my husband? and would youi take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with youi to night for youri son’s mandrakes.
16And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) came out of the field in the evening, and Le’ah (weary; grieved) went out to meet him, and said, Youi must come in unto me; for surely I have hired youi with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
17And God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] listened unto Le’ah (weary; grieved), and she conceived, and bore Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) the fifth son.
18And Le’ah said, God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] has given me my hire, because I have given my virgin to my husband: and she called his name Yissakhar (there is recompense).
19And Le’ah conceived again, and bore Ya’akov the sixth son.
20And Le’ah said, God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] has endued me [with] a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Z’vulun (exalted; Glorious Dwelling Place).
21And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah (judgment).
22And God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] remembered Rachel (ewe), and God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] listened to her, and opened her womb.
23And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] has taken away my reproach (disgrace; shame):
24And she called his name Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]); and said, The Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) shall add to me another son.
25And it came to pass, when Rachel (ewe) had born Yosef (Increaser; May God the Powerful One add [Yah]), that Ya’akov said unto Lavan (to be white; white guy), Send me away, that I may go unto my own place, and to my country.
26Give [me] my wives and my children, for whom I have served youi, and let me go: for youi know my service which I have done youi.
27And Lavan said unto him, I pray youi, if I have found favour in youri eyes, [wait: for] I have learned by experience that the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) has Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) me for youri sake.
28And he said, Appoint me youri wages, and I will give [it].
29And he said unto him, Youi know how I have served youi, and how youri cattle was with me.
30For [it was] little which youi had before I [came], and it is [now] increased unto a multitude; and the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) has Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) youi since my coming: and now when shall I provide for my own house also?
31And he said, What shall I give youi? And Ya’akov said, Youi shall not give me anything: if youi will do this thing for me, I will again feed [and] keep youri flock:
32I will pass through all youri flock to day, removing from there all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire.
33So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before youri face: every one that [is] not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
34And Lavan (to be white; white guy) said, Behold, I would it might be according to youri word.
35And he removed that day the he goats that were marked with circular stripes 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 Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of): and Ya’akov fed the rest of Lavan’s flocks.
37And Ya’akov took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pealed white strakes in them, and made the white appear which [was] in the rods.
38And he set the rods which he had pealed 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 cattle marked with circular stripes, speckled, and spotted.
40And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the marked with circular stripes, and all the brown in the flock of Lavan (to be white; white guy); and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Lavan’s cattle.
41And it came to pass, whenever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Ya’akov laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
42But when the cattle were feeble, he put [them] not in: so the feebler were Lavan’s, and the stronger Ya’akov’s.
43And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and donkeys.
Text copyright © 2000-2018 TOV Rose
For more information about the NMV, details about why the names of God are notated and translated as they are, or to learn about the special markings and translations used in this text, click below.
Follow the instructions and you will receive the free e-book by email.