Genesis 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.

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Genesis 30: GNBDC

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Genesis 30

Rachel’s working woman had 2 sons

1Leah already had 4 kids with Jacob, but her sister Rachel didn’t have any kids. So Rachel got jealous of Leah. Then Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me kids. If you don’t, I will be so sad that I will die.”

2Then Jacob got angry with Rachel. Jacob said, “God is the one that stopped you from having kids. I can’t change that. I’m not God.”

3So Rachel said, “All right, this is what you can do. Look, here is Bilhah, the woman that works for me. I want you to sleep with her, so that she will have babies. Bilhah belongs to me, so if she has babies, those babies will belong to me too. They will be just like my own kids.”

4Then Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob, and Bilhah became Jacob’s wife. And Jacob slept with Bilhah, like a man sleeps with his wife. 5Then Bilhah had a baby boy. He was another son for Jacob. 6Then Rachel said, “God has been very good and fair to me. He heard me ask for kids, and he gave me a son.” And Rachel named that baby Dan. That name means he was fair.

7Later on, Jacob and Bilhah slept together again, like married people do. Then Bilhah had another baby boy. He was the 2nd son that she had for Jacob. 8Then Rachel said, “I used to be jealous of my sister Leah, because she had kids and I didn’t. But now I have 2 sons. It’s like I had a big fight with Leah, and I won.” And Rachel named that baby Naphtali. That name means my big fight.

Leah’s working woman had 2 sons

9Leah wanted to have more kids, but no babies grew inside her. So she thought, “I will get Jacob to marry my working woman Zilpah, so that she will have babies. Zilpah belongs to me, so if she has babies, those babies will belong to me too. They will be just like my own kids.” So Leah gave Zilpah to Jacob, and she became Jacob’s wife. 10Jacob slept with Zilpah, like a man sleeps with his wife, and she had a baby boy. He was another son for Jacob. 11Then Leah said, “I’m really lucky.” And Leah named that baby Gad. That name means lucky.

12Later on, Zilpah had another baby boy. He was another son for Jacob. 13Then Leah said, “I’m so happy. I reckon other women will say, ‘Leah is happy now.’ ” And Leah named that baby Asher. That name means happy.

Leah had 2 more sons and a daughter

14One day, Leah’s oldest son Reuben went to the place where the wheat plants grow. At that time, some work-men were cutting down those wheat plants, to get the food from them. And Reuben found some special plants, called mandrakes, in that place. So Reuben took those mandrakes, and he gave them to his mother Leah. But Leah’s sister Rachel, she saw those mandrakes, and she wanted to have them. Rachel thought, “If I eat a mandrake, maybe I will have a baby.” You see, mandrakes were like bush medicine. People thought that if a woman eats a mandrake, it will help her have a baby.

So Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of those mandrakes that your son found.”

15Then Leah got angry with Rachel. She said, “Listen, I married Jacob first, but he loved you and married you. It’s like you took my husband away from me. That’s really bad. And now, you want to take my son’s mandrakes too. No, you can’t have them.”

But Rachel still wanted those mandrakes. So she said to Leah, “All right, if you give me your son’s mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.” And Leah agreed.

16Later on, while the sun was going down, Jacob finished working outside, and he came back home. Leah went out to meet Jacob, and she said, “You have to sleep with me tonight. You see, my son found some mandrakes, but I gave those mandrakes to Rachel, so that I can sleep with you. It’s like I paid for you with those mandrakes.” So that night, Jacob slept with Leah, like a man sleeps with his wife.

17God was good to Leah. He knew that Leah wanted to have more kids. So after Jacob slept with Leah, God made a baby start growing inside her. Later on, Leah had that baby, and it was a boy. He was another son for Jacob, and he was son number 5 for Leah. 18Then Leah said, “I reckon God is happy with me, because I let Jacob sleep with my working woman Zilpah. And now, God let me have another baby. It’s like God is paying me for that good thing I did.” And Leah named that baby Issachar. That name means pay.

19Later on, Leah had another baby boy, so Jacob had another son. He was son number 6 for Leah. 20Then Leah said, “God gave me lots of sons. They are like a really special present from God. Now I reckon my husband Jacob will respect me, because I gave him 6 sons.” And Leah named that baby Zebulun. That name means respect.

21Later on, Leah had a baby girl, and Leah named that baby Dinah.

Rachel had a son

22-23But Leah’s sister Rachel still wanted to have her own kids. And God was good to Rachel, and he gave her what she wanted. Before this time, Rachel didn’t have any kids, but then God let a baby start growing inside her. Rachel had a baby boy. Then Rachel said, “I used to feel shame, because I didn’t have any kids. But now, God gave me a son, so I don’t feel shame any more.” 24And Rachel named that baby Joseph. That name means he will give more. And Rachel said, “I’m asking God to give me another son.”

Jacob got lots of sheep and goats

25After Rachel had that baby, Jacob talked to his uncle Laban. Jacob said, “Let me go back to my home country. 26And let me take my wives and my kids. You know, I worked really hard for you so that I could marry your daughters. So now, let me take them back to my home country.”

27But Laban said, “Please listen to me. I’m asking you to stay here with me. You see, Yahweh your God is only good to me when you are here. I learned that by magic. 28If you stay here, I will pay you to work for me. Just tell me how much you want, and I will pay you.”

29-30Jacob said to Laban, “Look, you know that I worked really hard for you. When I came here, you only had a few animals. I looked after those animals for you, and they kept on having lots of babies, so now you have lots and lots of animals. Yes, Yahweh my God was good to you all the time that I worked for you. But I don’t have any animals myself. So now it’s time for me to look after myself and my own family.”

31Then Laban said, “All right, how much do you want me to pay you?”

But Jacob said, “I don’t want you to pay me. I will keep on looking after your animals, if you will do this one thing for me. 32Today, let me go to the place where you keep your sheep and goats, and let me take some of those sheep and goats for myself. You know, most of your sheep have white wool, and most of your goats have black wool. I will not take any of those white sheep or any of those black goats. But you have some funny coloured sheep and goats too. You have some spotty goats and some black sheep. I will take those funny coloured sheep and goats, and they will belong to me. They will be my pay. 33Later on, those sheep and goats will have babies, and those babies will have funny coloured wool too. So they will belong to me. I promise I will never steal any white sheep or any black goats from you. Whenever you come and look at my sheep and goats, you will see that I only have spotty goats and black sheep. Then you will know that I kept my promise.”

34Then Laban said, “All right, I agree. You can take all the funny coloured sheep and goats, and they will belong to you.”

35But that same day, Laban cheated Jacob. Laban went to the place where he kept his sheep and goats, and he took all the funny coloured ones away. He took the stripy goats and the spotty goats, any that had white bits on their wool, and he took all the black sheep.

Then Laban gave those sheep and goats to his sons, to take them far away. 36So his sons walked with those sheep and goats for 3 days, and then they stopped and camped. But Jacob stayed at Laban’s camp, and he looked after Laban’s other sheep and goats. All those sheep were white, and all those goats were black, and they belonged to Laban, just like he agreed with Jacob. So Jacob didn’t have any sheep or goats for himself.

37Then Jacob cut off some young green branches from 3 sorts of trees that were in that place. Those trees were called poplar trees, almond trees, and plane trees. Then Jacob pulled off some of the bark that was on the outside of those branches, so that he could see white bits under the bark. He did that so that those branches looked like they had spots on them. 38Then Jacob put those spotty branches in the place where the sheep and goats came to drink water. And whenever the sheep and goats came to that place to drink water, the males and females joined together to make babies. 39So whenever the males and females did that, those spotty branches were there in front of them. Later on, when their baby animals were born, they had spots and stripes on their wool.

40Jacob did another thing with Laban’s animals too. He took the white sheep, and he got those sheep to look at the stripy animals and the black animals.

After the babies were born, Jacob split up the animals. He took all the funny coloured animals for himself, just like he agreed with Laban. But all the white sheep and black goats belonged to Laban. And Jacob didn’t mix them together.

41Jacob wanted his sheep and goats to be stronger than Laban’s, so he wanted the strong babies to be born with funny coloured wool. So whenever the strong sheep and strong goats came to drink water, Jacob put the spotty branches there, and the strong males and strong females joined together to make babies in front of those branches. Later on, when those babies were born, they were strong too, and they had funny coloured wool, so they belonged to Jacob.

42But when the weak sheep and weak goats came to that place, Jacob didn’t put those branches in front of them. Then the weak sheep had white babies, and the weak goats had black babies, so they belonged to Laban. But the strong baby sheep and goats, they had funny coloured wool, so they belonged to Jacob.

43In that way, Jacob got lots and lots of sheep and goats, and he became very rich. He also owned lots of men and women that worked for him, and lots of camels and donkeys.

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