30Verse 1When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children or I’ll die!”Verse 2Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”Verse 3She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.”Verse 4So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her.Verse 5Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.Verse 6Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan.Verse 7Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son.Verse 8Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.Verse 9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.Verse 10Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son.Verse 11Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.Verse 12Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son.Verse 13Leah said, “How happy I am, for women will call me happy!” So she named him Asher.Verse 14At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”Verse 15But Leah replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” Rachel said, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”Verse 16When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations with her that night.Verse 17God paid attention to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time.Verse 18Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” So she named him Issachar.Verse 19Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time.Verse 20Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.Verse 21After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.Verse 22Then God took note of Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant.Verse 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.”Verse 24She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”
The Flocks of Jacob
Verse 25After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can go home to my own country.Verse 26Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. Then I’ll depart, because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.”Verse 27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, for I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.”Verse 28He added, “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.”Verse 29“You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, “and how well your livestock have fared under my care.Verse 30Indeed, you had little before I arrived, but now your possessions have increased many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?”Verse 31So Laban asked, “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” Jacob replied, “but if you agree to this one condition, I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them:Verse 32Let me walk among all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and the spotted or speckled goats. These animals will be my wages.Verse 33My integrity will testify for me later on. When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.”Verse 34“Agreed!” said Laban, “It will be as you say.”Verse 35So that day Laban removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care of his sons.Verse 36Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, while Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.Verse 37But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible.Verse 38Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink.Verse 39When the sheep mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.Verse 40Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks.Verse 41When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.Verse 42But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban and the stronger animals to Jacob.Verse 43In this way Jacob became extremely prosperous. He owned large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.