Genesis 30

1When Rachel saw that she was bearing Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die!”

2Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

3She said, “Here is my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, so that she may give birth on my knees, and I too may have children through her.”

4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob slept with her.

5Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

6Then Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor; he has heard my voice and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

7Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

8Then Rachel said, “I have wrestled a mighty struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.

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.

11Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” So she named him Gad.

12Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

13Leah said, “How happy I am! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

14During the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field, and he brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

15But she said to her, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Would you take my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel said, “All right, he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

16When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me, because I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

17God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

18Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

20Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

21Later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

22Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb.

23She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”

24She named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son for me.”

25After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way, so that I can go to my own place and my own country.

26Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have worked for you, and let me go. You know how I have worked for you.”

27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that Yahweh 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 have fared with me.

30The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when will I also provide for my own household?”

31Laban said, “What should I give you?” Jacob said, “Do not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will go on pasturing your flock and watching over it:

32let me go through all your flock today and remove from it every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark lamb among the sheep, and every spotted or speckled one among the goats. They will be my wages.

33My honesty will answer for me later, when you come to check on my wages. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, and any lamb that is not dark, will be counted as stolen.”

34Laban said, “Good. Let it be as you have said.”

35But that same day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one that had white on it, and all the dark lambs, and he put them in the care of his sons.

36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob went on pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37Then Jacob took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white of the branches.

38He set the branches he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, at the watering places where the flocks came to drink. The animals mated when they came to drink,

39and since they mated in front of the branches, the flocks gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

40Jacob set the lambs apart, and he made the flocks face the streaked and all the dark animals in Laban’s flock. So he formed separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

41Whenever the stronger animals of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so that they would mate among the branches.

42But when the animals were weak, he did not put them there. So the weak ones went to Laban, and the stronger ones to Jacob.

43In this way the man grew extremely rich, and he had large flocks, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.