Genesis 30

The Sons of Jacob

1Now when Rachel saw that 1she had not borne Jacob any children, 2she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “3Give me children, or else I am going to die.” 2Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has 4withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3Then she said, “5Here is my female slave Bilhah: have relations with her that she may 6give birth 7on my knees, so that 89by her I too may obtain a child.” 4So 10she gave him her slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her. 5Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6Then Rachel said, “God has 1112vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him 13Dan. 7And Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8So Rachel said, “With 14mighty wrestling I have 15wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.

9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, “16How fortunate!” So she named him 17Gad. 12And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, “18Happy am I! For women 19will call me happy.” So she named him 20Asher.

14Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found 21mandrake fruits 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 she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may sleep with you tonight in return 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 have relations with me, for I have indeed hired 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. 18Then Leah said, “God has given me my 22reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; finally my husband 23will acknowledge me as his wife, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 21Afterward she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Dinah.

22Then 24God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and 25opened her womb. 23So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “God has 26taken away my disgrace.” 24And she named him Joseph, saying, “27May the Lord 28give me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

25Now it came about, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “29Send me away, so that I may go to my own place and to my own country. 26Give me my wives and my children 30for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have 31rendered you.” 27But Laban said to him, “If 32it pleases you at all, stay with me; I have determined by divination 33that the Lord has blessed me on your account.” 28He 34continued, “35Name me your wages, and I will give them.” 29But Jacob said to him, “36You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have 37fared with me. 30For you had little before 38I came, and it has 39increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you 40wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: 32let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every 41speckled or spotted sheep and every black sheep among the lambs, and the spotted or speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages. 33So my 42honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my 43wages. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” 34Laban said, “44Good, let it be according to your word.” 35So he removed on that day the striped or spotted male goats, and all the speckled or spotted female goats, every one with white on it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and put them in the 45care of his sons. 36And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37Then Jacob 46took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white that was 47in the rods. 38He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the drinking troughs, that is, in the watering channels where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. 39So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks delivered striped, speckled, and spotted offspring. 40Then Jacob separated the lambs, and 48made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the drinking troughs, so that they would mate by the rods; 42but when the flock was sickly, he did not put them in; so the sickly were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s. 43So 49the man 50became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.