1 The Sons of Jacob Then Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, so 30:1Lit Rachel she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”
2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 And she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that 30:3Lit from her I too may be built through her I too may obtain children.”
4 So she gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, “God has 30:6Lit judged rendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him 30:6He judged Dan.
7 And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With 30:8Lit wrestlings of God mighty wrestlings I have 30:8Heb niphtal, related to Naphtali wrestled with my sister,andI have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “ 30:11Lit With fortune!; some versions Fortune has come How fortunate!” So she named him 30:11Fortune Gad.
12 And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 Then Leah said, “ 30:13Lit With my happiness! Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him 30:13Happy Asher.
14 And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But 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 will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 Then Jacob came in from the field in the evening. And Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 And Leah said, “God has given me my 30:18Heb sachar, related to Issachar wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband 30:20Heb zabal, related to Zebulun will honor me because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
24 And she named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh 30:24Lit add to me; Heb Joseph give me another son.”Jacob Names His Wages
25 Now it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own land.
26 Givememy wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have 30:26Lit served rendered you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight,stay with me; I have interpreted an omen that Yahweh has blessed me on your account.”
28 And hecontinuedto say, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”
29 But he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have 30:29Lit been fared with me.
30 For you had little before 30:30Lit me I came, but it has spread out to a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you 30:30Lit at my foot ateverystep of mine. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do thisonething for me, I will again pastureandkeep your flock:
32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black 30:32Lit sheep one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; andsuchshall be my wages.
33 So my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my 30:33Lit wages which are before you wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs,if foundwith me, will be considered stolen.”
34 And Laban said, “Behold, 30:34Lit would that it might be let it be according to your word.”
35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the 30:35Lit hand care of his sons.
36 And he puta distance ofthree days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Then Jacob 30:37Lit took to himself took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white whichwas 30:37Lit on in the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the trough,that is, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink; and they 30:38Or conceived mated when they came to drink.
39 So the flocks 30:39Or conceived mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and he 30:40Lit set the faces made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he set his own herds apart and did not set them with Laban’s flock.
41 Now it would be that, whenever the 30:41Firm and compact; lit bound ones stronger of the flock 30:41Or conceived were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the trough, so that they might 30:41Or conceive mate by the rods;
42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not putthemin; so the feebler were Laban’s and the 30:42Firm and compact; lit bound ones stronger Jacob’s.
43 So the man spread out exceedingly and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.