GenesisChapter 30

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¹Rachel saw that she was not having any children for Jacob. So she was jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" ²Jacob became angry with Rachel. He said, "Am I God? He is the one who has kept you from having children." ³Then she said, "Here is my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her. She can have children for me. Then through her I can have a family too." ⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife. And Jacob slept with her. ⁵Bilhah became pregnant and had a son for Jacob. ⁶Then Rachel said, "God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and given me a son." So she named him Dan.a ⁷Rachel's servant Bilhah became pregnant again. She had a second son for Jacob. ⁸Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." So she named him Naphtali.b ⁹Leah saw that she had stopped having children. So she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Leah's servant Zilpah had a son for Jacob. ¹¹Then Leah said, "How lucky!" So she named him Gad.c ¹²Leah's servant Zilpah had a second son for Jacob. ¹³Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.d ¹⁴During the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in the field. He brought them to his mother. Then Rachel begged Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."e ¹⁵But Leah answered, "Isn't it enough that you took my husband? Now you want to take my son's mandrakes too?" Rachel said, "All right. Jacob can sleep with you tonight. In return, give me your son's mandrakes." ¹⁶That evening Jacob came in from the field. Leah went out to meet him. She said, "You must sleep with me tonight. I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷God listened to Leah. She became pregnant and had a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸Then Leah said, "God has paid me back for giving my servant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.f ¹⁹Leah became pregnant again. She had a sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰She said, "God has given me a good gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have given him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.g ²¹Later Leah had a daughter. She named her Dinah. ²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and made her able to have children. ²³She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my shame." ²⁴She named him Joseph. She said, "May the LORD give me another son."h ²⁵After Rachel had Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Let me go. I want to go back to my own country. ²⁶Give me my wives and children. I have worked for you to get them. Let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you." ²⁷But Laban answered, "If you are pleased with me, please stay. I have learned by reading signs that the LORD has blessed me because of you." ²⁸He added, "Tell me what pay you want. I'll pay it." ²⁹Jacob answered, "You know how I have worked for you. You know how well your animals have done in my care. ³⁰You had very little before I came. But now you have much, much more. The LORD has blessed you everywhere I have gone. But when can I do something for my own family?" ³¹Laban asked, "What should I give you?" Jacob answered, "You don't need to give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will keep taking care of your flocks. ³²Let me go through all your flocks today. I will take out every sheep that has specks or spots and every dark lamb. I will also take out every goat that has spots or specks. They will be my pay. ³³Later on you can come and check my pay. Then my honesty will speak for me. Maybe you'll find a goat with me that has no specks or spots. Or maybe you'll find a lamb that isn't dark. If so, you can count it as stolen." ³⁴Laban said, "I agree. Let it be as you have said." ³⁵But that same day Laban took out all the male goats that had stripes or spots. He took out all the female goats that had specks or spots, every one with any white on it. He took out every dark lamb too. He put them in the care of his sons. ³⁶Then he put a three-day trip between himself and Jacob. Jacob kept taking care of the rest of Laban's flocks. ³⁷But Jacob took fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He peeled strips of bark off them. This showed the white wood inside the branches. ³⁸Then he set the peeled branches in the water troughs. They were right in front of the flocks when they came to drink. So when the animals were ready to mate and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches. And they had young ones with stripes, specks, or spots. ⁴⁰Jacob set apart the young animals. But he made the rest of the flock face the striped and dark animals in Laban's flocks. Then he kept his own animals apart. He did not put them with Laban's animals. ⁴¹The stronger females in the flock were ready to mate at times. Then Jacob would put the branches in the troughs where they could see them. That way they would mate in front of the branches. ⁴²But he didn't put out the branches when the animals were weak. So the weaker animals went to Laban, and the stronger ones went to Jacob. ⁴³In this way Jacob became very rich. He owned large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.