Genesis 30
1
And Rachel saw that she did not bear to Jacob, and Rachel was jealous of her
sister. And she said to Jacob, Give me sons; and if there is none, I shall die.
2 And Jacob's anger glowed against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God's place,
who has kept back from you the fruit of the womb? 3 And she said, Behold my
servant Bilhah! Go in to her and let her bear on my knees; yea, let me be built
up from her, me also. 4 And she gave her slave-girl Bilhah to him for a wife.
And Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore a son to Jacob. 6 And
Rachel said, God has judged and has also heard my voice, and has given me a
son. So she called his name Dan. 7 And Bilhah, Rachel's slave-girl, conceived
again, and bore a second son to Jacob. 8 And Rachel said, With struggles of God
I have wrestled with my sister; yea, I have been able. And she called his name
Naphtali. 9 And Leah saw that she had ceased from bearing. And she took Zilpah, her slave-girl, and gave her to Jacob for a wife.
10 And Leah's slave-girl Zilpah bore a son to Jacob.
11 And Leah said, With fortune. And she called his name Gad. 12 And Zilpah, Leah's slave-girl, bore a second son to Jacob. 13
And Leah said, In my happiness; for the daughters shall call me happy. And she
called his name Asher. 14 And in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went out and
found love-apples in the field. And he brought them to his mother Leah. And
Rachel said to Leah, Please give to me from the love-apples of your son. 15 And
she said to her, is your taking my husband a little thing? Will you also take
my son's love-apples? And Rachel said, So he shall be with you tonight, for
your son's love apples. 16 And Jacob came in from the field at evening. And
Leah went out to meet him. And she said, You must come in to me, for hiring I
have hired you with my son's love-apples. And he lay with her during that
night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to
Jacob. 18 And Leah said, God has given my hire; I gave my slave-girl to my
husband. And she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again and bore
a sixth son to Jacob. 20 And Leah said, God has given me a good present. This
time my husband will live with me, because I have borne six sons to him. And she
called his name Zebulun. 21 And afterwards she bore a daughter and called her
name Dinah. 22 And God remembered Rachel; and God listened to her and opened
her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son. And she said, God has taken away
my reproach. 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, May Jehovah add to me
another son. 25 And it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to
Laban, Send me away so I may go to my own place and to my land. 26 Give my
wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go. For you know
my service with which I have served you. 27 And Laban said to him, Please, if I
have found favor in your eyes, stay. I have seen omens, also Jehovah has
blessed me because of you. 28 And he said, Set your wages on me and I will
give. 29 And he said to him, You know how I have served you and what your
livestock has become with me. 30 For little was yours before my presence, and
it has spread out into a host. And Jehovah has blessed you at my foot. And now
when shall I work for my house, I also? 31 And he said, What shall I give you?
And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for
me, I will remain. I will feed your flock and keep it. 32 I will pass among all
your flock today, taking from there every speckled and spotted sheep, and every
black sheep among the lambs, also the spotted and speckled goats; these shall
be my wages. 33 And my righteousness shall testify for me in the day to come.
When you come in about my wages, before your face everyone that is not speckled
and spotted among the goats, and black among the lambs, it is stolen with me.
34 And Laban said, Yes, if it be so let it be as you speak. 35 And he turned
out in that day all the striped and spotted lambs, and all the speckled and spotted
goats, every one which had white, and every black one among the lambs. And he
gave them into the hands of his sons. 36 And he put three days journey between
himself and Jacob. And Jacob was feeding the remaining flocks of Laban. 37 And
Jacob took for himself white rods of a fresh tree, and the almond and plane
tree. And he peeled white stripes in them, laying bare the white on the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had peeled by the troughs, by the water troughs
where the flocks came to drink, across from the flocks. And they were in heat
when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks were in heat before the rods and
bore striped, speckled and spotted offspring. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs,
and he set the faces of the flock toward the striped, and every black one in
the flocks of Laban. And he put his own droves by themselves, and did not put
them with the flock of Laban. 41 And it happened that whenever the strong
flocks conceived, Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the flocks, before
the troughs, that they might conceive by the rods. 42 And the flocks being
feeble, he did not set them. And usually it happened that the weak were for
Laban, and the strong for Jacob. 43 And the man increased very much, and many
flocks were his, and slave-girls, and male slaves, and camels and asses.