Genesis 30

¹And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. ²And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? ³And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may obtain children by her. ⁴And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. ⁶And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. ⁷And Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. ⁸And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bare Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said, Fortunate! and she called his name Gad. ¹²And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bare Jacob a second son. ¹³And Leah said, Happy am I! for the daughters will call me happy: and she called his name Asher. ¹⁴And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. ¹⁵And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken away my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son’s mandrakes. ¹⁶And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for I have surely hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and bare a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰And Leah said, God hath endowed me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. ²¹And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. ²²And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bare a son: and said, God hath taken away my reproach: ²⁴and she called his name Joseph, saying, The LORD add to me another son. ²⁵And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee. ²⁷And Laban said unto him, If now I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: forI have divined that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. ²⁹And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle hath fared with me. ³⁰For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it hath increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee whithersoever I turned: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? ³¹And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me aught: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it. ³²I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of suchshall be my hire. ³³So shall my righteousness answer for me hereafter, when thou shalt come concerning my hire that is before thee: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that if foundwith me shall be counted stolen. ³⁴And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. ³⁵And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons; ³⁶and he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. ³⁷And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree; and peeled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban’s flock. ⁴¹And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; ⁴²but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and asses.