30Genesis 30

1But Rachel had not borne Jacob any children, and so she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”Select Genesis 30:1

2Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “I can't take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.”Select Genesis 30:2

3She said, “Here is my slave Bilhah; sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. In this way I can become a mother through her.”Select Genesis 30:3

4So she gave Bilhah to her husband, and he had intercourse with her.Select Genesis 30:4

5Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son.Select Genesis 30:5

6Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son”; so she named him Dan.Select Genesis 30:6

7Bilhah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son.Select Genesis 30:7

8Rachel said, “I have fought a hard fight with my sister, but I have won”; so she named him Naphtali.Select Genesis 30:8

9When Leah realized that she had stopped having children, she gave her slave Zilpah to Jacob as his wife.Select Genesis 30:9

10Then Zilpah bore Jacob a son.Select Genesis 30:10

11Leah said, “I have been lucky”; so she named him Gad.Select Genesis 30:11

12Zilpah bore Jacob another son,Select Genesis 30:12

13and Leah said, “How happy I am! Now women will call me happy”; so she named him Asher.Select Genesis 30:13

14During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found mandrakes, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.”Select Genesis 30:14

15Leah answered, “Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you are even trying to take away my son's mandrakes.” Rachel said, “If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.”Select Genesis 30:15

16When Jacob came in from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You are going to sleep with me tonight, because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes.” So he had intercourse with her that night.Select Genesis 30:16

17God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.Select Genesis 30:17

18Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband”; so she named her son Issachar.Select Genesis 30:18

19Leah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a sixth son.Select Genesis 30:19

20She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now my husband will accept me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she named him Zebulun.Select Genesis 30:20

21Later she bore a daughter, whom she named Dinah.Select Genesis 30:21

22Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children.Select Genesis 30:22

23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son.Select Genesis 30:23

24May the Lord give me another son”; so she named him Joseph.Select Genesis 30:24

Jacob's Bargain with Laban

25After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go, so that I can return home.Select Genesis 30:25

26Give me my wives and children that I have earned by working for you, and I will leave. You know how well I have served you.”Select Genesis 30:26

27Laban said to him, “Let me say this: I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.Select Genesis 30:27

28Name your wages, and I will pay them.”Select Genesis 30:28

29Jacob answered, “You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care.Select Genesis 30:29

30The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I went. Now it is time for me to look out for my own interests.”Select Genesis 30:30

31“What shall I pay you?” Laban asked. Jacob answered, “I don't want any wages. I will continue to take care of your flocks if you agree to this suggestion:Select Genesis 30:31

32Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want.Select Genesis 30:32

33In the future you can easily find out if I have been honest. When you come to check up on my wages, if I have any goat that isn't speckled or spotted or any sheep that isn't black, you will know that it has been stolen.”Select Genesis 30:33

34Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.”Select Genesis 30:34

35But that day Laban removed the male goats that had stripes or spots and all the females that were speckled and spotted or which had white on them; he also removed all the black sheep. He put his sons in charge of them,Select Genesis 30:35

36and then went away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flocks.Select Genesis 30:36

37Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them.Select Genesis 30:37

38He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink.Select Genesis 30:38

39So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.Select Genesis 30:39

40Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban's flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban's.Select Genesis 30:40

41When the healthy animals were mating, Jacob put the branches in front of them at the drinking troughs, so that they would breed among the branches.Select Genesis 30:41

42But he did not put the branches in front of the weak animals. Soon Laban had all the weak animals, and Jacob all the healthy ones.Select Genesis 30:42

43In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.Select Genesis 30:43