CHAPTER 30
When Rachel
saw
that
she was not
bearing
any children
for Jacob,
she envied
her sister.
“Give
me
children,
or
I
will die!”
she said
to
Jacob.
Jacob
became angry
with Rachel
and said,
“Am I
in the place
of God,
who
has withheld
children
from you?”
Then she said,
“Here
is my maidservant
Bilhah.
Sleep with
her,
and she will bear children
for me,
so that through her
I
too
can build a family.”
Then Rachel
said,
“God
has vindicated me;
He has heard
my plea
and given
me
a son.”
So she named
him Dan.
Then Rachel
said,
“In my great struggles,
I have wrestled
with
my sister
and
won.”
So she named
him
Naphtali.
When Leah
saw
that
she had stopped
having children,
she gave
her servant
Zilpah
to Jacob
as a wife.
Now during the wheat
harvest,
Reuben
went out
and found
some mandrakes
in the field.
When he brought
them to
his mother,
Rachel
begged
Leah,
“Please
give me
some of
your son’s
mandrakes.”
But Leah replied,
“Is it not enough
that you have taken away
my husband?
Now you
want to take
my son’s
mandrakes as well?”
“Very well,”
said
Rachel,
“he may sleep
with you
tonight
in exchange for
your son’s
mandrakes.”
When Jacob
came in
from
the field
that evening,
Leah
went out
to meet him
and said,
“You must come
with me,
for
I have hired you
with my son’s
mandrakes.”
So he slept
with
her that
night.
Then Leah
said,
“God
has rewarded
me for
giving
my maidservant
to my husband.”
So she named him
Issachar.
“God
has given
me a good
gift,”
she
said.
“This time
my husband
will honor me,
because
I have borne
him
six
sons.”
And she named
him Zebulun.
Now
after
Rachel
had given birth to
Joseph,
Jacob
said
to
Laban,
“Send me on my way
so I can return
to
my homeland.
Give
me
my wives
and
children,
for whom
I have served you,
and I will go on my way.
You
know
how
hard I have worked
for you.”
But Laban
replied,
“If
I have found
favor
in your eyes,
please stay.
I have learned by divination
that the LORD
has blessed
me because of you.”
Then Jacob answered,
“You
know
how
I have served you
and
how well
your livestock
has fared
under my care.
Indeed,
you had
very little
before my arrival,
but now your wealth
has increased many times over.
The LORD
has blessed
you
wherever I set foot.
But now,
when
may I
also
provide
for my own household?”
“What
can I give
you?”
Laban asked.
“You do not
need to give
me
anything,”
Jacob replied.
“If
you do
this
one thing
for me,
I will keep on
shepherding
and keeping
your flock.
Let me go
through all
your flocks
today
and remove
from them
every
speckled
or spotted
sheep,
every
dark-colored
lamb,
and every spotted
or speckled
goat.
These will be
my wages.
So my honesty
will testify
for me
when
you come to check
on
my wages
in the future.
If I have
any
goats
that
are not
speckled
or spotted,
or any lambs
that are not dark-colored,
they
will be considered stolen.”
That very
day
Laban removed
all the streaked
or spotted
male goats
and
every
speckled
or spotted
female goat—
every one
that
had any white
on it—
and every
dark-colored
lamb,
and he placed them
under the care
of his sons.
Then he put
a three-day
journey
between
himself and Jacob,
while Jacob
was shepherding
the rest
of Laban’s
flocks.
Jacob, however,
took
fresh
branches
of poplar,
almond,
and plane trees,
and peeled
the bark,
exposing
the white
inner wood
of
the branches.
Then he set
the peeled
branches
in the watering
troughs
in front of
the flocks
coming in
to drink.
So when the flocks
were in heat
and came
to drink,
they
mated
in front of
the branches.
And they bore
young that were
streaked
or speckled
or spotted.
Jacob
set apart
the young,
but made
the rest
face
the streaked
dark-colored
sheep in Laban’s
flocks.
Then he set
his own stock
apart
and did not
put
them with
Laban’s
animals.
Whenever
the stronger females
of the flock
were in heat,
Jacob
would place
the branches
in the troughs,
in full view
of the animals,
so they would breed
in front of the branches.
But if the animals
were weak,
he did not
set out the branches.
So the weaker animals
went to
Laban
and the stronger ones
to Jacob.
Thus Jacob
became
exceedingly
prosperous.
He owned
large
flocks,
maidservants
and menservants,
and camels
and donkeys.