Genesis 30
30
1Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children by Jacob. So she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2Jacob became angry with her. He said, “Do you think I’m God? He’s the one who has kept you from having children.”
3Then she said, “Here’s my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her so that she can have children for me. Then I too can have a family through her.”
4So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her. 5And Bilhah became pregnant. She had a son by him. 6Then Rachel said, “God has stood up for my rights. He has listened to my prayer and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.
7Rachel’s servant Bilhah became pregnant again. She had a second son by Jacob. 8Then Rachel said, “I’ve had a great struggle with my sister. Now I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali.
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 by Jacob. 11Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad.
12Leah’s servant Zilpah had a second son by Jacob. 13Then Leah said, “I’m so happy! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
14While the wheat harvest was being gathered, Reuben went out into the fields. He found some mandrake plants. He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15But Leah said to her, “Isn’t it enough that you took my husband away? Are you going to take my son’s mandrakes too?”
Rachel said, “All right. Jacob can sleep with you tonight if you give me your son’s mandrakes.”
16Jacob came in from the fields that evening. Leah went out to meet him. “You have to sleep with me tonight,” she said. “I’ve traded my son’s mandrakes for that time with you.” So he slept with her that night.
17God listened to Leah. She became pregnant and had a fifth son by Jacob. 18Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me because I gave my female servant to my husband.” So she named the boy Issachar.
19Leah became pregnant again. She had a sixth son by Jacob. 20Then Leah said, “God has given me a priceless gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor. I’ve had six sons by him.” So she named the boy Zebulun.
21Some time later she had a daughter. She named her Dinah.
22Then God listened to Rachel. He showed concern for her. He made it possible for her to have children. 23She became pregnant and had a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24She said, “May the Lord give me another son.” So she named him Joseph.
Jacob Becomes the Owner of Large Flocks
25After Rachel had Joseph, Jacob spoke to Laban. He said, “Send me on my way. I want to go back to my own home and country. 26Give me my wives and children. I worked for you to get them. So I’ll be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”
27But Laban said to him, “If you are pleased with me, stay here. I’ve discovered that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” 28He continued, “Name your pay. I’ll give it to you.”
29Jacob said to him, “You know how hard I’ve worked for you. You know that your livestock has done better under my care. 30You had only a little before I came. But that little has become a lot. The Lord has blessed you everywhere I’ve been. But when can I do something for my own family?”
31“What should I give you?” Laban asked.
“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “Just do one thing for me. Then I’ll go on taking care of your flocks and watching over them. 32Let me go through all your flocks today. Let me remove every speckled or spotted sheep. Let me remove every dark-colored lamb. Let me remove every speckled or spotted goat. They will be my pay. 33My honesty will be a witness about me in days to come. It will be a witness every time you check on what you have paid me. Suppose I have a goat that doesn’t have speckles or spots. Or suppose I have a lamb that isn’t dark colored. Then it will be considered stolen.”
34“I agree,” said Laban. “Let’s do what you have said.” 35That same day Laban removed all the male goats that had stripes or spots. He removed all the female goats that had speckles or spots. They were the ones that had white on them. He also removed all the dark-colored lambs. He had his sons take care of them. 36Then he put a journey of three days between himself and Jacob. But Jacob continued to take care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37Jacob took freshly cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees. He made white stripes on the branches by peeling off their bark. 38Then he placed the peeled branches in all the stone tubs where the animals drank water. He placed them there so they would be right in front of the flocks when they came to drink. The flocks were ready to mate when they came to drink. 39So they mated in front of the branches. And the flocks gave birth to striped, speckled or spotted little ones. 40Jacob put the little ones of the flock to one side by themselves. But he made the older ones face the striped and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. In that way, he made separate flocks for himself. He didn’t put them with Laban’s animals. 41Every time the stronger females were ready to mate, Jacob would place the branches in the stone tubs. He would place them in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches. 42But if the animals were weak, he wouldn’t place the branches there. So the weak animals went to Laban. And the strong ones went to Jacob. 43That’s how Jacob became very rich. He became the owner of large flocks. He also had many male and female servants. And he had many camels and donkeys.
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Genesis 30: NIrV
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Genesis 30
30
1And Rachel seeth that she hath not borne to Jacob, and Rachel is envious of her sister, and saith unto Jacob, ‘Give me sons, and if there is none — I die.’
2And Jacob's anger burneth against Rachel, and he saith, ‘Am I instead of God who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?’
3And she saith, ‘Lo, my handmaid Bilhah, go in unto her, and she doth bear on my knees, and I am built up, even I, from her;’
4and she giveth to him Bilhah her maid-servant for a wife, and Jacob goeth in unto her;
5and Bilhah conceiveth, and beareth to Jacob a son,
6and Rachel saith, ‘God hath decided for me, and also hath hearkened to my voice, and giveth to me a son;’ therefore hath she called his name Dan.
7And Bilhah, Rachel's maid-servant, conceiveth again, and beareth a second son to Jacob,
8and Rachel saith, ‘With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, yea, I have prevailed;’ and she calleth his name Napthali.
9And Leah seeth that she hath ceased from bearing, and she taketh Zilpah her maidservant, and giveth her to Jacob for a wife;
10and Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant, beareth to Jacob a son,
11and Leah saith, ‘A troop is coming;’ and she calleth his name Gad.
12And Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant, beareth a second son to Jacob,
13and Leah saith, ‘Because of my happiness, for daughters have pronounced me happy;’ and she calleth his name Asher.
14And Reuben goeth in the days of wheat-harvest, and findeth love-apples in the field, and bringeth them in unto Leah, his mother, and Rachel saith unto Leah, ‘Give to me, I pray thee, of the love-apples of thy son.’
15And she saith to her, ‘Is thy taking my husband a little thing, that thou hast taken also the love-apples of my son?’ and Rachel saith, ‘Therefore doth he lie with thee to-night, for thy son's love-apples.’
16And Jacob cometh in from the field at evening; and Leah goeth to meet him, and saith, ‘Unto me dost thou come in, for hiring I have hired thee with my son's love-apples;’ and he lieth with her during that night.
17And God hearkeneth unto Leah, and she conceiveth, and beareth to Jacob a son, a fifth,
18and Leah saith, ‘God hath given my hire, because I have given my maid-servant to my husband;’ and she calleth his name Issachar.
19And conceive again doth Leah, and she beareth a sixth son to Jacob,
20and Leah saith, ‘God hath endowed me — a good dowry; this time doth my husband dwell with me, for I have borne to him six sons;’ and she calleth his name Zebulun;
21and afterwards hath she born a daughter, and calleth her name Dinah.
22And God remembereth Rachel, and God hearkeneth unto her, and openeth her womb,
23and she conceiveth and beareth a son, and saith, ‘God hath gathered up my reproach;’
24and she calleth his name Joseph, saying, ‘Jehovah is adding to me another son.’
25And it cometh to pass, when Rachel hath borne Joseph, that Jacob saith unto Laban, ‘Send me away, and I go unto my place, and to my land;
26give up my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and I go; for thou — thou hast known my service which I have served thee.’
27And Laban saith unto him, ‘If, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes — I have observed diligently that Jehovah doth bless me for thy sake.’
28He saith also, ‘Define thy hire to me, and I give.’
29And he saith unto him, ‘Thou — thou hast known that which I have served thee [in], and that which thy substance was with me;
30for [it is] little which thou hast had at my appearance, and it breaketh forth into a multitude, and Jehovah blesseth thee at my coming; and now, when do I make, I also, for mine own house?’
31And he saith, ‘What do I give to thee?’ And Jacob saith, ‘Thou dost not give me anything; if thou do for me this thing, I turn back; I have delight; thy flock I watch;
32I pass through all thy flock to-day to turn aside from thence every sheep speckled and spotted, and every brown sheep among the lambs, and speckled and spotted among the goats — and it hath been my hire;
33and my righteousness hath answered for me in the day to come, when it cometh in for my hire before thy face; — every one which is not speckled and spotted among [my] goats, and brown among [my] lambs — it is stolen with me.’
34And Laban saith, ‘Lo, O that it were according to thy word;’
35and he turneth aside during that day the ring-streaked and the spotted he-goats, and all the speckled and the spotted she-goats, every one that [hath] white in it, and every brown one among the lambs, and he giveth into the hand of his sons,
36and setteth a journey of three days between himself and Jacob; and Jacob is feeding the rest of the flock of Laban.
37And Jacob taketh to himself a rod of fresh poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut, and doth peel in them white peelings, making bare the white that [is] on the rods,
38and setteth up the rods which he hath peeled in the gutters in the watering troughs (when the flock cometh in to drink), over-against the flock, that they may conceive in their coming in to drink;
39and the flocks conceive at the rods, and the flock beareth ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted ones.
40And the lambs hath Jacob parted, and he putteth the face of the flock towards the ring-streaked, also all the brown in the flock of Laban, and he setteth his own droves by themselves, and hath not set them near Laban's flock.
41And it hath come to pass whenever the strong ones of the flock conceive, that Jacob set the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, to cause them to conceive by the rods,
42and when the flock is feeble, he doth not set [them]; and the feeble ones have been Laban's, and the strong ones Jacob's.
43And the man increaseth very exceedingly, and hath many flocks, and maid-servants, and men-servants, and camels, and asses.
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