Genesis 30
30
1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”
3Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”
4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.#30:6 Dan here means he has vindicated.
7Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.#30:8 Naphtali means my struggle.
9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, “What good fortune!”#30:11 Or “A troop is coming!” So she named him Gad.#30:11 Gad can mean good fortune or troop.
12Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.#30:13 Asher means happy.
14During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”
“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
17God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.#30:18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for reward.
19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.#30:20 Zebulun probably means honor.
21Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24She named him Joseph,#30:24 Joseph means may he add. and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
Jacob’s Flocks Increase
25After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”
27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” 28He added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
29Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?”
31“What shall I give you?” he asked.
“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32Let 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. They will be my wages. 33And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.”
34“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. 41Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
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Genesis 30: NIV
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The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.
Genesis 30
30
Genesis 30
1 #
1 Sam 1.5, 6 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister, and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2#Gen 20.18; 29.31Jacob became very angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3#Gen 16.2Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her.” 4#Gen 16.3, 4So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6#Lam 3.59Then Rachel said, “God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son”; therefore she named him Dan.#30.6 That is, he judged 7Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8#Mt 4.13Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed,” so she named him Naphtali.#30.8 In Heb Naphtali resembles the verb for I have wrestled
9 #
v 4
When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Then Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11And Leah said, “Good fortune!” So she named him Gad.#30.11 That is, fortune 12Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13#Prov 31.28And Leah said, “Happy am I! For the women will call me happy,” so she named him Asher.#30.13 That is, happy
14 #
Gen 25.30
In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15#Num 16.9, 13But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” 16When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17And God heeded Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Leah said, “God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband,” so she named him Issachar.#30.18 In Heb Issachar resembles the word for my hire 19And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20#Mt 4.13Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons,” so she named him Zebulun.#30.20 In Heb Zebulun resembles the verb for honor 21Afterwards she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 #
Gen 29.31; 1 Sam 1.19, 20 Then God remembered Rachel, and God heeded her and opened her womb. 23#Isa 4.1; Lk 1.25She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach,” 24#Gen 35.17and she named him Joseph,#30.24 That is, he adds saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
Jacob Prospers at Laban’s Expense
25 #
Gen 24.54, 56 When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know very well the service I have given you.” 27#Gen 39.3, 5But Laban said to him, “If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you; 28#Gen 29.15name your wages, and I will give it.” 29#Gen 31.38–40Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me. 30#1 Tim 5.8For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it: 32#Gen 31.8let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and such shall be my wages. 33#Ps 37.6So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” 34Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” 35But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black and put them in charge of his sons, 36and he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock.
37 #
Gen 31.9–12
Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. 38He set the rods that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39the flocks bred in front of the rods, and so the flocks produced young that were striped, speckled, and spotted. 40Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and the completely black animals in the flock of Laban, and he put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob laid the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the rods, 42but for the feebler of the flock he did not lay them there, so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43#Gen 12.16; 13.2; 24.35; 26.13, 14Thus the man grew exceedingly rich and had large flocks and male and female slaves and camels and donkeys.
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New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.