Genesis 30
30
1#Ge 29:31; 37:11When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”
2#Ge 16:2; 1Sa 1:5Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3#Ge 50:23; Job 3:12Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Have relations with her so that she may bear a child on my knees,#From the Septuagint, a cloak with long sleeves, a full-length cloak, or an embroidered cloak, showing favoritism. so that I may also have children through her.”
4So she gave him Bilhah her maidservant as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her. 5Bilhah conceived and gave Jacob a son. 6#Ps 35:24; 43:1Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and He has also heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.
7Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave Jacob a second son. 8#Ge 49:21; Mt 4:13Then Rachel said, “With great wrestling have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9#Ge 30:4When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave Jacob a son. 11#Ge 49:19Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she called his name Gad.
12Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave Jacob a second son. 13#Lk 1:48; Ge 49:20Then Leah said, “Happy am I, for women will call me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14#SS 7:13At the time of the 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#Nu 16:13Leah said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”
So Rachel said, “All right, he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me, because I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he slept with her that night.
17God listened to Leah, and she conceived and gave Jacob a fifth son. 18Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19Leah conceived again and gave Jacob a sixth son. 20#Mt 4:13; Ge 35:23Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will dwell with me, because I have given him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.
21Afterwards she gave birth to a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22#Ge 29:31; 8:1; 1Sa 1:19–20Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23#Isa 4:1; Lk 1:25She conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24#Ge 35:24; 37:2And she called his name Joseph, saying, “The Lord will add to me another son.”
Jacob’s Agreement With Laban
25#Ge 24:54; 24:56When Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, so that I may go to my own place, to my country. 26#Ge 29:30; Hos 12:12Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go. For you know the service that I have given you.”
27#Ge 26:24; Isa 61:9Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. For I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.” 28#Ge 29:15He said, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”
29#Ge 31:6; 31:38–40Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 30#1Ti 5:8For you had little before I came, and it is now increased to a multitude. The Lord has blessed you since I came, and now when may I also provide for my own house?”
31Laban said, “What may I give you?”
And Jacob said, “You may not give me anything, but if you will do this one thing for me, I will continue to feed and keep your flock. 32#Ge 31:8I will pass through all your flock today, removing from it all the speckled and spotted sheep, and every brown sheep from among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. These shall be my wages. 33So my integrity will answer for me in time to come. When you come to examine my wages, every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep that are with me will be considered stolen.”
34Laban said, “Agreed. Let it be according to your word.” 35He removed that day the male goats that were striped and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. 36He put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37Then Jacob took rods of fresh-cut poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. 38He set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink, so that they would mate when they came to drink. 39The flocks mated before the rods and gave birth to young that were striped, speckled, and spotted. 40Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the brown in the flock of Laban. He put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s sheep. 41Whenever the stronger sheep mated, Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the sheep in the troughs, so that they might mate among the rods. 42But when the livestock were feeble, he did not put them in. So the weaker were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43#Ge 24:35; 26:13–14The man became exceedingly prosperous and had many sheep and female servants and male servants and camels and donkeys.
Currently Selected:
Genesis 30: MEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Military Bible Association
Genesis 30
30
1When Rachel saw that #ch. 29:31she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, #[ch. 16:2; 1 Sam. 1:5]who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3Then she said, “Here is my servant #ch. 29:29 Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth #ch. 50:23on my behalf,#30:3 Hebrew on my knees that even I may have children#30:3 Hebrew be built up, which sounds like the Hebrew for children through her.” 4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6Then Rachel said, “God has #[ch. 49:16]judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.#30:6 Dan sounds like the Hebrew for judged 7Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings#30:8 Hebrew With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name #[Matt. 4:13]Naphtali.#30:8 Naphtali sounds like the Hebrew for wrestling
9When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and #ver. 4; ch. 29:24gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11And Leah said, #[ch. 49:19]“Good fortune has come!” so she called his name #[ch. 49:19]Gad.#30:11 Gad sounds like the Hebrew for good fortune 12Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women #[Luke 1:48]have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.#30:13 Asher sounds like the Hebrew for happy
14In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found #Song 7:13mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15But 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 in exchange 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 listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.#30:18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for wages, or hire
19And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name #[Matt. 4:13]Zebulun.#30:20 Zebulun sounds like the Hebrew for honor 21Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22Then God #See ch. 8:1 remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and #ch. 29:31; [Ps. 127:3]opened her womb. 23She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away #Luke 1:25; [1 Sam. 1:6; Isa. 4:1]my reproach.” 24And she called his name Joseph,#30:24 Joseph means May he add, and sounds like the Hebrew for taken away saying, #ch. 35:17“May the Lord add to me another son!”
Jacob’s Prosperity
25As soon as 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 #ch. 29:20, 30for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” 27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that#30:27 Or have become rich and the Lord has blessed me because of you. 28#ch. 29:15Name your wages, and I will give it.” 29Jacob said to him, #ch. 31:6, 38-40“You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. 30For you had little before I came, #ver. 43 and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I #[1 Tim. 5:8]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 pasture your flock and keep it: 32let 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 #ch. 31:8they shall be my wages. 33So 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 the charge of his sons. 36And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
37Then #See ch. 31:8-12Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. 38He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the #[Ex. 2:16]watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, 42but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43Thus the man #ver. 30 increased greatly and #ch. 24:35; 26:13, 14had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Sign up to receive news and updates about the ESV: