Genesis 30
30
1And Rachel, seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.
2And Jacob being angry with her answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?
3But she said: I have here my servant Bala. Go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.
4And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,
5When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.
6And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my voice, giving me a son. And therefore she called his name Dan.
7And again Bala conceived and bore another,
8For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she called him Nephtali.
9Lia, perceiving that she had left off bearing, gave Zelpha her handmaid to her husband.
10And when she had conceived and brought forth a son,
11She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.
12Zelpha also bore another.
13And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.
14And Ruben, going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel said: Give me part of thy son's mandrakes.
15She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son's mandrakes? Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son's mandrakes.
16And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired thee for my son's mandrakes. And he slept with her that night.
17And God heard her prayers: and she conceived and bore the fifth son,
18And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.
19And Lia conceived again, and bore the sixth son,
20And said: God hath endowed me with a good dowry: this turn also my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons. And therefore she called his name Zabulon.
21After whom she bore a daughter, named Dina.
22The Lord also remembering Rachel heard her, and opened her womb,
23And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken away my reproach.
24And she called his name Joseph, saying: The Lord give me also another son.
25And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father-in-law: Send me away that I may return into my country, and to my land.
26Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served thee, that I may depart: thou knowest the service that I have rendered thee.
27Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight: I have learned by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake:
28Appoint thy wages which I shall give thee.
29But he answered: Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how great thy possession hath been in my hands.
30Thou hadst but little before I came to thee, and now thou art become rich: and the Lord hath blessed thee at my coming. It is reasonable therefore that I should now provide also for my own house.
31And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require nothing. But if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed, and keep thy sheep again.
32Go round through all thy flocks, and separate all the sheep of divers colours, and speckled: and all that is brown and spotted, and of divers colours, as well among the sheep, as among the goats, shall be my wages.
33And my justice shall answer for me tomorrow before thee when the time of the bargain shall come: and all that is not of divers colours, and spotted, and brown, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall accuse me of theft.
34And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest.
35And he separated the same day the she-goats, and the sheep, and the he-goats, and the rams of divers colours, and spotted: and all the flock of one colour, that is, of white and black fleece, he delivered into the hands of his sons.
36And he set the space of three days' journey betwixt himself and his son-in-law, who fed the rest of his flock.
37And Jacob took green rods of poplar, and of almond, and of plane trees, and pilled them in part: so when the bark was taken off, in the parts that were pilled, there appeared whiteness: but the parts that were whole remained green. And by this means the colour was divers.
38And he put them in the troughs, where the water was poured out: that when the flocks should come to drink, they might have the rods before their eyes, and in the sight of them might conceive.
39And it came to pass that in the very heat of coition, the sheep beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and speckled.
40And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the rams. And all the white and the black were Laban's: and the rest were Jacob's, when the flocks were separated one from the other.
41So when the ewes went first to ram, Jacob put the rods in the troughs of water before the eyes of the rams, and of the ewes, that they might conceive while they were looking upon them.
42But when the latter coming was, and the last conceiving, he did not put them. And those that were lateward, become Laban's: and they of the first time, Jacob's.
43And the man was enriched exceedingly: and he had many flocks, maid-servants and men-servants, camels and asses.
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Genesis 30: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Genesis 30
30
1When Rachel realized that she could bear Jacob no children, Rachel became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children! If you don’t, I may as well be dead.”
2Jacob was angry at Rachel and said, “Do you think I’m God? God alone has kept you from giving birth!”
3She said, “Here’s my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will give birth for me. Because of her, I will also have children.” 4So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife, and he slept with her. 5Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor, heard my voice, and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.#30.6 Or he judged 7Rachel’s servant Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 8Rachel said, “I’ve competed fiercely with my sister, and now I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali.#30.8 Or my competition or my wrestling
9When Leah realized that she had stopped bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife. 10Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob, 11and Leah said, “What good luck!” So she named him Gad.#30.11 Or good fortune 12Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob, 13and Leah said, “I’m happy now because women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.#30.13 Or happy
14During the wheat harvest, Reuben found some erotic herbs#30.14 Or mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me your son’s erotic herbs.”
15Leah replied, “Isn’t it enough that you’ve taken my husband? Now you want to take my son’s erotic herbs too?”
Rachel said, “For your son’s erotic herbs, Jacob#30.15 Or he may sleep with you tonight.”
16When Jacob came back from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I’ve paid for you with my son’s erotic herbs.” So he slept with her that night.
17God responded to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18Leah said, “God gave me what I paid for, what I deserved for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.#30.18 Or there is payment 19Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob, 20and she said, “God has given me a wonderful gift. Now my husband will honor me since I’ve borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.#30.20 Or honor 21After this, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22Then God remembered Rachel, responded to her, and let her conceive. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24She named him Joseph,#30.24 Or he adds saying to herself, May the LORD give me another son.
God blesses Jacob and Laban
25After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me off so that I can go to my own place and my own country. 26Give me my wives and children whom I’ve worked for, and I will go. You know the work I’ve done for you.”
27Laban said to him, “Do me this favor. I’ve discovered by a divine sign that the LORD has blessed me because of you, 28so name your price and I will pay it.”
29Jacob said to him, “You know how I’ve worked for you, and how well your livestock have done with me. 30While in my care, what little you had has multiplied a great deal. The LORD blessed you wherever I took your livestock.#30.30 Or them Now, when will I be able to work for my own household too?”
31Laban said, “What will I pay you?”
Jacob said, “Don’t pay me anything. If you will do this for me, I will take care of your flock again, and keep a portion.#30.31 Heb uncertain 32I will go through the entire flock today, taking out all of the speckled and spotted sheep, all of the black male lambs, and all of the spotted and speckled female goats. That will be my price. 33I will be completely honest with you: when you come to check on our agreement, every female goat with me that isn’t speckled or spotted and every male lamb with me that isn’t black will be considered stolen.”
34Laban said, “All right; let’s do it.” 35However, on that very day Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats and all of the speckled and spotted female goats—any with some white in it—and all of the black male lambs, and gave them to his sons. 36He put a three-day trip between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was watching the rest of Laban’s flock.
37Then Jacob took new branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees; and he peeled white stripes on them, exposing the branches’ white color. 38He set the branches that he had peeled near the watering troughs so that they were in front of the flock when they drank, because they often mated when they came to drink. 39When the flock mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to striped, speckled, and spotted young. 40Jacob sorted out the lambs, turning the flock to face the striped and black ones in Laban’s flock but keeping his flock separate, setting them apart from Laban’s flock. 41Whenever the strongest of the flock mated, Jacob put the branches in front of them near the watering troughs so that they mated near the branches. 42But he didn’t put branches up for the weakest of the flock. So the weakest became Laban’s and the strongest Jacob’s. 43The man Jacob became very, very rich: he owned large flocks, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.
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