Genesis 30

1 And Rachel sees that she has not borne to Jacob, and Rachel is envious of her sister, and says to Jacob, “Give me sons, and if there is none—I die.”

Now Rachel, because she had no children, was full of envy of her sister; and she said to Jacob, If you do not give me children I will not go on living.

2 And Jacob’s anger burns against Rachel, and he says, “Am I in stead of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit?

3 And she says, “Behold, my handmaid Bilhah, go in to her, and she bears on my knees, and I am built up, even I, from her”;

Then she said, Here is my servant Bilhah, go in to her, so that she may have a child on my knees, and I may have a family by her.

4 and she gives Bilhah her maidservant to him for a wife, and Jacob goes in to her;

So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

5 and Bilhah conceives, and bears a son to Jacob,

And Bilhah became with child, and gave birth to a son.

6 and Rachel says, “God has decided for me, and has also listened to my voice, and gives a son to me”; therefore she has called his name Dan.

Then Rachel said, God has been my judge, and has given ear to my voice, and has given me a son; so he was named Dan.

7 And Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, conceives again, and bears a second son to Jacob,

And again Bilhah, Rachel's servant, was with child, and gave birth to a second son.

8 and Rachel says, “With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, indeed, I have prevailed”; and she calls his name Napthali.

And Rachel said, I have had a great fight with my sister, and I have overcome her: and she gave the child the name Naphtali.

9 And Leah sees that she has ceased from bearing, and she takes Zilpah her maidservant, and gives her to Jacob for a wife;

When it was clear to Leah that she would have no more children for a time, she gave Zilpah, her servant, to Jacob as a wife.

10 and Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, bears a son to Jacob,

And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a son.

11 and Leah says, “A troop is coming”; and she calls his name Gad.

And Leah said, It has gone well for me: and she gave him the name Gad.

12 And Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, bears a second son to Jacob,

And Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave birth to a second son.

13 and Leah says, “Because of my happiness, for daughters have pronounced me blessed”; and she calls his name Asher.

And Leah said, Happy am I! and all women will give witness to my joy: and she gave him the name Asher.

14 And Reuben goes in the days of wheat-harvest, and finds love-apples in the field, and brings them to his mother Leah, and Rachel says to Leah, “Please give to me of the love-apples of your son.”

Now at the time of the grain-cutting, Reuben saw some love-fruits in the field, and took them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to her, Let me have some of your son's love-fruits.

15 And she says to her, “Is your taking my husband a little thing, that you have also taken the love-apples of my son?” And Rachel says, “He therefore lies with you tonight, for your son’s love-apples.”

But Leah said to her, Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband from me? and now would you take my son's love-fruits? Then Rachel said, You may have him tonight in exchange for your son's love-fruits.

16 And Jacob comes in from the field at evening; and Leah goes to meet him and says, “You come in to me, for [in] hiring I have hired you with my son’s love-apples”; and he lies with her during that night.

In the evening, when Jacob came in from the field, Leah went out to him and said, Tonight you are to come to me, for I have given my son's love-fruits as a price for you. And he went in to her that night.

17 And God listens to Leah, and she conceives, and bears a son to Jacob, a fifth,

And God gave ear to her and she became with child, and gave Jacob a fifth son.

18 and Leah says, “God has given my hire, because I have given my maidservant to my husband”; and she calls his name Issachar.

Then Leah said, God has made payment to me for giving my servant-girl to my husband: so she gave her son the name Issachar.

19 And Leah conceives again, and she bears a sixth son to Jacob,

And again Leah became with child, and she gave Jacob a sixth son.

20 and Leah says, “God has endowed me—a good dowry; this time my husband dwells with me, for I have borne six sons to him”; and she calls his name Zebulun;

And she said, God has given me a good bride-price; now at last will I have my husband living with me, for I have given him six sons: and she gave him the name Zebulun.

21 and afterward she has borne a daughter, and calls her name Dinah.

After that she had a daughter, to whom she gave the name Dinah.

22 And God remembers Rachel, and God listens to her, and opens her womb,

Then God gave thought to Rachel, and hearing her prayer he made her fertile.

23 and she conceives and bears a son, and says, “God has gathered up my reproach”;

And she was with child, and gave birth to a son: and she said, God has taken away my shame.

24 and she calls his name Joseph, saying, “YHWH is adding to me another son.”

And she gave him the name Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son.

25 And it comes to pass, when Rachel has borne Joseph, that Jacob says to Laban, “Send me away, and I go to my place, and to my land;

Now after the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go away to my place and my country.

26 give up my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and I go; for you have known my service which I have served you.”

Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have been your servant, and let me go: for you have knowledge of all the work I have done for you.

27 And Laban says to him, “Now if I have found grace in your eyes—I have observed diligently that YHWH blesses me for your sake.”

And Laban said, If you will let me say so, do not go away; for I have seen by the signs that the Lord has been good to me because of you.

28 He also says, “Define your hire to me, and I give.”

Say then what your payment is to be and I will give it.

29 And he says to him, “You have known that which I have served you [in], and that which your substance was with me;

Then Jacob said, You have seen what I have done for you, and how your cattle have done well under my care.

30 for [it is] little which you have had at my appearance, and it breaks forth into a multitude, and YHWH blesses you at my coming; and now, when do I make, I also, for my own house?”

For before I came you had little, and it has been greatly increased; and the Lord has given you a blessing in everything I have done; but when am I to do something for my family?

31 And he says, “What do I give to you?” And Jacob says, “You do not give me anything; if you do this thing for me, I turn back; I have delight; I watch your flock;

And Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything; but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me:

32 I pass through all your flock today to turn aside every speckled and spotted sheep from there, and every brown sheep among the lambs, and speckled and spotted among the goats—and it has been my hire;

Let me go through all your flock today, taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or coloured or black, and all the marked or coloured goats: these will be my payment.

33 and my righteousness has answered for me in the day to come, when it comes in for my hire before your face—everyone which is not speckled and spotted among [my] goats, and brown among [my] lambs—it is stolen with me.”

And so you will be able to put my honour to the test in time to come; if you see among my flocks any goats which are not marked or coloured, or any sheep which is not black, you may take me for a thief.

34 And Laban says, “Behold, O that it were according to your word”;

And Laban said, Let it be as you say.

35 and he turns aside during that day the striped and the spotted male goats, and all the speckled and the spotted female goats, everyone that [has] white in it, and every brown one among the lambs, and he gives into the hand of his sons,

So that day he took all the he-goats which were banded or coloured, and all the she-goats which were marked or coloured or had white marks, and all the black sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons;

36 and sets a journey of three days between himself and Jacob; and Jacob is feeding the rest of the flock of Laban.

And sent them three days' journey away: and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flock.

37 And Jacob takes to himself a rod of fresh poplar and almond and plane-tree, and peels in them white peelings, making bare the white that [is] on the rods,

Then Jacob took young branches of trees, cutting off the skin so that the white wood was seen in bands.

38 and sets up the rods which he has peeled in the gutters in the watering troughs (where the flock comes to drink), in front of the flock, that they may conceive in their coming to drink;

And he put the banded sticks in the drinking-places where the flock came to get water; and they became with young when they came to the water.

39 and the flocks conceive at the rods, and the flock bears striped, speckled, and spotted ones.

And because of this, the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of colour.

40 And Jacob has parted the lambs, and he puts the face of the flock toward the striped, also all the brown in the flock of Laban, and he sets his own droves by themselves, and has not set them near Laban’s flock.

These lambs Jacob kept separate; and he put his flock in a place by themselves and not with Laban's flock.

41 And it has come to pass, whenever the strong ones of the flock conceive, that Jacob sets the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, to cause them to conceive by the rods,

And whenever the stronger ones of the flock became with young, Jacob put the sticks in front of them in the drinking-places, so that they might become with young when they saw the sticks.

42 and when the flock is feeble, he does not set [them]; and the feeble ones have been Laban’s, and the strong ones Jacob’s.

But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put the sticks before them; so that the feebler flocks were Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's.

43 And the man increases very exceedingly, and has many flocks, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and donkeys.

So Jacob's wealth was greatly increased; he had great flocks and women-servants and men-servants and camels and asses.