1 And when Rahel saw that she bare Iaakob no children, Rahel enuied her sister, and said vnto Iaakob, Giue me children, or els I dye. 2 Then Iaakobs anger was kindled against Rahel, and he sayde, Am I in Gods steade, which hath withholden from thee the fruite of the wombe? 3 And she said, Behold my maide Bilhah, goe in to her, and she shall beare vpon my knees, and I shall haue children also by her. 4 Then shee gaue him Bilhah her mayde to wife, and Iaakob went in to her. 5 So Bilhah conceiued and bare Iaakob a sonne. 6 Then said Rahel, God hath giuen sentence on my side, and hath also heard my voyce, and hath giuen mee a sonne: therefore called shee his name, Dan. 7 And Bilhah Rahels maide coceiued againe, and bare Iaakob the second sonne. 8 Then Rahel said, with excellent wrestlings haue I wrestled with my sister, and haue gotten the vpper hande: and shee called his name, Naphtali. 9 And when Leah saw that she had left bearing, shee tooke Zilpah her mayde, and gaue her Iaakob to wife. 10 And Zilpah Leahs mayde bare Iaakob a sonne. 11 Then sayd Leah, A companie commeth: and she called his name, Gad. 12 Againe Zilpah Leahs mayde bare Iaakob another sonne. 13 Then sayde Leah, Ah, blessed am I, for the daughters will blesse me. and she called his name, Asher. 14 Nowe Reuben went in the dayes of the wheateharuest, and founde mandrakes in the fielde and brought them vnto his mother Leah. Then sayde Rahel to Leah, Giue me, I pray thee, of thy sonnes mandrakes. 15 But shee answered her, Is it a small matter for thee to take mine husband, except thou take my sonnes mandrakes also? Then sayde Rahel, Therefore he shall sleepe with thee this night for thy sonnes mandrakes. 16 And Iaakob came from the fielde in the euening, and Leah went out to meete him, and sayde, Come in to mee, for I haue bought and payed for thee with my sonnes mandrakes: and he slept with her that night. 17 And God heard Leah and shee conceiued, and bare vnto Iaakob the fift sonne. 18 Then said Leah, God hath giuen me my reward, because I gaue my mayde to my husband, and she called his name Issachar. 19 After, Leah conceiued againe, and bare Iaakob the sixt sonne. 20 Then Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowrie: nowe will mine husband dwell with me, because I haue borne him sixe sonnes: and she called his name Zebulun. 21 After that, shee bare a daughter, and shee called her name Dinah. 22 And God remembred Rahel, and God heard her, and opened her wombe. 23 So she conceiued and bare a sonne, and said, God hath taken away my rebuke. 24 And shee called his name Ioseph, saying, The Lord wil giue me yet another sonne. 25 And assoone as Rahel had borne Ioseph, Iaakob said to Laban, Sende me away that I may go vnto my place and to my countrey. 26 Giue me my wiues and my children, for whom I haue serued thee, and let me go: for thou knowest what seruice I haue done thee. 27 To whom Laban answered, If I haue nowe found fauour in thy sight tarie: I haue perceiued that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. 28 Also he said, Appoynt vnto me thy wages, and I will giue it thee. 29 But he sayd vnto him, Thou knowest, what seruice I haue done thee, and in what taking thy cattell hath bene vnder me. 30 For the litle, that thou haddest before I came, is increased into a multitude: and the Lord hath blessed thee by my comming: but nowe when shall I trauell for mine owne house also? 31 Then he saide, What shall I giue thee? And Iaakob answered, Thou shalt giue mee nothing at all: if thou wilt doe this thing for mee, I will returne, feede, and keepe thy sheepe. 32 I wil passe through all thy flockes this day, and separate from them all the sheepe with litle spots and great spots, and al blacke lambes among the sheepe, and the great spotted, and litle spotted among the goates: and it shalbe my wages. 33 So shall my righteousnesse answere for me hereafter, when it shall come for my rewarde before thy face, and euery one that hath not litle or great spots among the goates, and blacke among the sheepe, the same shalbe theft with me. 34 Then Laban sayde, Goe to, woulde God it might be according to thy saying. 35 Therefore he tooke out the same day the hee goates that were partie coloured and with great spots, and all the shee goates with litle and great spots, and all that had white in them, and all the blacke among the sheepe, and put them in the keeping of his sonnes. 36 And hee set three dayes iourney betweene himselfe and Iaakob. And Iaakob kept the rest of Labans sheepe. 37 Then Iaakob tooke rods of greene popular, and of hasell, and of the chesnut tree, and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appeare in the rods. 38 Then he put the rods, which he had pilled, in the gutters and watering troughes, when the sheepe came to drink, before the sheepe. (for they were in heate, when they came to drinke) 39 And the sheepe were in heate before the rods, and afterward brought forth yong of partie colour, and with small and great spots. 40 And Iaakob parted these lambes, and turned the faces of the flocke towardes these lambes partie coloured and all maner of blacke, among the sheepe of Laban: so hee put his owne flockes by themselues, and put them not with Labans flocke. 41 And in euery ramming time of the stronger sheepe, Iaakob layde the rods before the eyes of the sheepe in the gutters, that they might conceiue before the rods. 42 But when the sheepe were feeble, hee put them not in: and so the feebler were Labans, and the stronger Iaakobs. 43 So the man increased exceedingly, and had many flockes, and maide seruantes, and men seruants, and camels and asses.
1 But Rachel had not borne Jacob any children, and so she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”
2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “I can't take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.”
3 She said, “Here is my slave Bilhah; sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. In this way I can become a mother through her.” 4 So she gave Bilhah to her husband, and he had intercourse with her. 5 Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. 6 Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son”; so she named him Dan. 7 Bilhah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, “I have fought a hard fight with my sister, but I have won”; so she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah realized that she had stopped having children, she gave her slave Zilpah to Jacob as his wife. 10 Then Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Leah said, “I have been lucky”; so she named him Gad. 12 Zilpah bore Jacob another son, 13 and Leah said, “How happy I am! Now women will call me happy”; so she named him Asher.
14 During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found mandrakes, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.”
15 Leah answered, “Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you are even trying to take away my son's mandrakes.”
Rachel said, “If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.”
16 When Jacob came in from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You are going to sleep with me tonight, because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes.” So he had intercourse with her that night.
17 God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband”; so she named her son Issachar. 19 Leah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now my husband will accept me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she named him Zebulun. 21 Later she bore a daughter, whom she named Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son. 24 May the Lord give me another son”; so she named him Joseph.
Jacob's Bargain with Laban
25 After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go, so that I can return home. 26 Give me my wives and children that I have earned by working for you, and I will leave. You know how well I have served you.”
27 Laban said to him, “Let me say this: I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. 28 Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
29 Jacob answered, “You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care. 30 The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I went. Now it is time for me to look out for my own interests.”
31 “What shall I pay you?” Laban asked.
Jacob answered, “I don't want any wages. I will continue to take care of your flocks if you agree to this suggestion: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want. 33 In the future you can easily find out if I have been honest. When you come to check up on my wages, if I have any goat that isn't speckled or spotted or any sheep that isn't black, you will know that it has been stolen.”
34 Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.” 35 But that day Laban removed the male goats that had stripes or spots and all the females that were speckled and spotted or which had white on them; he also removed all the black sheep. He put his sons in charge of them, 36 and then went away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. 38 He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink. 39 So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40 Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban's flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban's.
41 When the healthy animals were mating, Jacob put the branches in front of them at the drinking troughs, so that they would breed among the branches. 42 But he did not put the branches in front of the weak animals. Soon Laban had all the weak animals, and Jacob all the healthy ones. 43 In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.