Chapter 30

And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

And she said, Behold, my maid Bilhah, go in to her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.

And she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid, for a wife: and Jacob went in to her.

And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore she called his name Dan.

And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her Jacob for a wife.

And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a son.

And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a second son.

And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

And Reuben went, in the days of wheat-harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.

And she said to her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes.

And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in to me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob the fifth son.

And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

And Leah conceived again, and bore Jacob the sixth son.

And Leah said, God hath endowed me with a good dower; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and rendered her fruitful.

And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD will add to me another son.

And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.

Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.

And Laban said to him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience, that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.

And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.

And he said to him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle were with me.

For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased to a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for my own house also?

And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing; if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:

I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be accounted stolen with me.

And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

And he removed that day the he-goats that were ring-streaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted; every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hands of his sons.

And he set three days' journey between himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

And Jacob took to him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

And he set the rods, which he had peeled, before the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs, when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted.

And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks towards the ring-streaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban: and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not with Laban's cattle.

And it came to pass, whenever the stronger cattle conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

And the man increased exceedingly, and had many cattle, and maid-servants, and men-servants, and camels, and asses.