Genesis:30

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Rachel had not borne Jacob any children . As a result , she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob : »Give me children , or I will die .« * Jacob became angry with Rachel . He said : »I cannot take the place of God . He is the one who keeps you from having children .« * She said : »Here is my maid Bilhah . Sleep with her , so that she can have a child for me . This way I can become a mother through her .« * Then Rachel let Jacob marry Bilhah . Jacob slept with Bilhah . * They had a son . * Rachel named him Dan , because she said : »God has answered my prayers . He has vindicated me and given me a son .« * Bilhah and Jacob had a second son . * Rachel said : »I have struggled hard with my sister , and I have won !« So she named the boy Naphtali . * When Leah realized she could not have any more children , she let Jacob marry her servant Zilpah . * They had a son . * Leah said : »How fortunate . She called him Gad .« * Leah ’s slave Zilpah gave birth to her second son for Jacob . * Leah said : »I am happy , for women will call me blessed . So she named him Asher .« * During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields . He found some mandrake plants . He brought them to his mother Leah . Rachel said to Leah : »Please , give me some of your son ’s mandrake plants .« * Leah replied : »Is it not enough that you took my husband ? Are you also going to take my son ’s mandrake plants ?« Rachel responded : »Very well , Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your son ’s mandrake plants .« * Jacob came in from the fields that evening . Leah went out to meet him . »You are to sleep with me ,« she said . »You are my reward for my son ’s mandrake plants .« So he went to bed with her that night . * God answered Leah ’s prayer . She became pregnant and gave birth to her fifth son for Jacob . * Leah said : »God has given me my reward , because I gave my slave to my husband .« So she named him Issachar . * She became pregnant again and gave birth to her sixth son for Jacob . * Leah said : »God has presented me with a wonderful gift . This time my husband will honor me , because I have given him six sons .« So she named him Zebulun . * Later she bore a daughter and named her Dinah . * Then God remembered Rachel . God listened to her and opened her womb . * So she conceived and gave birth to a son . She said : »God has taken away my reproach .« * She named him Joseph . She said : »May Jehovah give me another son .« * When Rachel gave birth to Joseph , Jacob said to Laban : »Send me away , that I may go to my own place and to my own country . * »Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you . Let me depart . For you know how much service I have done for you .« * But Laban said : »If now it pleases you , stay with me . I have observed that Jehovah has blessed me on your account .« * He continued : »Name your wages , and I will pay .« * Jacob responded : »You know how much work I have done for you and what has happened to your livestock under my care . * »The little that you had before I came has grown to a large amount . Jehovah has blessed you wherever I have been . When may I do something for my own family ?« * Laban asked : »What should I give you ?« Jacob answered : »Do not give me anything . Instead , do something for me . Then I will go back to taking care of and watching your flocks again . * »Let me go through all of your flocks today and take every speckled and spotted sheep , every black lamb , and every spotted and speckled goat . They will be my wages . * »My honesty will speak for itself whenever you come to check on my wages . Any goat I have that is not speckled or spotted or any lamb that is not black will be considered stolen .« * Laban answered : »I agree ; we will do as you have said .« * Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats , all the speckled and spotted female goats , and every black lamb . He had his sons take charge of them that same day . * They moved 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 . * Jacob took green branches of poplar , almond , and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them . * 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 . * So when the goats bred in front of the branches , they produced young that were streaked , speckled , and spotted . * 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 . * When the strongest of the flock were mating , Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters , so that they might mate by the rods . * When the flock was feeble , he did not put them in . That way the feebler were Laban ’s and the stronger Jacob ’s . * He became exceedingly prosperous , and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys .

---