Genesis 30
Evangelical Heritage Version
30 When Rachel saw that she was bearing no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”
2 Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you fruit from your womb?”
3 She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go to her, so that she may bear a child for me, and my family will be built up through her.” 4 So she gave her servant girl Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he went to her. 5 Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6 Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor. He has heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan.[a]
7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant girl, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, “I have had a desperate struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.[b]
9 When Leah saw that she was no longer bearing sons, she took her servant girl Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Zilpah, Leah’s servant girl, bore Jacob a son. 11 Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.[c]
12 Zilpah, Leah’s servant girl, bore a second son for Jacob. 13 Leah said, “I am blessed, for women will call me blessed.” She named him Asher.[d]
14 At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found mandrakes[e] in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 She said to her, “Isn’t it bad enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you want to take away my son’s mandrakes as well?”
Rachel said, “He will sleep with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come to me, because I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”
So he slept with her that night. 17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me the wages I deserve, because I gave my servant girl to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.[f]
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 Leah said, “God has given me a great reward. Now my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulun.[g]
21 Afterward, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph[h] and said, “May the Lord add another son to me.”
Jacob Versus Laban
25 After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go home to my own place in my own country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, because you know how much I have served you.”
27 Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have learned by divination[i] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” 28 So he said, “Set your wages for me, and I will pay them.”
29 Jacob said to him, “You know how well I have served you, and how your livestock have fared under my care. 30 For before I came, you had very little, and it has been multiplied many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I set foot. Now isn’t it time for me to provide for my own household as well?”
31 Laban asked, “What shall I give you?”
Jacob said, “You do not have to give me anything. But if you will do this thing for me, I will continue to take your flock to pasture and watch over it: 32 I will pass through all your flocks today and take all the speckled and spotted sheep, every dark brown sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled goats. These will be my wages. 33 This is how I will be able to prove my honesty whenever you demand an accounting of my wages: Any goats that are not spotted or speckled, and any lambs that are not dark brown that are found with me will be treated as stolen.”
34 Laban said, “Very well. We will do what you have said.” 35 But that day Laban removed all the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had any white on it, and all the dark brown sheep, and handed them over to his sons. 36 Then he separated himself from Jacob by a three days’ journey, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Jacob took fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He peeled stripes on them so that the white inside the branches was visible. 38 He put the branches that he had peeled into the gutters of the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so the flocks would see them. They conceived when they came to drink. 39 The flocks conceived in front of the branches, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted animals. 40 Jacob separated the lambs, and he made the flocks face toward the streaked animals and all the black animals in the flock of Laban, and he kept his own herds separate and did not put them into Laban’s flock. 41 And whenever the stronger animals in the flock were in heat, Jacob laid the branches in the gutters where the flocks could see them, so that they would conceive while looking at the branches. 42 But when the weak animals in the flock were in heat, he did not put the branches in. So the weaker animals were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s. 43 The man became much wealthier and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Footnotes
- Genesis 30:6 Dan means judged.
- Genesis 30:8 Naphtali means struggle.
- Genesis 30:11 Gad means fortune.
- Genesis 30:13 Asher means happy.
- Genesis 30:14 Mandrakes were thought to be an aphrodisiac and fertility drug.
- Genesis 30:18 Issachar means wages or reward.
- Genesis 30:20 Zebulun means live with or honor.
- Genesis 30:24 Joseph means may he add.
- Genesis 30:27 The meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain.
Genesis 30
King James Version
30 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
2 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?
3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son.
11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.
13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
15 And she said unto 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.
16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.
20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son.
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
26 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.
27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.
28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
31 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.
32 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.
33 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 counted stolen with me.
34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had pilled 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.
39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.
41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.