Genesis 30:1–31:55
30 Now when Rachel saw that ashe bore Jacob no children, Rachel benvied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, cor else I die!”
2 And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, d“Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 So she said, “Here is emy maid Bilhah; go in to her, fand she will bear a child on my knees, gthat I also may 1have children by her.” 4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid has wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has ijudged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name 2Dan. 7 And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With 3great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name 4Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and jgave her to Jacob as wife. 10 And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, 5“A troop comes!” So she called his name 6Gad. 12 And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “I am happy, for the daughters kwill call me blessed.” So she called his name 7Asher.
14 Now 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, l“Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, m“Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”
And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night.
17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name 8Issachar. 19 Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name 9Zebulun. 21 Afterward she bore a ndaughter, and called her name 1Dinah.
22 Then God oremembered Rachel, and God listened to her and popened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away qmy reproach.” 24 So she called his name 2Joseph, and said, r“The Lord shall add to me another son.”
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, s“Send me away, that I may go to tmy own place and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children ufor whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”
27 And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for vI have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” 28 Then he said, w“Name me your wages, and I will give it.”
29 So Jacob said to him, x“You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. 30 For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you 3since my coming. And now, when shall I also yprovide for my own house?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?”
And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: 32 Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and zthese shall be my wages. 33 So my arighteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”
34 And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” 35 So he removed that day the male goats that were bspeckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Now cJacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. 38 And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man dbecame exceedingly prosperous, and ehad large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this awealth.” 2 And Jacob saw the bcountenance of Laban, and indeed it was not cfavorable toward him as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, d“Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will ebe with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, 5 and said to them, f“I see your father’s 1countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father ghas been with me. 6 And hyou know that with all my might I have served your father. 7 Yet your father has deceived me and ichanged my wages jten times, but God kdid not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said thus: l‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. 9 So God has mtaken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
10 “And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. 11 Then nthe Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for oI have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, pwhere you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now qarise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, r“Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not considered strangers by him? For she has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. 16 For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of tCanaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the uhousehold 2idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and vheaded 3toward the mountains of Gilead.
22 And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 Then he took whis brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 But God xhad come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you yspeak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
25 So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
26 And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and zcarried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? 27 Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? 28 And you did not allow me ato kiss my sons and my daughters. Now byou have done foolishly in so doing. 29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the cGod of your father spoke to me dlast night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ 30 And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you esteal my gods?”
31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was fafraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ 32 With whomever you find your gods, gdo not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the 4household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban 5searched all about the tent but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that