Genesis 30:25–43

Jabob’s Bargain with Laban

²⁵After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go, so that I can return home. ²⁶Give 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.”

²⁷Laban said to him, “Let me say this: I have learnt by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹Jacob answered, “You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care. ³⁰The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I went.^c 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: ³²Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb^d and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want. ³³In 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.”

³⁴Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.” ³⁵But 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, ³⁶and 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.

³⁷Jacob 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. ³⁸He 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. ³⁹So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰Jacob 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.

⁴¹When 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. ⁴²But 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. ⁴³In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.