Genesis 29:31–35:18

Leah and Rachel Compete for Jacob’s Love

³¹When the Lord saw Leah was unloved, he made it possible for her to have children, but Rachel had none. ³²Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben ^[Here’s My Son^[, because she said, “Certainly, the Lord has seen my misery; now my husband will love me!” ³³She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “Certainly, the Lord has heard that I’m unloved, and he also has given me this son.” So she named him Simeon ^[Hearing^[. ³⁴She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me because I’ve given him three sons.” So she named him Levi ^[Attached^[. ³⁵She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah ^[Praise^[. Then she stopped having children. 

30TH CHAPTER

¹Rachel saw that she could not have children for Jacob, and she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” 

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and asked, “Can I take the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 

³She said, “Here’s my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her. She can have children for me, and I can build a family for myself through her.” ⁴So she gave him her slave Bilhah as his wife, and Jacob slept with her. ⁵Bilhah became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶Rachel said, “Now God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son.” So she named him Dan ^[He Judges^[. 

⁷Rachel’s slave Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle^awith my sister, and I have won!” So she named him Naphtali ^[My Struggle^[. 

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife. ¹⁰Leah’s slave Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹Leah said, “I’ve been lucky!” So she called him Gad ^[Luck^[. 

¹²Leah’s slave Zilpah gave birth to her second son for Jacob. ¹³Leah said, “I’ve been blessed! Women will call me blessed.” So she named him Asher ^[Blessing^[. 

¹⁴During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrakes.^bHe brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 

¹⁵Leah replied, “Isn’t it enough that you took my husband? Are you also going to take my son’s mandrakes?” 

Rachel said, “Very well, Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 

¹⁶As Jacob was coming 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 mandrakes.” So he went to bed with her that night. ¹⁷God answered Leah’s prayer. She became pregnant and gave birth to her fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar ^[Reward^[. 

¹⁹She became pregnant again and gave birth to her sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰Leah said, “God has presented me with a beautiful present. This time my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun ^[Honor^[. 

²¹Later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. 

²²Then God remembered Rachel. God answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children. ²³So she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴She named him Joseph ^[May He Give Another^[ and said, “May the Lord give me another son.” 

Jacob’s Flocks Prosper

²⁵After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go home to my own country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I’ve worked, and let me go. You know how much work I’ve done for you.” 

²⁷Laban replied, “Listen to me. I’ve learned from the signs I’ve seen that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸So he offered, “Name your wages, and I’ll pay them.” 

²⁹Jacob responded, “You know how much work I’ve done for you and what has happened to your livestock under my care. ³⁰The little that you had before I came has grown to a large amount. The Lord has blessed you wherever I’ve been. When can I do something for my own family?” 

³¹Laban asked, “What should I give you?” 

“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob answered. “Instead, do something for me, then I’ll go back to taking care of and watching your flocks again. ³²Let me go through all of your flocks today and take every speckled or spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. ³³My honesty will speak for itself whenever you come to check on my wages. Any goat I have that isn’t speckled or spotted or any lamb that isn’t black will be considered stolen.” 

³⁴Laban answered, “Agreed. We’ll do as you’ve said.” ³⁵However, that same day Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats (every one with white on it), and every black lamb. He had his sons take charge of them. ³⁶He traveled three days away from Jacob. Jacob continued to take care of the rest of Laban’s flocks. 

³⁷Then Jacob took fresh-cut branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled the bark on them in strips of white, uncovering the white which was on the branches.³⁸He placed the peeled branches in the troughs directly in front of the flocks, at the watering places where the flocks came to drink. When they were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches. Then they gave birth to young that were striped, speckled, or spotted. 

⁴⁰Jacob separated the rams from the flock and made the rest of the sheep face any that were striped or black in Laban’s flocks. So he made separate herds for himself and did not add them to Laban’s flocks. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flocks were in heat, Jacob would lay the branches in the troughs in front of them so that they would mate by the branches. ⁴²But when the flocks in heat were weak, he didn’t lay down the branches. So the weaker ones belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. ⁴³As a result, Jacob became very wealthy. He had large flocks, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys. 

31ST CHAPTER

Jacob’s Second and Third Encounters with God

¹Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father and has gained all his wealth from him.” ²He also noticed that Laban did not appear as friendly to him as before. 

³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” 

⁴So Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah to come out to the open country where his flocks were. ⁵He said to them, “I have seen that your father isn’t as friendly to me as he was before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father. ⁷Your father has cheated me. He has changed my wages 10 times. But God hasn’t let him harm me. ⁸Whenever he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ all the flocks gave birth to speckled young. And whenever he said, ‘The striped ones will be your wages,’ all the flocks gave birth to striped young. ⁹So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me. 

¹⁰“During the mating season I had a dream: I looked up and saw that the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, or spotted. ¹¹In the dream the Messenger of God called to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I answered, ‘Yes, here I am.’ ¹²He said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, or spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel,^awhere you poured olive oil on a stone marker for a holy purpose and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land, and go back to the land of your relatives.’ ” 

¹⁴Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there anything left in our father’s household for us to inherit? ¹⁵Doesn’t he think of us as foreigners? Not only did he sell us, but he has used up the money that was paid for us. ¹⁶Certainly, all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. Now do whatever God has told you.” 

Laban and Jacob Make Peace

¹⁷Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels. ¹⁸He drove all his livestock ahead of him and took all the possessions that he had accumulated. He took his own livestock that he had accumulated in Paddan Aram and went back to his father Isaac in Canaan. 

¹⁹When Laban went to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s idols. ²⁰Jacob also tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving. ²¹So he left in a hurry with all that belonged to him. He crossed the Euphrates River and went toward the mountains of Gilead. 

²²Two days later Laban was told that Jacob had left in a hurry. ²³He and his relatives pursued Jacob for seven days. Laban caught up with him in the mountains of Gilead. 

²⁴God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything at all to Jacob.” 

²⁵When Laban finally caught up with Jacob, Jacob had put up his tents in the mountains. So Laban and his relatives put up their tents in the mountains of Gilead. ²⁶Then Laban asked Jacob, “What have you done by tricking me? You’ve carried off my daughters like prisoners of war. ²⁷Why did you leave secretly and trick me? You didn’t even tell me you were leaving. I would have sent you on your way rejoicing, with songs accompanied by tambourines and lyres. ²⁸You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You’ve done a foolish thing. ²⁹I have the power to harm you. Last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything at all to Jacob.’ ³⁰Now you have left for your father’s home because you were so homesick. But why did you steal my gods?” 

³¹Jacob answered Laban, “I left because I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. ³²If…