Genesis 29:31–35:18

Jacob’s Children

³¹When Yahweh saw that Leah was unloved he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³²Then Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because Yahweh has noticed my misery. Surely now my husband will love me.” ³³And she conceived again and gave birth to a son. And she said, “It is because Yahweh has heard that I am unloved that he gave me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. ³⁴And she conceived again and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, for I have borne him three sons.” Therefore, she called his name Levi. ³⁵And she conceived again and gave birth to a son. And she said, “This time I will praise Yahweh.” Therefore she called his name Judah. And she ceased bearing children.

Jacob’s Children

30When Rachel saw that she could not bear children to Jacob, Rachel envied her sister. And she said to Jacob, “Give me children—if not, I will die!” ²And Jacob became angry^a with Rachel. And he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” ³Then she said, “Here is my servant girl Bilhah; go in to her that she may bear children as my surrogate.^b Then I will even have children^c by her.” ⁴Then she gave him Bilhah, her female slave, as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. ⁷And Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, conceived again and bore a second son to Jacob. ⁸And Rachel said, “I have struggled a mighty struggle with my sister and have prevailed.” And she called his name Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took Zilpah her female slave and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah, the female slave of Leah, bore a son to Jacob. ¹¹Then Leah said, “Good fortune!” And she called his name Gad. ¹²And Zilpah, Leah’s female slave, bore a second son to Jacob. ¹³Then Leah said, “How happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.

¹⁴And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and he brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵And she said to her, “Is your taking my husband such a small thing that you will also take the mandrakes of my son?” Then Rachel said, “Then he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him. And she said, “Come in to me, for I have hired^d you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he slept with her that night. ¹⁷And God listened to Leah and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has given me my wage since I gave my slave girl to my husband.” And she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift. This time my husband will acknowledge me, because I bore him six sons.” And she called his name Zebulun. ²¹And afterward she gave birth to a daughter. And she called her name Dinah. ²²Then God remembered Rachel and listened to her, and God opened her womb. ²³And she conceived and gave birth to a son. And she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying, “Yahweh has added to me another son.”

Jacob’s Prosperity

²⁵And it happened that as soon as Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away that I may go to my place and my land. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for which I have served you, and let me go. For you yourself know my service that I have rendered to you.” ²⁷But Laban said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, I have learned by divination that Yahweh has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸And he said, “Name your wage to me and I will give it.” ²⁹Then he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have been with me.^{e 30}For you had little before me, and it has increased abundantly. And Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned.^f So then, when shall I provide for my own family also?” ³¹And he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “Do not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flocks and keep them. ³²Let me pass through all your flocks today, removing all the speckled and spotted sheep from them, along with^g every dark-colored sheep among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. That^h shall be my wages. ³³And my righteousness will answer for me laterⁱ when you come concerning my wages before you. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or dark-colored among the sheep shall be stolen if it is with me.” ³⁴Then Laban said, “Look! Very well. It shall be according to your word.” ³⁵But that day he^j removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, all that had white on it, and every dark-colored ram, and put them in the charge of his sons.^{k 36}And he put a journey of three days between him and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the remainder of Laban’s flock. ³⁷Then Jacob took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled white strips on them, exposing the white which was on the branches. ³⁸And he set the branches that he had peeled in front of the flocks, in the troughs that were in the water containers, where the flocks came to drink. And they were in heat when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks mated by the branches, so the flocks bore streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs and turned the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark-colored in Laban’s flocks. And he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with the flocks of Laban. ⁴¹And whenever any of the stronger of the flocks were in heat, Jacob put the branches in full view^l of the flock in the troughs that they might mate among the branches. ⁴²But with the more feeble of the flock he would not put them there. So the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger were Jacob’s. ⁴³And the man became exceedingly^m rich and had large flocks, female slaves, male slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob Flees from Laban

31Now he^a heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, “Jacob has taken all that our father has,” and “From that which was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” ²Then Jacob saw the face of Laban and, behold, it was not like it had been in the past.^{b 3}And Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your ancestors^c and to your family, and I will be with you.” ⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flocks, ⁵and he said to them, “Look, I see the face of your father, that it is not like it has been toward me in the past.^d But the God of my father is with me. ⁶Now you yourselves know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷and your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸If thus he said, ‘Speckled shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore speckled. And if he said, ‘Streaked shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore streaked. ⁹God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰Now it happened that at the time of the mating of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams mounting the flock were streaked, speckled, and dappled. ¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see—all the rams mounting the flock are streaked, speckled, and dappled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a stone pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now get up, go out from this land and return to the land of your birth.’ ” ¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there yet a portion for us, and an inheritance in the house of our father? ¹⁵Are we not regarded as foreigners by him, because he has sold us and completely consumed our money? ¹⁶For all the wealth that God has taken away from our father, it belongs to us and to our sons. So now, all that God has said to you, do.” ¹⁷Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on the camels. ¹⁸And he drove all his livestock and his possessions that he had acquired, the livestock of his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, in order to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the idols^e that belonged to her father. ²⁰And Jacob tricked^f Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹Then he fled with all that he had, and arose and crossed the Euphrates^g and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. ²²And on the third day it was told to Laban that Jacob had fled. ²³Then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued after him, a seven-day journey, and he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Take care^h that you not speak with Jacob, whether good or evil.” ²⁵And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his kinsmen pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done that you tricked meⁱ and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷Why did you hide your intention to flee and trick me,^j and did not tell me so that I would have sent you away with joy and song and tambourine and lyre? ²⁸And why did you not give me opportunity to kiss my grandsons^k and my daughters goodbye? Now you have behaved foolishly by doing this. ²⁹It is in my power^l to do harm to you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, ‘Take care^m from speaking with…