Genesis 29:31–35:18

³¹And Yahweh saw that Leah was ¹unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

³²So Leah conceived and bore a son and named him ¹Reuben, for she said, “Because Yahweh has ^2aseen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”

³³Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “^aBecause Yahweh has ¹heard that I am ²unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be ¹joined to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named ^aLevi.

³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will ¹praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him ^2aJudah. Then she stopped bearing.

CHAPTER 30

The Sons of Jacob

¹Then Rachel saw that ^ashe bore Jacob no children, so ¹she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “^bGive me children, or else I die.”

²Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has ^awithheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³And she said, “^aHere is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may ^bbear on my knees, that ^1cthrough her I too may obtain children.”

⁴So ^ashe gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has ^1arendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him ²Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸So Rachel said, “With ¹mighty wrestlings I have ²wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.

⁹Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Then Leah said, “¹How fortunate!” So she named him ²Gad.

¹²And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

¹³Then Leah said, “¹Happy am I! For women ^awill call me happy.” So she named him ²Asher.

¹⁴And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found ^amandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶Then Jacob came in from the field in the evening. And 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.” So he lay with her that night.

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸And Leah said, “God has given me my ¹wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband ¹will honor me because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

²¹Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

²²Then ^aGod remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and ^bopened her womb.

²³So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has ^ataken away my reproach.”

²⁴And she named him Joseph, saying, “^aMay Yahweh ¹give me another son.”

Jacob Names His Wages

²⁵Now it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “^aSend me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own land.

²⁶“Give me my wives and my children ^afor whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have ¹rendered you.”

²⁷But Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; I have interpreted an omen ^athat Yahweh has blessed me on your account.”

²⁸And he continued to say, “^aName me your wages, and I will give it.”

²⁹But he said to him, “^aYou yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have ¹fared with me.

³⁰“For you had little before ¹I came, but it has ^aspread out to a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you ²at every step of mine. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”

³¹So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:

³²let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every ^aspeckled and spotted sheep and every black ¹one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.

³³“So my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my ¹wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”

³⁴And Laban said, “Behold, ¹let it be according to your word.”

³⁵So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the ¹care of his sons.

³⁶And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Then Jacob ¹took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was ²in the rods.

³⁸And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the trough, that is, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink; and they ¹mated when they came to drink.

³⁹So the flocks ¹mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs, and he ¹made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he set his own herds apart and did not set them with Laban’s flock.

⁴¹Now it would be that, whenever the ¹stronger of the flock ²were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the trough, so that they might ³mate by the rods;

⁴²but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the ¹stronger Jacob’s.

⁴³So ^athe man ^bspread out exceedingly and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

CHAPTER 31

Jacob Leaves While Laban is Gone

¹Then ¹Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ²wealth.”

²And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.

³Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “^aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and ^bI will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field,

⁵and he said to them, “^aI see your father’s face, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but ^bthe God of my father has been with me.

⁶“^aYou also know that I have served your father with all my power.

⁷“Yet your father has ^acheated me and ^bchanged my wages ten times; however, ^cGod did not allow him to harm me.

⁸“If ^ahe spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.

⁹“Thus God has ^adelivered your father’s livestock and given them to me.

¹⁰“Now it happened at the time when the flock were ¹mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were ²mating were striped, speckled, and mottled.

¹¹“Then ^athe angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

¹²“He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are ¹mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for ^aI have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

¹³‘I am ^athe God of Bethel, where you ^banointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ¹leave this land, and ^creturn to the land of your kin.’”

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?

¹⁵“Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For ^ahe has sold us and has also ¹entirely consumed ²our purchase price.

¹⁶“Surely all the riches which God has delivered over to us from our father belong to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels;

¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had accumulated, his acquired livestock which he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, in order ^ato go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the ^1ahousehold idols that were her father’s.

²⁰And Jacob ¹deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.

²¹So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the ¹River and set his face toward the hill country of ^aGilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²²Then it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled;

²³so he took his ¹relatives with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

^24aAnd God came to Laban the Aramean in a ^bdream of the night and said to him, “^1cBeware lest you speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his ¹relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done ¹by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

²⁷“Why did you flee secretly and ¹deceive me and not tell me—so that I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with ^atambourine and with ^blyre—

²⁸and not allow me ^ato kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly.

²⁹“It is in my hand to do evil against you, but ^athe God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘^1bBeware of speaking either good or evil to Jacob.’

³⁰“So now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal ^amy gods?”

³¹Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was…