²⁵After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Now let me go to my own home and country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children and let me go. I have earned them by working for you, and you know that I have served you well.”

²⁷Laban said to him, “If I have pleased you, please stay. I know the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸Tell me what I should pay you, and I will give it to you.”

²⁹Jacob answered, “You know that I have worked hard for you, and your flocks have grown while I cared for them. ³⁰When I came, you had little, but now you have much. Every time I did something for you, the Lord blessed you. But when will I be able to do something for my own family?”

³¹Laban asked, “Then what should I give you?”

Jacob answered, “I don’t want you to give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I will come back and take care of your flocks. ³²Today let me go through all your flocks. I will take every speckled or spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. That will be my pay. ³³In the future you can easily see if I am honest. When you come to look at my flocks, if I have any goat that isn’t speckled or spotted or any lamb that isn’t black, you will know I stole it.”

³⁴Laban answered, “Agreed! We will do what you ask.” ³⁵But that day Laban took away all the male goats that had streaks or spots, all the speckled and spotted female goats (all those that had white on them), and all the black sheep. He told his sons to watch over them. ³⁶Then he took these animals to a place that was three days’ journey away from Jacob. Jacob took care of all the flocks that were left.

³⁷So Jacob cut green branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. ³⁸He put the branches in front of the flocks at the watering places. When the animals came to drink, they also mated there, ³⁹so the flocks mated in front of the branches. Then the young that were born were streaked, speckled, or spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob separated the young animals from the others, and he made them face the streaked and dark animals in Laban’s flock. Jacob kept his animals separate from Laban’s. ⁴¹When the stronger animals in the flock were mating, Jacob put the branches before their eyes so they would mate near the branches. ⁴²But when the weaker animals mated, Jacob did not put the branches there. So the animals born from the weaker animals were Laban’s, and those born from the stronger animals were Jacob’s. ⁴³In this way Jacob became very rich. He had large flocks, many male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.

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