^30:38Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink.⁸⁴

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Footnotes

84 He put the branches in front of the flocks … when they came to drink. It was generally believed that placing such “visual aids” before the animals as they were mating, it was possible to influence the appearance of their offspring. E. A. Speiser notes that “Jacob finds a way to outwit his father-in-law, through prenatal conditioning of the flock by visual aids—in conformance with universal folk beliefs” (Genesis [], ). Nevertheless, in spite of Jacob’s efforts at animal husbandry, he still attributes the resulting success to God (see 31:5).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink,

CSBChristian Standard Bible

He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep—in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

NLTNew Living Translation

Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And 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.

KJV 1900King James Version

And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

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