Genesis 30:37–43

³⁷Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond^f and plane trees^g and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.^{h 38}Then he placed the peeled branchesⁱ in all the watering troughs,^j so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat^k and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches.^l And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.^{m 40}Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animalsⁿ that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger females were in heat,^o Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,^{p 42}but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.^{q 43}In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.^r