30:1 Now when Rachel saw that she had not borne Jacob any children, ①she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I am going to die.”
▷ ①Lit Rachel
30:2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
30:3 Then she said, “Here is my female slave Bilhah: have relations with her that she may give birth ①on my knees, so that ②by her I too may obtain a child.”
▷ ①I.e., Prob. referring to a ritual of adoption ②Lit from her I too may be built
30:4 So she gave him her slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her.
30:5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has ①vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him ②Dan.
▷ ①Lit judged ②I.e., He judged
30:7 And Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
30:8 So Rachel said, “With ①mighty wrestling I have ②wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
▷ ①Lit wrestlings of God ②Heb niphtal, related to Naphtali
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
30:10 And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
30:11 Then Leah said, “ ①How fortunate!” So she named him ②Gad.
▷ ①Lit With fortune! Some ancient versions Fortune has come ②I.e., Fortune
30:12 And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
30:13 Then Leah said, “ ①Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him ②Asher.
▷ ①Lit With my happiness! ②I.e., happy
30:14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrake fruits in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
30:15 But 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 may sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
30:16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must have relations with me, for I have indeed hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
30:17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
30:18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my ①reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
▷ ①Heb sachar, related to Issachar
30:19 And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
30:20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; finally my husband ①will acknowledge me as his wife, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
▷ ①Heb zabal, related to Zebulun
30:21 Afterward she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Dinah.
30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
30:23 So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”
30:24 And she named him Joseph, saying, “May the LORD ①give me another son.”
▷ ①Lit add to me; Heb Joseph
30:25 Now it came about, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, so that I may go to my own place and to my own country.
30:26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have ①rendered you.”
▷ ①Lit served
30:27 But Laban said to him, “If ①it pleases you at all, stay with me; I have determined by divination that the LORD has blessed me on your account.”
▷ ①Lit I have found favor in your eyes
30:28 He ①continued, “Name me your wages, and I will give them.”
▷ ①Lit said
30:29 But Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have ①fared with me.
▷ ①Lit been
30:30 For you had little before ①I came, and it has ②increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you ③wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
▷ ①Lit me ②Lit broken forth ③Lit at my foot
30:31 So 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:
30:32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled or spotted sheep and every black sheep among the lambs, and the spotted or speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages.
30:33 So my ①honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my ②wages. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”
▷ ①Lit righteousness ②Lit wages which are before you
30:34 Laban said, “ ①Good, let it be according to your word.”
▷ ①Lit Behold, would that it might be
30:35 So he removed on that day the striped or spotted male goats, and all the speckled or spotted female goats, every one with white on it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and put them in the ①care of his sons.
▷ ①Lit hand
30:36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
30:37 Then Jacob ①took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white that was ②in the rods.
▷ ①Lit took to himself ②Lit on
30:38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the drinking troughs, that is, in the watering channels where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink.
30:39 So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks delivered striped, speckled, and spotted offspring.
30:40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and ①made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
▷ ①Lit set the faces
30:41 Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the drinking troughs, so that they would mate by the rods;
30:42 but when the flock was sickly, he did not put them in; so the sickly were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s.
30:43 So the man ①became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
▷ ①Lit broke forth