30 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!”^(A) she said to Jacob.

² Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld children^[a] from you?”

³ Then she said, “Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me^[b](B) so that through her I too can build a family.” ⁴ So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶ Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son,” and she named him Dan.^[c]

⁷ Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God,^[d] I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali.^[e]

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Then Leah said, “What good fortune!”^[f] and she named him Gad.^[g]

¹² When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, ¹³ Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,”^(C) so she named him Asher.^[h]

¹⁴ Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field.^(D) When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?”

“Well,” Rachel said, “you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.

¹⁷ God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.^[i]

¹⁹ Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰ “God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun.^{[j] 21} Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb.^{(E) 23} She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my shame.”^{(F) 24} She named him Joseph:^[k] “May the Lord add another son to me.”^(G)

Jacob’s Flocks Multiply

²⁵ After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go.^(H) You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ Then Laban said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”^(I)

²⁹ So Jacob said to him, “You know what I have done for you and your herds.^{(J) 30} For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The Lord has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?”

³¹ Laban asked, “What should I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock. ³² Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. Such will be my wages. ³³ In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen.”

³⁴ “Good,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

³⁵ That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them. ³⁶ He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷ Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled the bark, exposing white stripes on the branches. ³⁸ 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. ³⁹ The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.^{(K) 40} Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked and the completely dark sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn’t put them with Laban’s sheep.

⁴¹ Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches. ⁴² As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. ⁴³ And the man became very rich.^[l] He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.^(L)

The Son of Man Forgives and Heals

9 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own town.^{(A) 2} Just then^(B) some men^[a] brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”^(C)

³ At this, some of the scribes said among themselves, “He’s blaspheming!”^(D)

⁴ But perceiving their thoughts,^(E) Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?^{[b] 5} For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He told the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” ⁷ And he got up and went home. ⁸ When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck^[c][d] and gave glory^(F) to God who had given such authority to men.

The Call of Matthew

⁹ As Jesus went on from there,^(G) He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.^(H)

¹⁰ While He was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came as guests to eat^[e] with Jesus and His disciples.^{(I) 11} When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^(J)

¹² But when He heard this, He said, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do.^{(K) 13} Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.^(L)[f] For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^[g]

A Question about Fasting

¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”^(M)

¹⁵ Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests^[h] be sad while the groom is with them? The time^[i] will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. ¹⁷ And no one puts^[j] new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. But they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

A Girl Restored and a Woman Healed

¹⁸ As He was telling them these things,^(N) suddenly one of the leaders^[k] came and knelt down before Him, saying, “My daughter is near death,^[l] but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”^{(O) 19} So Jesus and His disciples got up and followed^(P) him.

²⁰ Just then, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for 12 years approached from behind and touched the tassel on His robe,^{(Q) 21} for she said to herself, “If I can just touch His robe, I’ll be made well!”^[m](R)

²² But Jesus turned and saw her. “Have courage, daughter,” He said. “Your faith has made you well.”^[n](S) And the woman was made well from that moment.^[o]

²³ When Jesus came to the leader’s house, He saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.^{(T) 24} “Leave,” He said, “because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.”^(U) And they started laughing at Him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.^{(V) 26} And this news spread throughout that whole area.^(W)

Healing the Blind

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”^(X)

²⁸ When He entered the house, the blind men approached Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe^(Y) that I can do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they answered Him.

²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith!” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus warned them sternly, “Be sure that no one finds out!”^{[p](Z) 31} But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout that whole area.

Driving Out a Demon

³² Just as they were going out, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to Him.^{(AA) 33} When the demon had been driven out, the man^[q] spoke. And the crowds were amazed, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!”

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons!”^(AB)

The Lord of the Harvest

³⁵ Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom,^(AC) and healing every^[r] disease and every sickness.^{[s] 36} When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out,^(AD) like sheep without a shepherd.^{(AE) 37} Then He said to His disciples,^(AF) “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”