Genesis 30
Lexham English Bible
Jacob’s Children
30 When Rachel saw that she could not bear children to Jacob, Rachel envied her sister. And she said to Jacob, “Give me children—if not, I will die!” 2 And Jacob became angry[a] with Rachel. And he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my servant girl Bilhah; go in to her that she may bear children as my surrogate.[b] Then I will even have children[c] by her.” 4 Then she gave him Bilhah, her female servant, as a wife, and Jacob went in to her 5 And Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. 7 And Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, conceived again and bore a second son to Jacob. 8 And Rachel said, “I have struggled a mighty struggle with my sister and have prevailed.” And she called his name Naphtali. 9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took Zilpah her female servant and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And Zilpah, the female slave of Leah, bore a son to Jacob. 11 Then Leah said, “Good fortune!” And she called his name Gad. 12 And Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, bore a second son to Jacob. 13 Then Leah said, “How happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14 And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and he brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 And she said to her, “Is your taking my husband such a small thing that you will also take the mandrakes of my son?” Then Rachel said, “Then he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him. And she said, “Come in to me, for I have hired[d] you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he slept with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my wage since I gave my servant girl to my husband.” And she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. 20 And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift. This time my husband will acknowledge me, because I bore him six sons.” And she called his name Zebulun. 21 And afterward she gave birth to a daughter. And she called her name Dinah. 22 Then God remembered Rachel and listened to her, and God opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and gave birth to a son. And she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “Yahweh has added to me another son.”
Jacob’s Prosperity
25 And it happened that as soon as Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away that I may go to my place and my land. 26 Give me my wives and my children for which I have served you, and let me go. For you yourself know my service that I have rendered to you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, I have learned by divination that Yahweh has blessed me because of you.” 28 And he said, “Name your wage to me and I will give it.” 29 Then he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have been with me.[e] 30 For you had little before me, and it has increased abundantly. And Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned.[f] So then, when shall I provide for my own family also?” 31 And he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “Do not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flocks and keep them. 32 Let me pass through all your flocks today, removing all the speckled and spotted sheep from them, along with[g] every dark-colored sheep among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. That[h] shall be my wages. 33 And my righteousness will answer for me later[i] when you come concerning my wages before you. Every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or dark-colored among the sheep shall be stolen if it is with me.” 34 Then Laban said, “Look! Very well. It shall be according to your word.” 35 But that day he[j] removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, all that had white on it, and every dark-colored ram, and put them in the charge of his sons.[k] 36 And he put a journey of three days between him and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the remainder of Laban’s flock. 37 Then Jacob took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled white strips on them, exposing the white which was on the branches. 38 And he set the branches that he had peeled in front of the flocks, in the troughs and in the water containers. And they were in heat when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks mated by the branches, so the flocks bore streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs and turned the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark-colored in Laban’s flocks. And he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with the flocks of Laban. 41 And whenever any of the stronger of the flocks were in heat, Jacob put the branches in full view[l] of the flock in the troughs that they might mate among the branches. 42 But with the more feeble of the flock he would not put them there. So the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger were Jacob’s. 43 And the man became exceedingly[m] rich and had large flocks, female slaves, male slaves, camels, and donkeys.
Footnotes
- Genesis 30:2 Literally “became hot of nose”
- Genesis 30:3 Literally “upon my knees”
- Genesis 30:3 Literally “be built up”
- Genesis 30:16 Literally “I have fully paid for”
- Genesis 30:29 I.e., “How well they have done under my care”
- Genesis 30:30 Literally “to my foot”
- Genesis 30:32 Or “and”
- Genesis 30:32 Or “it”
- Genesis 30:33 Literally “on the day tomorrow”
- Genesis 30:35 That is, Laban
- Genesis 30:35 Literally “he gave into the hands of his sons”
- Genesis 30:41 Literally “before the eyes of”
- Genesis 30:43 Literally “very, very”
Genesis 30
New Living Translation
30 When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2 Then Jacob became furious with Rachel. “Am I God?” he asked. “He’s the one who has kept you from having children!”
3 Then Rachel told him, “Take my maid, Bilhah, and sleep with her. She will bear children for me,[a] and through her I can have a family, too.” 4 So Rachel gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. 5 Bilhah became pregnant and presented him with a son. 6 Rachel named him Dan,[b] for she said, “God has vindicated me! He has heard my request and given me a son.” 7 Then Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel named him Naphtali,[c] for she said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I’m winning!”
9 Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Soon Zilpah presented him with a son. 11 Leah named him Gad,[d] for she said, “How fortunate I am!” 12 Then Zilpah gave Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah named him Asher,[e] for she said, “What joy is mine! Now the other women will celebrate with me.”
14 One day during the wheat harvest, Reuben found some mandrakes growing in a field and brought them to his mother, Leah. Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But Leah angrily replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you stole my husband? Now will you steal my son’s mandrakes, too?”
Rachel answered, “I will let Jacob sleep with you tonight if you give me some of the mandrakes.”
16 So that evening, as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. “You must come and sleep with me tonight!” she said. “I have paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found.” So that night he slept with Leah. 17 And God answered Leah’s prayers. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18 She named him Issachar,[f] for she said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife.” 19 Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. 20 She named him Zebulun,[g] for she said, “God has given me a good reward. Now my husband will treat me with respect, for I have given him six sons.” 21 Later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. “God has removed my disgrace,” she said. 24 And she named him Joseph,[h] for she said, “May the Lord add yet another son to my family.”
Jacob’s Wealth Increases
25 Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Please release me so I can go home to my own country. 26 Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them by serving you, and let me be on my way. You certainly know how hard I have worked for you.”
27 “Please listen to me,” Laban replied. “I have become wealthy, for[i] the Lord has blessed me because of you. 28 Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”
29 Jacob replied, “You know how hard I’ve worked for you, and how your flocks and herds have grown under my care. 30 You had little indeed before I came, but your wealth has increased enormously. The Lord has blessed you through everything I’ve done. But now, what about me? When can I start providing for my own family?”
31 “What wages do you want?” Laban asked again.
Jacob replied, “Don’t give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I’ll continue to tend and watch over your flocks. 32 Let me inspect your flocks today and remove all the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the black sheep. Give these to me as my wages. 33 In the future, when you check on the animals you have given me as my wages, you’ll see that I have been honest. If you find in my flock any goats without speckles or spots, or any sheep that are not black, you will know that I have stolen them from you.”
34 “All right,” Laban replied. “It will be as you say.” 35 But that very day Laban went out and removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted or had white patches, and all the black sheep. He placed them in the care of his own sons, 36 who took them a three-days’ journey from where Jacob was. Meanwhile, Jacob stayed and cared for the rest of Laban’s flock.
37 Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks on them. 38 Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated. 39 And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Jacob separated those lambs from Laban’s flock. And at mating time he turned the flock to face Laban’s animals that were streaked or black. This is how he built his own flock instead of increasing Laban’s.
41 Whenever the stronger females were ready to mate, Jacob would place the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of them. Then they would mate in front of the branches. 42 But he didn’t do this with the weaker ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob’s. 43 As a result, Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants, and many camels and donkeys.
Footnotes
- 30:3 Hebrew bear children on my knees.
- 30:6 Dan means “he judged” or “he vindicated.”
- 30:8 Naphtali means “my struggle.”
- 30:11 Gad means “good fortune.”
- 30:13 Asher means “happy.”
- 30:18 Issachar sounds like a Hebrew term that means “reward.”
- 30:20 Zebulun probably means “honor.”
- 30:24 Joseph means “may he add.”
- 30:27 Or I have learned by divination that.
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