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Genesis 30
Legacy Standard Bible

The Sons of Jacob

30 Then Rachel saw that (A)she bore Jacob no children, so [a]she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “(B)Give me children, or else I die.” 2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has (C)withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 And she said, “(D)Here is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may (E)bear on my knees, that [b](F)through her I too may obtain children.” 4 So (G)she gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has [c](H)rendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him [d]Dan. 7 And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 So Rachel said, “With [e]mighty wrestlings I have [f]wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.

9 Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “[g]How fortunate!” So she named him [h]Gad. 12 And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “[i]Happy am I! For women (I)will call me happy.” So she named him [j]Asher.

14 And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found (J)mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 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 will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 Then Jacob came in from the field in the evening. And Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 And Leah said, “God has given me my [k]wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19 Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband [l]will honor me because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

22 Then (K)God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and (L)opened her womb. 23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has (M)taken away my reproach.” 24 And she named him Joseph, saying, “(N)May Yahweh [m]give me another son.”

Jacob Names His Wages

25 Now it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “(O)Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own land. 26 Give me my wives and my children (P)for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have [n]rendered you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; I have interpreted an omen (Q)that Yahweh has blessed me on your account.” 28 And he continued to say, “(R)Name me your wages, and I will give it.” 29 But he said to him, “(S)You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have [o]fared with me. 30 For you had little before [p]I came, but it has (T)spread out to a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you [q]at every step of mine. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” 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: 32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every (U)speckled and spotted sheep and every black [r]one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. 33 So my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my [s]wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” 34 And Laban said, “Behold, [t]let it be according to your word.” 35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the [u]care of his sons. 36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 Then Jacob [v]took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was [w]in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the trough, that is, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink; and they [x]mated when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks [y]mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and he [z]made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he set his own herds apart and did not set them with Laban’s flock. 41 Now it would be that, whenever the [aa]stronger of the flock [ab]were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the trough, so that they might [ac]mate by the rods; 42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the [ad]stronger Jacob’s. 43 So (V)the man (W)spread out exceedingly and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 30:1 Lit Rachel
  2. Genesis 30:3 Lit from her I too may be built
  3. Genesis 30:6 Lit judged
  4. Genesis 30:6 He judged
  5. Genesis 30:8 Lit wrestlings of God
  6. Genesis 30:8 Heb niphtal, related to Naphtali
  7. Genesis 30:11 Lit With fortune!; some versions Fortune has come
  8. Genesis 30:11 Fortune
  9. Genesis 30:13 Lit With my happiness!
  10. Genesis 30:13 Happy
  11. Genesis 30:18 Heb sachar, related to Issachar
  12. Genesis 30:20 Heb zabal, related to Zebulun
  13. Genesis 30:24 Lit add to me; Heb Joseph
  14. Genesis 30:26 Lit served
  15. Genesis 30:29 Lit been
  16. Genesis 30:30 Lit me
  17. Genesis 30:30 Lit at my foot
  18. Genesis 30:32 Lit sheep
  19. Genesis 30:33 Lit wages which are before you
  20. Genesis 30:34 Lit would that it might be
  21. Genesis 30:35 Lit hand
  22. Genesis 30:37 Lit took to himself
  23. Genesis 30:37 Lit on
  24. Genesis 30:38 Or conceived
  25. Genesis 30:39 Or conceived
  26. Genesis 30:40 Lit set the faces
  27. Genesis 30:41 Firm and compact; lit bound ones
  28. Genesis 30:41 Or conceived
  29. Genesis 30:41 Or conceive
  30. Genesis 30:42 Firm and compact; lit bound ones
Close NLT

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

  1. 30:3 Hebrew bear children on my knees.
  2. 30:6 Dan means “he judged” or “he vindicated.”
  3. 30:8 Naphtali means “my struggle.”
  4. 30:11 Gad means “good fortune.”
  5. 30:13 Asher means “happy.”
  6. 30:18 Issachar sounds like a Hebrew term that means “reward.”
  7. 30:20 Zebulun probably means “honor.”
  8. 30:24 Joseph means “may he add.”
  9. 30:27 Or I have learned by divination that.
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