²⁵ And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee. ²⁷ And Laban said unto him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have divined that Jehovah hath blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸ And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. ²⁹ And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle have fared with me. ³⁰ For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it hath ^[a]increased unto a multitude; and Jehovah hath blessed thee ^[b]whithersoever I turned: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? ³¹ And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me aught: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it. ³² I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. ³³ So shall my righteousness answer for me hereafter, when thou shalt come concerning my hire that is before thee: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that, if found with me, shall be counted stolen. ³⁴ And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. ³⁵ And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons; ³⁶ and he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ And Jacob took him rods of fresh ^[c]poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸ And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹ And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; ⁴² but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses.