1 And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no sons, Rachel envied her sister, and she said to Jacob, Give me sons, or else I die.
2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God's stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
3 And she said, Behold, my maid Bilhah, go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may obtain sons by her. 4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. 6 And 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 handmaid conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. 8 And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife. 10 And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, Fortunate! And she called his name Gad.
12 And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, Happy am I! For the daughters will call me happy. And she called his name Asher.
14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
15 And she said to her, Is it a small matter that thou have taken away my husband? And would thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lay with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes.
16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in to me, for I have surely hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun. 21 And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
22 And God remembered Rachel. And God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived, and bore a son, and said, God has taken away my reproach. 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, LORD adds another son to me.
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my 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 know my service with which I have served thee.
27 And Laban said to him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, [tarry, for] I have learned by experience that LORD has blessed me for thy sake. 28 And he said, Appoint for me thy wages, and I will give it.
29 And he said to him, Thou know how I have served thee, and how thy cattle have fared with me. 30 For it was little which thou had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude, and LORD has blessed thee wherever I turned. And now when shall I provide for my own house also?
31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shall not give me anything. If thou will do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it. 32 I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from there 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 after this, when thou shall 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 [is] with me, shall be con
34 And Laban said, Behold, O that 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 h 36 And he set three days' journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 And Jacob took for him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree, and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white which was in the rods appear. 38 And he set the rods which he had peeled before 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 herds apart, and did not put them near Laban's flock.
41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, 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 weak, he did not put them in. So the weaker 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 donkeys.