Thematic Bible
Genesis 30:1 (show verse)
Rachel had not borne Jacob any children. As a result, she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob: Give me children, or I will die.
Genesis 30:2 (show verse)
Jacob became angry with Rachel. He said: I cannot take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.
Genesis 30:3 (show verse)
She said: Here is my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. This way I can become a mother through her.
Genesis 30:4 (show verse)
Then Rachel let Jacob marry Bilhah. Jacob slept with Bilhah.
Genesis 30:5 (show verse)
They had a son.
Genesis 30:6 (show verse)
Rachel named him Dan, because she said: God has answered my prayers. He has vindicated me and given me a son.
Genesis 30:7 (show verse)
Bilhah and Jacob had a second son.
Genesis 30:8 (show verse)
Rachel said: I have struggled hard with my sister, and I have won! So she named the boy Naphtali.
Genesis 30:9 (show verse)
When Leah realized she could not have any more children, she let Jacob marry her servant Zilpah.
Genesis 30:10 (show verse)
They had a son.
Genesis 30:11 (show verse)
Leah said: How fortunate. She called him Gad.
Genesis 30:12 (show verse)
Leah's slave Zilpah gave birth to her second son for Jacob.
Genesis 30:13 (show verse)
Leah said: I am happy, for women will call me blessed. So she named him Asher.
Genesis 30:14 (show verse)
During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields. He found some mandrake plants. He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah: Please, give me some of your son's mandrake plants.
Genesis 30:15 (show verse)
Leah replied: Is it not enough that you took my husband? Are you also going to take my son's mandrake plants? Rachel responded: Very well, Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your son's mandrake plants.
Genesis 30:16 (show verse)
Jacob came in from the fields that evening. Leah went out to meet him. You are to sleep with me, she said. You are my reward for my son's mandrake plants. So he went to bed with her that night.
Genesis 30:17 (show verse)
God answered Leah's prayer. She became pregnant and gave birth to her fifth son for Jacob.
Genesis 30:18 (show verse)
Leah said: God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband. So she named him Issachar.
Genesis 30:19 (show verse)
She became pregnant again and gave birth to her sixth son for Jacob.
Genesis 30:20 (show verse)
Leah said: God has presented me with a wonderful gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have given him six sons. So she named him Zebulun.
Genesis 30:21 (show verse)
Later she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
Genesis 30:22 (show verse)
Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb.
Genesis 30:23 (show verse)
So she conceived and gave birth to a son. She said: God has taken away my reproach.
Genesis 30:24 (show verse)
She named him Joseph. She said: May Jehovah give me another son.
Genesis 30:25 (show verse)
When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.
Genesis 30:26 (show verse)
Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you. Let me depart. For you know how much service I have done for you.
Genesis 30:27 (show verse)
But Laban said: If now it pleases you, stay with me. I have observed that Jehovah has blessed me on your account.
Genesis 30:28 (show verse)
He continued: Name your wages, and I will pay.
Genesis 30:29 (show verse)
Jacob responded: You know how much work I have done for you and what has happened to your livestock under my care.
Genesis 30:30 (show verse)
The little that you had before I came has grown to a large amount. Jehovah has blessed you wherever I have been. When may I do something for my own family?
Genesis 30:31 (show verse)
Laban asked: What should I give you? Jacob answered: Do not give me anything. Instead, do something for me. Then I will go back to taking care of and watching your flocks again.
Genesis 30:32 (show verse)
Let me go through all of your flocks today and take every speckled and spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted and speckled goat. They will be my wages.
Genesis 30:33 (show verse)
My honesty will speak for itself whenever you come to check on my wages. Any goat I have that is not speckled or spotted or any lamb that is not black will be considered stolen.
Genesis 30:34 (show verse)
Laban answered: I agree; we will do as you have said.
Genesis 30:35 (show verse)
Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats (every one with white on it), and every black lamb. He had his sons take charge of them that same day.
Genesis 30:36 (show verse)
They moved away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flocks.
Genesis 30:37 (show verse)
Jacob took green branches of poplar (storax), almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them.
Genesis 30:38 (show verse)
He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink.
Genesis 30:39 (show verse)
So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
Genesis 30:40 (show verse)
Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban's flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban's.
Genesis 30:41 (show verse)
When the strongest of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods.
Genesis 30:42 (show verse)
When the flock was feeble, he did not put them in. That way the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's.
Genesis 30:43 (show verse)
He became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.