30:1 Rachel saw she had no kids
with
Jacob she envied her sister.
So
she told Jacob:
Give
me children or I'll pass away.
30:2 Jacob was angry with her:
Am
I in God’s place
having
kept you from having kids?
30:3 Then she said:
Look
at my housemaid Bilhah.
Sleep
with her
so
she can have children for me
giving
me children through her.
30:4 She gave him her housemaid
Bilhah
to be his wife.
Jacob
slept with her.
30:5 Then she became pregnant
and
had a son for Jacob.
30:6 Then Rachel said:
God
has vindicated me.
He
heard my plea
and
gave me a son.
Thus
she named him Dan (judge).
30:7 Then Rachel's housemaid Bilhah conceived
again
and
had a second son for Jacob.
30:8 Then Rachel said:
I
have wrestled with my sister
and
I have won.
Thus
she named him Naphtali (wrestling).
30:9 When Leah saw she stopped having children
she
brought her housemaid Zilpah
and
gave her to Jacob to marry.
30:10 Then Leah's housemaid Zilpah conceived
and
brought forth to Jacob a son.
30:11 Then Leah said:
This
is fortunate.
Thus
she named him Gad (fortunate).
30:12 Then Leah's housemaid Zilpah conceived
and
brought forth to Jacob a second son.
30:13 Then Leah said:
Happy
am I.
Women
will say I’m happy.
Thus
she named him Asher (happy).
30:14 During the wheat harvest
Reuben
went to the fields.
He
found some mandrake plants
and
brought them to his mother Leah.
Rachel
said to Leah:
Please
give me some of your son’s mandrakes.
But
she told her:
It
wasn’t enough that you took my husband?
Will
you take my son's mandrakes too?
Rachel
replied:
Okay,
he can sleep with you tonight
in
return for your son's mandrakes.
30:16 When Jacob returned from the fields
that
evening Leah met him, saying:
You
must sleep with me.
I
have hired you with my son's mandrakes.
So
he slept with her that night.
30:17 And God heard Leah
and
she became pregnant
and
brought forth to Jacob a fifth son.
30:18 Then Leah said:
God
rewarded me
for
giving my housemaid to my husband.
Thus
she named him Issachar (compensation).
30:19 Leah conceived again
and
brought forth to Jacob a sixth son.
30:20 Then Leah said:
God
has given me a precious gift.
Now
my husband will honor me
because
I have given him six sons.
Thus
she named him Zebulun (exalted).
30:21 Later she gave birth to a daughter
and
she named her Dinah.
30:22 God was mindful of Rachel.
He
heard her
and
enabled her to conceive.
30:23 So she became pregnant
and
gave birth to a son and said:
God
has taken away my disgrace.
30:24 She named him Joseph, saying:
May
Yahweh give me another son.
30:25 Once Rachel bore Joseph
Jacob
said to Laban:
Let
me go on my way
so
I can return to my homeland.
30:26 Give me my wives and children
for
whom I have worked for you
so
I can go on my way.
For
you know I have
worked
hard for you.
30:27 But Laban said to him:
If
I have found your favor please stay.
For
I have learned that Yahweh
has
blessed me due to you.
30:28 He also said:
Name
your wages.
I
will pay them.
30:29 He replied:
You
know how I worked for you.
And
how your properties
have
benefited under my care.
30:30 What little you had before
I
came has increased greatly.
And
Yahweh has blessed you
since
I have been here.
But
when may I provide
for
my own household?
30:31 So he asked:
What
should I give you?
Jacob
replied:
Don't
give me anything.
But
if you do this for me
I
will continue to feed
and
keep tending your flocks.
30:32 Let me pass through your flocks
and
take all the speckled or spotted sheep
every
dark lamb and every spotted goat.
They
will be my wages.
30:33 Let my righteousness bear witness
when
you check the wages you paid.
Any
goat in my possession
not
speckled or spotted
or
lamb not dark-colored
will
be considered stolen.
30:34 Laban said to him:
It
is settled then.
It
will be as you have said.
30:35 So on that day he took out
the
spotted or striped goats
both
male and female
and
any with white spots
along
with the dark lambs.
He
put them in the care of his sons.
30:36 Then he set off on a journey
after
Jacob for three days.
Jacob
tended the remaining flocks of Laban.
30:37 Jacob then took fresh-cut branches
from
young poplar trees
hazelnut
and chestnut trees.
He
made white stripes on them
by
peeling back the bark
to
expose the white part of the branches.
30:38 Then he put the peeled branches
in
all the flocks’ water troughs
before
they came to drink.
When
the flocks were hot
they
came to drink.
30:39 The flocks mated
because
of the branches.
Their
young were spotted
striped
and speckled.
30:40 Jacob separated the young
of
the flock by themselves
and
made the other spotted and striped
stay
apart from the brown flock of Laban.
He
kept his flocks separate from Laban’s.
30:41 When any vigorous females mated
Jacob
put the branches in the troughs
Before
the flocks so they mated
among
the branches.
30:42 But for the feeble flocks
he
would not place them in.
So
the weaker flocks were Laban’s
and
the vigorous ones were Jacob’s.
30:43 In this manner the man prospered
and
came to own large flocks
and
female and male workers
and
camels and donkeys.
