Chapter 30

And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

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?

And she said, Behold, there is my maid, Bilhah: go in to her, in order that she may bear on my knees, and I may also be built up by her.

And she gave him Bilhah her maidservant as wife, and Jacob went in to her.

And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

And Rachel said, God has done me justice, and has also heard my voice, and given me a son; therefore she called his name Dan.

And Bilhah Rachel's maidservant again conceived, and bore Jacob a second son.

And Rachel said, Wrestlings of God have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali.

And when Leah saw that she had ceased to bear, she took Zilpah her maidservant and gave her to Jacob as wife.

And Zilpah Leah's maidservant bore Jacob a son.

And Leah said, Fortunately! and she called his name Gad.

And Zilpah Leah's maidservant bore Jacob a second son.

And Leah said, Happy am I; for the daughters will call me blessed! and she called his name Asher.

And Reuben went out in the days of wheat-harvest, and found mandrakes in the fields; and he brought them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.

And she said to her, Is it [too] little that thou hast taken my husband, that thou wilt take my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes.

And when Jacob came from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in to me, for indeed I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.

And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I have given my maidservant to my husband; and she called his name Issachar.

And Leah again conceived, and bore Jacob a sixth son;

and Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; this time will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun.

And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

And God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.

And she conceived, and bore a son, and said, God has taken away my reproach.

And she called his name Joseph; and said, Jehovah will add to me another son.

And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my country.

Give [me] my wives for whom I have served thee, and my children; that I may go away, for thou knowest my service which I have served thee.

And Laban said to him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes -- I have discovered that Jehovah has blessed me for thy sake.

And he said, Appoint to me thy wages, and I will give it.

And he said to him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and what thy cattle has become with me.

For it was little that thou hadst before me, and it is increased to a multitude, and Jehovah has blessed thee from the time I came; and now, when shall I also provide for my house?

And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou doest this for me, I will again feed [and] keep thy flock:

I will pass through all thy flock to-day, to remove thence all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and [that] shall be my hire.

And my righteousness shall answer for me hereafter, when thou comest about my hire, before thy face: all that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, let that be stolen with me.

And Laban said, Well, let it be according to thy word.

And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the brown among the lambs, and gave [them] into the hand of his sons.

And he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flock.

And Jacob took fresh rods of white poplar, almond-tree, and maple; and peeled off white stripes in them, uncovering the white which was on the rods.

And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flock, in the troughs at the watering-places where the flock came to drink, and they were ardent when they came to drink.

And the flock was ardent before the rods; and the flock brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flock toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he made himself separate flocks, and did not put them with Laban's flock.

And it came to pass whensoever the strong cattle were ardent, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might become ardent among the rods;

but when the sheep were feeble, he put [them] not in; so the feeble were Laban's, and the strong Jacob's.

And the man increased very, very much, and had much cattle, and bondwomen, and bondmen, and camels, and asses.