UST GEN chapter 30

30 Meanwhile when Rachel realized that she was not able to bear any children for Jacob, she was jealous of her sister, and she demanded of Jacob, “Help me have children, or else I want to die!” 2 Jacob became very angry with Rachel and responded, “I am not God! He is the one who has prevented you from having children!” 3 Then Rachel told him, “You can have my servant woman Bilhah as a wife. Have marital relations with her so that she will have children for me, so that I too can have a family.” 4 So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah to be another wife for him, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

5 Then Bilhah became pregnant and had a son for Jacob, 6 and Rachel exclaimed, “God has judged in my favor! Yes indeed, he has answered my prayer and given me a son!” That is why she named the baby Dan, which means “he judged in my favor.”

7 Then Rachel’s servant Bilhah became pregnant again and had a second son for Jacob. 8 Then Rachel exclaimed, “I have had a difficult contest with my sister, and now I have defeated her!” Then she named that son Naphtali, which means “my contest.”

9 Now when Leah realized that she had stopped having children, she brought her servant Zilpah to Jacob and gave her to him to be another wife for him. 10 Then Zilpah had a son for Jacob, 11 and Leah exclaimed, “I am so fortunate!” So she named him Gad, which means “fortunate.”

12 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah had a second son for Jacob, 13 and Leah exclaimed, “God has truly blessed me! Now other women will know that God has blessed me.” So she named that son Asher, which means “blessed.”

14 Then one day during the season when people were harvesting wheat, Leah’s son Reuben went out in a field and found some fertility plants, and he gave them to his mother. When Rachel found out about the plants, she begged Leah, “Please give me some of the fertility plants that your son found.” 15 But Leah replied to her, “No! It was bad enough that you stole my husband from me! And now you even want to take my son’s fertility plants!” Rachel replied, “Alright then, Jacob can sleep with you tonight if you will give me your son’s fertility plants.”

16 That evening when Jacob came home from working in the field, Leah went out to greet him and told him, “You must sleep with me tonight, because I have traded my son’s fertility plants for time with you.” So Jacob spent that night with Leah. 17 God answered the prayers of Leah, so that she became pregnant and had a fifth son for Jacob. 18 Then she said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife.” So she named that son Issachar, which means “reward.”

19 Then Leah became pregnant again and had a sixth son for Jacob. 20 Then she said, “God has given me a valuable gift, so that now my husband will honor me because I have had six sons for him.” So she named their son Zebulun, which means “honor.”

22 God had not forgotten Rachel, so he answered her prayers and made it possible for her to have children. 23 Then she became pregnant and had a son, and she exclaimed, “God has made it so that I am no longer ashamed!” 24 She named her son Joseph, which means “may he give another,” because she said, “I pray that Yahweh will give me another son.”

Jacob Becomes Very Rich Working for Laban

30:25-43

25 After Rachel had Joseph, Jacob requested of Laban, “Please allow me to leave here, so that I can return to my own home in my own country. 26 Let me take my wives and my children, whom I have earned by working for you, so that I can leave with them. You yourself know how well I have worked for you.”

27 But Laban responded to him, “Please be kind to me and stay, because I have found out from observing signs that Yahweh has blessed me because you are here with me.” 28 Then he added, “Tell me what you want your pay to be, and that is what I will pay you.” 29 Jacob replied to him, “You yourself know how hard I have worked for you and how well your animals have prospered under my care. 30 The few that you owned before I came have multiplied dramatically. Yes, Yahweh has blessed you because of me. But now, I need to also provide for my own family!”

31 So Laban asked him, “What can I pay you to persuade you to stay here?” Jacob answered, “Do not pay me anything. Just do this one thing for me, and I will continue taking care of your flocks: 32 Let me look through all your flocks today and separate out from them all the lambs that are speckled, spotted or dark-colored, and all the young goats that are spotted or speckled. They will be my pay. 33 That way too, in the future it will be easy for you to know whether or not I am being honest whenever you check the animals you have paid me. If you see that I have any sheep or goats that are not speckled or spotted or any lambs that are not dark-colored, you will know that I stole them from you.”

34 Laban replied, “I agree, let’s do exactly as you have suggested.” 35 But that same day, Laban separated from his flocks all the he-goats that had stripes or spots, and all the she-goats that had speckles or spots, all that had any white marks on them, together with all the dark-colored lambs. Then he told his sons to take care of them, 36 and he and his sons took those animals a three-day walking-distance away from Jacob. Meanwhile Jacob continued taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 Then Jacob cut some branches from poplar trees, almond trees, and chestnut trees, and made white streaks on them by peeling off long strips of bark, which exposed the white wood that was inside the branches. 38 Then he put those streaked branches in all the drinking troughs that the flocks would come to drink from, so that the flocks would see the branches. That way, whenever the animals that were ready to mate came to the troughs to drink, 39 they would see the branches as they were mating. As a result, they would have young that were striped or speckled or spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated those young animals from Laban’s flocks to form new flocks for himself, and he put the rest of the flocks with the striped and dark-colored animals in Laban’s flocks so that they would mate and have young that were striped or dark-colored. In that way, over time he created separate flocks of sheep and goats for himself that he kept separate from Laban’s flocks.

41 Whenever the stronger female animals were ready to mate, Jacob put the streaked branches in the drinking troughs in front of those animals so that they would see the branches as they were mating. 42 But whenever the weaker female animals were ready to mate, Jacob did not put the branches in the troughs. In that way, the young from the weaker animals were Laban’s and the young from the stronger animals were Jacob’s. 43 So Jacob became extremely wealthy. He owned large flocks of sheep and goats, and many male and female servants and many camels and donkeys.

UST GEN Chapter 30