“1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied
her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 2 And
Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, [Am] I in God’s
stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? 3 And she
said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my
knees, that I may also have children by her. 4 And she gave him Bilhah
her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. 5 And Bilhah
conceived, and bare Jacob a son. 6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me,
and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called
she his name Dan. 7 And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare
Jacob a second son. 8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I
wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name
Naphtali. 9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her
maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. 10 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a
son. 11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. 12
And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, Happy
am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: 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 unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to
Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. 15 And she said unto
her, [Is it] a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and
wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said,
Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes. 16
And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to
meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired
thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 17 And God
hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden
to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived
again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 20 And Leah said, God hath endued
me [with] a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I
have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. 21 And
afterwards she bare 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 bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my
reproach: 24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall
add to me another son.”
“25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said
unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine 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 knowest my service which I have done thee.
27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine
eyes, [tarry: for] I have learned by experience that the LORD hath
blessed me for thy sake. 28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I
will give [it]. 29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served
thee, and how thy cattle was with me. 30 For [it was] little which thou
hadst before I [came], and it is [now] increased unto a multitude; and
the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide
for mine own house also? 31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And
Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing
for me, I will again feed [and] keep thy flock: 32 I will pass through
all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted
cattle, and all the brown cattle 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 in time to come, when it shall come for my
hire before thy face: every one that [is] not speckled and spotted among
the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with
me. 34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy
word. 35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and
spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, [and]
every one that had [some] white in it, and all the brown among the
sheep, and gave [them] into the hand of his sons. 36 And he set three
days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of
Laban’s flocks.”
“37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and
chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white
appear which [was] in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had
pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the
flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle
ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob did separate the lambs,
and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the
brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves,
and put them not unto Laban’s cattle. 41 And it came to pass, whensoever
the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the
eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the
rods. 42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put [them] not in: so the
feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 And the man increased
exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and
camels, and asses.” (Ge 30:1-43 AV)
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