Genesis 30
1 Rachel realized that she was not becoming pregnant and giving birth to any children for Jacob. So she became jealous of her older sister, Leah, because Leah had given birth to four sons. She said to Jacob, “Enable me to become pregnant and give birth to children. If you do not do that, I [think I will]!”
When Rachel realized she was unable to give Jacob any children she was jealous of her sister. She complained to Jacob, “I'll die if you don't give me children!”
2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “(I am not God!/Am I God?) [RHQ] He is the one who has prevented you from becoming pregnant!”
Jacob became angry with Rachel and told her, “Am I God? Do you think I'm the one stopping you having children?”
3 Then she said, “Look, here is my female slave, Bilhah. (Sleep with/Have sex with) [EUP] her, so that she may become pregnant and give birth to children for me. In that way it will be as though (I have children/her children are mine).”
“Here's my personal maid Bilhah,” Rachel replied. “Sleep with her and she can have children for me so I'll have a family too.”
4 So she gave him her slave, Bilhah, to be another wife for him, and Jacob had sex [EUP] with her.
She gave her personal maid Bilhah to him as a wife and Jacob slept with her.
5 She became pregnant and bore Jacob a son.
Bilhah became pregnant and had a son for Jacob.
6 Rachel said, “God has (vindicated me/judged my case and has decided that what I have done is right). He has also heard my requests and has given me a son.” So she named him Dan, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘he judged’].
Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor! He listened to me and gave me a son.” So she named him Dan.
7 Later, Rachel’s slave Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son for Jacob.
Rachel's personal maid Bilhah became pregnant again and had second son for Jacob.
8 Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle to have children like my older sister, but truly I have a son.” So she named him Naphtali, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘struggle’].
Rachel said, “I've had a hard struggle with my sister, but I've won.” So she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah realized that she was not becoming pregnant and giving birth to any more children, she took her female slave, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob to be another wife for him.
Leah realized she wasn't having any more children, so she gave her personal maid Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.
10 Zilpah soon became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob.
Zilpah had a son for Jacob.
11 Leah said, “I am truly fortunate!” So she named him Gad, [which means ‘fortunate’].
Leah said, “I'm really fortunate!” So she named him Gad.
12 Later Leah’s slave, Zilpah, gave birth to another son for Jacob.
Leah's personal maid Zilpah became pregnant again and had a second son for Jacob.
13 Leah said, “Now I am very happy, and people will call me happy.” So she named him Asher, [which means ‘happy].’
Leah said, “I'm so happy, and the other women will say I'm happy too!” So she named him Asher.
14 When it was time to harvest wheat, Reuben went out into the fields and saw some (mandrakes/plants that women eat to help them to become pregnant). He brought some of them to his mother Leah. But Rachel saw them and said to Leah, “Please give me some of those plants that your son brought to you!”
At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben found some mandrake plants when he was out in the fields. He took them back to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, “Please give me some of the mandrakes your son found.”
15 But Leah said to her, “No! (It was bad that you stole my husband!/Is it not bad enough that you stole my husband?) [RHQ] Now (are you going to take my son’s mandrake plants?/You want to take my son’s mandrake plants also, [so that you can become pregnant]!)” [RHQ] So Rachel said, “All right, Jacob can sleep with you tonight, if you give me some of your son’s mandrake plants.” [So Leah (agreed/gave her some)].
“Aren't you satisfied with stealing my husband?” Leah replied. “Are you going to take my son's mandrakes too?” “Fine, he can sleep with you tonight if you give me some mandrakes in return,” Rachel responded.
16 When Jacob returned from the wheat fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. She said, “You must sleep with me tonight, because I gave Rachel some of my son’s mandrakes [that enable women to become pregnant], to pay her for allowing us to do that.” So Jacob slept with her that night.
When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You have to sleep with me because I've paid for you with my son's mandrakes,” she told him. So he slept with her that night.
17 God answered Leah’s prayers, and she became pregnant and bore a fifth son to Jacob.
God heard Leah's request, and she became pregnant and had a fifth son for Jacob.
18 Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband to be another wife for him.” So she named him Issachar, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘reward’].
Leah said, “The Lord has rewarded me for giving my personal maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah became pregnant again and bore a sixth son for Jacob.
Then Leah became pregnant again and had a sixth son for Jacob.
20 Leah said, “God has given me a precious gift. (This time/Now) my husband will honor/respect me, because I have given birth to six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulon, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘accepted gift’].
Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I've given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Later she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Dinah.
Later she had a daughter she named Dinah.
22 Then God thought about what Rachel wanted. He heard her prayers and enabled her to become pregnant.
Then God paid attention to Rachel and listened to her appeals, and helped her to have children.
23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has caused that no longer will I be ashamed [for not having children].”
She became pregnant and had a son. “God has removed my disgrace,” she said.
24 She named him Joseph, [which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean ‘may he give another’] and she said, ‘want Yahweh to give me another son.’
She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me an additional son.”
25 After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Now allow me to quit working for you and let me return to my own land.
Once Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me leave so I can return to my home and my own country.
26 You know the work that I have done for you [for a long time to get my wives]. So let me take my wives and my children, and leave.”
Give me my wives and children because I worked for you to have them. Let me go now because you know very well how much work I've done for you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If you are pleased with me, stay here, because I have found out by performing a magic ritual that Yahweh has blessed me because of what you have done for me.
“Please be so kind as to stay,” Laban replied, “because I have discovered that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”
28 Tell me what you want me to pay you for continuing to work for me, and that is what I will pay you.”
Then Laban continued, “Tell me how much to pay you and I'll give it to you.”
29 Jacob replied, “You know how I have worked for you, and you know that your livestock have increased greatly as I have taken care of them.
“You certainly know how much work I've done for you, and how well your flocks have done under my care.
30 You had only a few animals before I came here. But now you have very many, and Yahweh has caused them to increase greatly in number wherever I have taken them. But now I need to start taking care of the needs of my own family.”
You hardly had anything before I arrived, but now you have so much! The Lord has blessed you through what I've done. When am I going to be able to provide for my own family?”
31 Laban replied, “What do you want me to give you?” Jacob replied, “I do not want you to pay me anything. But if you will do this one thing for me, I will continue to take care of your flocks and protect them.
“Well, what do you propose I give you?” Laban asked again. “You don't have to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you want to do something for me, then how about this: I'll go on looking after your flocks, making sure they're fed.
32 Allow me to go and look at all of your flocks today and remove from them all the speckled sheep, all the spotted sheep, and every dark-colored lamb, all the goats that are speckled, and all the goats that are spotted, [and keep them for myself]. They will be my wages.
Let me go through your flocks today and take all the sheep that are speckled or spotted, and all the dark ones, as well as all the speckled and spotted goats. They'll be my wages.
33 In that way, in the future, you will be able to know whether I have been honest regarding what you have paid me. If any of my goats are neither speckled or spotted, or if any of my lambs are not dark-colored, you will know that I have stolen them from you.”
In the future you'll be able to prove that I've been honest. When you check my flock, any goats that don't have speckles or spots, or any sheep that aren't dark will be considered stolen from you.”
34 Laban agreed and said, “Okay, we will do as you have said.”
“Very good,” Laban agreed. “We'll do as you say.”
35 But that same day Laban removed all the male goats that had black and white stripes on them or were spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled or spotted, all the goats that were partly white, and all the dark-colored lambs. He separated them and told his sons to take care of them.
However, the same day Laban went and removed all the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats, and all the dark sheep. He had his sons look after them and sent them away—
36 Then he took these flocks and walked a distance of three days, in order that he could be that far from Jacob. Jacob continued to take care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.
a three day journey between them and Jacob, while Jacob was looking after the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 Then Jacob cut some branches of (poplar, almond, and plane trees/three kinds of trees that had white wood). He peeled strips of bark from the branches, so that where the bark had been peeled off, the branches were light in color.
Then Jacob cut some sticks from poplar, almond, and plane trees that had white wood under the bark. He peeled off some of the bark, making the sticks look streaked with white.
38 Then he placed the peeled branches in the troughs where they put the water for the animals to drink, so that the branches would be in front of the flocks when they came to drink.
He put the sticks he'd peeled in the water troughs where the flocks came to drink because that's where they mated.
39 The animals also mated in front of the branches, and eventually they gave birth to animals that were speckled, or to animals that were spotted, or to animals that had black and white stripes on them.
The flocks mated in front of the sticks and gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40 Furthermore, Jacob separated the female sheep in his flock from the other sheep and goats in Laban’s flock. And when his female sheep mated, he made them look toward the animals that belonged to Laban that had black and white stripes on them, and the dark-colored animals. He did that so that the female sheep would give birth to animals that were striped or dark-colored. By doing that, he made bigger flocks for himself, and he kept them separate from Laban’s flocks.
Jacob separated all these ones out. Then he made his flock face towards those in Laban's flock that were streaked and dark. This is the way he kept his flocks apart from Laban's flock.
41 In addition, whenever the stronger female sheep were ready to mate, Jacob put some of those peeled branches in the troughs in front of them, so that they would mate in front of the branches.
When the strong females were ready to breed, Jacob put the sticks in the troughs where the flocks could see them when they mated.
42 But when weak animals were ready to mate, he did not put the branches in their troughs. So the weak ones became part of Laban’s flock, and the strong ones became part of Jacob’s flock.
He didn't do this for the weaker females. The weaker ones went to Laban, and the strong ones went to Jacob.
43 As a result, Jacob became very rich. He owned many large flocks of sheep and goats, and many male and female slaves, and many camels and donkeys.
In this way Jacob became an extremely rich man with large flocks, and many male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.
