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.
