Genesis 30
New Life Version
30 When Rachel saw that she had not given birth to any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I am going to die!” 2 Then Jacob became angry with Rachel. He said, “Am I taking God’s place, Who has kept you from giving birth?” 3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, the woman who serves me. Go in to her, and let her give birth for me. Even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave Bilhah to him for a wife, the woman who served her. And Jacob went in to her. 5 Bilhah was going to have a child and she gave birth to a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has done the right thing for me. He has heard my voice and has given me a son.” So she gave him the name Dan. 7 Bilhah, the woman who served Rachel, was going to have another child. And she gave birth to another son for Jacob. 8 So Rachel said, “I have fought a hard fight with my sister, and I have won.” She gave him the name Naphtali.
9 Leah saw that she had stopped giving birth. So she took Zilpah, the woman who served her, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And a son was born to Jacob through Zilpah, the woman who served Leah. 11 Then Leah said, “Good things have happened to me!” So she gave him the name Gad. 12 A second son was born to Jacob through Zilpah, the woman who served Leah. 13 Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will say that I am happy.” So she gave him the name Asher.
14 During the time of gathering grain, Reuben went out in the field and found some fruit. He brought it to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s fruit.” 15 But Leah said, “Is it not enough to take my husband? Would you take my son’s fruit also?” So Rachel said, “Jacob may lie with you tonight if you give me your son’s fruit.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went to meet him. She said, “You must sleep with me tonight. For I have paid for you with my son’s fruit.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God heard Leah and she gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my pay because I gave my husband the woman who serves me.” So she gave him the name Issachar. 19 Leah was going to have another child and she gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. 20 Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will live with me, because I have given birth to six sons.” So she gave him the name of Zebulun. 21 Later she gave birth to a daughter, and gave her the name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her, and made her able to have a child, 23 and she gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24 She gave him the name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”
25 When Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, so I may go to my own place and my own country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served. Let me leave, for you know how much I have served you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If now it pleases you, stay with me. I have learned that the Lord has brought good to me because of you.” 28 Then he said, “Tell me what you want to be paid, and I will pay it.”
29 Jacob said to him, “You know how much I have served you and how I have cared for your cattle. 30 For you had little before I came. But now it has become very much. The Lord has brought good to you everywhere I turned. But when will I be able to give much to those of my own house also?”
31 Laban said, “What should I pay you?” Jacob said, “Do not pay me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again feed and take care of your flock. 32 Let me go through your whole flock today. Let me take out of it every sheep and every goat that has spots, and every black lamb. These will be my pay. 33 So my fair actions will answer for me later, when you come to look at what I have been paid. If you find any sheep or goat without spots or any lamb that is not black, you may think of them as stolen.” 34 And Laban said, “Good! Let it be done as you say.” 35 That day Laban took out all the male goats with spots and all the female goats with spots, every one with white on it, and every black sheep. And he put them into the care of his sons. 36 Then he traveled three days away from Jacob. And Jacob was left to care for the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Then Jacob took green sticks of three kinds of trees. And he cut white marks in them, showing the white which was in the sticks. 38 He took these sticks which he had cut and set them in front of the flocks, in the place where the flocks came to drink. And the animals mated when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks mated in front of the sticks. And the young that were born had spots. 40 Then Jacob divided the lambs. He made the flocks look toward Laban’s flock of the animals which were black or with spots. And he put his own flocks by themselves. He did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41 When the stronger animals of the flock were mating, Jacob would put the sticks in the water in front of the flock so they would mate by the sticks. 42 But when the flock was weak, Jacob did not put the sticks in. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones went to Jacob. 43 Jacob became very rich. He had large flocks and camels and donkeys, and men and women servants.
Genesis 30
King James Version
30 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.
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