When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her
sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the
place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that
she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children
through her.” So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and
Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice
and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. Rachel's
servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then
Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister
and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her
servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant
Zilpah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so
she called his name Gad. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second
son. And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.”
So she called his name Asher.
In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in
the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to
Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.” But she said
to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband?
Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he
may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.”
When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to
meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you
with my son's mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. And God
listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to
my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. Then
Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my
husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she
called his name Zebulun. Afterward she bore a daughter and called
her name Dinah.
Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened
her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken
away my reproach.” And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the
LORD add to me another son!”
As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me
away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives
and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you
know the service that I have given you.” But Laban said to him, “If
I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that
the LORD has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will
give it.” Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served
you, and how your livestock has fared with me. For you had little
before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the LORD has
blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my
own household also?” He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said,
“You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will
again pasture your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your
flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and
every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and
they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later,
when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not
speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if
found with me, shall be counted stolen.” Laban said, “Good! Let it
be as you have said.” But that day Laban removed the male goats
that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were
speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every
lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. And he
set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob,
and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock.
Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane
trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the
sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks
in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came
to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks
bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth
striped, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs and
set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in
the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put
them with Laban's flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were
breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes
of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, but for the
feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler
would be Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. Thus the man increased
greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants,
and camels and donkeys.
