Genesis 30 : 1 (HCSB)
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob *any children , she envied her sister. "Give me sons, or I will die!" she said to Jacob.
Genesis 30 : 2 (HCSB)
Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld children from you?"
Genesis 30 : 3 (HCSB)
Then she said, "Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she'll bear *children for me so that through her I too can build a family ."
Genesis 30 : 4 (HCSB)
So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.
Genesis 30 : 5 (HCSB)
Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
Genesis 30 : 6 (HCSB)
Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son," and she named him Dan.
Genesis 30 : 7 (HCSB)
Rachel's slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
Genesis 30 : 8 (HCSB)
Rachel said, "In *my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won," and she named him Naphtali.
Genesis 30 : 9 (HCSB)
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
Genesis 30 : 10 (HCSB)
Leah's slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
Genesis 30 : 11 (HCSB)
Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" and she named him Gad.
Genesis 30 : 12 (HCSB)
When Leah's slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,
Genesis 30 : 13 (HCSB)
Leah said, "I am happy that the women call me happy," so she named him Asher.
Genesis 30 : 14 (HCSB)
Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
Genesis 30 : 15 (HCSB)
But Leah replied to her, "Isn't it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son's mandrakes?" "Well," Rachel said, "you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."
Genesis 30 : 16 (HCSB)
When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So Jacob slept with her that night.
Genesis 30 : 17 (HCSB)
God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
Genesis 30 : 18 (HCSB)
Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband," and she named him Issachar.
Genesis 30 : 19 (HCSB)
Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.
Genesis 30 : 20 (HCSB)
"God has given me a good gift," Leah said. "This time my husband will honor me because I have borne him six sons," and she named him Zebulun.
Genesis 30 : 21 (HCSB)
Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
Genesis 30 : 22 (HCSB)
Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb.
Genesis 30 : 23 (HCSB)
She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my shame."
Genesis 30 : 24 (HCSB)
She named him Joseph: "May the LORD add another son to me."
Genesis 30 : 25 (HCSB)
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.
Genesis 30 : 26 (HCSB)
Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you."
Genesis 30 : 27 (HCSB)
But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, *stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you."
Genesis 30 : 28 (HCSB)
Then Laban said, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."
Genesis 30 : 29 (HCSB)
So Jacob said to him, "You know what I have done for you and your herds.
Genesis 30 : 30 (HCSB)
For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The LORD has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?"
Genesis 30 : 31 (HCSB)
Laban asked, "What should I give you?" And Jacob said, "You don't need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.
Genesis 30 : 32 (HCSB)
Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. *Such will be my wages.
Genesis 30 : 33 (HCSB)
In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. *If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen."
Genesis 30 : 34 (HCSB)
"Good," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."
Genesis 30 : 35 (HCSB)
That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats-- every one that had any white on it-- and every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.
Genesis 30 : 36 (HCSB)
He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban's flock.
Genesis 30 : 37 (HCSB)
Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled *the bark , exposing white stripes on the branches.
Genesis 30 : 38 (HCSB)
He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep-- in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.
Genesis 30 : 39 (HCSB)
The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.
Genesis 30 : 40 (HCSB)
Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked and the completely dark sheep in Laban's flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn't put them with Laban's sheep.
Genesis 30 : 41 (HCSB)
Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches.
Genesis 30 : 42 (HCSB)
As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.
Genesis 30 : 43 (HCSB)
And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.
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