1 Now when Rachel saw that she didn’t give birth to any children for Jacob, Rachel became jealous of her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die!”
2 And Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 And she said, “Here is my slave Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may give birth to children to hold on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.” 4 And she gave him her servant Bilhah as wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah became pregnant, and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6 And Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan (which means Judge). 7 And Rachel’s servant Bilhah, became pregnant again, and give birth to a second son for Jacob. 8 And Rachel said, “With a struggle of God I have struggled with my sister—and I have won!” And she named him Naphtali (which means My Struggle).
9 Now when Leah saw that she had stopped giving birth, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob. 11 And Leah said, “How lucky!” And she named him Gad (which means Luck). 12 And Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 13 And Leah said, “In my happiness! Indeed the women will call me happy!” And she named him Asher (which means Happy).
14 Now Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found love plants in the countryside, and brought them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s love plants.”
15 And she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s love plants, also?”
And Rachel said, “Very well, he will lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s love plants.”
16 Now Jacob came in from the countryside in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son’s love plants.” And he lay with her that night.
17 And God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18 And Leah said, “God has repaid me because I gave my servant to my husband.” And she named him Issachar (which means There is Repayment). 19 And Leah became pregnant again, and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. 20 And Leah said, “God has given me a wonderful gift! Now my husband will elevate me to reside with him, because I have given birth to six sons for him.” And she named him Zebulun (which sounds like Gift and means Elevated Residence). 21 And after that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah (which means Judgement).
22 Now God remembered Rachel, and God heard her and opened her womb. 23 And she became pregnant, gave birth to a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 And she named him Joseph (which means Add), saying, “May Yehovah add another son to me.”
25 And it happened, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have worked for you, and let me go; for you know my work with which I have worked for you.”
27 And Laban said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your eyes. I have learned by divination that Yehovah has blessed me because of you.” 28 And he said, “Name your wages to me, and I will give it.”
29 And Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you, and how your livestock have become with me. 30 For the few which you had before I came has multiplied into a great number. And Yehovah has blessed you wherever I went. And now when will I provide for my own house also?”
31 And Laban said, “What should I give you?”
And Jacob said, “Don’t give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will return to take care of your flock and guard it. 32 I will go through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every dark-colored one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This kind will be my wages. 33 So my righteousness will provide evidence for me in the future, when you come concerning my wages in front of you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark-colored among the sheep with me will be considered stolen.”
34 And Laban said, “Indeed! May it be as you have said!”
35 And that day, Laban removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the dark-colored ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 And he put a distance of three days between himself and Jacob, and Jacob took care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Now Jacob took for himself sticks of fresh poplar, almond, and plane tree, and peeled white strips in them and exposed the white which was in the sticks. 38 And he set the sticks which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. And they came into heat when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks were in heat in front of the sticks, and the flocks gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs and he gave the front of the flock to the streaked and all the dark-colored in Laban’s flock. And he put his own herds apart, and didn’t put them next to Laban’s flock. 41 And it was that whenever the stronger of the flock were in heat, Jacob laid the sticks in sight of the flock in the gutters, that they might come into heat by the sticks; 42 and when the flock animals were feeble, he didn’t put them in.
Now the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.