30 Rachel saw that she was not giving Jacob any children. Rachel became jealous of her sister Leah. So Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children or I will die!” ²Jacob became angry with Rachel. He said, “I am not God. God is the One who has caused you to not have children.” ³Then Rachel said, “You can have my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her and she will have a child for me.* Then I can become a mother because of her.” ⁴So Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband Jacob. Jacob had sexual relations with Bilhah. ⁵Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. ⁶Rachel said, “God has listened to my prayer. He decided to give me a son.” So Rachel named this son Dan.* ⁷Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. ⁸Rachel said, “I have fought hard to compete with my sister. And I have won.” So she named that son Naphtali.* ⁹Leah saw that she could have no more children. So she gave her slave girl Zilpah to Jacob. ¹⁰Then Zilpah had a son. ¹¹Leah said, “I am lucky.” So she named the son Gad.* ¹²Zilpah gave birth to another son. ¹³Leah said, “I am very happy! Now women will call me happy.” So she named that son Asher.* ¹⁴During the wheat harvest, Reuben went into the fields and found some special flowers.* Reuben brought these flowers to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s flowers.” ¹⁵Leah answered, “You have already taken away my husband. Now you are trying to take away my son’s flowers.” But Rachel answered, “If you will give me your son’s flowers, then you can sleep with Jacob tonight.” ¹⁶Jacob came in from the fields that night. Leah saw him and went out to meet him. She said, “You will sleep with me tonight. I have paid for you with my son’s flowers.” So Jacob slept with Leah that night. ¹⁷Then God allowed Leah to become pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me a reward because I gave my slave to my husband.” So Leah named her son Issachar.* ¹⁹Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. ²⁰Leah said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will accept me, because I have given him six sons.” So Leah named the son Zebulun.* ²¹Later Leah gave birth to a daughter. She named the daughter Dinah. ²²Then God heard Rachel’s prayer. God made it possible for Rachel to have children. ^23–24Rachel became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Rachel said, “God has taken away my shame and given me a son.” So Rachel named the son Joseph.*

Jacob Tricks Laban

²⁵After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Now let me go to my own home. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children. I have earned them by working for you {14 years}. You know that I served you well.” ²⁷Laban said to him, “Let me say something!* I know* that the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸Tell me what I should pay you, and I will give it to you.” ²⁹Jacob answered, “You know that I have worked hard for you. Your flocks have grown and been well while I cared for them. ³⁰When I came, you had little. Now you have much, much more. Every time I did something for you, the Lord blessed you. Now it is time for me to work for myself—it is time to build my own house.” ³¹Laban asked, “Then what should I give you?” Jacob answered, “I don’t want you to give me anything. I only want you to {pay me for the work I have done}. Just do this one thing: I will go back and take care of your sheep. ³²But let me go through all your flocks today and take every lamb with spots or stripes. And let me take every black young goat. And let me take every female goat with stripes or spots. That will be my pay. ³³In the future, you can easily see if I am honest. You can come to look at my flocks. If I have any goat that isn’t spotted or any sheep that isn’t black, then you will know that I stole it.” ³⁴Laban answered, “I agree to that. We will do what you ask.” ³⁵But that day Laban hid all the male goats that had spots. And Laban hid all the female goats that had spots on them. Laban also hid all the black sheep. Laban told his sons to watch these sheep. ³⁶So the sons took all the spotted animals and led them to another place. They traveled for three days. Jacob stayed and took care of all the animals that were left. {But there were no animals there that were spotted or black.} ³⁷So Jacob cut green branches from poplar and almond trees. Jacob stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. ³⁸Jacob put the branches in front of the flocks at the watering places. When the animals came to drink, they also mated in that place. ³⁹Then when the goats mated in front of the branches, the young that were born were spotted, striped, or black. ⁴⁰Jacob separated the spotted and the black animals from the other animals in the flock. Jacob kept his animals separate from Laban’s. ⁴¹Any time the stronger animals in the flock were mating, Jacob put the branches before their eyes. The animals mated near those branches. ⁴²But when the weaker animals mated, Jacob did not put the branches there. So the young animals born from the weak parents were Laban’s. And the young animals born from the stronger parents were Jacob’s. ⁴³In this way, Jacob became very rich. He had large flocks, many servants, camels, and donkeys.

she will have a child for me Literally, “She will give birth on my knees, and I too will have a son through her.” Dan This is like the word meaning “to decide” or “to judge.” Naphtali This is like the word meaning “my struggle.” Gad This is like the word meaning “lucky,” or “fortunate.” Asher This is like the word meaning “happy” or “blessed.” special flowers Or, “mandrakes.” The Hebrew word means “love plant.” People thought these plants could help women have babies. Issachar This is like the word meaning “reward” or “salary.” Zebulun This is like the word meaning “praise” or “honor.” Joseph This is like the word meaning “to add,” “collect,” or “gather.” Let me say something Literally, “If I find favor in your sight.” This is a polite way to ask permission to speak. know Or, “guessed,” “divined,” or “concluded.”