Genesis 30

KING JAMES BIBLE	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 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.	1 When Rachel saw that she failed to bear children to Jacob, she became envious of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children or I shall 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?	2 In anger Jacob retorted, "Can I take the place of God, who has denied you 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.	3 She replied, "Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Have intercourse with her, and let her give birth on my knees, so that I too may have offspring, at least through her."
4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.	4 So she gave him her maidservant Bilhah as a consort, and Jacob had intercourse with her.
5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.	5 When Bilhah conceived and bore 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.	6 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan.
7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.	7 Rachel's maidservant Bilhah conceived again and bore 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.	8 and Rachel said, "I engaged in a fateful struggle with my sister, and I prevailed." So she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.	9 When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear children, she gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob as a consort.
10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son.	10 So Jacob had intercourse with Zilpah, and she conceived and bore a son.
11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.	11 Leah then said, "What good luck!" So she named him Gad.
12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.	12 Then Leah's maidservant Zilpah bore a second son to Jacob;
13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.	13 and Leah said, "What good fortune!"--meaning, "Women call me fortunate." So she named him 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.	14 One day, during the wheat harvest, when Reuben was out in the field, he came upon some mandrakes which he brought home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, "Please let me have some of your 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.	15 Leah replied, "Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you must now take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well, then!" Rachel answered. "In exchange for your son's mandrakes, Jacob may lie with you tonight."
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.	16 That evening, when Jacob came home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You are now to come in with me," she told him, "because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So that night he slept with her,
17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.	17 and God heard her prayer; she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.
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.	18 Leah then said, "God has given me my reward for having let my husband have my maidservant"; so she named him Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.	19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob;
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.	20 and she said, "God has brought me a precious gift. This time my husband will offer me presents, now that I have borne him six sons"; so she named him Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.	21 Finally, she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Dinah.
22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.	22 Then God remembered Rachel; he heard her prayer and made her fruitful.
23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:	23 She conceived and bore a son, and she said, "God has removed my disgrace."
24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.	24 So she named him Joseph, meaning, "May the LORD add another son to this one for me!"
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.	25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: "Give me leave to go to my homeland.
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.	26 Let me have my wives, for whom I served you, and my children, too, that I may depart. You know very well the service that I have rendered you."
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.	27 Laban answered him: "If you will please. . . . "I have learned through divination that it is because of you that God has blessed me.
28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.	28 So," he continued, "state what wages you want from me, and I will pay them."
29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.	29 Jacob replied: "You know what work I did for you and how well your livestock fared under my care;
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?	30 the little you had before I came has grown into very much, since the LORD'S blessings came upon you in my company. Therefore I should now do something for my own household as well."
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:	31 "What should I pay you?" Laban asked. Jacob answered: "You do not have to pay me anything outright. I will again pasture and tend your flock, if you do this one thing for me:
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.	32 go through your whole flock today and remove from it every dark animal among the sheep and every spotted or speckled one among the goats. Only such animals shall be my wages.
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.	33 In the future, whenever you check on these wages of mine, let my honesty testify against me: any animal in my possession that is not a speckled or spotted goat, or a dark sheep, got there by theft!"
34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.	34 "Very well," agreed Laban. "Let it be as you say."
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.	35 That same day Laban removed the streaked and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, all those with some white on them, as well as the fully dark-colored sheep; these he left. . . in charge of his sons.
36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.	36 Then he put a three days' journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to pasture the rest of Laban's flock.
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.	37 Jacob, however, got some fresh shoots of poplar, almond and plane trees, and he made white stripes in them by peeling off the bark down to the white core of the shoots.
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.	38 The rods that he had thus peeled he then set upright in the watering troughs, so that they would be in front of the animals that drank from the troughs. When the animals were in heat as they came to drink,
39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.	39 the goats mated by the rods, and so they brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted kids.
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.	40 The sheep, on the other hand, Jacob kept apart, and he set these animals to face the streaked or fully dark-colored animals of Laban. Thus he produced special flocks of his own, which he did not put with Laban's flock.
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.	41 Moreover, whenever the hardier animals were in heat, Jacob would set the rods in the troughs in full view of these animals, so that they mated by 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.	42 but with the weaker animals he would not put the rods there. So the feeble animals would go to Laban, but the sturdy ones to Jacob.
43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.	43 Thus the man grew increasingly prosperous, and he came to own not only large flocks but also male and female servants and camels and asses.