Genesis 30

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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!"	1 Then Rachel, discerning that she was infertile, envied her sister, and so she said to her husband, “Give me children, otherwise I will die.”
2 In anger Jacob retorted, "Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb?"	2 Jacob, being angry, responded to her, “Am I in the place of God, who has deprived you of the fruit of your womb?”
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."	3 But she said: “I have a handmaid Bilhah. Go in to her, so that she may give birth upon my knees, and I may have sons by her.”
4 So she gave him her maidservant Bilhah as a consort, and Jacob had intercourse with her.	4 And she gave him Bilhah in marriage.
5 When Bilhah conceived and bore a son,	5 And when her husband had gone in to her, she conceived and bore a son.
6 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan.	6 And Rachel said, “The Lord has judged for me, and he has heeded my voice, giving me a son.” And because of this, she called his name Dan.
7 Rachel's maidservant Bilhah conceived again and bore a second son,	7 And conceiving again, Bilhah bore another,
8 and Rachel said, "I engaged in a fateful struggle with my sister, and I prevailed." So she named him Naphtali.	8 about whom Rachel said, “God has compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed.” And she called him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear children, she gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob as a consort.	9 Leah, perceiving that she had desisted from child-bearing, delivered Zilpah, her handmaid, to her husband.
10 So Jacob had intercourse with Zilpah, and she conceived and bore a son.	10 And she, after having borne a son with difficulty,
11 Leah then said, "What good luck!" So she named him Gad.	11 said: “Happiness!” And for this reason, she called his name Gad.
12 Then Leah's maidservant Zilpah bore a second son to Jacob;	12 Likewise, Zilpah bore another.
13 and Leah said, "What good fortune!"--meaning, "Women call me fortunate." So she named him Asher.	13 And Leah said, “This one is for my happiness. Indeed, women will call me blessed.” Because of this, she called him Asher.
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."	14 Then Reuben, going out into the field at the time of the wheat harvest, found mandrakes. These he brought to his mother Leah. And Rachel said, “Give me a portion of your 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."	15 She responded, “Does it seem like such a small matter to you, that you have usurped from me my husband, unless you will also take my son’s mandrakes?” Rachel said, “He will sleep with you this night because of your son’s mandrakes.”
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,	16 And when Jacob returned from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and she said, “You will enter to me, because I have hired you for the reward of my son’s mandrakes.” And he slept with her that night.
17 and God heard her prayer; she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.	17 And God heard her prayers. And she conceived and bore a fifth son.
18 Leah then said, "God has given me my reward for having let my husband have my maidservant"; so she named him Issachar.	18 And she said, “God has given a reward to me, because I gave my handmaid to my husband.” And she called his name Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob;	19 Conceiving again, Leah bore a sixth son.
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.	20 And she said: “God has endowed me with a good dowry. And now, at this turn, my husband will be with me, because I have conceived six sons for him.” And therefore she called his name Zebulun.
21 Finally, she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Dinah.	21 After him, she bore a daughter, named Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he heard her prayer and made her fruitful.	22 The Lord, likewise remembering Rachel, heeded her and opened her womb.
23 She conceived and bore a son, and she said, "God has removed my disgrace."	23 And she conceived and bore a son, saying, “God has taken away my reproach.”
24 So she named him Joseph, meaning, "May the LORD add another son to this one for me!"	24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “The Lord has added to me another son.”
25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: "Give me leave to go to my homeland.	25 But when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father-in-law: “Release me, so that I may return to my native country and to my land.
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."	26 Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served you, so that I may depart. You know the servitude with which I have served you.”
27 Laban answered him: "If you will please. . . . "I have learned through divination that it is because of you that God has blessed me.	27 Laban said to him: “May I find grace in your sight. I have learned by experience that God has blessed me because of you.
28 So," he continued, "state what wages you want from me, and I will pay them."	28 Choose your wages, which I will give you.”
29 Jacob replied: "You know what work I did for you and how well your livestock fared under my care;	29 But he responded: “You know how I have served you, and how great your possession became in my hands.
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."	30 You had little before I came to you, and now you have achieved riches. And the Lord has blessed you since my arrival. It is just, therefore, that at sometime I also should provide for my own house.”
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:	31 And Laban said, “What shall I give to you?” But he said, “I want nothing. But if you will do what I ask, I will feed and guard your sheep again.
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.	32 Go around through all your flocks and separate all the sheep of variegated or spotted fleece; and whatever will be darkened or blemished or variegated, as much among the sheep as among the goats, will be my wages.
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!"	33 And my justice will answer on my behalf tomorrow, when the time of settlement arrives before you. And all that is not variegated or blemished or darkened, as much among the sheep as among the goats, these will prove me to be a thief.”
34 "Very well," agreed Laban. "Let it be as you say."	34 And Laban said, “I hold favor for this request.”
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.	35 And on that day he separated the she-goats, and the sheep, and the he-goats, and the rams with variegations or with blemishes. But every one of the flock which was of one color, that is, of white or of black fleece, he delivered into the hands of his sons.
36 Then he put a three days' journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to pasture the rest of Laban's flock.	36 And he established a distance of three days journey between himself and his son-in-law, who pastured the remainder of his flock.
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.	37 Then Jacob, taking green branches of poplar, and almond, and sycamore trees, debarked them in part. And when the bark was pulled off, in the parts that were stripped, there appeared whiteness, yet the parts that were left whole, remained green. And so, in this way the color was made variegated.
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,	38 And he placed them in the troughs, where the water was poured out, so that when the flocks had arrived to drink, they would have the branches before their eyes, and in their sight they might conceive.
39 the goats mated by the rods, and so they brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted kids.	39 And it happened that, in the very heat of joining together, the sheep looked upon the branches, and they bore the blemished and the variegated, those speckled with diverse color.
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.	40 And Jacob divided the flock, and he set the branches in the troughs before the eyes of the rams. Now whatever was white or black belonged to Laban, but, in truth, the others belonged to Jacob, for the flocks were dispersed among one another.
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;	41 Therefore, when the first to arrive were climbing on the ewes, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs of water before the eyes of the rams and the sheep, so that they might conceive while they were gazing upon them.
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.	42 Yet when the late arrivals and the last to conceive were let in, he did not place these. And so those that arrived late became Laban’s, and those that arrived first became Jacob’s.
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.	43 And the man was enriched beyond limit, and he had many flocks, women servants and men servants, camels and donkeys.