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Genesis 30

1Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, and she grew jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die!” 2Jacob's anger burned against Rachel. He said, “Am I in God's place, who has withheld the fruit of the womb from you?” 3She said, “Here is my slave woman Bilhah. Go in to her, so that she can give birth on my knees and I too can build a family through her.” 4She gave him her slave woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor. He has also listened to my voice and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan. 7Rachel's slave woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali.

9Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, so she took her slave woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Leah's slave woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” She named him Gad. 12Leah's slave woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Leah said, “How happy I am! Women will call me happy.” She named him Asher. 14During the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found mandrakes in the field. He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.” 15She said to her, “Was taking my husband a small thing, that you would take my son's mandrakes too?” Rachel said, “Then he can lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.” 16When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him. She said, “You must come in to me, because I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I gave my slave woman to my husband.” She named him Issachar. 19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun. 21Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah. 22God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. 23She conceived and bore a son. She said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24She named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son for me.”

25After Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, so that I can go to my own place and my own country. 26Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go. You know the service I have given you.” 27Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes—by divination I have learned that Yahweh has blessed me because of you.” 28He said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.” 29Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 30You had little before I came, but it has increased greatly. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I have set foot. Now, when will I also provide for my own household?” 31He said, “What should I give you?” Jacob said, “You need not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again tend and keep your flock: 32let me go through your whole flock today, removing every speckled and spotted animal, every dark-colored sheep, and every spotted and speckled goat. These will be my wages. 33My honesty will answer for me later, when you come to inspect my wages. Any goat with me that is not speckled or spotted, or any sheep that is not dark-colored, will count as stolen.” 34Laban said, “Agreed! Let it be as you have said.” 35But that day he removed the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats—every one with white on it—and all the dark-colored sheep. He put them in his sons' care. 36He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob tended the rest of Laban's flock.

37Jacob took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees. He peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white of the branches. 38He set the peeled branches in the troughs, the watering channels where the flocks came to drink, in front of the flocks. They came into heat when they came to drink. 39The flocks mated in front of the branches, and they bore striped, speckled, and spotted young. 40Jacob separated the young sheep, and turned the flocks toward the striped animals and all the dark-colored animals in Laban's flock. He made separate herds for himself and did not put them with Laban's flock. 41Whenever the stronger animals were mating, Jacob put the branches in the troughs before the animals' eyes, so that they would mate in front of the branches. 42But he did not put them there for the weaker animals. So the weaker ones belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. 43The man became exceedingly prosperous. He acquired large flocks, female and male slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Translation notes 7

30:3 — On my knees. This language presents Bilhah's childbearing as building Rachel's household. It does not establish the precise physical procedure used at birth. Bilhah is an enslaved woman, though she is also given the status of a wife.

30:6–24 — Names and wordplay. Dan recalls judging; Naphtali, wrestling; Gad, good fortune; Asher, happiness; Issachar, wages; Zebulun, gift and honor; and Joseph, both taking away and adding. These are the narrative's sound associations, not necessarily complete historical explanations of the names.

30:8 — Mighty wrestlings. The Hebrew says “wrestlings of God.” This can express exceptional intensity, or Rachel may be describing a struggle involving God's favor. The translation keeps the wrestling image without treating her claim to have prevailed as God's verdict.

30:11 — Good fortune. The traditional reading separates the written expression into “Good fortune has come.” The written consonants can instead be divided as “with good fortune.” Both readings connect the exclamation with Gad's name.

30:14–16 — Mandrakes. These plants were associated with fertility. The account describes the women's bargain and later attributes conception to God's attention; it does not explain fertility as a medicinal effect of the plants.

30:27 — Divination. Laban claims knowledge gained by divination. The translation does not reduce his statement to ordinary observation.

30:37–42 — Breeding the flocks. The account describes Jacob's use of peeled branches and his selection of stronger animals. The translation preserves the reported practice without inserting a modern genetic explanation. The exact identification of the trees and some distinctions among the animals remain uncertain.