1   When Rachel found that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, ‘Give me sons, or I shall die.’ 2   Jacob said angrily to Rachel, ‘Can I take the place of God, who has denied your children?’ 3   She said, ‘Here is my slave-girl Bilhah. Lie with her, so that she may bear sons to be laid upon my knees, and through her I too may build up a family.’ 4   So she gave him her slave-girl Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob lay with her. 5   Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6   Then Rachel said, ‘God has given judgement for me; he has indeed heard me and given me a son’, so she named him Dan. ^note 7   Rachel's slave-girl Bilhah again conceived and bore Jacob another son. 8   Rachel said, ‘I have played a fine trick on my sister, and it has succeeded’; so

Jacob and Esau she named him Naphtali. ^note 9   When Leah found that she was bearing no more children, she took her slave-girl Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife, 10    11   and Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Leah said, ‘Good fortune has come’, and she named him Gad. ^note 12   Zilpah, Leah's slave-girl, bore Jacob another son, 13   and Leah said, ‘Happiness has come, ^note for young women will call me happy.’ So she named him Asher. ^note

14   In the time of wheat-harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the open country and brought them to his mother Leah. 15   Then Rachel asked Leah for some of her son's mandrakes, but Leah said, ‘Is it so small a thing to have taken away my husband, that you should take my son's mandrakes as well?’ But Rachel said, ‘Very well, let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.’ 16   So when Jacob came in from the country in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, ‘You are to sleep with me tonight; I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.’ 17   That night he slept with her, and God heard Leah's prayer, and she conceived and bore a fifth son. 18   Leah said, ‘God has rewarded me, because I gave my slave-girl to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar. ^note 19   Leah again conceived and bore a sixth son. She said, ‘God has endowed me with a noble dowry. 20   Now my husband will treat me in princely style, because I have borne him six sons.’ So she named him Zebulun. ^note 21   Later she bore a daughter and named her Dinah. 22   Then God thought of Rachel; he heard her prayer and gave her a child; 23   so she conceived and bore a son and said, ‘God has taken away my humiliation.’ 24   She named him Joseph, ^note saying, ‘May the Lord add another son!’

25   When Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Let me go, for I wish to return to my own home and country. 26   Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and I will go; for you know what service I have done for you.’ 27   Laban said to him, ‘Let me have my say, if you please. I have become prosperous and the Lord has blessed me for your sake. 28   So now tell me what I owe you in wages, and I will give it you.’ 29   Jacob answered, ‘You must know how I have served you, and how your herds have prospered under my care. 30   You had only a few when I came, but now they have increased beyond measure, and the Lord brought blessings to you wherever I went. But is it not time for me to provide for my family?’ 31   Laban said, ‘Then what shall I give you?’, but Jacob answered, ‘Give me nothing; I will mind your flocks ^note as before, if you will do what I suggest. 32   Today I will go over your flocks and pick out from them ^note every black lamb, and all the

Jacob and Esau brindled and the spotted goats, and they shall be my wages. 33   This is a fair offer, and it will be to my own disadvantage later on, when we come to settling my wages: every goat amongst mine that is not spotted or brindled and every lamb that is not black will have been stolen.’ 34    35   Laban said, ‘Agreed; let it be as you have said.’ But that day he removed the he-goats that were striped and brindled and all the spotted and brindled she-goats, all that had any white on them, and every ram that was black, and he handed them over to his own sons. 36   Then he put a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was left tending those of Laban's flocks that remained. 37   Thereupon Jacob took fresh rods of white poplar, almond, and plane tree, and peeled off strips of bark, exposing the white of the rods. 38   Then he fixed the peeled rods upright in the troughs at the watering-places where the flocks came to drink; they faced the she-goats that were on heat when they came to drink. 39   They felt a longing for the rods and they gave birth to young that were striped and spotted and brindled. 40   As for the rams, Jacob divided them, and let the ewes run only with such of the rams in Laban's flocks as were striped and black; and thus he bred separate flocks for himself, which he did not add to Laban's sheep. 41   As for the goats, whenever the more vigorous were on heat, he put the rods in front of them at the troughs so that they would long for the rods; 42   he did not put them there for the weaker goats. Thus the weaker came to be Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. 43   So Jacob increased in wealth more and more until he possessed great flocks, male and female slaves, camels, and asses.

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