1When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children or I’ll die!” 2Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 3She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.”

4So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her. 5Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. 6Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan.

7Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. 8Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.

9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. 10Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. 11Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

12Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. 13Leah said, “How happy I am, for women will call me happy!” So she named him Asher.

14At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15But Leah replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” Rachel said, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations with her that night. 17God paid attention to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. 18Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” So she named him Issachar.

19Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time. 20Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

21After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

22Then God took note of Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”

The Flocks of Jacob

25After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can go home to my own country. 26Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. Then I’ll depart, because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.”

27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, for I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.” 28He added, “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.”

29“You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. 30Indeed, you had little before I arrived, but now your possessions have increased many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?”

31So Laban asked, “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” Jacob replied, “but if you agree to this one condition, I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them: 32Let me walk among all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and the spotted or speckled goats. These animals will be my wages. 33My integrity will testify for me later on. When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” 34“Agreed!” said Laban, “It will be as you say.”

35So that day Laban removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care of his sons. 36Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, while Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible. 38Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink. 39When the sheep mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks. 41When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches. 42But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban and the stronger animals to Jacob. 43In this way Jacob became extremely prosperous. He owned large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.