Genesis 30 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
When Rachel saw that she wasn't giving Jacob any children, she became of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me sons, or I'll die!"
Jacob got angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in He's the one who has kept you from having children!"
She said, "Here — take my Bilhah. Sleep with her so she can have children on my and through her I can build a family too."
So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob slept with her.
Bilhah got pregnant and gave Jacob a son.
Rachel said, "God has vindicated me! He heard my plea and gave me a son." So she named him
Bilhah, Rachel's servant, got pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son.
Rachel said, "I've wrestled an intense struggle with my sister, and I've won!" So she named him
When Leah realized she had stopped having children, she took her servant and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave Jacob a son.
Leah said, "What luck!" So she named him
When Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave Jacob a second son,
Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him
During the Reuben went out and found some in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's
But Leah said to her, "Isn't it enough that you took my husband? Now you want to take my son's mandrakes too?" Rachel said, "Fine — he can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."
When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You're sleeping with me tonight — I've paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night.
God listened to Leah, and she got pregnant and gave Jacob a fifth son.
Leah said, "God has given me my reward because I gave my servant to my husband." So she named him
Leah got pregnant again and gave Jacob a sixth son.
Leah said, "God has given me a wonderful gift. Now my husband will honor me, because I've given him six sons." So she named him
After that, she gave birth to a daughter and named her
Then God Rachel. God listened to and
She got pregnant and gave birth to a son, and said, "God has taken away my
She named him saying, "May add another son to me."
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland."
"Give me my wives and children — the ones I've worked for — and let me go. You know how hard I've worked for you."
But Laban said to him, "If I've found favor with you, please stay. I've learned through that Yahweh has made me prosper because of you."
He added, "Name your price, and I'll pay it."
Jacob said to him, "You know how I've worked for you and how your livestock have thrived under my care."
"The little you had before I came has grown enormously. Yahweh has made you prosper everywhere I turned. But when do I get to provide for my own family?"
Laban said, "What should I give you?" Jacob said, "Don't give me anything. Just do this one thing for me, and I'll go back to tending and watching your flocks:"
"Let me go through all your flocks today and pull out every or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or goat. Those will be my wages."
"My honesty will speak for me going forward. When you come to check on my wages, any goat that's not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that's not dark, you can count as stolen by me."
Laban said, "Agreed! Let it be just as you say."
But that very day, Laban removed all the male goats that were striped or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted — every one that had any white on it — and every dark-colored lamb, and put them in the care of his sons.
Then he put a between himself and Jacob, while Jacob kept tending the rest of Laban's flocks.
Jacob then took fresh-cut branches from almond, and plane trees and peeled white stripes into them, exposing the white inner wood.
He set the peeled branches in the watering troughs — right where the flocks came to drink. When the animals came to drink, they would mate there.
The flocks mated in front of the branches and gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted young.
Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face toward the streaked and dark-colored animals in Laban's flock. He built up his own flocks separately and didn't mix them with Laban's animals.
Whenever the animals were mating, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs right in front of them so they would mate near the branches.
But when the weaker animals were mating, he wouldn't put the branches out. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones went to Jacob.
The man grew He had large flocks, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.