1 And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no
children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said unto Jacob: 'Give me children,
or else I die.'
2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said:
'Am I in G-d's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?'
3 And she said: 'Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; that
she may bear upon my knees, and I also may be builded up through her.'
4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife; and Jacob
went in unto her.
5 And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.
6 And Rachel said: 'G-d hath judged me, and hath also heard
my voice, and hath given me a son.' Therefore called she his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah Rachel's handmaid conceived again, and bore
Jacob a second son.
8 And Rachel said: 'With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled
with my sister, and have prevailed.' And she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took
Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife.
10 And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a son.
11 And Leah said: 'Fortune is come!' And she called his name
Gad.
12 And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a second son.
13 And Leah said: 'Happy am I! for the daughters will call me
happy.' And she called his name Asher.
14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found
mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said
to Leah: 'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.'
15 And she said unto her: 'Is it a small matter that thou
hast taken away my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes
also?' And Rachel said: 'Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's
mandrakes.'
16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah
went out to meet him, and said: 'Thou must come in unto me; for I have surely
hired thee with my son's mandrakes.' And he lay with her that night.
17 And G-d hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bore
Jacob a fifth son.
18 And Leah said: 'G-d hath given me my hire, because I gave
my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 And Leah said: 'G-d hath endowed me with a good dowry; now
will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.' And she
called his name Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name
Dinah.
22 And G-d remembered Rachel, and G-d hearkened to her, and
opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and bore a son, and said: 'G-d hath
taken away my reproach.'
24 And she called his name Joseph, saying: 'The HaShem add to
me another son.'
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that
Jacob said unto Laban: 'Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to
my country.
26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served
thee, and let me go; for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee.'
27 And Laban said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in
thine eyes--I have observed the signs, and HaShem hath blessed me for thy sake.'
28 And he said: 'Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.'
29 And he said unto him: 'Thou knowest how I have served
thee, and how thy cattle have fared with me.
30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it
hath increased abundantly; and HaShem hath blessed thee whithersoever I turned.
And now when shall I provide for mine own house also?'
31 And he said: 'What shall I give thee?' And Jacob said:
'Thou shalt not give me aught; if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again
feed thy flock and keep it.
32 I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from
thence every speckled and spotted one, and every dark one among the sheep, and
the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire.
33 So shall my righteousness witness against me hereafter,
when thou shalt come to look over my hire that is before thee: every one that is
not speckled and spotted among the goats, and dark among the sheep, that if
found with me shall be counted stolen.'
34 And Laban said: 'Behold, would it might be according to
thy word.'
35 And he removed that day the he-goats that were streaked
and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one
that had white in it, and all the dark ones among the sheep, and gave them into
the hand of his sons.
36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob.
And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond
and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear
which was in the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the
flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink;
and they conceived when they came to drink.
39 And the flocks conceived at the sight of the rods, and the
flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob separated the lambs--he also set the faces of
the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark in the flock of Laban-- and put
his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban's flock.
41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock
did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the
gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;
42 but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in; so the
feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks,
and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses.