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¹ AND when Rachel saw that she was not bearing children to Jacob, she envied her sister; and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.² And Jacobs anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said to her, Am I in the place of God, that I have prevented you from having a child?³ Then she said to him, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also be comforted by her.⁴ And she gave him her maid Bilhah to wife; and Jacob went in unto her.⁵ And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.⁶ And Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son; therefore she called his name Dan.⁷ And Bilhah, Rachels maid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.⁸ And Rachel said, I have besought the LORD, and pleaded with my sister, and I have attained my desire; and she called his name Naphtali.⁹ When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob to wife.¹⁰ And Zilpah, Leahs maid, bore Jacob a son.¹¹ And Leah said, My fortune has come; so she called his name Gad.¹² And Zilpah, Leahs maid, bore Jacob a second son.¹³ And Leah said, The girls will sing my praise, so she called his name Asher.

¹⁴ And Reuben went at the time of the wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them; to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me some of your sons mandrakes.¹⁵ But Leah said to her, Is it not enough for you that you have taken away my husband? And would you take away my sows mandrakes also? And Rachel said, He may lie with you tonight for your sons mandrakes.¹⁶ And when Jacob came home from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, You must come in unto me; for surely I have hired you with my sons mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.¹⁷ And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob the fifth son.¹⁸ And Leah said, God has rewarded me, because I have given my maid to my husband; so she called his name Issachar.¹⁹ And Leah conceived again, and bore Jacob the sixth son.²⁰ And Leah said, God has enriched me exceedingly; now my husband will surely have more affection for me, because I have borne him six sons; so she called his name Zebulun.²¹ And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.²² And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.²³ And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God has taken away my reproach;²⁴ And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

²⁵ And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my land.²⁶ Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the service which I have rendered you.²⁷ And Laban said to Jacob, If I have found favor in your eyes, I have proven by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.²⁸ Then he said, Specify your wages, and I will give them.²⁹ And Jacob said to him, You yourself know the service which I have given you, and how your cattle have prospered with me.³⁰ For it was little which you had before I came, and now it has increased abundantly; and the LORD has blessed you for my sake; and now what shall I do in order to provide for my own household also?³¹ And Laban said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything; if you will do for me the thing which I will tell you, I will go back to feed and keep your flock.³² I will pass through all your flock today, and select for myself from it every speckled and spotted lamb, and every brown lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my wages.³³ Just as my innocence is evident today, so it will be in the future when my wages are brought before your presence; every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the white sheep, that shall be counted stolen by me.³⁴ Laban said to him, Yes, let it be according to your word.³⁵ And he removed that day the he goats that were speckled and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white on it, and all the brown among the white sheep, and entrusted them to his sons.³⁶ And he set three days journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of Labans flocks.

³⁷ And Jacob took some fresh white rods of almond and poplar trees; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.³⁸ And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the running water, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink.³⁹ And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth lambs that were speckled and spotted.⁴⁰ And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the speckled and spotted, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and did not mix them with Labans flock.⁴¹ And it came to pass, whenever the stronger of the flock did conceive, Jacob laid the rods in front of the sheep in the troughs, that they might conceive by the means of the rods.⁴² But when the sheep were feeble, he did not put the rods in; so the feebler were Labans and the stronger Jacobs.⁴³ And the man grew exceedingly rich, and had large flocks, menservants, maidservants, and she asses, camels, and he asses.