Genesis

¹And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. ²And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? ³And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. ⁴And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. ⁶And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. ⁷And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. ⁸And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naph´tali. ⁹When Le´ah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah Le´ah's maid bare Jacob a son. ¹¹And Le´ah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. ¹²And Zilpah Le´ah's maid bare Jacob a second son. ¹³And Le´ah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher. ¹⁴And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Le´ah. Then Rachel said to Le´ah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁵And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁶And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Le´ah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God hearkened unto Le´ah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. ¹⁸And Le´ah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Is´sachar. ¹⁹And Le´ah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. ²⁰And Le´ah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zeb´ulun. ²¹And afterward she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. ²²And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: ²⁴and she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son.

The Trickery of Laban and Jacob

²⁵And 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. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. ²⁷And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. ²⁹And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. ³⁰For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming: and now, when shall I provide for mine own house also? ³¹And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. ³²I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. ³³So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. ³⁴And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. ³⁵And he removed that day the he goats that were ring-streaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. ³⁷And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. ⁴¹And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴²But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. ⁴³And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.