Genesis Chapter 30 of 50 about 5 min read

Genesis 30

What happens in this chapter

Chapter summary coming soon.

Verse 1. When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

Verse 2. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

Verse 3. Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.”

Verse 4. So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,

Verse 5. and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son.

Verse 6. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

Verse 7. And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

Verse 8. Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.

Verse 9. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

Verse 10. And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

Verse 11. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

Verse 12. When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

Verse 13. Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

Verse 14. Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

Verse 15. But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

Verse 16. When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

Verse 17. And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.

Verse 18. Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

Verse 19. Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

Verse 20. “God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

Verse 21. After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

Verse 22. Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,

Verse 23. and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said.

Verse 24. She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

Verse 25. Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.

Verse 26. Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

Verse 27. But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

Verse 28. And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

Verse 29. Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care.

Verse 30. Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”

Verse 31. “What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks.

Verse 32. Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages.

Verse 33. So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”

Verse 34. “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

Verse 35. That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.

Verse 36. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Verse 37. Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

Verse 38. Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink,

Verse 39. they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

Verse 40. Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

Verse 41. Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches.

Verse 42. But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

Verse 43. Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.