Genesis 30:25-31:21

Good News Translation

Jacob's Bargain with Laban

²⁵ After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go, so that I can return home. ²⁶ Give me my wives and children that I have earned by working for you, and I will leave. You know how well I have served you.”

²⁷ Laban said to him, “Let me say this: I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸ Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹ Jacob answered, “You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care. ³⁰ The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I went.^[a] Now it is time for me to look out for my own interests.”

³¹ “What shall I pay you?” Laban asked.

Jacob answered, “I don't want any wages. I will continue to take care of your flocks if you agree to this suggestion: ³² Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb^[b] and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want. ³³ In the future you can easily find out if I have been honest. When you come to check up on my wages, if I have any goat that isn't speckled or spotted or any sheep that isn't black, you will know that it has been stolen.”

³⁴ Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.” ³⁵ But that day Laban removed the male goats that had stripes or spots and all the females that were speckled and spotted or which had white on them; he also removed all the black sheep. He put his sons in charge of them, ³⁶ and then went away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷ Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. ³⁸ He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink. ³⁹ So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰ Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban's flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban's.

⁴¹ When the healthy animals were mating, Jacob put the branches in front of them at the drinking troughs, so that they would breed among the branches. ⁴² But he did not put the branches in front of the weak animals. Soon Laban had all the weak animals, and Jacob all the healthy ones. ⁴³ In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. He got all his wealth from what our father owned.” ² He also saw that Laban was no longer as friendly as he had been earlier. ³ Then the Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flocks were. ⁵ He said to them, “I have noticed that your father is not as friendly toward me as he used to be; but my father's God has been with me. ⁶ You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not let him harm me. ⁸ Whenever Laban said, ‘The speckled goats shall be your wages,’ all the flocks produced speckled young. When he said, ‘The striped goats shall be your wages,’ all the flocks produced striped young. ⁹ God has taken flocks away from your father and given them to me.

¹⁰ “During the breeding season I had a dream, and I saw that the male goats that were mating were striped, spotted, and speckled. ¹¹ The angel of God spoke to me in the dream and said, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Yes,’ I answered. ¹² ‘Look,’ he continued, ‘all the male goats that are mating are striped, spotted, and speckled. I am making this happen because I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ^13 (A)I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you dedicated a stone as a memorial by pouring olive oil on it and where you made a vow to me. Now get ready and go back to the land where you were born.’”

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, “There is nothing left for us to inherit from our father. ¹⁵ He treats us like foreigners. He sold us, and now he has spent all the money he was paid for us. ¹⁶ All this wealth which God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. Do whatever God has told you.”

^17-18 So Jacob got ready to go back to his father in the land of Canaan. He put his children and his wives on the camels, and drove all his flocks ahead of him, with everything that he had gotten in Mesopotamia. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and during his absence Rachel stole the household gods that belonged to her father. ²⁰ Jacob deceived Laban by not letting him know that he was leaving. ²¹ He took everything he owned and left in a hurry. He crossed the Euphrates River and started for the hill country of Gilead.