Genesis 30-31

21st Century King James Version

30 And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and 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 God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?”

³ And 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.”

⁴ And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid for a wife; and Jacob went in unto her.

⁵ And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶ And Rachel said, “God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice and hath given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan [that is, Judging].

⁷ And Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸ And Rachel said, “With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” And she called his name Naphtali [that is, My wrestling].

⁹ When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob for a wife;

¹⁰ and Zilpah, Leah’s maid, bore Jacob a son.

¹¹ And Leah said, “A troop cometh.” And she called his name Gad [that is, A troop or company].

¹² And Zilpah, Leah’s maid, bore Jacob a second son.

¹³ And Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.” And she called his name Asher [that is, Happy].

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 But 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.”

¹⁶ And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah 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.

¹⁷ And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob the fifth son.

¹⁸ And Leah said, “God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband.” And she called his name Issachar [that is, A hire].

¹⁹ And Leah conceived again and bore Jacob the sixth son.

²⁰ And Leah 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 Zebulun [that is, Dwelling].

²¹ And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah [that is, Judgment].

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 hath taken away my reproach.”

²⁴ And she called his name Joseph [that is, Adding], and said, “The Lord shall 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 which I have done thee.”

²⁷ And 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.”

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 flocks have been with me.

³⁰ For it was little which thou had 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?”

³¹ And 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:

³² I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted animals, and all the brown animals among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire.

³³ So 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.”

³⁴ And Laban said, “Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.”

³⁵ And he removed that day the hegoats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the shegoats 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.

³⁶ And he set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ And Jacob took rods of green poplar and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and peeled white strips 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 gutters, in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

³⁹ And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth animals ringstreaked, speckled and spotted.

⁴⁰ And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not with Laban’s flocks.

⁴¹ And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger animals conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the animals in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

⁴² But when the animals 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 maidservants and menservants, and camels and asses.

31 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and from that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory.”

² And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before.

³ And the Lord said unto Jacob, “Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.”

⁴ And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,

⁵ and said unto them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.

⁶ And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

⁷ And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not suffer him to hurt me.

⁸ If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be thy wages,’ then all the animals bore speckled; and if he said thus: ‘The ringstreaked shall be thy hire,’ then all the animals bore ringstreaked.

⁹ Thus God hath taken away the flocks of your father, and given them to me.

¹⁰ And it came to pass at the time that the animals conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the animals were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled.

¹¹ And the angel of God spoke unto me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob!’ And I said, ‘Here am I.’

¹² And he said, ‘Lift up now thine eyes and see: all the rams which leap upon the animals are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled; for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointed the pillar, and where thou vowed a vow unto Me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.’”

¹⁴ And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

¹⁵ Are we not counted by him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.

¹⁶ For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours and our children’s. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels.

¹⁸ And he carried away all his flocks and all his goods which he had gotten, the flocks of his getting which he had gotten in Padanaram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ And Laban went to shear his sheep; and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.

²⁰ And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.

²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount of Gilead.

²² And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

²³ And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and they overtook him on the mount of Gilead.

²⁴ And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, “Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the mount; and Laban with his brethren pitched on the mount of Gilead.

²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, “What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

²⁷ Why didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with taboret and with harp,

²⁸ and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing.

²⁹ It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spoke unto me yesternight, saying, ‘Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.’

³⁰ And now, though thou wouldest be gone, because thou sorely longed after thy father’s house, yet why hast thou stolen my gods?”

³¹ And Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid; for I said, ‘Perhaps thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.’

³² With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live. Before our brethren, discern thou what is thine with me, and take it with thee.” For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maidservants’ tents, but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.

³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.

³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of women is upon me.” And he searched, but found not the images.

³⁶ And Jacob was wroth, and chided Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?

³⁷ Whereas thou hast searched all my goods, what hast thou found of all thy household things? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge between us both.

³⁸ These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy shegoats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.

³⁹ That which was torn by beasts I brought not unto thee; I bore the loss of it. From my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

⁴⁰ Thus I was: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes.

⁴¹ Thus have I been twenty years in thy house. I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flocks; and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

⁴² Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou would have sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.”

⁴³ And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have borne?

⁴⁴ Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be a witness between me and thee.”

⁴⁵ And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

⁴⁶ And Jacob said unto his brethren, “Gather stones”; and they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there upon the heap.

⁴⁷ And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha [that is, The heap of witness], but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸ And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between me and thee this day.” Therefore was the name of it called Galeed,

⁴⁹ and Mizpah [that is, A beacon or watchtower]; for he said, “The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another.

⁵⁰ If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives besides my daughters, no man is with us—see, God is witness between me and thee!”

⁵¹ And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and thee.

⁵² This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass beyond this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm.

⁵³ The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they ate bread, and tarried all night on the mount.

⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. And Laban departed, and returned unto his place.