¹Rachel saw that she had not borne a child to Jacob, and Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, or if not, I am dead."

²Jacob's anger burned against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

³She said, "Here is my maidservant Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear on my knees, and I also will be built from her."

⁴She gave him Bilhah her female slave as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵Bilhah conceived and bore a son to Jacob.

⁶Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has also listened to my voice and given me a son." Therefore she called his name Dan.

⁷Bilhah, the female slave of Rachel, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸Rachel said, "With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister; I have also prevailed." And she called his name Naphtali.

⁹Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, and she took Zilpah her female slave and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰Zilpah, the female slave of Leah, bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Leah said, "Fortune has come!" and she called his name Gad.

¹²Zilpah, the female slave of Leah, bore Jacob a second son.

¹³Leah said, "In my happiness! For daughters will call me happy." And she called his name Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. Rachel said to Leah, "Give me, please, some of your son's mandrakes."

¹⁵She said to her, "Is it a small thing that you took my husband? And would you take also my son's mandrakes?" Rachel said, "Then he may lie with you tonight in place of your son's mandrakes."

¹⁶Jacob came in from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, "You are to come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night.

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

¹⁸Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I gave my female slave to my husband"; and she called his name Issachar.

¹⁹Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; this time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons"; and she called his name Zebulun.

²¹And after that she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

²²God remembered Rachel, and God heard her and opened her womb.

²³She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has removed my reproach."

²⁴She called his name Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."

²⁵And it happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, and let me go to my 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 yourself know my service, which I have served you."

²⁷And Laban said to him, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes — I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me on your account."

²⁸He said, "Designate your wages to me, and I will give them."

²⁹And he said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has been with me.

³⁰For the little that belonged to you before me has burst out into a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you with my every step. And now, when will I also do something for my own household?"

³¹He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You will not give me a speck. If you will do this word for me, I will return, I will shepherd your flock, I will keep it.

³²I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every spotted and patched sheep, and every dark sheep among the young sheep, and the patched and spotted among the she-goats; and that will be my wages.

³³My righteousness will answer for me on a day to come, when you come to inspect my wages before you: everything that is not spotted or patched among the she-goats, or dark among the young sheep, is stolen if it is with me."

³⁴Laban said, "See, if only it would be according to your word."

³⁵That day he removed the striped and patched male goats, and all the spotted and patched she-goats, everything that had white on it, and every dark one among the young sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

³⁶He put a way of three days between himself and Jacob; and Jacob shepherded the flock of Laban that remained.

³⁷Jacob took for himself fresh shoots of poplar, almond, and plane tree, and peeled white strips in them, laying bare the white that was on the shoots.

³⁸He set the shoots that he had peeled in the channels, in the watering troughs of the water where the flock came to drink, in front of the flock; and they were in heat when they came to drink.

³⁹The flock was in heat at the shoots, and the flock bore striped, spotted, and patched ones.

⁴⁰And Jacob separated the young sheep, and set the face of the flock toward the striped and every dark one in the flock of Laban; and he made herds for himself alone, and did not put them with the flock of Laban.

⁴¹And it happened, whenever the tightly bound ones of the flock were in heat, that Jacob put the shoots before the eyes of the flock in the channels, so that they would be in heat at the shoots.

⁴²And when the flock was feeble, he did not put them; and the feeble ones belonged to Laban, and the tightly bound ones to Jacob.

⁴³And the man burst out exceedingly, and he had many flocks, female slaves and slaves, and camels and donkeys.