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Chapter 30 |
| 1 | And when
Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said
unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. |
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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. |
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4 | And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and
Jacob went in unto her. |
| 5 | And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a
son. |
| 6 |
And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my
voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. |
| 7 |
And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
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| 8 | And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister,
and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. |
| 9 | When Leah saw
that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to
wife. |
| 10 |
And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. |
| 11 | And Leah
said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. |
| 12 | And Zilpah
Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. |
| 13 | And Leah said, Happy am I,
for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
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| 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. |
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15 | And 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 to
night 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 bare Jacob the fifth son. |
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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. |
| 19 | And Leah conceived again, and bare 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 born him six sons: and she called
his name Zebulun. |
| 21 | And afterwards she bare a daughter, and
called her name Dinah. |
| 22 | And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened
to her, and opened her womb. |
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23 | And she conceived, and bare a son; and
said, God hath taken away my reproach: |
| 24 | And she called his name
Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. |
| 25 | And it came
to pass, when Rachel had born 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. |
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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 cattle was with
me. |
| 30 |
For 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? |
| 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.
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| 32 | I will pass through all thy flock to day, 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. |
| 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.
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| 34 | And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
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| 35 | And 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. |
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36 | And he set three days' journey betwixt
himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. |
| 37 | And
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. |
| 38 |
And 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. |
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39 | And the flocks conceived
before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and
spotted. |
| 40
| And 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. |
| 41
| And 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. |
| 42 | But when the
cattle 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
much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses. |
