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1 Rachel was still unable to have any children, and so she became jealous of her sister Leah. She said to Jacob, “If you don't give me any children I will die.”
2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “God is the one who is stopping you from having children. I am not God.”
3 Rachel said, “Here is my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her so that she can have a child for me. Then I can have sons and grandsons.” 4 So she gave Bilhah to Jacob to be his wife and he slept with her.
5 Bilhah became pregnant and then she had a son for Jacob. 6 And Rachel said, “God has judged us and he is pleased with me. He has heard and answered me and given me a son.” So she named him Dan, because Dan means “he has judged.”
7 Then Bilhah became pregnant again and she had another son for Jacob. 8 And Rachel said, “I have been against my older sister, but I have been stronger.” So she called him Naphtali, because Naphtali means “we have been against each other.”
9 Leah realized that she had stopped having children and so she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob to be his wife. 10 Then Zilpah had a son for Jacob. 11 Leah said, “Good has come to me.” So she named him Gad, because Gad means “good has come.”
12 Then Zilpah had another son for Jacob. 13 And Leah said, “I am so happy! Now women will say, ‘She is a happy woman’.” So she named him Asher, because Asher means “happiness.”
14 At the time when the people were gathering the wheat that they had grown, Reuben found some fruit called mandrakes where they were working. He picked some and took them home to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of the mandrakes your son has found.”
15 Leah answered, “You have already taken my husband away from me. Are you going to take my son's mandrakes away too?”
Rachel said, “If you give me some mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.” In that country the people thought that if women ate mandrakes they would become pregnant.
16 The sun was setting when Jacob returned from where the wheat was growing and Leah went to meet him. She said to him, “We are going to sleep together tonight. I have given some mandrakes to Rachel today. So I have bought you with mandrakes.” So that night Leah and Jacob slept together.
17 God answered Leah's prayer and she became pregnant, and then she had another son for Jacob. Now she had five sons. 18 She said, “God has been kind to me because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar, because Issachar means “I bought him.”
19 Then Leah became pregnant again and she had another son for Jacob. Now she had six children. 20 She said, “God has given me a precious baby. So now my husband will be pleased with me, because I have given him six sons.” She named him Zebulun, because Zebulun means “he was pleased with me.”
21 Later Leah had a daughter and she named her Dinah.
22 But God didn't forget Rachel. He remembered her and her prayer and he gave her children. 23 She also became pregnant and she had a son. She said, “I was ashamed, but now I am no longer ashamed because God has given me a son. 24 Maybe Yahweh will give me another son.” So she named him Joseph, because Joseph means “he will give another.”
About Jacob's sheep and goats
25 After Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go so that I can return home. 26 I have worked for you, so give me my wives and my children so we can all go. You know that I have worked well for you.”
27 Laban said, “I want you to stay. I have found out that Yahweh has blessed me because you have been here with me. 28 You have worked for me, so tell me the amount of money, and I will give it to you. How much do you want?”
29 Jacob said, “You know that I have done your work well. I have looked after your sheep and goats very carefully. 30 Before I came here you had only a few sheep and goats, and today you have very many. Yahweh has blessed you everywhere I went. But from now on I want to do my own work.”
31-33 “How much will I give you?” Laban asked.
Jacob said, “I don't want any money. Just let me go and take the black lambs and young goats that are spotted. I will take those and that is all. From today you can easily find out if I am honest. When you look and see any goat of mine that is not spotted or any sheep that is not black, you will know that it has been stolen. If you agree, I will go on looking after your sheep and goats.”
34 “Yes,” said Laban, “That will be good.”
35 But the same day Laban took away all the male goats that were striped or spotted and all the female ones that were spotted or had any white on them. He also took away the black sheep and he gave them to his sons for them to look after. 36 Then Laban and his family left Jacob and took Laban's sheep and goats and went a long way away. After three days they made their camp and stayed there. And Jacob looked after all Laban's other sheep and goats.
37 Then Jacob got some green branches and peeled some of the bark off so that he could see the white part inside. Then they looked striped. 38-40 He took the branches to the waterhole where his animals drank and he put them in the drinking troughs, so that they would be in front of the animals when they came to the water. He put them there because the animals were taking each other and mating there at the water. So when they mated the branches were in front of them and they looked over towards Laban's striped and black sheep and goats that he had taken away. When they mated there in front of the branches, later they had striped and spotted young ones. Jacob kept the young animals separate from the old ones. And he kept all his own animals separate from the other animals that he looked after for Laban.
41 When the sheep and goats that were fat were mating, Jacob put the branches in front of them at the drinking troughs, so that they would mate there in front of the branches. 42 But he didn't put the branches in the drinking troughs of the weak sheep and goats. Because of that soon Laban's sheep and goats were all weak and Jacob's were all fat. 43 In this way Jacob became very rich. He had many sheep and goats, camels, donkeys and servants.