1 When Rachel saw that she was not giving Jacob any children, she was jealous of her sister. So he said to Jacob, “Give me children or I will die! “
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2 Jacob became angry and said, “Am I in the place of God, who prevented you from having children? “
3 Then she replied: “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Lie with her, so that she may have children in my place and through her I too can form a family.”
4 So she gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife. He lay with her,
5 Bila became pregnant and bore him a son.
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6 Then Rachel said, “God has done justice to me and heard my cry and gave me a son.” That's why he named him Dan.
7 Bilhah, Rachel's servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob his second son.
8 Then Raquel said: “I had a great fight with my sister and I won.” For what he called him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife.
10 Zilpah, Leah's servant, bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “What great luck! ” That’s why he called him Gad.
12 Zilpah, Leah's servant, gave Jacob another son.
13 Then Leah exclaimed: “How happy I am! Women will say I’m happy.” That's why he named him Asher.
14 During the wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the field, found some mandrakes and brought them to Leah, his mother. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she replied, “Was it not enough for you to take my husband from me? Will you also take the mandrakes that my son brought? ” Then Rachel said, “Jacob will lie with you tonight, in exchange for the mandrakes brought by your son.”
16 When Jacob arrived from the field that afternoon, Leah came out to meet him and said to him, “Today you will possess me, for I bought this right with my son’s mandrakes.” And that night he lay with her.
17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and gave Jacob his fifth son.
18 Leah said, “God rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” That's why he named him Issachar.
19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob his sixth son.
20 Said Leah: “God has given me a precious gift. Now my husband will treat me better; After all, I already gave you six children.” That's why he named him Zebulun.
21 Some time later, she gave birth to a girl whom she named Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel. God heard her cry and made her fertile.
23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said: “God took my humiliation away from me.”
24 He named him Joseph and said: “May the Lord add another son to me.”
25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go back to my homeland.
26 Give me my wives, for whom I served you, and my children, and I will leave. You know how much I worked for you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If I am worthy of your consideration, I ask you to stay. Through divination I discovered that the Lord blessed me because of you.”
28 And he added: “Name your salary, and I will pay you.”
29 Jacob answered him, “You know how much I worked for you and how your flocks grew under my care.
30 The little you had before my arrival has increased greatly, as the Lord has blessed you after I came here. However, when will I do something for my own family? “
31 Then Laban asked, “What do you want me to give you? " "Don't give me anything," Jacob replied. "I will go back to tending your flocks if you agree to the following:
32 Today I will go through all their flocks and take from them all the spotted and spotted sheep, all the black lambs and all the spotted and spotted goats. They will be my salary.
33 And my honesty will bear witness to me in the future, every time you decide to check my salary. If there be in my possession any goat that is not speckled or painted, and any lamb that is not black, you may consider them stolen. “
34 And Laban said, “Agreed. Be as you said.”
35 That same day Laban separated all the goats that had white stripes or spots, all the goats that had white spots or spots, and all the black lambs and placed them in the care of his sons.
36 He then moved away from Jacob, a distance equivalent to three days' travel, and Jacob continued to pasture the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 Jacob took green branches of styrax, almond and plane tree and made white stripes on them, partially peeling them and thus exposing the inner white part of the branches.
38 Then he fixed the peeled branches next to the water troughs, in front of the flocks, in the place where they used to drink water. During the rut season, the herds came to drink and
39 they mated in front of the branches. And they produced striped, speckled and painted puppies.
40 Jacob separated the young ones of the herd from the others, and made them stay with Laban's black and striped animals. Thus he formed his own flock, which he separated from Laban's.
41 Every time the stronger females were in heat, Jacob placed the branches in the water troughs, in front of the animals, so that they could mate close to the branches;
42 but if the animals were weak, he did not put them there. In this way, the weak animals were left for Laban and the stronger ones for Jacob.
43 Thus the man became extremely rich, becoming the owner of large flocks and male and female servants, camels and donkeys.
