1 When Rachel {Rachel: anguished wife} saw that she was not bearing children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister, and she said to Jacob, “Give me sons, and if not, I am dying {metah: desperate anguish}.”
2 Jacob’s anger {ap: fierce emotion} flared against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God {Elohim, Life-Giver}, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 She said, “Look, my servant Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear {teled: produce children} upon my knees, so that I also may be built up {ibaneh: status as mother} through her.”
4 So Rachel gave him Bilhah, her maidservant {shifchah: female household worker}, as a wife {leishah: formal wife status}, and Jacob went in to her.
5 And Bilhah {Bilhah: maidservant wife} conceived, and she bore a son {ben: male offspring} for Jacob.
6 And Rachel said, “God {Elohim, Just Arbiter} has judged me {danani: favorable ruling}; He has heard my voice and given me a son.” For this reason she called his name Dan.
7 Then Bilhah, Rachel’s servant {shifkhat: household attendant}, conceived again and bore a second {sheni: birth-order marker} son to Jacob.
8 And Rachel said, “With wrestlings {naftulei: intense contests} of God {Elohim, Sovereign Involver}, I have wrestled with my sister and have also prevailed.” And she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing {amda: ceased giving birth}, she took her servant {shifchah: bound household worker} Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Zilpah {zilpah: servant-wife}, Leah’s maidservant, bore a son for Jacob {yaaqov: patriarchal ancestor}.
11 Leah said, “Fortune {gad: prosperity, unexpected blessing} has come!” Then she called his name Gad {Gad: name linked to fortune}.
12 Then Zilpah, Leah’s servant {shifchah: female household worker}, bore a second son to Jacob {Yaakov: chosen family head}.
13 Leah said, “How happy I am {beoshri: personal happiness}! For the daughters {banot: community women} will call me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14 During the wheat harvest season {ketsir chittim: grain gathering time}, Reuben went out and discovered mandrakes in the field; he then carried them to his mother, Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes {duda’im: fertility charms}.”
15 Leah said to her, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband {ishi: covenant partner}? Would you also take my son’s mandrakes {dudaei: fertility plants}?” Rachel replied, “Then he will lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob returned from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and declared, “Come to me, for I have indeed engaged {sakhor: secured by payment} you with my son’s mandrakes {dudaei: fertility plants}.” He lay with her that night.
17 God {Elohim, Attentive Hearer} hearkened to Leah; she then conceived and bore Jacob a fifth {khamishi: position in lineage} son.
18 Leah said, “God {Elohim, Reward Giver} has given me my wage {sekhari: deserved recompense}, because I gave my maidservant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah {leah: weary woman} conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob {yaaqov: chosen ancestor}.
20 Leah said, “God {Elohim, Gracious Giver} has endowed me with a good gift {zeved: special endowment}; this time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.
21 After {ve'akhar: later time} that, she gave birth to a daughter, and she called her name Dinah {dinah: judged one}.
22 God {Elohim, Faithful Rememberer} remembered Rachel; God listened {shama: attentive hearing} to her and opened her womb.
23 She conceived and bore a son, and then she proclaimed, “God {Elohim, Restorer of Honor} has taken away my reproach {kherpah: shame of barrenness}.”
24 She called his name Joseph {Yosef: He adds}, saying, “May the LORD {YHWH, Gracious Increaser} add to me another son.”
25 After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me {shalcheni: grant my release} away, so I may go to my place {mekomi: settled dwelling} and to my land.”
26 Give me my wives and my children {yeladai: my offspring} for whom I have served you, and I will go; for you know my service {avodati: enduring labor} which I have rendered to you.
27 Laban said to him, “If I have found favor {chen: gracious acceptance} in your eyes, then I have divined that the LORD {YHWH, Source of Increase} has blessed me on account of you.”
28 He said, “Specify {naqevah: state precisely} your wage {sekharkha: agreed compensation} to me, and I will give it.”
29 Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you {avadtikha: loyal service}, and what has happened to your livestock {miknekha: acquired animals} under my care.”
30 What you had was little before I arrived, but it has spread into abundance; and the LORD {YHWH, Blessing Giver} has blessed you wherever I set foot {leragli: wherever I went}. Now, when will I also provide for my own household?
31 Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing {davar: specific arrangement} for me, I will return and tend your flock {tson: owned animals} and guard it.”
32 Let me pass through all your flock today. Remove every speckled and spotted sheep {seh: small livestock}, every dark one among the lambs {kesavim: young sheep}, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. These shall be my wages.
33 My righteousness {tsidqati: moral integrity} will answer for me tomorrow, when you come to examine my wages {sekhari: agreed compensation} before you: any that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or dark among the lambs, if found with me, is stolen.
34 And Laban {Lavan: Aramean kinsman} said, “Yes; let it stand according to your word {davar: specific agreement}.”
35 That day he removed the male goats that were banded and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted—everything that had white on them—and every dark one among the lambs{kesavim: young sheep}, and he placed them in the hand of his sons{banav: his descendants}.
36 He set a journey of three days {derekh: measured route} between himself and Jacob. And Jacob was shepherding the flock of Laban, the ones that remained {hanotarot: those left over}.
37 Jacob {Yaakov: Covenant heir} took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane tree and peeled them to yield white peelings {ptsalot: striped markings}, thereby exposing the pale wood beneath the surface.
38 He set the rods {maklot: peeled wooden poles} that he had stripped into the gutters in the watering basins {shiqqatot: carved basins} by the water where the flock came to drink, directly in front of the flock, and they came into heat when they came to drink.
39 The flock {tson: small livestock} came into heat by the rods {maqelot: peeled sticks}, and the flock bore young that were striped, spotted, and mottled.
40 Jacob separated the lambs {kesavim: young sheep}. He set the faces of the flock {penei: direction turned} toward the streaked and all the brown in Laban’s flock, and he put his own flocks apart by themselves; he did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 And it happened that whenever the stronger flock {tson: small livestock} were in heat, Jacob would place the rods before the eyes of the flock in the watering troughs {rohatim: water channels}, so that they would come into heat by the rods.
42 But when the flock {tson: small livestock} grew weak, he did not set them there; therefore, the feeble ones belonged to Laban, and the strong ones {keshurim: firm and robust} belonged to Jacob.
43 The man {haish: Jacob as heir} became exceedingly, exceedingly prosperous, and he came to have many flocks, and maidservants, and servants {avadim: male household laborers}, and camels, and donkeys.