Genesis 30

Jacob's Children

1 Now when Rachel saw that a she bore Jacob no children, Rachel b envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, c or else I die!" 2 And Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, d "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" 3 So she said, "Here is e my maid Bilhah; go in to her, f and she will bear a child on my knees, g that I also may 1 have children by her." 4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid h as wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, "God has i judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son." Therefore she called his name 2 Dan. 3 7 And Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, "With 4 great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed." So she called his name 5 Naphtali. 6

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and j gave her to Jacob as wife. 10 And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, 7 "A troop comes!" 8 So she called his name 9 Gad. 10 12 And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, "I am happy, for the daughters k will call me blessed." So she called his name 11 Asher. 12

14 Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, l "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." 15 But she said to her, m "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" And Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes." 16 When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband." So she called his name 13 Issachar. 14

19 Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 And Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons." So she called his name 15 Zebulun. 16 21 Afterward she bore a n daughter, and called her name 17 Dinah.

22 Then God o remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and p opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away q my reproach." 24 So she called his name 18 Joseph, 19 and said, r "The LORD shall add to me another son."

Jacob's Prosperity

25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, s "Send me away, that I may go to t my own place and to my country. 26 "Give me my wives and my children u for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you." 27 And Laban said to him, "Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for v I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake." 28 Then he said, w "Name me your wages, and I will give it." 29 So Jacob said to him, x "You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. 30 "For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the LORD has blessed you 20 since my coming. And now, when shall I also y provide for my own house?" 31 So he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: 32 "Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and z these shall be my wages. 33 "So my a righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me." 34 And Laban said, "Oh, that it were according to your word!" 35 So he removed that day the male goats that were b speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 Now c Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. 38 And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban's flock. 41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. 43 Thus the man d became exceedingly prosperous, and e had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

  1. Cross References
    Genesis 16:1
    Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
    Genesis 16:2
    So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
    Genesis 29:31
    When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
  2. Cross References
    Genesis 37:11
    And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
  3. Cross References
    1 Samuel 1:5
    But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb.
    1 Samuel 1:6
    And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb.
    Job 5:2
    For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one.
  4. Cross References
    Genesis 16:2
    So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
    1 Samuel 1:5
    But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb.
  5. Cross References
    Genesis 16:2
    So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
  6. Cross References
    Genesis 50:23
    Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph's knees.
    Job 3:12
    Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
  7. Cross References
    Genesis 16:2
    So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
    Genesis 16:3
    Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
  8. Cross References
    Genesis 16:3
    Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
    Genesis 16:4
    So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
  9. Cross References
    Genesis 18:25
    "Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
    Psalms 35:24
    Vindicate me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness; And let them not rejoice over me.
    Psalms 43:1
    Vindicate me, O God, And plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
    Lamentations 3:59
    O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case.
  10. Cross References
    Genesis 30:4
    Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.
  11. Cross References
    Proverbs 31:28
    Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her:
    Luke 1:48
    For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
  12. Cross References
    Genesis 25:30
    And Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary." Therefore his name was called Edom.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 16:9
    Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to serve them.
    Numbers 16:13
    Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should keep acting like a prince over us?
  14. Cross References
    Genesis 34:1
    Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
  15. Cross References
    Genesis 19:29
    And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
    1 Samuel 1:19
    Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
    1 Samuel 1:20
    So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked for him from the LORD.
  16. Cross References
    Genesis 29:31
    When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
  17. Cross References
    1 Samuel 1:6
    And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb.
    Isaiah 4:1
    And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel; Only let us be called by your name, To take away our reproach.
    Luke 1:25
    "Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."
  18. Cross References
    Genesis 35:16 - 18
    Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.
  19. Cross References
    Genesis 24:54
    And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, "Send me away to my master.
    Genesis 24:56
    And he said to them, "Do not hinder me, since the LORD has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.
  20. Cross References
    Genesis 18:33
    So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
  21. Cross References
    Genesis 29:18 - 20
    Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.
    Genesis 29:27
    "Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years."
    Genesis 29:30
    Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.
    Hosea 12:12
    Jacob fled to the country of Syria; Israel served for a spouse, And for a wife he tended sheep.
  22. Cross References
    Genesis 26:24
    And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham's sake.
    Genesis 39:3
    And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.
    Isaiah 61:9
    Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.
  23. Cross References
    Genesis 29:15
    Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?
    Genesis 31:7
    Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.
    Genesis 31:41
    Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
  24. Cross References
    Genesis 31:6
    And you know that with all my might I have served your father.
    Genesis 31:38 - 40
    These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
    Matthew 24:45
    Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
    Titus 2:10
    Not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
  25. Cross References
    1 Timothy 5:8
    But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
  26. Cross References
    Genesis 31:8
    If he said thus: 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: 'The streaked shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked.
  27. Cross References
    Psalms 37:6
    He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
  28. Cross References
    Genesis 31:9 - 12
    So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
  29. Cross References
    Genesis 31:9 - 12
    So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
  30. Cross References
    Genesis 12:16
    He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
    Genesis 30:30
    "For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the LORD has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?"
  31. Cross References
    Genesis 13:2
    Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
    Genesis 24:35
    The LORD has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
    Genesis 26:13
    The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.
    Genesis 26:14
    For he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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