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CHAPTER 30
1 Forsooth Rachel saw, that she was unfruitful, and she had envy to her sister, and said to her husband, Give thou free children to me, else I shall die.
2 To whom Jacob was wroth, and answered, Whether I am for God, which have deprived thee from the fruit of thy womb?
3 And she said, I have an handmaid Bilhah; enter thou [in] to her that she child on my knees, and that I have sons of her.
4 And she gave to him Bilhah into matrimony; and when her husband had entered [in] to her,
5 she conceived, and childed a son.
6 And Rachel said, The Lord hath deemed to me, and hath heard my prayer, and gave a son to me; and therefore she called his name Dan.
7 And again Bilhah conceived, and childed another son,
8 for whom Rachel said, The Lord hath made me like my sister, and I [have] waxed strong; and she called him Naphtali.
9 Leah feeled that she ceased to bear child, and she gave Zilpah, her handmaid, to her husband.
10 And when Zilpah, after conceiving, childed a son,
11 Leah said, Blessedly; and therefore she called his name Gad.
12 Also Zilpah childed another son,
13 and Leah said, This is for my bliss, for all women shall say me blessed; therefore she called him Asher.
14 Forsooth Reuben went out into the field in the time of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes, which he brought to Leah, his mother. And Rachel said, Give thou to me a part of the mandrakes of thy son.
15 Leah answered, Whether it seemeth little to thee, that thou hast ravished my husband from me, no but thou take also the mandrakes of my son? Rachel said, The husband sleep with thee in this night for the mandrakes of thy son.
16 And when Jacob came again from the field at the eventide, Leah went out into his meeting, and said, Thou shalt enter [in] to me, for I have hired thee with hire for the mandrakes of my son. He slept with her in that night;
17 and God heard her prayers, and she conceived, and childed the fifth son;
18 and said, God hath given meed to me, for I gave mine handmaid to mine husband; and she called his name Issachar.
19 Again Leah conceived, and childed the sixth son,
20 and said, The Lord hath made me rich with a good dower; also in this time mine husband shall be with me, for I have engendered six sons to him; and therefore she called his name Zebulun.
21 After whom she childed a daughter, Dinah by name.
22 Also the Lord had mind on Rachel, and he heard her, and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and childed a son, and said, God hath taken away my shame;
24 and she called his name Joseph, and said, The Lord give to me another son.
25 Soothly when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his wife’s father, Deliver thou me, that I turn again to my country, and to my land.
26 Give thou to me my wives, and my free children, for which I have served thee, that I go; forsooth thou knowest the service by which I have served thee.
27 Laban said to him, Find I grace in thy sight; I have learned by experience, that God hath blessed me for thee;
28 ordain thou the meed which I shall give to thee.
29 And Jacob answered, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how great thy possession was in mine hands;
30 thou haddest little before that I came to thee, and now thou art made rich, and the Lord [hath] blessed thee at mine entering; therefore it is just that I purvey sometime also for mine house.
31 And Laban said, What shall I give to thee? And Jacob said, I will or desire nothing, that is, of thy gift, but if thou doest that that I ask, again I shall feed and keep thy sheep.
32 Go about all thy flocks, and separate thou all diversely-coloured sheep, and of spotted fleeces, and whatever thing shall be of dun hue, and spotted, and diverse of colour, as well in sheep as in goats; that shall be my meed.
33 And my rightfulness [or rightwise-ness] shall answer to me tomorrow, when the time of covenant shall come before thee; and all that be not diverse, and spotted, and dunned, as well in sheep as in goats, be found at me thou shalt reprove me of theft.
34 And Laban said, I have it acceptable that that thou askest.
35 And Laban separated in that day [the] goats, and sheep, goat bucks, and rams, diverse and spotted. Soothly he betook all the flock of one colour, that is, of white, and of black fleece, into the hands of his sons;
36 and he set the space of a way of three days betwixt his sons, and the husband of his daughters, that fed his other flocks.
37 Therefore Jacob took green rods of poplars, and of almonds, and of planes, and in part he did away the rind of them; and when the rinds were drawn away, either shaved, whiteness appeared in these that were made bare; soothly those that were whole dwelled green, and by this manner the colour was made diverse.
38 And Jacob put those rods in the troughs, where the water was poured out, that when the flocks should come to drink,
39 they should have the rods before their eyes, and they should conceive in [the] sight of the rods. And it was done that in that heat of riding, or engendering, the sheep should behold those rods, and that they should bring forth spotted beasts, and diverse, and besprinkled with diverse colour.
40 And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the [water] troughs, before the eyes of the rams. Soothly all the white and [the] black were Laban’s; soothly all the others were Jacob’s; for the flocks were separated betwixt themselves.
41 Therefore when the sheep were ridden in the first time, Jacob put the rods in the water troughs before the eyes of rams, and of ewe sheep, that they should conceive in the sight of the rods.
42 Forsooth when the late mixing, or engendering, and the last conceivings were, Jacob put not those rods; and those that were late engendered, were made Laban’s, and those that were of the first time engendered, were Jacob’s.
43 And Jacob was made full rich, and had many flocks, handmaids, and menservants, camels, and asses.

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© 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble