Genesis 30

When Rachel saw she’d born no children to Jacob, she envied her sister and said
To her husband Jacob, “Come now, give me children, or otherwise I will be dead.”
Jacob’s anger flared up against Rachel and he said, “Am I to take the place of God,
Who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” She said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah;
Come in to her, so she may bear on my knees, so through her I may bear children also.”
So she gave him her maid Bilhah as concubine, and then into her Jacob did go.
Bilhah conceived and bore a son to Jacob, which Rachel adopted, saying gladly,
“God has done me justice, yes, he has heard my voice, and he has given a son to me!”
Therefore, she named him “Dan” (“He Has Done Justice”). And Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again,
And she bore Jacob a second son. Rachel said, “Now with Leah, I no more contend.
I have struggled a struggle of God with my sister, and finally I have prevailed!”
So she named him “Naftali” (“My Struggle”). Now when Leah saw that her own womb had failed,
She took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a concubine for him to know.
Zilpah, Leah’s maid, bore a son to Jacob. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” And so,
She named him “Gad” (or “Fortune”) Then Zilpah, maid of Leah, bore Jacob a second son.
Leah said, “Happiness! They’ll call me happy.” So “Asher” (“Happiness”) she named that one.

In the days of wheat harvest, once Reuben went and found “love-apples” (mandrakes) in the field.
He then brought them to Leah, his mother. Rachel said to Leah, “Pray, share your son’s yield.”
Leah said to Rachel, “Was the fact that you took my husband so paltry in your sight
That you now want to take my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel said, “Fine, he’ll lie with you tonight,
In exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” So that night, when Jacob came home from the field, tired,
Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for tonight you’ve been hired.
I have hired you for my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night, and God paid heed.
God paid heed to Leah, so that she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son from that deed.
Leah said, “God has given me my hired wages, since I gave my maid to my husband.”
So she called his name “Issachar” (or “There is Hire”). And once again, Leah was pregnant.
She conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. Leah said, “God gave me a gift
This time my husband will surely prize me, for I have borne him six sons, here is the sixth.”
So she named him “Zebulun” (or “Prince”). Afterwards she bore a daughter, Dinah by name.
But God kept Rachel in mind, God heeded her, and opened her womb so that she became
Pregnant. Rachel conceived and bore a son. She said, “My reproach, God has taken away.”
So she named him “Joseph” (“He Adds”), saying, “May God add another son for me one day.”
Now once Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Give me leave to go back home.
Give me my wives and children, for whom I served you. I’ll return to the land of my own.
Indeed, you know what services that I have rendered for you.” Laban said to him, “Pray,
Indulge me. I have now become wealthy, and the Lord has blessed me because you did stay.”
He said on, “Specify the wages that I owe you, and I will pay you, being fair.”
Jacob said to Laban, “You know how I have served you, and how your flocks fared in my care.
For you had just a few before I came, and now to a multitude it has increased,
Since the Lord has blessed you at my every step. Yet, my own house has not gotten the least.”
Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “Don’t give me anything, only do this,
And if you do this one thing for me, I will return to tend and watch your flock in bliss:
Let me go over your whole flock today, removing all heads that are speckled and spotted,
Every dark-colored sheep, spotted or speckled goat, and so shall my wages be allotted.
In this way may my honesty clearly be seen in the future when you come to check;
If you see in my flock any lamb that’s not dark, or a goat with neither spot nor speck,
Then it will be from theft.” Laban said, “Very well, let it be done as you have just stated.”
But on that very day, Laban went to his flock to have the animals separated.
He took all the he-goats that were spotted or streaked, and all she-goats with speckles or spots,
Every one with white on it, and every dark lamb, and to his sons, he handed the lot.
Then he put three-days journey between Jacob and himself, while Jacob tended the rest.
Jacob took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled them as he saw best.
He peeled white peelings in them, exposing the white on the rods in a pattern of stripes.
(Folks believed animals who saw patterns while they mated would bear offspring of that type.)
Then he set them in front of the goats at the water troughs, where they would come drink, in heat.
Therefore goats were in heat by the rods, and the flock bore striped and speckled and spotted meat.
But the sheep, Jacob set apart, and had them face all the streaked and dark ones Laban owned;
So he made special herds for himself, but Laban’s flocks were left out to randomly roam.
Now whenever robust animals were in heat, Jacob would place the rods in their sight,
So they’d mate by the rods. But he’d not put the rods near the weak animals lacking might.
The result was that feeble ones became Laban’s, while to Jacob, the strong ones accrued.
Jacob soon grew exceedingly wealthy with flocks, maids and slaves, camels, and donkeys too.