Dan and Naphtali

1And Rachel saw that she was not bearing children to Jacob, and Rachel was envious of her sister and she said to Jacob, “Give to me sons, and if not, I will die.”

2And the anger of Jacob burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

3And she said, “Behold, my maidservant Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear children on my knees, and I also shall be built up from her.”

4And she gave to him Bilhah her maidservant for a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5And Bilhah conceived, and bore to Jacob a son. 6And Rachel said, “God has judged me, and He has also heard my voice, and has given to me a son.” Upon thus she called his name Dan.†

7And Bilhah, the maidservant of Rachel, conceived again, and bore a second son to Jacob. 8And Rachel said, “With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” And she called his name Naphtali.†

Gad and Asher

9And Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, and she took Zilpah her maidservant, and gave her to Jacob for a wife. 10And Zilpah, the maidservant of Leah, bore to Jacob a son. 11And Leah said, “How fortunate!†” And she called his name Gad.†

12And Zilpah, the maidservant of Leah, bore a second son to Jacob. 13And Leah said, “I am happy, for the daughters will call me happy.” And she called his name Asher.†

14And Reuben went in the days of the harvest of wheat, and he found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, “Please give to me some of the mandrakes of your son.”

15And she said to her, “Is it a small matter your taking my husband, that you would also take the mandrakes of my son?”

And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for the mandrakes of your son.”

16And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and she said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with the mandrakes of my son.” And he lay with her that night.

Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah

17And God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and she bore to Jacob a fifth son. 18And Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I have given my maidservant to my husband.” And she called his name Issachar.†

19And Leah conceived again, and she bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20And Leah said, “God has endowed me—me—with a good endowment; this time my husband will honor me, for I have borne to him six sons.” And she called his name Zebulun.†

21And afterward she bore a daughter, and she called her name Dinah.

Joseph

22And God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and He opened her womb. 23And she conceived, and she bore a son and she said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24And she called his name Joseph,† saying, “May YHWH add to me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

25And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my land. 26Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and I will go. For you—you know my service which I have served you.”

27And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes. I have learned by divination that YHWH has blessed me for your sake.” 28And he said, “Specify your wage to me, and I will give it.”

29And he said to him, “You—you know how I have served you, and how your livestock has been with me. 30For little was what you had before me, and it has burst forth into a multitude, and YHWH has blessed you at my foot. And now, when shall I provide also for my own house?”

31And he said, “What shall I give to you?”

And Jacob said, “You shall not give to me anything. If you will do for me this thing, I will turn back; I will pasture your flock, I will keep it. 32I will pass through all your flock today; remove from there every one speckled and spotted, and every brown one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. And these shall be my wage. 33And my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when you come upon my wage before your face—every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs—it was stolen if it is with me.”

34And Laban said, “Behold—oh that it were according to your word.”

35And that day he removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the brown among the lambs, and he gave them into the hand of his sons. 36And he put a journey of three days between himself and between Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the flock of Laban, the remaining ones.

37And Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar and of almond and plane tree, and he peeled in them white stripes exposing the white that was in the rods. 38And he set the rods that he had peeled in the channels, in the watering troughs, where the flock came to drink—before the flock—and they conceived when they came to drink. 39And the flock conceived before the rods, and the flock brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted ones. 40And Jacob separated the lambs, and he set the face of the flock toward the striped, and all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he set for himself flocks by themselves, and he did not set them with the flock of Laban.

41And it came to pass whenever the strong of the flock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the flock in the channels, that they might conceive in front of the ro ds. 42And the flock that were feeble, he did not put them in. So the feeble ones were to Laban, and the strong ones to Jacob.

43And the man burst forth greatly, greatly, and he had to him many flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Footnotes:

6 Dan means He has judged or He has vindicated.
8 Naphtali sounds like the Hebrew for wrestling.
11 Alternate MT reading (see also LXX); the other alternate reads “A troop is coming!”
11 Gad sounds like the Hebrew for good fortune, or alternately for band of raiders.
13 Asher means happy.
18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for wages or reward.
20 Zebulun sounds like the Hebrew for honor.
24 Joseph means may He add.