Genesis 30
Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter EditionKJP 
1And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die”. 2And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, “Am I in God's stead, Who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3And she said, “Here is my maid, Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her”. 4And she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid, for a wife; and Jacob went in unto her. 5And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. 6And Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son”: therefore, she named him Dan. 7And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. 8And Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won”: and she called him Naphtali.

9When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her to Jacob for a wife. 10And Zilpah, Jacob a son. 11And Leah said, “Good fortune!”. And she called him Gad. 12And Zilpah, Leah's maid bore Jacob a second son. 13And Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed”: and she called him Asher.

14And Reuben went out in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.” 15And Leah replied, “Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband? And would you take my son's mandrakes also?” And Rachel said, “Jacob shall lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes”. 16And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in unto me; for surely I have hired you with my son's mandrakes”. And he lay with her that night. 17And God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18And Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband”; and she named him Issachar. 19And Leah conceived again, and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20And Leah said, “God has blessed me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons”: and she called him Zebulun. 21And afterwards she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

22And God remembered, and heard Rachel, and opened her womb. 23And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, “God has taken away my reproach”: 24And she called him Joseph; and said, “The LORD shall add to me another son”.

25And when Rachel had born Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may return to my own place, to my country. 26Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service that I have provided you”. 27And Laban said, “I pray you, if I have found favor in your eyes, remain; for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake”. 28And he said further, “Name me your wages, and I will pay it”. 29And Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your cattle was with me. 30For you had few before I came, and it is now increased to a multitude; and the LORD has blessed you since my coming: and when shall I provide for my own house?” 31And Laban 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 flock: 32I (Jacob) will pass through all your flock today, removing from it all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and those shall be my hire. 33So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before your face: every one that is not speckled or spotted among the goats, or brown among the sheep, that is in my possession shall be counted stolen by me.” 34And Laban said, “Let it be according to your word”. 35And that day he (Jacob -v.32)) removed all the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted - every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them to the care of his (presumably Jacob’s) sons. 36And he (presumably Jacob) put a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37And Jacob took rods of green poplar, and from almond and plane trees; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear in the rods. 38And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters by the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle that were striped, speckled, and spotted. 40And Jacob separated the young lambs, but made the others of the flocks face of toward the striped rods, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he made separate flocks of his own by themselves, and not with Laban's cattle. 41And whenever the stronger cattle bred, Jacob laid the striped rods before their eyes at the watering troughs, that they might conceive among the streaked rods. 42But when the more feeble cattle came, he did not put them in: so that the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger were Jacob's. 43And the man prospered exceedingly, and had much cattle, maidservants, menservants, camels, and donkeys.

Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition
© 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved.

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