Genesis 30:37

37 Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled [the bark], exposing white stripes on the branches.

Genesis 30:37 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:37

And Jacob took him rods of green poplar
Of the white poplar tree, called green, not from the colour, but from the moisture, being such as were cut off of the tree: and of the hazel and chestnut tree;
the former some take to be the almond tree, as Saadiah Gaon, and others; and the latter to be the plantain or plane tree, so Ainsworth, and others: and pilled white strakes in them;
took off the bark of them in some places, and left it on in others, which made white strakes: and made the white appear which [was] in the rods;
that part of the rods which was stripped of the bark appeared white; and it appeared the whiter for the bark that was left on in other parts; and both made the rods to appear to have various colours, which was the design of Jacob in pilling them.

Genesis 30:37 In-Context

35 That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats-every one that had any white on it-and every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.

36 He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban's flock.

37 Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled [the bark], exposing white stripes on the branches.

38 He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep-in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

39 The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.