Genesis 30:25-43

Jacob Prospers

25 Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "¹Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

26 "Give me my wives and my children ²for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you."

27 But Laban said to him, "If now it pleases * you, stay with me; I have divined ³that the LORD has blessed me on your account."

28 He continued, "⁴Name me your wages, and I will give it."

29 But he said to him, "⁵You yourself know how * I have served you and how * your cattle have fared with me.

30 "For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?"

31 So he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:

32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every ⁶speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.

33 "So my honesty will answer for me later *, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen."

34 Laban said, "Good, let it be according to your word."

35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.

36 And he put a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods.

38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink.

39 So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

40 Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban's flock.

41 Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods;

42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's.

43 So ⁷the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants * and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 30:25-43 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 30

This chapter gives an account of Rachel's envy of her sister for her fruitfulness, and of her earnest desire of having children, which she expressed to Jacob in an unbecoming manner, for which he reproved her, Ge 30:1,2, of her giving her maid Bilhah to Jacob, by whom he had two sons, Dan and Naphtali, Ge 30:3-8; and of Leah's giving her maid Zilpah to him, by whom he had two other sons, Gad and Asher, Ge 30:9-13; and of Reuben's mandrakes he found in the field, and the agreement made between Rachel and Leah about them, Ge 30:14-16; and of Leah's bearing Jacob two more sons and one daughter, Ge 30:17-21, and of Rachel's also bearing him a son, whose name was Joseph, Ge 30:22-24; upon which he desires leave of Laban to depart into his own country, his time of servitude being up, Ge 30:25,26; which brought on a new agreement between him and Laban, that for the future he should have all the speckled, spotted, and brown cattle for his service, Ge 30:27-36; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a cunning scheme of Jacob's to increase that sort of cattle, which succeeded, and by which he became rich, Ge 30:37-43.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 24:54, 56
• 2. Gen 29:18, 20, 27; Hosea 12:12
• 3. Genesis 26:24; Genesis 39:3, 5; Isaiah 61:9
• 4. Genesis 29:15; Genesis 31:7, 41
• 5. Genesis 31:6
• 6. Genesis 31:8
• 7. Genesis 12:16; Genesis 13:2; Genesis 24:35; Genesis 26:13, 14; Genesis 30:30

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "served"
• [b]. Lit "I have found favor in your eyes"
• [c]. Lit "said"
• [d]. Lit "been"
• [e]. Lit "me"
• [f]. Lit "broken forth"
• [g]. Lit "at my foot"
• [h]. Lit "sheep"
• [i]. Lit "righteousness"
• [j]. Lit "wages which are before you"
• [k]. Lit "Behold, would that it might be"
• [l]. Lit "hand"
• [m]. Lit "took to himself"
• [n]. Lit "on"
• [o]. Or "conceived"
• [p]. Or "conceived"
• [q]. Lit "set the faces"
• [r]. Lit "bound ones;" i.e. firm and compact
• [s]. Or "conceived"
• [t]. Or "conceive"
• [u]. Lit "bound ones;" i.e. firm and compact
• [v]. Lit "broke forth"