Study Desk

She replied, "Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her."

So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

Then Rachel said, "I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won." So she named him Naphtali.

Leah said, "How fortunate!" So she named him Gad.

Leah said, "How happy I am, for women will call me happy!" So she named him Asher.

When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son's mandrakes." So he had marital relations with her that night.

Then Leah said, "God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife." So she named him Issachar.

Then Leah said, "God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.

After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so that I can go home to my own country.

So Laban asked, "What should I give you?" "You don't need to give me a thing," Jacob replied, "but if you agree to this one condition, I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them:

So that day Laban removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care of his sons.

Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban's flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban's flocks.

When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban and the stronger animals to Jacob.

So Jacob sent a message for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where his flocks were.

Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you."

So Jacob immediately put his children and his wives on the camels.

So he took his relatives with him and pursued Jacob for seven days. He caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

Why did you run away secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps?

So Laban entered Jacob's tent, and Leah's tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.