Atlas Biblica

    Genesis · 43 verses

    Genesis 30

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    Jacob grows a fortune by putting peeled branches in the watering troughs while the stronger animals mate before them; elsewhere, Rachel hires him to sleep with Leah for mandrakes.

    Children by every available arrangementvv. 1–13

    Rachel begins with an ultimatum—“Give me children, or I will die!”—and then supplies Bilhah to Jacob, so that Bilhah may bear children for her. Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali, while Rachel names the contest with Leah as one she has won. Leah, seeing that she has stopped bearing, gives Zilpah to Jacob; Zilpah bears Gad and Asher, whose names arrive with fortune and happiness. The household is becoming a family by methods both solemn and remarkably administrative.

    The mandrake exchangevv. 14–24

    During the wheat harvest, Reuben finds mandrakes in the field and Rachel asks Leah for them. Leah objects that Rachel has already taken her husband; Rachel answers with a bargain, and Leah announces to Jacob that she has hired him with her son's mandrakes. Leah then bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. At last God listens to Rachel, who bears Joseph and asks for another son, leaving the household with one more child and no shortage of complicated bookkeeping.

    Branches in the troughsvv. 25–43

    After Joseph is born, Jacob asks Laban to let him return to his homeland with his wives and children. Laban, who has learned by divination that the LORD has blessed him because of Jacob, offers wages; Jacob proposes to take the speckled, spotted, and dark-colored animals. Laban promptly removes those animals and puts distance between them, which gives Jacob the remainder of the flock—and an opportunity for botanical theatrics. Jacob peels branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and sets them before the animals at the watering troughs. The stronger females breed before the branches and produce streaked, speckled, and spotted young; the weaker animals do not receive the display. Thus Jacob becomes exceedingly prosperous, with flocks, servants, camels, and donkeys.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Gen 30:1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

    2. Gen 30:2Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

    3. Gen 30:3Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.”

    4. Gen 30:4So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,

    5. Gen 30:5and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son.

    6. Gen 30:6Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

    7. Gen 30:7And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

    8. Gen 30:8Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.

    9. Gen 30:9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

    10. Gen 30:10And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

    11. Gen 30:11Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

    12. Gen 30:12When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

    13. Gen 30:13Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

    14. Gen 30:14Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

    15. Gen 30:15But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

    16. Gen 30:16When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

    17. Gen 30:17And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.

    18. Gen 30:18Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

    19. Gen 30:19Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

    20. Gen 30:20“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

    21. Gen 30:21After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

    22. Gen 30:22Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,

    23. Gen 30:23and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said.

    24. Gen 30:24She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

    25. Gen 30:25Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.

    26. Gen 30:26Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

    27. Gen 30:27But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

    28. Gen 30:28And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

    29. Gen 30:29Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care.

    30. Gen 30:30Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”

    31. Gen 30:31“What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks.

    32. Gen 30:32Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages.

    33. Gen 30:33So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”

    34. Gen 30:34“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

    35. Gen 30:35That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.

    36. Gen 30:36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

    37. Gen 30:37Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

    38. Gen 30:38Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink,

    39. Gen 30:39they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

    40. Gen 30:40Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

    41. Gen 30:41Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches.

    42. Gen 30:42But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

    43. Gen 30:43Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 243 passages were voted onto 32 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 22Genesis 29:31When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
    • 22Psalms 113:9He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!
    • 221 Samuel 1:19–20The next morning they got up early to bow in worship before the LORD, and then they returned home to Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.
    • 27Ruth 2:13“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”
    • 27Isaiah 61:9Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.
    • 27Genesis 26:24and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
    • 27Acts 7:10and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.
    • 1Job 5:2For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
    • 22Genesis 21:1–2Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
    • 22Psalms 127:3Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
    • 22Genesis 25:21Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
    • 22Genesis 8:1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
    • 22Psalms 105:42For He remembered His holy promise to Abraham His servant.
    • 22Genesis 30:2Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”
    • 23Luke 1:25“The Lord has done this for me. In these days He has shown me favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
    • 301 Timothy 5:8If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

    Onward

    Keep reading

    Next chapterGenesis 3155 verses.Named hereIsraelEverything the graph connects to this name.BookGenesisAll 50 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.