创30:30The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"

创30:31What shall I give you? he asked. "Don't give me anything," Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them:

创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. They will be my wages.

创30:33And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."

创30:34Agreed, said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."

创30:35That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons.

创30:36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.

创30:37Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

创30:38Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink,

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

创30:40Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals.

创30:41Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,

创30:42but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.

创30:43In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

创31:1Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father."

创31:2And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been.

创31:3Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

创31:4So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were.

创31:5He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.

创31:6You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength,