Episode 14: The great baby-making contest

(Genesis 29:13 - 30:39)

Jacob agrees to work seven years for Rachel

29 ¹³ Laban invited Jacob to stay at his house and said to him,

¹⁵ How much should I pay you for working for me?

¹⁸ Jacob said, "I'll serve you seven years for Rachel."

¹⁹ Laban said, "OK.".

²⁰ So Jacob worked for Laban for seven years.

Jacob has sex with Leah by mistake

²¹ After the seven years were over, Jacob said to Laban,

Give me my wife so I can have sex with her.

²³ But Laban brought Leah to Jacob and Jacob had sex with Leah.

²⁵ Jacob thought he was having sex with Rachel, but in the morning he saw that it was Leah instead.

Jacob confronted Laban about it, saying,

I was supposed to get Rachel, not Leah.

Jacob works another seven years for Laban

²⁶ Laban said,

In our country we don't give away the younger before the firstborn.

Work for me for another seven years and I'll give you Rachel, too.

²⁸ So Jacob worked another seven years. And Laban gave him Rachel.

³⁰ Finally, after fourteen years of work, Jacob had sex with Rachel. (And he loved Rachel more than Leah.)

³¹When God saw that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, he opened Leah's womb, but Rachel was barren.

^32-35 Leah conceived and had four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

Leah trades mandrakes for sex with Jacob

30 ¹ When Rachel saw that she couldn't have children, she envied Leah and said to Jacob,

Give me children or I will die.

² Jacob said, "Don't talk to me about it. Talk to God."

³ But luckily, Rachel had an idea. She said to Jacob,

Here's my slave, Bilhah. Have sex with her.

^4-7 So Jacob had sex with Bilhah, who had two sons, Dan and Naphtali.

⁹ Leah couldn't get pregnant again, so she gave Jacob her slave Zilpah.

¹⁰ The result was two baby boys, Gad and Asher.

¹⁴ One day, Reuben found some mandrakes and brought them to his mother Leah. When Rachel found out about the mandrakes, she said to Leah,

Please give me your son's mandrakes.

¹⁵ Leah replied,

You've already taken my husband. Now you want my mandrakes, too?

Rachel said,

I'll trade you sex with Jacob for some of your mandrakes.

¹⁶ When Jacob came home that evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said to him,

You must have sex with me tonight because I have hired you with mandrakes.

So Jacob had sex with Leah that night.

¹⁷ And God heard Leah, and she conceived, bearing her fifth son for Jacob, Issachar.

^18-20 And Leah conceived again, bearing her sixth son, Zebulun.

²¹ Finally, after ten consecutive sons, a daughter is born (Dinah).

²² And God remembered Rachel and opened her womb.

^23-24 She conceived, and bare a son, whom she named Joseph.

Jacob asks Laban to let him leave

^25-26 After Jacob's 12th child was born (11 boys, 1 girl), he was ready to go back home. He asked Laban to give him his wives and children and let him go.

²⁷ Laban asked Jacob to stay a little longer, since he believed that God blessed him for Jacob's sake.

Jacob's speckled and spotted goat trick

³² Jacob asked Laban for all the speckled and spotted goats. Laban agreed to the deal.

^37-39 So Jacob produced streaked, speckled and spotted baby goats by having them copulate while looking at streaked rods. In this way Jacob became wealthy with many goats, camels, donkeys, and slaves.