- 1
- Rachel when she sawe that she bare Iacob no children, she enuied her sister, and sayde vnto Iacob: Geue me children, or els I am but dead.
- 2
- And Iacobs anger was kyndled agaynst Rachel, and sayde: Am I in Gods steade, whiche kepeth from thee the fruite of thy wombe?
- 3
- Then she sayde: Here is my mayde Bilha, go in vnto her, & she shall beare vpon my knees, that I also may haue chyldren by her.
- 4
- And she gaue him Bilha her handmayde to wyfe: and Iacob went in vnto her.
- 5
- And Bilha conceaued, and bare Iacob a sonne.
- 6
- Then saide Rachel: God hath geuen sentence on my side, and hath also heard my voyce, and hath geuen me a sonne: therfore called she hym Dan.
- 7
- And Bilha Rachels seruant conceaued againe, & bare Iacob another sonne.
- 8
- And Rachel said: With godly wrastlynges haue I wrastled with my sister, & haue gotten the vpper hande: and she called his name Nephthali.
- 9
- When Lea sawe that she had left bearyng chyldren she toke Zilpha her mayde, and gaue her Iacob to wyfe.
- 10
- And Zilpha Leas mayde bare Iacob a sonne.
- 11
- Then sayde Lea, Good lucke: and called his name Gad.
- 12
- And Zilpha Leas seruaunt bare Iacob an other sonne.
- 13
- Then saide Lea: happy am I, for the daughters wyll call me blessed: and called his name Aser.
- 14
- And Ruben went out in the dayes of the wheate haruest, & founde Mandragoras in the fielde, and brought them vnto his mother Lea.
Then said Rachel to Lea: Geue me I praye thee of thy sonnes Mandragoras.
- 15
- To whom Lea aunswered: Is it not enough that thou hast taken away my husband, but wouldest take away my sonnes Mandragoras also?
Then saide Rachel: well, let hym sleepe with thee this night for thy sonnes Mandragoras.
- 16
- And Iacob came from the fielde at euen, and Lea went out to meete hym, and sayde: thou shalt come in to me, for I haue bought thee in deede with my sonne Mandragoras.
And he slept with her that same nyght.
- 17
- And God hearde Lea, that she conceaued, and bare Iacob the fift sonne.
- 18
- Then sayde Lea: God hath geuen me a rewarde, because I gaue my mayden to my husbande: and she called him Isachar.
- 19
- And Lea conceaued yet agayne, and bare Iacob the sixt sonne.
- 20
- And Lea sayde: God hath endued me with a good dowrie, nowe wyll my husbande dwell with me, because I haue borne hym sixe sonnes: and called his name Zabulon.
- 21
- After that, she bare a daughter, and called her name Dina.
- 22
- And God remembred Rachel, & God hearde her, and made her fruitefull,
- 23
- So that she conceaued & bare a sonne: and sayde, God hath taken awaye my rebuke.
- 24
- And she called his name Ioseph, saying: the Lorde geue me yet another sonne.
- 25
- Assoone as Rachel had borne Ioseph, Iacob sayde to Laban: Send me away, that I maye go vnto my owne place, and to my countrey.
- 26
- Geue me my wyues and my chyldren for whom I haue serued thee, and let me go: for thou knowest what seruice I haue done thee.
- 27
- To whom Laban aunswered: I pray thee, yf I haue founde fauour in thy syght [tary]: for I haue proued that the Lorde blessed me for thy sake.
- 28
- Also he sayde: Appoynt what thy rewarde shalbe, and I wyll geue [it thee.]
- 29
- But he saide vnto him: Thou knowest what seruice I haue done thee, and in what takyng thy cattell haue ben vnder me:
- 30
- For that litle which thou haddest before I came, is nowe increased into a multitude, and the Lord hath blessed thee through my trauell: but nowe when shall I make prouision for myne owne house also?
- 31
- And he sayde: What shall I then geue thee?
And Iacob aunswered, Thou shalt geue me nothyng at all: yf thou wylt do this thyng for me, then wyll I turne agayne, feede thy sheepe, and kepe them.
- 32
- I wyll go about all thy flockes this day, and seperate from them all the cattell that are spotted & of diuers colours: and all the blacke among the sheepe, & the partie & spotted amongst the kiddes [the same] shalbe my rewarde.
- 33
- So shall my ryghteousnes aunswere for me in time to come: for it shal come for my rewarde before thy face.
And euery one that is not specked and partie amongst the goates, & blacke amongst the sheepe, let it be compted theft in me.
- 34
- And Laban sayde: go to, would God it myght be accordyng to thy saying.
- 35
- Therfore he toke out the same day the hee goates that were ryngstraked and of diuers colours, & all the shee goates that were spotted and coloured, and all that had whyte in them, & all the blacke amongst the sheepe, and put them in the kepyng of his sonnes.
- 36
- And set three dayes iourney betwixte himselfe and Iacob: and so Iacob kept the rest of Labans sheepe.
- 37
- Iacob toke roddes of greene populer, hasell, and chesse nut trees, and pilled whyte strakes in them, and made the whyte appeare in the roddes.
- 38
- And put the roddes which he had pilled, [euen] before the sheepe, in the gutters and watryng throughes when the sheepe came to drynke, that they should conceaue when they came to drynke.
- 39
- And the sheepe conceaued before the roddes, & brought foorth lambes ryngstraked, spotted, and partie.
- 40
- And Iacob did seperate these lambes, and turned the faces of the sheepe whiche were in the flocke of Laban, towarde these ryngstraked, and al maner of blacke: and so put his owne flockes by them selues, and put them not with Labans cattell.
- 41
- And in euery conceauyng tyme of the stronger cattel, Iacob layed the roddes before the eyes of the cattell in the gutters, namely that they myght conceaue before the roddes.
- 42
- But when the cattell were feeble, he put them not in: and so the feebler were Labans, and the stronger Iacobs.
- 43
- And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattell, and mayde seruauntes, and man seruauntes, and camels, and asses.
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