And Rachel, seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.

Cernens autem Rachel quod infecunda esset, invidit sorori suæ, et ait marito suo: Da mihi liberos, alioquin moriar.

Rachel, meanwhile, when she found she remained barren, looked with envy on her sister; Thou must needs give me children, said she to her husband, or it will be my death.

And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?

Cui iratus respondit Jacob: Num pro Deo ego sum, qui privavit te fructu ventris tui?

What, answered Jacob, angry at her mood, Must I stand in the place of God to thee? It is he that has denied thee motherhood.

But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.

At illa: Habeo, inquit, famulam Balam: ingredere ad illam, ut pariat super genua mea, et habeam ex illa filios.

Here is Bala, she said, my maid-servant; get her with child instead, and it shall be born on my knees; thus, through her means, I shall have a family of my own.

And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,

Deditque illi Balam in conjugium: quæ,

So she gave him Bala as his mate;

When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.

ingresso ad se viro, concepit, et peperit filium.

and Bala, got with child by Rachel’s husband, bore a son.

And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my voice, giving me a son, and therefore she called his name Dan.

Dixitque Rachel: Judicavit mihi Dominus, et exaudivit vocem meam, dans mihi filium, et idcirco appellavit nomen ejus Dan.

Whereupon Rachel said, God has pronounced judgement for me, and listened to my plea, by giving me a son; and she called the boy Dan, as if she would say, He has pronounced judgement.

And again Bala conceived and bore another,

Rursumque Bala concipiens, peperit alterum,

Afterwards Bala conceived again and bore a second son;

For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called him Nephtali.

pro quo ait Rachel: Comparavit me Deus cum sorore mea, et invalui: vocavitque eum Nephthali.

of him Rachel said, God has matched me like a wrestler against my sister, and I have won the bout, so she called him Nephthali, Wrestling.

Lia, perceiving that she had left off bearing, gave Zelpha her handmaid to her husband.

Sentiens Lia quod parere desiisset, Zelpham ancillam suam marito tradidit.

Lia, too, finding that she was not having any more children, gave her maid-servant Zelpha to her husband for his mate;

And when she had conceived and brought forth a son,

Qua post conceptum edente filium,

and when Zelpha conceived and bore a son,

She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.

dixit: Feliciter, et idcirco vocavit nomen ejus Gad.

Lia said, Good fortune has come to me, and called the boy Gad, Fortune.

Zelpha also bore another.

Peperit quoque Zelpha alterum.

Zelpha, too, bore Jacob a second son,

And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.

Dixitque Lia: Hoc pro beatitudine mea: beatam quippe me dicent mulieres: propterea appellavit eum Aser.

and Lia said, Here is a blessing for me; women must needs call me blessed now; so she gave him the name of Aser, Blessedness.

And Ruben, going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel said: Give me part of thy son’s mandrakes.

Egressus autem Ruben tempore messis triticeæ in agrum, reperit mandragoras, quas matri Liæ detulit. Dixitque Rachel: Da mihi partem de mandragoris filii tui.

Once, at the time of the wheat harvest, Ruben went out and found some mandrakes, which he brought back to his mother Lia; and Rachel said to Lia, Give me some of the fruit thy son has found.

She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son’s mandrakes? Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son’s mandrakes.

Illa respondit: Parumne tibi videtur quod præripueris maritum mihi, nisi etiam mandragoras filii mei tuleris? Ait Rachel: Dormiat tecum hac nocte pro mandragoris filii tui.

What, answered she, art thou not content with stealing my husband from me? Must thou have my son’s mandrake fruit as well? And Rachel said, Jacob shall sleep with thee to-night, if I may have some of thy son’s mandrake-fruit.

And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired thee for my son’s mandrakes. And he slept with her that night.

Redeuntique ad vesperam Jacob de agro, egressa est in occursum ejus Lia, et Ad me, inquit, intrabis: quia mercede conduxi te pro mandragoris filii mei. Dormivitque cum ea nocte illa.

So, when Jacob came back from work at evening, Lia went out to meet him; Thou art to share my bed to-night, she told him; I have paid thy hire with the mandrake fruit which my son found. So he slept with her that night;

And God heard her prayers: and she conceived and bore the fifth son,

Et exaudivit Deus preces ejus, concepitque et peperit filium quintum,

and now God listened to her prayers, so that she conceived again and bore a fifth son.

And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

et ait: Dedit Deus mercedem mihi, quia dedi ancillam meam viro meo: appellavitque nomen ejus Issachar.

Whereupon she said, God has paid me too my hire, for the maid-servant I lent to my husband, and she called the boy Issachar, Reward.

And Lia conceived again, and bore the sixth son,

Rursum Lia concipiens, peperit sextum filium,

And again Lia conceived, and bore a sixth son;

And said: God hath endowed me with a good dowry: this turn also my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons: and therefore she called his name Zabulon.

et ait: Dotavit me Deus dote bona: etiam hac vice mecum erit maritus meus, eo quod genuerim ei sex filios: et idcirco appellavit nomen ejus Zabulon.

This is a fair dowry, she said, God has endowed me with; once more my husband will dwell with me, now that I have borne him six sons; and she called the boy Zabulon, Dwelling.

After whom she bore a daughter, named Dina.

Post quem peperit filiam, nomine Dinam.

She had one more child after this, a daughter called Dina.

The Lord also remembering Rachel, heard her, and opened her womb.

Recordatus quoque Dominus Rachelis, exaudivit eam, et aperuit vulvam ejus.

Meanwhile, the Lord had not forgotten Rachel; her prayer was answered, and she, too, had issue.

And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken away my reproach.

Quæ concepit, et peperit filium, dicens: Abstulit Deus opprobrium meum.

When she conceived and bore a son, her thought was, God has taken away my disgrace.

And she called his name Joseph, saying: The Lord give me also another son.

Et vocavit nomen ejus Joseph, dicens: Addat mihi Dominus filium alterum.

And she called him Joseph, Increase; If only, she thought, God would increase my household with another son.

And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father in law: Send me away that I may return into my country, and to my land.

Nato autem Joseph, dixit Jacob socero suo: Dimitte me ut revertar in patriam, et ad terram meam.

After Joseph’s birth, Jacob said to his father-in-law, Give me leave to go back home, to my own country.

Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served thee, that I may depart: thou knowest the service that I have rendered thee.

Da mihi uxores, et liberos meos, pro quibus servivi tibi, ut abeam: tu nosti servitutem qua servivi tibi.

And when I go, let me take with me the wives and the children I have earned in thy service; how hard I have worked for thee, none knows better than thou.

Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight: I have learned by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake:

Ait illi Laban: Inveniam gratiam in conspectu tuo, experimento didici, quia benedixerit mihi Deus propter te:

Let me ask a favour of thee, said Laban. Proof needs none that it is for thy sake God has made me prosper so.

Appoint thy wages which I shall give thee.

constitue mercedem tuam quam dem tibi.

Work for me still, and name thy own hire.

But he answered: Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how great thy possession hath been in my hands.

At ille respondit: Tu nosti quomodo servierim tibi, et quanta in manibus meis fuerit possessio tua.

None knows better than thou, answered Jacob, how hard I have worked for thee, and how these herds of thine have increased under my care.

Thou hadst but little before I came to thee, and now thou art become rich: and the Lord hath blessed thee at my coming. It is reasonable therefore that I should now provide also for my own house.

Modicum habuisti antequam venirem ad te, et nunc dives effectus es: benedixitque tibi Dominus ad introitum meum. Justum est igitur ut aliquando provideam etiam domui meæ.

It was little enough thou hadst before I came to thy house, and now thou hast become rich; the Lord has blessed thee from the day when I came hither. Now it is time that I should think of my own household too.

And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require nothing: but if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed, and keep thy sheep again.

Dixitque Laban: Quid tibi dabo? At ille ait: Nihil volo: sed si feceris quod postulo, iterum pascam, et custodiam pecora tua.

What shall I give thee? Laban asked. Give me nothing, said he; but I will consent to feed and tend thy herds still on this condition.

Go round through all thy flocks, and separate all the sheep of divers colours, and speckled: and all that is brown and spotted, and of divers colours, as well among the sheep, as among the goats, shall be my wages.

Gyra omnes greges tuos, et separa cunctas oves varias, et sparso vellere; quodcumque furvum, et maculosum, variumque fuerit, tam in ovibus quam in capris, erit merces mea.

Go round all thy flocks, now, and remove from them every sheep that is speckled, or has a blotched fleece. And the hire thou art to pay me shall be all the lambs that are born, even so, grey or spotted or speckled; and so with the kids.

And my justice shall answer for me to morrow before thee when the time of the bargain shall come: and all that is not of divers colours, and spotted, and brown, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall accuse me of theft.

Respondebitque mihi cras justitia mea, quando placiti tempus advenerit coram te: et omnia quæ non fuerint varia, et maculosa, et furva, tam in ovibus quam in capris, furti me arguent.

So, later, when our agreement is fulfilled, my honesty shall be on its trial; if I keep for myself any beast except those which are speckled or spotted or grey, whether it be lamb or kid, call me a thief.

And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest.

Dixitque Laban: Gratum habeo quod petis.

Thy request, said Laban, is granted;

And he separated the same day the she goats, and the sheep, and the he goats, and the rams of divers colours, and spotted: and all the flock of one colour, that is, of white and black fleece, he delivered into the hands of his sons.

Et separavit in die illa capras, et oves, et hircos, et arietes varios, atque maculosos: cunctum autem gregem unicolorem, id est albi et nigri velleris, tradidit in manu filiorum suorum.

and, that same day, he set aside she-goats and ewes, he-goats and rams, that were speckled and spotted; all those, too, that were of one colour, white (among the goats) or black (among the sheep); and these he gave in charge of his own sons.

And he set the space of three days’ journey betwixt himself and his son in law, who fed the rest of his flock.

Et posuit spatium itineris trium dierum inter se et generum, qui pascebat reliquos greges ejus.

And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and his son-in-law.

And Jacob took green rods of poplar, and of almond, and of plane trees, and pilled them in part: so when the bark was taken off, in the parts that were pilled, there appeared whiteness: but the parts that were whole remained green: and by this means the colour was divers.

Tollens ergo Jacob virgas populeas virides, et amygdalinas, et ex platanis, ex parte decorticavit eas: detractisque corticibus, in his, quæ spoliata fuerant, candor apparuit: illa vero quæ integra fuerant, viridia permanserunt: atque in hunc modum color effectus est varius.

Jacob, then, left in charge of the rest of the flocks, did this. He took green branches of poplar, and almond, and plane, and partly peeled them; so that (now the bark had gone) the white shewed through where they had been stripped, whereas the parts he had left untouched remained green; everywhere the colour was varied.

And he put them in the troughs, where the water was poured out: that when the flocks should come to drink, they might have the rods before their eyes, and in the sight of them might conceive.

Posuitque eas in canalibus, ubi effundebatur aqua: ut cum venissent greges ad bibendum, ante oculos haberent virgas, et in aspectu earum conciperent.

These branches he fitted into the troughs where his flocks were watered, so that when they came to drink, they should have these speckled branches before their eyes, and the dams would conceive in full view of them.

And it came to pass that in the very heat of coition, the sheep beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and speckled.

Factumque est ut in ipso calore coitus, oves intuerentur virgas, et parerent maculosa, et varia, et diverso colore respersa.

Looking at the branches at the very heat of their coupling, the dams bore spotted and speckled and piebald young.

And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the rams: and all the white and the black were Laban’s: and the rest were Jacob’s, when the flocks were separated one from the other.

Divisitque gregem Jacob, et posuit virgas in canalibus ante oculos arietum: erant autem alba et nigra quæque, Laban; cetera vero, Jacob, separatis inter se gregibus.

There, then, were the two flocks divided, and there were Jacob’s branches set up before the very eyes of the rams. All the white (sheep) and all the black (goats) were to be Laban’s, the rest Jacob’s, when the flocks were sorted afresh.

So when the ewes went first to ram, Jacob put the rods in the troughs of water before the eyes of the rams, and of the ewes, that they might conceive while they were looking upon them:

Igitur quando primo tempore ascendebantur oves, ponebat Jacob virgas in canalibus aquarum ante oculos arietum et ovium, ut in earum contemplatione conciperent:

And this was his plan; at the earlier breeding-season he fitted the branches into the troughs, before the eyes of ram and ewe, so that the dams might be looking at them when they conceived;

But when the latter coming was, and the last conceiving, he did not put them. And those that were lateward, became Laban’s: and they of the first time, Jacob’s.

quando vero serotina admissura erat, et conceptus extremus, non ponebat eas. Factaque sunt ea quæ erant serotina, Laban: et quæ primi temporis, Jacob.

but when the later breeding happened, and the time for conceiving was at an end, he put the branches there no longer. So all the late-bred (weaklings) belonged to Laban, and all the (strong) early-bred belonged to Jacob.

And the man was enriched exceedingly, and he had many flocks, maidservants and menservants, camels and asses.

Ditatusque est homo ultra modum, et habuit greges multos, ancillas et servos, camelos et asinos.

Thus he became rich beyond measure; many were the herds, the men-servants and maid-servants, the camels and asses that were his.