One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 62
January 14
52
26 Let
to my own country.
me take my
wives and children, for I have earned
them by serving you, and let me be on
my way. You certainly know how hard
I have worked for you.”
27 “Please listen to me,” La
ban replied. “I have become wealthy, for*
the Lord has blessed me because of
you. 28 Tell me how much I owe you.
Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”
29 Jacob replied, “You know how
hard I’ve worked for you, and how your
flocks and herds have grown under my
care. 30 You had little indeed before I
came, but your wealth has increased
enormously. The Lord has blessed you
through everything I’ve done. But now,
what about me? When can I start providing for my own family?”
31 “What wages do you want?” La
ban asked again.
Jacob replied, “Don’t give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I’ll
continue to tend and watch over your
flocks. 32 Let me inspect your flocks
today and remove all the sheep and
goats that are speckled or spotted,
along with all the black sheep. Give
these to me as my wages. 33 In the future, when you check on the animals
you have given me as my wages, you’ll
see that I have been honest. If you find
in my flock any goats without speckles
or spots, or any sheep that are not
black, you will know that I have stolen
them from you.”
34 “All right,” Laban replied. “It will
be as you say.” 35 But that very day La
ban went out and removed the male
goats that were streaked and spotted, all the female goats that were
speckled and spotted or had white
patches, and all the black sheep. He
placed them in the care of his own
sons, 36 who took them a three-days’
journey from where Jacob was. Meanwhile, Jacob stayed and cared for the
rest of Laban’s flock.
37 Then Jacob took some fresh
branches from poplar, almond, and
plane trees and peeled off strips
of bark, making white streaks on
them. 38 Then he placed these peeled
branches in the watering troughs
where the flocks came to drink, for
that was where they mated. 39 And
when they mated in front of the w
hite-
streaked branches, they gave birth to
young that were streaked, speckled,
and spotted. 40 Jacob separated those
lambs from Laban’s flock. And at mating time he turned the flock to face
Laban’s animals that were streaked
or black. This is how he built his own
flock instead of increasing Laban’s.
41 Whenever the stronger females
were ready to mate, Jacob would place
the peeled branches in the watering
troughs in front of them. Then they
would mate in front of the branches.
42 But he didn’t do this with the weaker
ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to
Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob’s. 43 As a result, Jacob became very
wealthy, with large flocks of sheep
and goats, female and male servants,
and many camels and donkeys.
31:1 But Jacob soon learned that La
ban’s sons were grumbling about him.
“Jacob has robbed our father of every
thing!” they said. “He has gained all
his wealth at our father’s expense.”
2 And Jacob began to notice a change
in Laban’s attitude toward him.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and
grand
father and to your relatives
there, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob called Ra
chel and Leah
out to the field where he was watching his flock. 5 He said to them, “I have
noticed that your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But the God
of my father has been with me. 6 You
know how hard I have worked for your
father, 7 but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has
not allowed him to do me any harm.
8 For if he said, ‘The speckled animals
will be your wages,’ the whole flock
began to produce speckled young.
And when he changed his mind and
said, ‘The striped animals will be your
wages,’ then the whole flock produced
striped young. 9 In this way, God has
taken your father’s animals and given
them to me.
