And after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “With your permission, I would like to go back to my native land. You know how much my services have done for you. So give me my wives and children, whom I served you for, and let me go.”
And Laban said, “If I have found favor with you, please stay. I have observed the omens and seen that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Decide on your own wages, and I will pay them.”
And he said, “You know how well I have served you, and how your flocks have prospered under my care. They were small when I came, and now they have grown very large, and wherever I have gone the Lord has blessed you. But it is time that I provided for my own family.”
And he said, “What do you want?”
And Jacob said, “Nothing of much value. Just do this for me, and I will take care of your animals as before: go through all your flocks today and take out every spotted and speckled animal, and these will be my wages. And whenever you come to check, it will be clear how honest I have been: if any of my animals are not speckled and spotted, you will know that they are stolen.”
And Laban said, “All right, we will do as you say.”
But that day Laban took out all the streaked and spotted animals and gave them to his sons to look after. And he put a three-day walk between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was tending the rest of Laban’s flocks.
And Jacob took fresh poplar twigs and peeled off strips of bark from them. And he placed the peeled twigs upright in the watering troughs facing the animals. And the animals mated in front of the twigs, and they gave birth to speckled and spotted young. And whenever the stronger animals were mating, Jacob put the twigs in the troughs in front of them, so that they would mate facing the twigs. But when the weaker animals mated, he didn’t put the twigs there. So the weaker animals went to Laban, and the stronger ones to Jacob.
And Jacob grew very rich, and he came to own large flocks, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.