Genesis 30:38

Plain English Version

Then Jacob put those spotty branches in the place where the sheep and goats came to drink water. And whenever the sheep and goats came to that place to drink water, the males and females joined together to make babies.

Cross References

Genesis 30:37

Then Jacob cut off some young green branches from 3 sorts of trees that were in that place. Those trees were called poplar trees, almond trees, and plane trees. Then Jacob pulled off some of the bark that was on the outside of those branches, so that he could see white bits under the bark. He did that so that those branches looked like they had spots on them.

Genesis 30:39

So whenever the males and females did that, those spotty branches were there in front of them. Later on, when their baby animals were born, they had spots and stripes on their wool.

Genesis 30:41

Jacob wanted his sheep and goats to be stronger than Laban’s, so he wanted the strong babies to be born with funny coloured wool. So whenever the strong sheep and strong goats came to drink water, Jacob put the spotty branches there, and the strong males and strong females joined together to make babies in front of those branches. Later on, when those babies were born, they were strong too, and they had funny coloured wool, so they belonged to Jacob.