Genesis 30:39

Plain English Version

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.

Cross References

Genesis 30:38

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.

Genesis 30:40

Jacob did another thing with Laban’s animals too. He took the white sheep, and he got those sheep to look at the stripy animals and the black animals. After the babies were born, Jacob split up the animals. He took all the funny coloured animals for himself, just like he agreed with Laban. But all the white sheep and black goats belonged to Laban. And Jacob didn’t mix them together.

Genesis 31:38

Then Jacob said to Laban, “I worked hard for you for 20 years, and I looked after your sheep and goats really well. They had lots of babies, and none of those babies died. And I never took any of your sheep for my food, not even your male sheep.

Genesis 31:40

And I had a really hard time when I worked for you. In the day time, it was really hot. And in the night time, it was really cold. It was so cold that I couldn’t sleep.

Genesis 31:42

Then Jacob said to Laban, “I know that you wanted to send me away with nothing. But God was with me, and he helped me. He is the one that looked after my grand-father Abraham. And my father Isaac respected him properly too. Yes, God helped me. He saw that I worked very hard for you, and he saw that you gave me trouble. So last night, he talked strongly to you, and he showed you that you did the wrong thing.”

Genesis 31:8

Sometimes your father promised to give me all the spotty sheep and goats, and then all the sheep and goats had babies with spots on their wool. And sometimes he promised to give me all the stripy sheep and goats, and then all the sheep and goats had babies with stripes on their wool.