Old Testament

Genesis 30

^30:1When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

^30:2Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

^30:3She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her." ^30:4She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. ^30:5Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ^30:6Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan. ^30:7Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ^30:8Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.

^30:9When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ^30:10Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son. ^30:11Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad. ^30:12Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son. ^30:13Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher.

^30:14Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

^30:15She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?"

Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

^30:16Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes."

He lay with her that night. ^30:17God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ^30:18Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar. ^30:19Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ^30:20Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun. ^30:21Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

^30:22God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. ^30:23She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach. ^30:24She named him Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."

^30:25It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. ^30:26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go: for you know my service with which I have served you."

^30:27Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake." ^30:28He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."

^30:29He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me. ^30:30For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"

^30:31He said, "What shall I give you?"

Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. ^30:32I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. ^30:33So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."

^30:34Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word."

^30:35That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ^30:36He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

^30:37Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ^30:38He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. ^30:39The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. ^30:40Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock. ^30:41It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; ^30:42but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. ^30:43The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and donkeys.

New Testament

Matthew 19

^19:1It happened when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. ^19:2Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. ^19:3Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?"

^19:4He answered, "Haven't you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, ^19:5and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?' ^19:6So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don't let man tear apart."

^19:7They asked him, "Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?"

^19:8He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. ^19:9I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery."

^19:10His disciples said to him, "If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry."

^19:11But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. ^19:12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it."

^19:13Then little children were brought to him, that he should lay his hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. ^19:14But Jesus said, "Allow the little children, and don't forbid them to come to me; for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven." ^19:15He laid his hands on them, and departed from there.

^19:16Behold, one came to him and said, "Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

^19:17He said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

^19:18He said to him, "Which ones?"

Jesus said, "'You shall not murder.' 'You shall not commit adultery.' 'You shall not steal.' 'You shall not offer false testimony.' ^19:19'Honor your father and mother.' And, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

^19:20The young man said to him, "All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack?"

^19:21Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." ^19:22But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions. ^19:23Jesus said to his disciples, "Most assuredly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. ^19:24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God."

^19:25When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"

^19:26Looking at them, Jesus said, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

^19:27Then Peter answered, "Behold, we have left everything, and followed you. What then will we have?"

^19:28Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ^19:29Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. ^19:30But many will be last who are first; and first who are last.