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.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

In Context

38Then 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.

40Jacob 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.

Read all of Genesis 30

Cross References

Genesis 31:9You know, God was the one that made those things happen. It’s like God took away your father’s animals and gave them to me.”

Genesis 31:38Then 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 31:42Then 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.”

Matthew Henry on Genesis 30:38-43

Jacob's Ingenious Policy. ( b. c. 1745.) 37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob did separate… Read the whole commentary →

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Study Genesis 30:39