Genesis 30:42

But when the weak sheep and weak goats came to that place, Jacob didn’t put those branches in front of them. Then the weak sheep had white babies, and the weak goats had black babies, so they belonged to Laban. But the strong baby sheep and goats, they had funny coloured wool, so they belonged to Jacob.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.

In Context

41Jacob 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.

43In that way, Jacob got lots and lots of sheep and goats, and he became very rich. He also owned lots of men and women that worked for him, and lots of camels and donkeys.

Read all of Genesis 30

Cross References

Genesis 31:12And he said, ‘God says, “Look at the male goats that are joining together with the female goats. You can see that all those male goats have black and white spots on their wool. That shows that I am helping you to get sheep and goats for yourself, because I know that Laban is cheating you.

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 30:42