Genesis
of Ethics: Husbandry
Genesis
29: 31
Now when Yhwh saw that Lea was
hated,
he opened her
womb,
while Rahel was
barren.
32
So Lea became pregnant and bore a son;
she called his
name: Re’uven/See, a Son!
for she said:
Indeed, Yhwh
has seen my being afflicted,
indeed, now my
husband will love me!
33
She became pregnant again and bore a son,
and said:
Indeed, Yhwh
has heard that I am hated,
so he has given me
this one as well!
And she called his
name: Shim’on/Hearing.
34
She became pregnant again and bore a son,
and said:
Now this time my
husband will be joined to me,
for I have borne
him three sons!
Therefore they
called his name: Levi/Joining.
35
She became pregnant again and bore a son,
and said:
This time I will
give thanks to Yhwh!
Therefore she
called his name: Yehuda/Giving-Thanks.
Then she stopped
giving birth.
Genesis
30:1
Now when Rahel saw that she could not bear (children) to Yaakov,
Rahel envied her
sister.
She said to Yaakov:
Come-now, (give)
me children!
If not, I will
die!
2
Yaakov’s anger flared up against Rahel,
he said:
Am I in place of
God,
who has denied you
fruit of the body?
3
She said:
Here is my
slave-girl Bilha;
come in to her,
so that she may
give birth upon my knees, so that I too may be built-up-with-sons through her.
4
She gave him Bilha her maid as a wife,
and Yaakov came in
to her.
5
Bilha became pregnant and bore Yaakov a son.
6
Rahel said:
God has
done-me-justice; yes, he has heard my voice!
He has given me a
son!
Therefore she
called his name: Dan/He-Has-Done-Justice.
7
And Bilha, Rahel’s maid, became pregnant again and bore a second son to
Yaakov.
8
Rahel said:
A struggle of God
have I struggled with my sister; yes, I have prevailed!
So she called his
name: Naftali/My Struggle.
9
Now when Lea saw that she had stopped giving birth,
she took Zilpa her
maid and gave her to Yaakov as a wife.
10
Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore Yaakov a son.
11
Lea said:
What fortune!
So she called his
name: Gad/Fortune.
12
And Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore a second son to Yaakov.
13
Lea said:
What happiness!
For women will
deem me happy.
So she called his
name: Asher/Happiness.
14
Now Re’uven went in the days of the wheat-harvest and found some love-apples
in the field,
and brought them
to Lea his mother.
Rahel said to Lea:
Pray give me
(some) of your son’s love-apples!
15
She said to her:
Is your taking
away my husband such a small thing
that you would now
take away my son’s love-apples?
Rahel said:
Very well, he may
lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s love-apples.
16
So when Yaakov came home from the fields in the evening, Lea went out to meet
him and said:
You must come in
to me,
for I have hired,
yes, hired you for my son’s love-apples.
So he lay with her
that night.
17
And God hearkened to Lea,
so that she became
pregnant and bore Yaakov a fifth son.
18
Lea said:
God has given me
my hired-wages,
because I gave my
maid to my husband!
So she called his
name: Yissakhar/There-Is-Hire.
19
Once again Lea became pregnant, and she bore a sixth son to Yaakov.
20
Lea said:
God has presented
me with a good present,
this time my
husband will prize me—
for I have borne
him six sons!
So she called his
name: Zevulun/Prince.
21
Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dina.
22
But God kept Rahel in mind,
God hearkened to
her and opened her womb,
23
so that she became pregnant and bore a son.
She said:
God has removed/asaf
my reproach!
24
So she called his name: Yosef,
saying:
May Yhwh
add/yosef
another son to me!
Part 2
Genesis 30: 25
Now it was, once Rahel had borne Yosef, that Yaakov said to Lavan:
Send me free, that I may go back to my place, to my land,
26
give over my wives and my children,
for whom I have
served you,
and I will go.
Indeed, you
yourself know my service that I have served you!
27
Lavan said to him:
Pray, if I have
found favor in your eyes…
I have become
wealthy,
and Yhwh
has blessed me on account of you.
28
And he said: Specify the wages due you from me, and I will give you payment.
29
He said to him:
You yourself know
how I have served
you,
and how it has
gone with your livestock in my charge.
30
For you had but few before me,
and they have
since burst out into a multitude.
Thus has Yhwh
blessed you at my every step!
But now, when may
I too do something for my household?
31
He said:
What shall I give
you?
Yaakov said:
You are not to
give me anything—
only do this thing
for me,
then I will
return, I will tend your flock, I will keep watch:
32
Let me go over your whole flock today
removing from
there every speckled and dappled head;
and every dark
head among the lambs, and each dappled and speckled-one among the goats—
they shall be my wages.
33
And may my honesty plead for me on a future day:
when you
come-to-check my wages (that are) before you,
whatever is not
speckled or dappled among the goats, or dark among the lambs,
it will be as
though stolen by me.
34
Lavan said:
Good, let it be
according to your words.
35
And on that (very) day he removed the streaked and dappled he-goats
and every speckled
and dappled she-goat, every one that had any white on it,
and every dark-one
among the lambs,
and handed them
over to his sons.
36
Then
he put a three-days’ journey between himself and Yaakov.
Now Yaakov was
tending Lavan’s remaining flock.
37
Yaakov took himself rods from moist poplar, almond, and plane trees
and peeled white
peelings in them, exposing the white that was on the rods,
38
then he presented the rods that he had peeled in the gutters, in the water
troughs
where the flock
would
come to drink, in
front of the flock.
Now they would be
in heat as they came to drink;
39
thus the flock came to be in heat by the rods,
and the flock bore
streaked, speckled, and dappled (young).
40
But the sheep, Yaakov set apart,
and gave position
among the flock to each streaked-one and every dark-one among Lavan’s flocks;
thus he made
special herds for himself, but did not make them for Lavan’s flock.
41
So it was that whenever the robust flock-animals were in heat,
Yaakov would put
the rods in sight of the flock-animals, in the gutters, to make them be in
heat next to the
rods.
42
But when the flock-animals were feeble, he would not put them there.
And so it was that
the feeble-ones became Lavan’s, and the robust-ones, Yaakov’s.
43
The man burst-forth-with-wealth exceedingly, yes, exceedingly, he came to have
many flock-animals
and maids and
servants, and camels and donkeys.
Genesis
31:1
Now he heard the words of Lavan’s sons, (that they) said:
Yaakov has taken
away all that was our father’s,
and from what was
our father’s he has made all this weighty-wealth!
2
And Yaakov saw by Lavan’s face:
here, he was no
longer with him as yesterday and the day-before.
3
And Yhwh said to Yaakov:
Return to the land
of your fathers, to your kindred!
I will be with
you!
Translation: The Shocken Bible © Everett Fox
The
Schochen Bible
The Genesis of
Ethics