Rachel, once radiant with hope, now watched Leah cradle son after son. Her heart burned with envy. In the shadows of her empty womb, desperation bloomed. She turned to Jacob, tears in her voice.
"Give me children," she cried, "or I will die!"
Jacob, wearied and troubled, looked upon her and said, "Am I God, to give life? It is He who has withheld children from you."
But Rachel, unyielding in her desire, offered her maidservant Bilhah. "She will bear children on my behalf. Through her, I too will have a family."
And so Jacob took Bilhah as a wife. She bore him a son.
Rachel named him Dan, saying, "God has judged in my favor and heard my cry."
Bilhah bore again. "I have wrestled with my sister and won," Rachel declared, naming him Naphtali.
Seeing this, Leah, who had ceased bearing children, gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob. Zilpah bore a son. Leah named him Gad—"What good fortune!"
Zilpah bore again. Leah, rejoicing, named him Asher—"How happy I am; women will call me blessed!"
Then came the days of the wheat harvest. Reuben, Leah's young son, found mandrakes in the field—a plant thought to grant fertility. He brought them to his mother. Rachel, her longing sharper than ever, pleaded, "Give me some of your son's mandrakes."
Leah answered bitterly, "Was it not enough to steal my husband? Now you want my son's mandrakes?"
Rachel offered a deal. "Very well. Jacob will lie with you tonight in exchange."
That evening, Leah met Jacob as he returned. "You are mine tonight," she said. "I have bought your company with mandrakes."
That night, Leah conceived again. "God has rewarded me," she said. She bore Issachar.
And again she conceived, bearing Zebulun—"a precious gift."
Later, she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
Then, at last, heaven remembered Rachel.
God opened her womb, and she bore a son. "God has removed my disgrace," she wept with joy. She named him Joseph—"May the LORD add to me another son."
With Joseph's birth, Jacob's resolve stirred anew. He approached Laban. "Send me home," he said. "I've served you long. Let me go with my wives and children."
But Laban, knowing that Jacob was the reason for his fortune, pleaded, "Stay. I have seen the signs—the LORD has blessed me because of you. Name your price."
Jacob proposed, "Give me every speckled, spotted, or dark lamb and goat from your flocks. They shall be my wages. Let my honesty speak for itself."
Laban agreed.
But that very day, Laban removed the marked animals and sent them three days away under the care of his sons—seeking to cheat Jacob.
Yet Jacob, wise and discerning, peeled branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, exposing their white stripes. He placed them before the watering troughs where the flocks mated. And behold—the animals bore speckled, spotted, and streaked young.
Jacob separated the strong from the weak. When the strong were in heat, he placed the branches. When the weak came, he withheld them. Thus the weak went to Laban, and the strong became Jacob's.
And Jacob, the man who once fled with nothing but a staff, grew exceedingly wealthy—owning vast flocks, many servants, camels, and donkeys.