Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

Then he set the rods he had peeled upright in the watering troughs, so that the animals would see them when they came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,

the animals mated in sight of the rods and gave birth to streaked, speckled and spotted young.

Ya'akov divided the lambs and had the animals mate with the streaked and the brown in the flock of Lavan. He also kept his own livestock separate and did not have them mix with Lavan's flock.

Whenever the hardier animals came into heat, Ya'akov would set up the rods in the watering troughs; so that the animals would see them and conceive in front of them;

but he didn't set up the rods in front of the weaker animals. Thus the more feeble were Lavan's and the stronger Ya'akov's.

In this way the man became very rich and had large flocks, along with male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.

But then he heard what Lavan's sons were saying: "Ya'akov has taken away everything that our father once had. It's from what used to belong to our father that he has gotten so rich."

He also saw that Lavan regarded him differently than before.

ADONAI said to Ya'akov, "Return to the land of your ancestors, to your kinsmen; I will be with you."

So Ya'akov sent for Rachel and Le'ah and had them come to the field where his flock was.

He said to them, "I see by the way your father looks that he feels differently toward me than before; but the God of my father has been with me.

You know that I have served your father with all my strength,

and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage.

If he said, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the animals gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the animals gave birth to streaked young.

This is how God has taken away your father's animals and given them to me.

Once, when the animals were mating, I had a dream: I looked up and there in front of me the male goats which mated with the females were streaked, speckled and mottled.

Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, 'Ya'akov!' and I replied, 'Here I am.'

He continued, 'Raise your eyes now, and look: all the male goats mating with the females are streaked, speckled and mottled; for I have seen everything Lavan has been doing to you.

I am the God of Beit-El, where you anointed a standing-stone with oil, where you vowed your vow to me. Now get up, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.'"

Rachel and Le'ah answered him, "We no longer have any inheritance from our father's possessions;

and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us.

Nevertheless, the wealth which God has taken away from our father has become ours and our children's anyway; so whatever God has told you to do, do."

Then Ya'akov got up, put his sons and wives on the camels,

and carried off all his livestock, along with all the riches he had accumulated, the livestock in his possession which he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, to go to Yitz'chak his father in the land of Kena'an.

Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father,