So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.
Parallel translations
- WEB The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted.
- KJV And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
- BSB they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.
- NASB So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks delivered striped, speckled, and spotted offspring.
- NLT And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The flocks bring forth streaked, speckled, and spotted young. The marked animals that become Jacob's wage multiply.
Overview
The desired markings appear in the offspring, increasing Jacob's portion. While Jacob credited his method, the larger narrative attributes the result to God's blessing, as Jacob later testifies. The Lord faithfully prospers Jacob despite Laban's efforts to cheat him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Gen 31:42Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
- Gen 31:38“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.
- Gen 31:9–12Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.
- Exod 12:35–36The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing.
- Gen 31:40This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 30:39 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.