Catholic Public Domain Version
"And it happened that, in the very heat of joining together, the sheep looked upon the branches, and they bore the blemished and the variegated, those speckled with diverse color. "
— Genesis 30:39, Catholic Public Domain Version
“And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.”
“And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted. ”
“The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.”
“When the sheep mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.”
“And it came to pass, that in the very heat of coition, the sheep beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and speckled.”
“And because of this, the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of colour.”
“And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.”
And he established a distance of three days journey between himself and his son-in-law, who pastured the remainder of his flock.
Then Jacob, taking green branches of poplar, and almond, and sycamore trees, debarked them in part. And when the bark was pulled off, in the parts that were stripped, there appeared whiteness, yet the parts that were left whole, remained green. And so, in this way the color was made variegated.
And he placed them in the troughs, where the water was poured out, so that when the flocks had arrived to drink, they would have the branches before their eyes, and in their sight they might conceive.
And it happened that, in the very heat of joining together, the sheep looked upon the branches, and they bore the blemished and the variegated, those speckled with diverse color.
And Jacob divided the flock, and he set the branches in the troughs before the eyes of the rams. Now whatever was white or black belonged to Laban, but, in truth, the others belonged to Jacob, for the flocks were dispersed among one another.
Therefore, when the first to arrive were climbing on the ewes, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs of water before the eyes of the rams and the sheep, so that they might conceive while they were gazing upon them.
Yet when the late arrivals and the last to conceive were let in, he did not place these. And so those that arrived late became Laban’s, and those that arrived first became Jacob’s.