With this, Rachel gave him her maidservant. She said, “Sleep with my servant. She can have children for me.” Jacob agreed and soon the servant started having children. 

Suddenly Leah was unable to bear children. So she gave her maidservant to Jacob. Soon, with three women, Jacob had ten sons and one daughter. At that point God allowed Rachel to give birth to a son. She called him Joseph. He was the eleventh son.

At this point, Jacob went to Laban and said, “I want to return to my home. Give me the freedom to take my wives and children and go.”

Laban said, “Oh Jacob, be kind to me and don’t leave. I’ve learned that the Lord has blessed me because of you. I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

Jacob said, “You don’t have to pay me anything. Instead, allow me to build up my wealth by keeping a part of the flock.” 

“I’ll oversee your flocks, but I’ll keep all the goats and sheep that are born speckled, spotted, or streaked. You keep the rest. In this way, you’ll know if I’m stealing from you. Simply check my flocks and see if they all have the right markings on them.” 

Laban agreed to these terms, but immediately separated all the speckled, spotted, or streaked animals out of the flock. He sent them away with his son, so Jacob started this new agreement with nothing but Laban’s herds.

Still, Jacob had a way of making the lambs be born speckled, spotted, and streaked. Using this process, he made sure all the strongest of the flock were his, and all the weakest of the flock were Laban’s. In frustration, Laban changed their agreement ten times in order to gain the advantage. Even so, Jacob became very rich over the years. 

One day, he overheard a conversation between his brothers-in-law. They said, “Jacob has built his wealth by taking what really belongs to our father.” He also noticed that Laban’s attitude had changed towards him.

The Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land I gave to your fathers, and I’ll be with you.”