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Genesis 30:39
ESV the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
NIV 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.
CSB The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.
NLT And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
KJV And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
NKJV So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

What does Genesis 30:39 mean?

Jacob's plan to build some wealth for himself and his family was complicated. He told his father-in-law Laban he would continue to work for him in exchange for all the striped, speckled, and spotted goats and off-color sheep to be born in the flocks he managed. Laban, ever greedy, said yes to this fantastic deal immediately. Laban, ever the cheat, also quickly moved all of the existing versions of those animals a three-day's journey away, thinking he was outwitting Jacob.

As we will learn later, though, Jacob had already been told by the Lord that the flocks were going to yield many of these off-color animals, anyway (Genesis 31:7–12). With that in mind, Jacob devised an unorthodox way of influencing the animals he wanted to bear such offspring. God worked within Jacob's device of placing sticks that had been stripped of bark near where the goats bred, causing all black goats to give birth to striped, speckled, and spotted offspring. Using another method described in the following verse, the white sheep also produced black lambs. In other words, it is God, not the sticks, which are producing these results.

Interestingly, Jacob's use of peeled sticks probably involves a play on words: peeling the sticks exposes the "white" underneath. The Hebrew word for white is laban.

Laban's scheming would not be able to overcome the Lord's blessing on Jacob.
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