The Bible

 

Bereshit 30

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1 ותרא רחל כי לא ילדה ליעקב ותקנא רחל באחתה ותאמר אל יעקב הבה לי בנים ואם אין מתה אנכי׃

2 ויחר אף יעקב ברחל ויאמר התחת אלהים אנכי אשר מנע ממך פרי בטן׃

3 ותאמר הנה אמתי בלהה בא אליה ותלד על ברכי ואבנה גם אנכי ממנה׃

4 ותתן לו את בלהה שפחתה לאשה ויבא אליה יעקב׃

5 ותהר בלהה ותלד ליעקב בן׃

6 ותאמר רחל דנני אלהים וגם שמע בקלי ויתן לי בן על כן קראה שמו דן׃

7 ותהר עוד ותלד בלהה שפחת רחל בן שני ליעקב׃

8 ותאמר רחל נפתולי אלהים נפתלתי עם אחתי גם יכלתי ותקרא שמו נפתלי׃

9 ותרא לאה כי עמדה מלדת ותקח את זלפה שפחתה ותתן אתה ליעקב לאשה׃

10 ותלד זלפה שפחת לאה ליעקב בן׃

11 ותאמר לאה בגד ותקרא את שמו גד׃

12 ותלד זלפה שפחת לאה בן שני ליעקב׃

13 ותאמר לאה באשרי כי אשרוני בנות ותקרא את שמו אשר׃

14 וילך ראובן בימי קציר חטים וימצא דודאים בשדה ויבא אתם אל לאה אמו ותאמר רחל אל לאה תני נא לי מדודאי בנך׃

15 ותאמר לה המעט קחתך את אישי ולקחת גם את דודאי בני ותאמר רחל לכן ישכב עמך הלילה תחת דודאי בנך׃

16 ויבא יעקב מן השדה בערב ותצא לאה לקראתו ותאמר אלי תבוא כי שכר שכרתיך בדודאי בני וישכב עמה בלילה הוא׃

17 וישמע אלהים אל לאה ותהר ותלד ליעקב בן חמישי׃

18 ותאמר לאה נתן אלהים שכרי אשר נתתי שפחתי לאישי ותקרא שמו יששכר׃

19 ותהר עוד לאה ותלד בן ששי ליעקב׃

20 ותאמר לאה זבדני אלהים אתי זבד טוב הפעם יזבלני אישי כי ילדתי לו ששה בנים ותקרא את שמו זבלון׃

21 ואחר ילדה בת ותקרא את שמה דינה׃

22 ויזכר אלהים את רחל וישמע אליה אלהים ויפתח את רחמה׃

23 ותהר ותלד בן ותאמר אסף אלהים את חרפתי׃

24 ותקרא את שמו יוסף לאמר יסף יהוה לי בן אחר׃

25 ויהי כאשר ילדה רחל את יוסף ויאמר יעקב אל לבן שלחני ואלכה אל מקומי ולארצי׃

26 תנה את נשי ואת ילדי אשר עבדתי אתך בהן ואלכה כי אתה ידעת את עבדתי אשר עבדתיך׃

27 ויאמר אליו לבן אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך נחשתי ויברכני יהוה בגללך׃

28 ויאמר נקבה שכרך עלי ואתנה׃

29 ויאמר אליו אתה ידעת את אשר עבדתיך ואת אשר היה מקנך אתי׃

30 כי מעט אשר היה לך לפני ויפרץ לרב ויברך יהוה אתך לרגלי ועתה מתי אעשה גם אנכי לביתי׃

31 ויאמר מה אתן לך ויאמר יעקב לא תתן לי מאומה אם תעשה לי הדבר הזה אשובה ארעה צאנך אשמר׃

32 אעבר בכל צאנך היום הסר משם כל שה נקד וטלוא וכל שה חום בכשבים וטלוא ונקד בעזים והיה שכרי׃

33 וענתה בי צדקתי ביום מחר כי תבוא על שכרי לפניך כל אשר איננו נקד וטלוא בעזים וחום בכשבים גנוב הוא אתי׃

34 ויאמר לבן הן לו יהי כדברך׃

35 ויסר ביום ההוא את התישים העקדים והטלאים ואת כל העזים הנקדות והטלאת כל אשר לבן בו וכל חום בכשבים ויתן ביד בניו׃

36 וישם דרך שלשת ימים בינו ובין יעקב ויעקב רעה את צאן לבן הנותרת׃

37 ויקח לו יעקב מקל לבנה לח ולוז וערמון ויפצל בהן פצלות לבנות מחשף הלבן אשר על המקלות׃

38 ויצג את המקלות אשר פצל ברהטים בשקתות המים אשר תבאן הצאן לשתות לנכח הצאן ויחמנה בבאן לשתות׃

39 ויחמו הצאן אל המקלות ותלדן הצאן עקדים נקדים וטלאים׃

40 והכשבים הפריד יעקב ויתן פני הצאן אל עקד וכל חום בצאן לבן וישת לו עדרים לבדו ולא שתם על צאן לבן׃

41 והיה בכל יחם הצאן המקשרות ושם יעקב את המקלות לעיני הצאן ברהטים ליחמנה במקלות׃

42 ובהעטיף הצאן לא ישים והיה העטפים ללבן והקשרים ליעקב׃

43 ויפרץ האיש מאד מאד ויהי לו צאן רבות ושפחות ועבדים וגמלים וחמרים׃

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3951

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3951. For hiring I have hired thee with my son’s dudaim. That this signifies that it was thus promised from forethought is evident from the signification of “hiring to hire” as being that which is promised; as is also evident from what goes before. That it is from foresight, is because all the conjunction of truth with good, and of good with truth, in man, is effected from foresight; that is, from the Lord’s Providence. For the subject here treated of is the conjunction of good with truth, and of truth with good, and thus the good that is appropriated to man. For good is not good in man until it has been conjoined with truth. And as all good comes from the Lord, that is, all the appropriation of good through its conjunction with truth, it is therefore here said, “from foresight.” The Lord’s Providence is especially concerned with this conjunction. By means of it man becomes man, and is distinguished from the brute animals; and he becomes man insofar as he receives of it; that is, insofar as he permits the Lord to effect it. This therefore is the good that is with man; and no other good that is spiritual and that remains to eternity, is possible.

[2] Moreover the goods of the external man, which so long as the man lives in the world are the delights of life, are good only insofar as they partake inwardly of this good. For example, the good of riches. Insofar as riches have spiritual good within them, that is, insofar as they have as their end the good of the neighbor, the good of our country or the public good, and the good of the church, so far they are good. But they who conclude that the spiritual good of which we are speaking is not possible in a condition of worldly opulence, and who therefore persuade themselves that to make room for heaven they must divest themselves of such things, are much mistaken.

For if they renounce their wealth, or deprive themselves of it, they can then do good to no one, nor can themselves live in the world except in misery and thus can no longer have as their end the good of the neighbor, and the good of their country, nor even the good of the church, but themselves only, that they may be saved, and become greater than others in the heavens. Moreover, when they divest themselves of worldly goods, they expose themselves to contempt, because they make themselves of low estimation in the sight of others, and consequently useless for performing services and discharging duties. But when they have the good of others as their end, they then have also as an end, or as means, a state of being in the capability of effecting this end.

[3] The case herein is precisely as it is with the nutrition of a man, which has as its end that he may have a sound mind in a sound body. If a man deprives his body of its nourishment, he deprives himself also of the condition needed for his end; and therefore he who is a spiritual man does not despise nourishment, nor even its pleasures; and yet he does not hold them as his end, but only as a means that is of service to his end. From this as an example we can judge of all other things.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Genesis 30

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1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

2 Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

3 She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."

4 She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.

5 Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

6 Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan.

7 Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

8 Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

10 Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.

11 Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.

12 Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.

13 Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me Happy." She named him Asher.

14 Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

15 She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

16 Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night.

17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.

18 Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.

19 Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

20 Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.

21 Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

22 God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.

23 She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

24 She named him Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."

25 It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.

26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."

27 Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake."

28 He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."

29 He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.

30 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"

31 He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.

33 So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."

34 Laban said, "Behold, let it be according to your word."

35 That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36 He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

39 The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

40 Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.

41 It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;

42 but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

43 The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.