That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs,1 and he placed them in the care of his sons.236
Then he put a three-day journey3 between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.
Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond4 and plane trees5 and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.638
Then he placed the peeled branches7 in all the watering troughs,8 so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat9 and came to drink,
they mated in front of the branches.10 And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.1140
Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals12 that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals.
Whenever the stronger females were in heat,13 Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,1442
but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.1543
In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.16