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Genesis 30:40

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 30:40 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban`s flock.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban`s flock.
Genesis 30:40 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 30

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
37And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree. And peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink.
39And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted.
40And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban`s flock.
41And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;
42but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban`s, and the stronger Jacob`s.
43And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses.
← Genesis 30:39Genesis 30:41 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And Jacob did separate the lambs, etc.] The ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; and set the faces of the flocks, that were all white, towards the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; either to go before those that were all white, that they by looking at them might conceive and bring forth such, which was another artifice of Jacob’s to increase his own sheep; or else he set at the water troughs the white sheep on one side of them, and on the opposite side the speckled ones, etc. that the same effect might also be produced the more successfully both by the rods and by the speckled lambs: and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle; partly that…”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification