³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.^(A)”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear^(B) to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright^(C) to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.^(D) He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

³⁶ Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob^[a]?^(A) This is the second time he has taken advantage of^(B) me: He took my birthright,^(C) and now he’s taken my blessing!”^(D) Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

³⁷ Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond^(A) and plane trees^(B) and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.^{(C) 38} Then he placed the peeled branches^(D) in all the watering troughs,^(E) so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat^(F) and came to drink, ³⁹ they mated in front of the branches.^(G) And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.^{(H) 40} Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals^(I) that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹ Whenever the stronger females were in heat,^(J) Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,^{(K) 42} 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.^{(L) 43} In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.^(M)