But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. ¹  So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban ²  and the stronger animals to Jacob.

“So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life. ¹ 

When the stronger females were in heat, ¹  Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

While she was giving birth, one child ¹  put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”