Bible Strands
Genesis 30:37
Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob acts while Laban maintains a three-day distance, using prepared branches during the breeding season of the flocks he is entrusted to shepherd.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יְפַצֵּ֤ל (va/y.fa.Tzel) means "and he stripped," describing the physical removal of bark to reveal the white inner wood of the branches.
The thread — This peeling action occurs in Genesis 30:37 and is immediately followed by Jacob placing the branches at the watering troughs in Genesis 30:38, while Genesis 31:9 records God’s subsequent transfer of the flocks to Jacob.
Why it lands — The text records a specific agricultural practice Jacob employed during livestock breeding, leaving the mechanism and outcome to the surrounding narrative rather than explaining it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Cross-references
- Genesis 31:9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
- Ezekiel 31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.