Bible Strands
Genesis 30:41
Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob acts within Laban’s flocks during the breeding season, positioning himself as the active agent who manipulates visual stimuli to influence which animals produce offspring for himself.
The words — יַחֵם (ya.Chem) denotes the state of "being in heat," while הַמְקֻשָּׁרוֹת (ha.m.ku.sha.roT) specifically identifies the "vigorous [females]" of the flock.
The thread — This verse details the mechanism of Jacob’s selective breeding strategy, directly continuing the separation practices outlined in Genesis 30:40 and establishing the cause-and-effect pattern that Genesis 30:42 resolves.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to note that the text attributes the outcome to Jacob’s placement of branches during a specific biological window, not to any inherent power in the wood itself.
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 it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.