And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
And he placed the striped branches that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the water channels and drinking troughs when the flocks came to drink, so that they would mate when they came to drink.
Jacob placed striped branches in the watering places, believing this would influence the animals to produce striped offspring when they mated there.
📚 Historical Context
This verse is part of the story of Jacob working for his father-in-law Laban, who had cheated Jacob out of fair wages for tending his flocks. Jacob was using an ancient folk belief that visual stimuli during mating could influence the appearance of offspring. This was a common belief in the ancient Near East, though we now know genetics doesn't work this way.
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