Genesis 30:37-39

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

³⁷ Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. ³⁸ He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the runnels, that is, the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, ³⁹ the flocks bred in front of the rods and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.