Kejadian 29:31--30:24

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ¹  he enabled her to become pregnant ²  while Rachel remained childless. 29:32 So Leah became pregnant ³  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ⁴  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ⁵  Surely my husband will love me now.”

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ⁶  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ⁷ 

29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ⁸  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ⁹ 

29:35 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” That is why she named him Judah. ¹⁰  Then she stopped having children.

30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she ¹¹  became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children ¹²  or I’ll die!” 30:2 Jacob became furious ¹³  with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” ¹⁴  30:3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with ¹⁵  her so that she can bear ¹⁶  children ¹⁷  for me ¹⁸  and I can have a family through her.” ¹⁹ 

30:4 So Rachel ²⁰  gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with ²¹  her. 30:5 Bilhah became pregnant ²²  and gave Jacob a son. ²³  30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer ²⁴  and given me a son.” That is why ²⁵  she named him Dan. ²⁶ 

30:7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. ²⁷  30:8 Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” ²⁸  So she named him Naphtali. ²⁹ 

30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave ³⁰  her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. 30:10 Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. ³¹  30:11 Leah said, “How fortunate!” ³²  So she named him Gad. ³³ 

30:12 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. ³⁴  30:13 Leah said, “How happy I am, ³⁵  for women ³⁶  will call me happy!” So she named him Asher. ³⁷ 

30:14 At the time ³⁸  of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants ³⁹  in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 30:15 But Leah replied, ⁴⁰  “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” ⁴¹  Rachel said, “he may sleep ⁴²  with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 30:16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep ⁴³  with me because I have paid for your services ⁴⁴  with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations ⁴⁵  with her that night. 30:17 God paid attention ⁴⁶  to Leah; she became pregnant ⁴⁷  and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. ⁴⁸  30:18 Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward ⁴⁹  because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” ⁵⁰  So she named him Issachar. ⁵¹ 

30:19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time. ⁵²  30:20 Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. ⁵³ 

30:21 After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

30:22 Then God took note of ⁵⁴  Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. ⁵⁵  30:23 She became pregnant ⁵⁶  and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” ⁵⁷  30:24 She named him Joseph, ⁵⁸  saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”

Kejadian 35:16-26

35:16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, ⁵⁹  Rachel went into labor ⁶⁰  – and her labor was hard. 35:17 When her labor was at its hardest, ⁶¹  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ⁶²  35:18 With her dying breath, ⁶³  she named him Ben-Oni. ⁶⁴  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ⁶⁵  35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ⁶⁶  35:20 Jacob set up a marker ⁶⁷  over her grave; it is ⁶⁸  the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day.

35:21 Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ⁶⁹  35:22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with ⁷⁰  Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

35:23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

35:24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

35:25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

35:26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

[29:31]  ¹ tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.

[29:31]  ² tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:32]  ³ tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

[29:32]  ⁴ sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

[29:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

[29:32]  sn Leah’s explanation of the name Reuben reflects a popular etymology, not an exact one. The name means literally “look, a son.” Playing on the Hebrew verb “look,” she observes that the Lord has “looked” with pity on her oppressed condition. See further S. R. Driver, Genesis, 273.

[29:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ⁷ sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[29:34]  ⁸ tn Heb “will be joined to me.”

[29:34]  ⁹ sn The name Levi (לֵוִי, levi), the precise meaning of which is debated, was appropriate because it sounds like the verb לָוָה (lavah, “to join”), used in the statement recorded earlier in the verse.

[29:35]  ¹⁰ sn The name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) means “he will be praised” and reflects the sentiment Leah expresses in the statement recorded earlier in the verse. For further discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names ‘Israel’ and ‘Judah’ with an Excursus on the Etymology of Todah and Torah,” JBL 46 (1927): 151-85; and A. R. Millard, “The Meaning of the Name Judah,” ZAW 86 (1974): 216-18.

[30:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:1]  ¹² tn Heb “sons.”

[30:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the anger of Jacob was hot.”

[30:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb.”

[30:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “go in to.” The expression “go in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

[30:3]  ¹⁶ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.

[30:3]  ¹⁷ tn The word “children” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “upon my knees.” This is an idiomatic way of saying that Bilhah will be simply a surrogate mother. Rachel will adopt the child as her own.

[30:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and I will be built up, even I, from her.” The prefixed verbal form with the conjunction is subordinated to the preceding prefixed verbal form and gives the ultimate purpose for the proposed action. The idiom of “built up” here refers to having a family (see Gen 16:2, as well as Ruth 4:11 and BDB 125 s.v. בָנָה).

[30:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

[30:5]  ²² tn Or “Bilhah conceived” (also in v. 7).

[30:5]  ²³ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a son.”

[30:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and also he has heard my voice.” The expression means that God responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.

[30:6]  ²⁵ tn Or “therefore.”

[30:6]  ²⁶ sn The name Dan means “he vindicated” or “he judged.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. The verb translated “vindicated” is from דִּין (din, “to judge, to vindicate”), the same verbal root from which the name is derived. Rachel sensed that God was righting the wrong.

[30:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob.”

[30:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister, also I have prevailed.” The phrase “mighty struggle” reads literally “struggles of God.” The plural participle “struggles” reflects the ongoing nature of the struggle, while the divine name is used here idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the struggle. See J. Skinner, Genesis (ICC), 387.

[30:8]  ²⁹ sn The name Naphtali (נַפְתָּלִי, naftali) must mean something like “my struggle” in view of the statement Rachel made in the preceding clause. The name plays on this earlier statement, “[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister.”

[30:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “she took her servant Zilpah and gave her.” The verbs “took” and “gave” are treated as a hendiadys in the translation: “she gave.”

[30:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore for Jacob a son.”

[30:11]  ³² tc The statement in the Kethib (consonantal text) appears to mean literally “with good fortune,” if one takes the initial בְּ (bet) as a preposition indicating accompaniment. The Qere (marginal reading) means “good fortune has arrived.”

[30:11]  ³³ sn The name Gad (גָּד, gad) means “good fortune.” The name reflects Leah’s feeling that good fortune has come her way, as expressed in her statement recorded earlier in the verse.

[30:12]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore a second son for Jacob.”

[30:13]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew statement apparently means “with my happiness.”

[30:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “daughters.”

[30:13]  ³⁷ sn The name Asher (אָשֶׁר, ’asher) apparently means “happy one.” The name plays on the words used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. Both the Hebrew noun and verb translated “happy” and “call me happy,” respectively, are derived from the same root as the name Asher.

[30:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “during the days.”

[30:14]  ³⁹ sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.

[30:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and she said to her”; the referent of the pronoun “she” (Leah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “therefore.”

[30:15]  ⁴² tn Heb “lie down.” The expression “lie down with” in this context (here and in the following verse) refers to sexual intercourse. The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.

[30:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “must come in to me.” The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. She has acquired him for the night and feels he is obligated to have sexual relations with her.

[30:16]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “I have surely hired.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form for emphasis. The name Issachar (see v. 18) seems to be related to this expression.

[30:16]  ⁴⁵ tn This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated “sleep with” in v. 15. In direct discourse the more euphemistic “sleep with” was used, but here in the narrative “marital relations” reflects more clearly the emphasis on sexual intercourse.

[30:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “listened to.”

[30:17]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “she conceived” (also in v. 19).

[30:17]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a fifth son,” i.e., this was the fifth son that Leah had given Jacob.

[30:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “God has given my reward.”

[30:18]  ⁵⁰ tn The words “as a wife” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity (cf. v. 9).

[30:18]  sn Leah seems to regard the act of giving her servant Zilpah to her husband as a sacrifice, for which (she believes) God is now rewarding her with the birth of a son.

[30:18]  ⁵¹ sn The name Issachar (יְשָּׁשכָר, yishakhar) appears to mean “man of reward” or possibly “there is reward.” The name plays on the word used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew noun translated “reward” is derived from the same root as the name Issachar. The irony is that Rachel thought the mandrakes would work for her, and she was willing to trade one night for them. But in that one night Leah became pregnant.

[30:19]  ⁵² tn Heb “and she bore a sixth son for Jacob,” i.e., this was the sixth son that Leah had given Jacob.

[30:20]  ⁵³ sn The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means “honor.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew verb translated “will honor” and the name Zebulun derive from the same root.

[30:22]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “remembered.”

[30:22]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons

[30:23]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “conceived.”

[30:23]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “my reproach.” A “reproach” is a cutting taunt or painful ridicule, but here it probably refers by metonymy to Rachel’s barren condition, which was considered shameful in this culture and was the reason why she was the object of taunting and ridicule.

[30:24]  ⁵⁸ sn The name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yoseph) means “may he add.” The name expresses Rachel’s desire to have an additional son. In Hebrew the name sounds like the verb (אָסַף,’asasf) translated “taken away” in the earlier statement made in v. 23. So the name, while reflecting Rachel’s hope, was also a reminder that God had removed her shame.

[35:16]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and there was still a stretch of the land to go to Ephrath.”

[35:16]  ⁶⁰ tn Normally the verb would be translated “she gave birth,” but because that obviously had not happened yet, it is better to translate the verb as ingressive, “began to give birth” (cf. NIV) or “went into labor.”

[35:17]  ⁶¹ tn The construction uses a Hiphil infinitive, which E. A. Speiser classifies as an elative Hiphil. The contrast is with the previous Piel: there “she had hard labor,” and here, “her labor was at its hardest.” Failure to see this, Speiser notes, has led to redundant translations and misunderstandings (Genesis [AB], 273).

[35:17]  ⁶² sn Another son. The episode recalls and fulfills the prayer of Rachel at the birth of Joseph (Gen 30:24): “may he add” another son.

[35:18]  ⁶³ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ⁶⁴ sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ⁶⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[35:18]  sn His father called him Benjamin. There was a preference for giving children good or positive names in the ancient world, and “son of my suffering” would not do (see the incident in 1 Chr 4:9-10), because it would be a reminder of the death of Rachel (in this connection, see also D. Daube, “The Night of Death,” HTR 61 [1968]: 629-32). So Jacob named him Benjamin, which means “son of the [or “my”] right hand.” The name Benjamin appears in the Mari texts. There have been attempts to connect this name to the resident tribe listed at Mari, “sons of the south” (since the term “right hand” can also mean “south” in Hebrew), but this assumes a different reading of the story. See J. Muilenburg, “The Birth of Benjamin,” JBL 75 (1956): 194-201.

[35:19]  ⁶⁶ sn This explanatory note links the earlier name Ephrath with the later name Bethlehem.

[35:19]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[35:20]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “standing stone.”

[35:20]  ⁶⁸ tn Or perhaps “it is known as” (cf. NEB).

[35:21]  ⁶⁹ sn The location of Migdal Eder is not given. It appears to be somewhere between Bethlehem and Hebron. Various traditions have identified it as at the shepherds’ fields near Bethlehem (the Hebrew name Migdal Eder means “tower of the flock”; see Mic 4:8) or located it near Solomon’s pools.

[35:22]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “and Reuben went and lay with.” The expression “lay with” is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.

[35:22]  sn Reuben’s act of having sexual relations with Bilhah probably had other purposes than merely satisfying his sexual desire. By having sex with Bilhah, Reuben (Leah’s oldest son) would have prevented Bilhah from succeeding Rachel as the favorite wife, and by sleeping with his father’s concubine he would also be attempting to take over leadership of the clan – something Absalom foolishly attempted later on in Israel’s history (2 Sam 16:21-22).