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Text -- Genesis 30:6-43 (NET)
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30:6 Then Rachel said , “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son .” That is why she named him Dan .
30:7 Bilhah , Rachel’s servant , became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son .
30:8 Then Rachel said , “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister , but I have won .” So she named him Naphtali .
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children , she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife .
30:10 Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son .
30:11 Leah said , “How fortunate !” So she named him Gad .
30:12 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son .
30:13 Leah said , “How happy I am, for women will call me happy!” So she named him Asher .
30:14 At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants 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 , “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband ? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” Rachel said , “he may sleep 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 with me because I have paid for your services with my son’s mandrakes .” So he had marital relations with her that night .
30:17 God paid attention to Leah ; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time.
30:18 Then Leah said , “God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” So she named him Issachar .
30:19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time.
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 .
30:21 After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah .
30:22 Then God took note of Rachel . He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant .
30:23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son . Then she said , “God has taken away my shame .”
30:24 She named him Joseph , saying , “May the Lord give me yet another son .”
The Flocks of Jacob
30:25 After Rachel had given birth to Joseph , Jacob said to Laban , “Send me on my way so that I can go home to my own country .
30:26 Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. Then I’ll depart , because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.”
30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight , please stay here, for I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.”
30:28 He added , “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.”
30:29 “You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied , “and how well your livestock have fared under my care.
30:30 Indeed , you had little before I arrived, but now your possessions have increased many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked . But now , how long must it be before I do something for my own family too ?”
30:31 So Laban asked , “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing ,” Jacob replied , “but if you agree to this one condition , I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them:
30:32 Let me walk among all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep , every dark-colored lamb , and the spotted or speckled goats . These animals will be my wages .
30:33 My integrity will testify for me later on. When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored , it will be considered stolen .”
30:34 “Agreed !” said Laban , “It will be as you say .”
30:35 So that day Laban removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted , all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs , and put them in the care of his sons .
30:36 Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey , while Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks .
30:37 But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar , almond , and plane trees . He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible .
30:38 Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink . He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink .
30:39 When the sheep mated in front of the branches , they gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted .
30:40 Jacob removed these lambs , but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock . So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks .
30:41 When the stronger females were in heat , Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock , so they would mate near the branches .
30:42 But if the animals were weaker , he did not set the branches there. So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban and the stronger animals to Jacob .
30:43 In this way Jacob became extremely prosperous . He owned large flocks , male and female servants , camels , and donkeys .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Gen 30:6; Gen 30:6; Gen 30:6; Gen 30:7; Gen 30:8; Gen 30:8; Gen 30:9; Gen 30:10; Gen 30:11; Gen 30:11; Gen 30:12; Gen 30:13; Gen 30:13; Gen 30:13; Gen 30:14; Gen 30:14; Gen 30:15; Gen 30:15; Gen 30:15; Gen 30:16; Gen 30:16; Gen 30:16; Gen 30:17; Gen 30:17; Gen 30:17; Gen 30:18; Gen 30:18; Gen 30:18; Gen 30:18; Gen 30:19; Gen 30:20; Gen 30:22; Gen 30:22; Gen 30:23; Gen 30:23; Gen 30:24; Gen 30:25; Gen 30:25; Gen 30:25; Gen 30:25; Gen 30:25; Gen 30:26; Gen 30:26; Gen 30:26; Gen 30:27; Gen 30:27; Gen 30:28; Gen 30:29; Gen 30:29; Gen 30:30; Gen 30:30; Gen 30:30; Gen 30:30; Gen 30:30; Gen 30:31; Gen 30:31; Gen 30:31; Gen 30:31; Gen 30:31; Gen 30:32; Gen 30:32; Gen 30:32; Gen 30:32; Gen 30:33; Gen 30:33; Gen 30:33; Gen 30:33; Gen 30:33; Gen 30:34; Gen 30:35; Gen 30:35; Gen 30:36; Gen 30:36; Gen 30:36; Gen 30:38; Gen 30:39; Gen 30:39; Gen 30:40; Gen 30:41; Gen 30:42; Gen 30:42; Gen 30:43; Gen 30:43
NET Notes: Gen 30:6 The name Dan means “he vindicated” or “he judged.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement which appears earlier in t...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:7 Heb “and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob.”
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NET Notes: Gen 30:8 The name Naphtali (נַפְתָּלִי, naftali) must mean something like “my struggle”...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:9 Heb “she took her servant Zilpah and gave her.” The verbs “took” and “gave” are treated as a hendiadys in the tran...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:11 The name Gad (גָּד, gad) means “good fortune.” The name reflects Leah’s feeling that good fortune has come h...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:13 The name Asher (אָשֶׁר, ’asher) apparently means “happy one.” The name plays on the words used i...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:14 Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.
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NET Notes: Gen 30:15 Heb “lie down.” The expression “lie down with” in this context (here and in the following verse) refers to sexual intercourse....
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NET Notes: Gen 30:16 This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated “sleep with” in v. 15. In direct discourse t...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:17 Heb “and she bore for Jacob a fifth son,” i.e., this was the fifth son that Leah had given Jacob.
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NET Notes: Gen 30:18 The name Issachar (יְשָּׁשכָר, yishakhar) appears to mean “man of reward” or p...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:19 Heb “and she bore a sixth son for Jacob,” i.e., this was the sixth son that Leah had given Jacob.
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NET Notes: Gen 30:20 The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means “honor.” The name plays on the verb ...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:22 Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been rep...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:23 Heb “my reproach.” A “reproach” is a cutting taunt or painful ridicule, but here it probably refers by metonymy to Rachel̵...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:24 The name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yoseph) means “may he add.” The name expresses Rachel’s desire to have ...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:27 Or perhaps “I have grown rich and the Lord has blessed me” (cf. NEB). See J. Finkelstein, “An Old Babylonian Herding Contract and Ge...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:32 Heb “and it will be my wage.” The referent collective singular pronoun (“it) has been specified as “these animals” in th...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:33 Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”
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NET Notes: Gen 30:34 Heb “and Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’” On the asseverative use of the particle לוּ ...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:36 The disjunctive clause (introduced by the vav with subject) is circumstantial/temporal; Laban removed the animals while Jacob was taking care of the r...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:38 He put the branches in front of the flocks…when they came to drink. It was generally believed that placing such “visual aids” before...
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NET Notes: Gen 30:39 Heb “the sheep.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
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