Genesis 30:3

30:3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with ¹  her so that she can bear ²  children ³  for me ⁴  and I can have a family through her.” ⁵ 

Genesis 50:23

50:23 Joseph saw the descendants of Ephraim to the third generation. ⁶  He also saw the children of Makir the son of Manasseh; they were given special inheritance rights by Joseph. ⁷ 

Isaiah 66:12

66:12 For this is what the Lord says:

“Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river,

the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. ⁸ 

You will nurse from her breast ⁹  and be carried at her side;

you will play on her knees.

Ezekiel 16:4-5

16:4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; ¹⁰  you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. ¹¹  16:5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; ¹²  you were thrown out into the open field ¹³  because you were detested on the day you were born.

¹ tn Heb “go in to.” The expression “go in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

² tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.

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

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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).

⁶ tn Heb “saw Ephraim, the children of the third.”

⁷ tn Heb “they were born on the knees of Joseph.” This expression implies their adoption by Joseph, which meant that they received an inheritance from him.

⁸ tn Heb “Look, I am ready to extend to her like a river prosperity [or “peace”], and like an overflowing stream, the riches of nations.”

⁹ tn The words “from her breast” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 11).

¹⁰ tn Heb “in water you were not washed for cleansing” or “with water you were not washed smooth” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:473, n. 57, for a discussion of possible meanings of this hapax legomenon).

¹¹ sn Arab midwives still cut the umbilical cords of infants and then proceed to apply salt and oil to their bodies.

¹² sn These verbs, “pity” and “spare,” echo the judgment oracles in 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18; 9:5, 10.

¹³ sn A similar concept is found in Deut 32:10.