Genesis 29:30-33

29:30 Jacob ¹  had marital relations ²  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ³  for seven more years. ⁴ 

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ⁵  he enabled her to become pregnant ⁶  while Rachel remained childless. 29:32 So Leah became pregnant ⁷  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ⁸  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ⁹  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, ¹⁰  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ¹¹ 

Ecclesiastes 2:17

2:17 So I loathed ¹²  life ¹³  because what

happens ¹⁴  on earth ¹⁵  seems awful to me;

for all the benefits of wisdom ¹⁶  are futile – like chasing the wind.

Luke 14:26

14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate ¹⁷  his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, ¹⁸  he cannot be my disciple.

[29:30]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ² tn Heb “went in also to Rachel.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.

[29:30]  ³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he loved also Rachel, more than Leah, and he served with him still seven other years.”

[29:31]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:32]  ⁷ tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

[29:32]  ⁸ sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

[29:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

[29:33]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ¹¹ 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.

[2:17]  ¹² tn Or “I hated.”

[2:17]  ¹³ tn The term הַחַיִּים (hakhayyim, “life”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, that which is associated with life, that is, the profitlessness and futility of human secular achievement.

[2:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the deed that is done.” The root עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) is repeated in הַמַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה (hamma’aseh shenna’asah, “the deed that is done”) for emphasis. Here, the term “deed” does not refer to human accomplishment, as in 2:1-11, but to the fact of death that destroys any relative advantage of wisdom over folly (2:14a-16). Qoheleth metaphorically describes death as a “deed” that is “done” to man.

[2:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[2:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all,” referring here to the relative advantage of wisdom.

[14:26]  ¹⁷ tn This figurative use operates on a relative scale. God is to be loved more than family or self.

[14:26]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “his own soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.