Genesis 29:27-35

29:27 Complete my older daughter’s bridal week. ¹  Then we will give you the younger one ²  too, in exchange for seven more years of work.” ³ 

29:28 Jacob did as Laban said. ⁴  When Jacob ⁵  completed Leah’s bridal week, ⁶  Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ⁷  29:29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ⁸  29:30 Jacob ⁹  had marital relations ¹⁰  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ¹¹  for seven more years. ¹² 

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ¹³  he enabled her to become pregnant ¹⁴  while Rachel remained childless. 29:32 So Leah became pregnant ¹⁵  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ¹⁶  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ¹⁷  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, ¹⁸  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ¹⁹ 

29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ²⁰  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ²¹ 

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. ²²  Then she stopped having children.

[29:27]  ¹ tn Heb “fulfill the period of seven of this one.” The referent of “this one” has been specified in the translation as “my older daughter” for clarity.

[29:27]  ² tn Heb “this other one.”

[29:27]  ³ tn Heb “and we will give to you also this one in exchange for labor which you will work with me, still seven other years.”

[29:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Jacob did so.” The words “as Laban said” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[29:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “the seven of this one.” The referent of “this one” has been specified in the translation as Leah to avoid confusion with Rachel, mentioned later in the verse.

[29:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he gave to him Rachel his daughter for him for a wife.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his female servant, for her for a servant.”

[29:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ¹² tn Heb “and he loved also Rachel, more than Leah, and he served with him still seven other years.”

[29:31]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:32]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

[29:32]  ¹⁶ sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

[29:32]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

[29:33]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will be joined to me.”

[29:34]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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.