Discovery BoxGenesis 29:31--30:13
Context29:31 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
[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.”
[29:33] 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
[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.
[30:2] 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] 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.
