Genesis 30:17-24

30:17 God paid attention ¹  to Leah; she became pregnant ²  and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. ³  30:18 Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward ⁴  because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” ⁵  So she named him Issachar. ⁶ 

30:19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time. ⁷  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. ⁸ 

30:21 After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

30:22 Then God took note of ⁹  Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. ¹⁰  30:23 She became pregnant ¹¹  and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” ¹²  30:24 She named him Joseph, ¹³  saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”

[30:17]  ¹ tn Heb “listened to.”

[30:17]  ² tn Or “she conceived” (also in v. 19).

[30:17]  ³ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a fifth son,” i.e., this was the fifth son that Leah had given Jacob.

[30:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “God has given my reward.”

[30:18]  ⁵ tn The words “as a wife” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity (cf. v. 9).

[30:18]  ⁶ sn The name Issachar (יְשָּׁשכָר, yishakhar) appears to mean “man of reward” or possibly “there is reward.” The name plays on the word used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew noun translated “reward” is derived from the same root as the name Issachar. The irony is that Rachel thought the mandrakes would work for her, and she was willing to trade one night for them. But in that one night Leah became pregnant.

[30:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and she bore a sixth son for Jacob,” i.e., this was the sixth son that Leah had given Jacob.

[30:20]  ⁸ sn The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means “honor.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew verb translated “will honor” and the name Zebulun derive from the same root.

[30:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “remembered.”

[30:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons

[30:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “conceived.”

[30:23]  ¹² tn Heb “my reproach.” A “reproach” is a cutting taunt or painful ridicule, but here it probably refers by metonymy to Rachel’s barren condition, which was considered shameful in this culture and was the reason why she was the object of taunting and ridicule.

[30:24]  ¹³ sn The name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yoseph) means “may he add.” The name expresses Rachel’s desire to have an additional son. In Hebrew the name sounds like the verb (אָסַף,’asasf) translated “taken away” in the earlier statement made in v. 23. So the name, while reflecting Rachel’s hope, was also a reminder that God had removed her shame.