Jacob’s Children

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved,(A) he enabled her to conceive,(B) but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.(C) She named him Reuben,[a](D) for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery.(E) Surely my husband will love me now.”

33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved,(F) he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.[b](G)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 29:32 Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for he has seen my misery; the name means see, a son.
  2. Genesis 29:33 Simeon probably means one who hears.

The Right of the Firstborn

15 If a man has two wives,(A) and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,(B) 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.(C) 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double(D) share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.(E) The right of the firstborn belongs to him.(F)

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Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.”(A)

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24 Whoever spares the rod(A) hates their children,
    but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline(B) them.(C)

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15 “Although you have been forsaken(A) and hated,
    with no one traveling(B) through,
I will make you the everlasting pride(C)
    and the joy(D) of all generations.

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Israel Doubts God’s Love

“I have loved(A) you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask,(B) ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,(C)

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13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[a](A) is still in the darkness.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 John 2:9 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verse 11; and in 3:15, 17; 4:20; 5:16.

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