Genesis 29:31-30:24

Tree of Life Version

Rivalry Continues With Wives

³¹ Now Adonai saw that Leah was unloved, so he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive. ³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben because she said, “For Adonai has seen my affliction. Surely now my husband will love me.” ³³ Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and said, “For Adonai heard that I am hated, so He’s given me this one also,” and she named him Simeon. ³⁴ Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will join himself to me because I’ve given birth to three sons for him.” For this reason he was named Levi. ³⁵ Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I praise Adonai.” For this reason she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

30 When Rachel saw that she bore no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me sons—if there are none, I’ll die!”

² But Jacob became furious with Rachel and said, “Am I, instead of God, the one who withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³ So she said, “Here’s my maid-servant Bilhah. Go to her and let her give birth on my knees, so that from her I may also build a family.” ⁴ Then she gave her maid-servant Bilhah to him for a wife, and Jacob went to her. ⁵ Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ So Rachel said, “God has judged my cause and also heard my voice—and given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. ⁷ Then Rachel’s female servant became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ So Rachel said, “I’ve surely wrestled greatly with my sister—also I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali.

⁹ Now Leah saw that she stopped having children, so she took Zilpah her female servant and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ Then Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹ Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. ¹² Then Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ¹³ Leah said, “How happy am I, for daughters have called me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴ Now during the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and he brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”^[a]

¹⁵ But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took my husband away? You’d also take away my son’s mandrakes?”

So Rachel said, “That being so, let him lie with you tonight, in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ So when Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and she said, “You must come to me. For I’ve actually hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that very night. ¹⁷ Moreover, God heard Leah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God gave me my reward^[b] because I gave my female servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ¹⁹ Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰ Leah said, “God has presented me a good gift. This time my husband will honor me for I’ve borne six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulun. ²¹ Afterwards she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. ²³ Then she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. So she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph saying, “May Adonai add another son for me.”