30 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister, and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”^{(A) 2} Jacob became very angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”^{(B) 3} Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her.”^{(C) 4} So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.^{(D) 5} And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son”; therefore she named him Dan.^{[a](E) 7} Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed,” so she named him Naphtali.^[b](F)

⁹ When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.^{(G) 10} Then Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ And Leah said, “Good fortune!” So she named him Gad.^{[c] 12} Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ And Leah said, “Happy am I! For the women will call me happy,” so she named him Asher.^[d](H)

¹⁴ In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”^{(I) 15} But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”^{(J) 16} When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. ¹⁷ And God heeded Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband,” so she named him Issachar.^{[e] 19} And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰ Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons,” so she named him Zebulun.^{[f](K) 21} Afterwards she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel, and God heeded her and opened her womb.^{(L) 23} She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach,”^{(M) 24} and she named him Joseph,^[g] saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”^(N)

The Word of Life

1 We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life^(A)— ² this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us^(B)— ³ what we have seen and heard we also declare to you so that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.^{(C) 4} We are writing these things so that our^[a] joy may be complete.

God Is Light

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.^{(D) 6} If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; ⁷ but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.^{(E) 8} If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.^{(F) 10} If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.^(G)

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.^{(A) 4} We^[a] must work the works of him who sent me^[b] while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.^{(B) 5} As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”^{(C) 6} When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes,^{(D) 7} saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.^{(E) 8} The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” ¹⁰ But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.^{(F) 15} Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided.^{(G) 17} So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”^(H)