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To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
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There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
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And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder.
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Hagar and Ishmael
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
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So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
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For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
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So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;
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She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
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The Family of Nahor
Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
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And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
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But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
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The Children of Jacob
When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
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Jacob’s Children
Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”
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So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.”
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Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”
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For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
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Laban’s Covenant with Jacob
And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?
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Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.
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Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.
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Jacob and Esau Meet
Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.
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And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.
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And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
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Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down.
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And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.
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But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die.
