Genesis 30:1-16 ▼

1 And Rachel, seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.

2 And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?

3 But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.

4 And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,

5 When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.

6 And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my voice, giving me a son, and therefore she called his name Dan.

7 And again Bala conceived and bore another,

8 For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called him Nephtali.

9 Lia, perceiving that she had left off bearing, gave Zelpha her handmaid to her husband.

10 And when she had conceived and brought forth a son,

11 She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.

12 Zelpha also bore another.

13 And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.

14 And Ruben, going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel said: Give me part of thy son's mandrakes.

15 She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son's mandrakes? Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son's mandrakes.

16 And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired thee for my son's mandrakes. And he slept with her that night.