Genesis 30:1-20 ▼

1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, |Give me children or I'll die!|

2 Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, |Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?|

3 She replied, |Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.|

4 So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

5 Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.

6 Then Rachel said, |God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son.| That is why she named him Dan.

7 Bilhah, Rachel's servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son.

8 Then Rachel said, |I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.| So she named him Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

10 Soon Leah's servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son.

11 Leah said, |How fortunate!| So she named him Gad.

12 Then Leah's servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son.

13 Leah said, |How happy I am, for women will call me happy!| So she named him Asher.

14 At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, |Give me some of your son's mandrakes.|

15 But Leah replied, |Wasn't it enough that you've taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes too?| |All right,| Rachel said, |he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.|

16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, |You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son's mandrakes.| So he had marital relations with her that night.

17 God paid attention to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time.

18 Then Leah said, |God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.| So she named him Issachar.

19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time.

20 Then Leah said, |God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.| So she named him Zebulun.