Genesis 30:1-21 ▼

1 And Rachel sees that she has not borne to Jacob, and Rachel is envious of her sister, and says to Jacob, “Give me sons, and if there is none—I die.”

2 And Jacob’s anger burns against Rachel, and he says, “Am I in stead of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

3 And she says, “Behold, my handmaid Bilhah, go in to her, and she bears on my knees, and I am built up, even I, from her”;

4 and she gives Bilhah her maidservant to him for a wife, and Jacob goes in to her;

5 and Bilhah conceives, and bears a son to Jacob,

6 and Rachel says, “God has decided for me, and has also listened to my voice, and gives a son to me”; therefore she has called his name Dan.

7 And Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, conceives again, and bears a second son to Jacob,

8 and Rachel says, “With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, indeed, I have prevailed”; and she calls his name Napthali.

9 And Leah sees that she has ceased from bearing, and she takes Zilpah her maidservant, and gives her to Jacob for a wife;

10 and Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, bears a son to Jacob,

11 and Leah says, “A troop is coming”; and she calls his name Gad.

12 And Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, bears a second son to Jacob,

13 and Leah says, “Because of my happiness, for daughters have pronounced me blessed”; and she calls his name Asher.

14 And Reuben goes in the days of wheat-harvest, and finds love-apples in the field, and brings them to his mother Leah, and Rachel says to Leah, “Please give to me of the love-apples of your son.”

15 And she says to her, “Is your taking my husband a little thing, that you have also taken the love-apples of my son?” And Rachel says, “He therefore lies with you tonight, for your son’s love-apples.”

16 And Jacob comes in from the field at evening; and Leah goes to meet him and says, “You come in to me, for [in] hiring I have hired you with my son’s love-apples”; and he lies with her during that night.

17 And God listens to Leah, and she conceives, and bears a son to Jacob, a fifth,

18 and Leah says, “God has given my hire, because I have given my maidservant to my husband”; and she calls his name Issachar.

19 And Leah conceives again, and she bears a sixth son to Jacob,

20 and Leah says, “God has endowed me—a good dowry; this time my husband dwells with me, for I have borne six sons to him”; and she calls his name Zebulun;

21 and afterward she has borne a daughter, and calls her name Dinah.