Genesis 30:1-28 ▼

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.

22 And God remembers Rachel, and God listens to her, and opens her womb,

23 and she conceives and bears a son, and says, “God has gathered up my reproach”;

24 and she calls his name Joseph, saying, “YHWH is adding to me another son.”

25 And it comes to pass, when Rachel has borne Joseph, that Jacob says to Laban, “Send me away, and I go to my place, and to my land;

26 give up my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and I go; for you have known my service which I have served you.”

27 And Laban says to him, “Now if I have found grace in your eyes—I have observed diligently that YHWH blesses me for your sake.”

28 He also says, “Define your hire to me, and I give.”