30:25 After Rachel had given birth 2 to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send 3 me on my way so that I can go 4 home to my own country. 5
1 sn The name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yoseph) means “may he add.” The name expresses Rachel’s desire to have an additional son. In Hebrew the name sounds like the verb (אָסַף,’asasf) translated “taken away” in the earlier statement made in v. 23. So the name, while reflecting Rachel’s hope, was also a reminder that God had removed her shame.
2 tn The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.
3 tn The imperatival form here expresses a request.
sn For Jacob to ask to leave would mean that seven more years had passed. Thus all Jacob’s children were born within the range of seven years of each other, with Joseph coming right at the end of the seven years.
4 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
5 tn Heb “to my place and to my land.”