35:24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
30:7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. 11
35:25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.
46:19 The sons of Rachel the wife of Jacob:
Joseph and Benjamin.
46:22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen in all.
29:9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was tending them. 15
29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, 16 he enabled her to become pregnant 17 while Rachel remained childless.
30:4 So Rachel 18 gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with 19 her.
30:22 Then God took note of 20 Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. 21
31:19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, 25 Rachel stole the household idols 26 that belonged to her father.
29:28 Jacob did as Laban said. 34 When Jacob 35 completed Leah’s bridal week, 36 Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 37
30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she 38 became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children 39 or I’ll die!” 30:2 Jacob became furious 40 with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 41
30:25 After Rachel had given birth 47 to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send 48 me on my way so that I can go 49 home to my own country. 50
31:14 Then Rachel and Leah replied to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance 51 in our father’s house?
33:1 Jacob looked up 52 and saw that Esau was coming 53 along with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. 33:2 He put the servants and their children in front, with Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them. 54
35:16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, 55 Rachel went into labor 56 – and her labor was hard.
46:25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, seven in all.
29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! 61 So Jacob 62 said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! 63 Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked 64 me?”
30:14 At the time 65 of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants 66 in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
31:33 So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. 71 Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 72 31:34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle 73 and sat on them.) 74 Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them. 75 31:35 Rachel 76 said to her father, “Don’t be angry, 77 my lord. I cannot stand up 78 in your presence because I am having my period.” 79 So he searched thoroughly, 80 but did not find the idols.
1 tn Heb “and he lifted up his voice and wept.” The idiom calls deliberate attention to the fact that Jacob wept out loud.
2 tn Heb “Jacob loved.”
3 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “went in also to Rachel.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.
5 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “and he loved also Rachel, more than Leah, and he served with him still seven other years.”
7 tn Heb “and to Laban [there were] two daughters.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a prepositional phrase) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, vv. 16-17 have been set in parentheses in the translation.
8 tn Heb “and the eyes of Leah were tender.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a noun) continues the parenthesis begun in v. 16. It is not clear what is meant by “tender” (or “delicate”) eyes. The expression may mean she had appealing eyes (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT), though some suggest that they were plain, not having the brightness normally expected. Either way, she did not measure up to her gorgeous sister.
9 tn Heb “and Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.”
10 tn Heb “and Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his female servant, for her for a servant.”
11 tn Heb “and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob.”
12 sn This explanatory note links the earlier name Ephrath with the later name Bethlehem.
map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
13 tn Heb “and he said to them, ‘Is there peace to him?’”
14 tn Heb “peace.”
15 tn Heb “was a shepherdess.”
16 tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.
17 tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”
18 tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.
20 tn Heb “remembered.”
21 tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons
22 tn Heb “sent and called for Rachel and for Leah.” Jacob did not go in person, but probably sent a servant with a message for his wives to meet him in the field.
23 tn Heb “the field.” The word is an adverbial accusative, indicating that this is where Jacob wanted them to meet him. The words “to come to” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.
24 tn Heb “to his flock.”
25 tn This disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new scene. In the English translation it may be subordinated to the following clause.
26 tn Or “household gods.” Some translations merely transliterate the Hebrew term תְּרָפִים (tÿrafim) as “teraphim,” which apparently refers to household idols. Some contend that possession of these idols guaranteed the right of inheritance, but it is more likely that they were viewed simply as protective deities. See M. Greenberg, “Another Look at Rachel’s Theft of the Teraphim,” JBL 81 (1962): 239-48.
27 tn Heb “standing stone.”
28 tn Or perhaps “it is known as” (cf. NEB).
29 tn Heb “declared.”
30 tn Heb “that he [was] the brother of her father.”
31 tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”
32 sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.
33 tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.
34 tn Heb “and Jacob did so.” The words “as Laban said” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
35 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn Heb “the seven of this one.” The referent of “this one” has been specified in the translation as Leah to avoid confusion with Rachel, mentioned later in the verse.
37 tn Heb “and he gave to him Rachel his daughter for him for a wife.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
38 tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
39 tn Heb “sons.”
40 tn Heb “and the anger of Jacob was hot.”
41 tn Heb “who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb.”
42 tn Heb “and also he has heard my voice.” The expression means that God responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.
43 tn Or “therefore.”
44 sn The name Dan means “he vindicated” or “he judged.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. The verb translated “vindicated” is from דִּין (din, “to judge, to vindicate”), the same verbal root from which the name is derived. Rachel sensed that God was righting the wrong.
45 tn Heb “[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister, also I have prevailed.” The phrase “mighty struggle” reads literally “struggles of God.” The plural participle “struggles” reflects the ongoing nature of the struggle, while the divine name is used here idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the struggle. See J. Skinner, Genesis (ICC), 387.
46 sn The name Naphtali (נַפְתָּלִי, naftali) must mean something like “my struggle” in view of the statement Rachel made in the preceding clause. The name plays on this earlier statement, “[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister.”
47 tn The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.
48 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.
49 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
50 tn Heb “to my place and to my land.”
51 tn The two nouns may form a hendiadys, meaning “a share in the inheritance” or “a portion to inherit.”
52 tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his eyes.”
53 tn Or “and look, Esau was coming.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
54 sn This kind of ranking according to favoritism no doubt fed the jealousy over Joseph that later becomes an important element in the narrative. It must have been painful to the family to see that they were expendable.
55 tn Heb “and there was still a stretch of the land to go to Ephrath.”
56 tn Normally the verb would be translated “she gave birth,” but because that obviously had not happened yet, it is better to translate the verb as ingressive, “began to give birth” (cf. NIV) or “went into labor.”
57 tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother” (twice in this verse).
58 tn Heb “Jacob.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
59 tn Heb “drew near, approached.”
60 tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother.” The text says nothing initially about the beauty of Rachel. But the reader is struck by the repetition of “Laban the brother of his mother.” G. J. Wenham is no doubt correct when he observes that Jacob’s primary motive at this stage is to ingratiate himself with Laban (Genesis [WBC], 2:231).
61 tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
62 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
63 tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”
64 sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.
65 tn Heb “during the days.”
66 sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.
67 tn Heb “With whomever you find your gods, he will not live.”
68 tn Heb “brothers.”
69 tn Heb “recognize for yourself what is with me and take for yourself.”
70 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, it has been placed in parentheses in the translation.
71 tn No direct object is specified for the verb “find” in the Hebrew text. The words “the idols” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.
72 tn Heb “and he went out from the tent of Leah and went into the tent of Rachel.”
73 tn The “camel’s saddle” was probably some sort of basket-saddle, a cushioned saddle with a basket bound on. Cf. NAB “inside a camel cushion.”
74 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides another parenthetical statement necessary to the storyline.
75 tn The word “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
76 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
77 tn Heb “let it not be hot in the eyes of my lord.” This idiom refers to anger, in this case as a result of Rachel’s failure to stand in the presence of her father as a sign of respect.
78 tn Heb “I am unable to rise.”
79 tn Heb “the way of women is to me.” This idiom refers to a woman’s menstrual period.
80 tn The word “thoroughly” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.