30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave 1 her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. 30:10 Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. 2 30:11 Leah said, “How fortunate!” 3 So she named him Gad. 4
30:12 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. 5
1 tn Heb “she took her servant Zilpah and gave her.” The verbs “took” and “gave” are treated as a hendiadys in the translation: “she gave.”
2 tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore for Jacob a son.”
3 tc The statement in the Kethib (consonantal text) appears to mean literally “with good fortune,” if one takes the initial בְּ (bet) as a preposition indicating accompaniment. The Qere (marginal reading) means “good fortune has arrived.”
4 sn The name Gad (גָּד, gad) means “good fortune.” The name reflects Leah’s feeling that good fortune has come her way, as expressed in her statement recorded earlier in the verse.
5 tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore a second son for Jacob.”