Genesis 30:18 Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.

◄ Genesis 30:18 ►

New International Version
Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

New Living Translation
She named him Issachar, for she said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife.”

English Standard Version
Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

Berean Standard Bible
Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

King James Bible
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

New King James Version
Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

New American Standard Bible
Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

NASB 1995
Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

NASB 1977
Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

Legacy Standard Bible
And Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

Amplified Bible
Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

Christian Standard Bible
Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.

American Standard Version
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

Contemporary English Version
Leah shouted, "God has rewarded me for letting Jacob marry my servant," and she named the boy Issachar.

English Revised Version
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Leah said, "God has given me my reward because I gave my slave to my husband." So she named him Issachar [Reward].

Good News Translation
Leah said, "God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband"; so she named her son Issachar.

International Standard Version
Then Leah said, "God has paid me for giving my servant to my husband as his wife." So she named him Issachar.

Majority Standard Bible
Then Leah said, ?God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.? So she named him Issachar.

NET Bible
Then Leah said, "God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife." So she named him Issachar.

New Heart English Bible
Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I gave my servant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

World English Bible
Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my servant to my husband.” She named him Issachar.

Literal Translations

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

Young's Literal Translation
and Leah saith, 'God hath given my hire, because I have given my maid-servant to my husband;' and she calleth his name Issachar.

Smith's Literal Translation
And Leah will say, God gave me My hire because I gave my maid to my husband: and she will call his name Issachar.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And she said, “God has given a reward to me, because I gave my handmaid to my husband.” And she called his name Issachar.

New American Bible
Leah then said, “God has given me my wages for giving my maidservant to my husband”; so she named him Issachar.

New Revised Standard Version
Leah said, “God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband”; so she named him Issachar.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
And Leah said, God has rewarded me, because I have given my maid to my husband; so she called his name Issachar.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And Leah said, “God gave my reward for I have given my Maid to my husband”, and she called his name, Issakar.

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
And Leah said: 'God hath given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Lea said, God has given me my reward, because I gave my maid to my husband; and she called his name Issachar, which is, Reward.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah
17And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. 18Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Genesis 29:32
And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

Genesis 49:13
Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon.

Deuteronomy 33:18
Concerning Zebulun he said: “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents.

Judges 5:18
Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

1 Chronicles 12:32
From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their kinsmen at their command.

Psalm 127:3
Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

Ruth 4:13-17
So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he had relations with her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. / Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name become famous in Israel. / He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” ...

1 Samuel 1:20
So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.”

1 Samuel 2:21
So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

Isaiah 8:18
Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Matthew 1:2
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Luke 1:57-58
When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a son. / Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her.

Luke 1:13-14
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. / He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice at his birth,

John 16:21
A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.

Romans 9:7-8
Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” / So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.

Treasury of Scripture

And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

and she.

Genesis 35:23
The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:

Genesis 46:13
And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.

Genesis 49:14,15
Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: …

Issachar.

Jump to Previous

Handmaid Hire Husband Issachar Is'sachar Leah Maid Maiden Maidservant Maid-Servant Payment Rewarded Servant-Girl Wages

Jump to Next

Handmaid Hire Husband Issachar Is'sachar Leah Maid Maiden Maidservant Maid-Servant Payment Rewarded Servant-Girl Wages

Genesis 30

1. Rachel, in grief for her barrenness, gives Bilhah her maid unto Jacob.
5. Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali.
9. Leah gives Zilpah her maid, who bears Gad and Asher.
14. Reuben finds mandrakes,
15. with which Leah buys her husband's company of Rachel.
17. Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.
22. Rachel bears Joseph.
25. Jacob desires to depart.
27. Laban detains him on a new agreement.
37. Jacob's policy, whereby he becomes rich.

Berean Study Bible

Then Leah said
This phrase introduces Leah's response to the birth of her son. Leah, the first wife of Jacob, often felt overshadowed by her sister Rachel. Her statement reflects a moment of personal vindication and gratitude. In the Hebrew context, the act of naming a child was deeply significant, often reflecting the circumstances of the birth or the mother's feelings. Leah's words here are a testament to her ongoing struggle for recognition and love within her family.

God has rewarded me
The Hebrew word for "rewarded" is "שָׂכַר" (sakar), which implies a sense of compensation or wages. Leah interprets the birth of her son as a divine recompense for her actions. This reflects a common biblical theme where God is seen as actively involved in the lives of His people, rewarding faithfulness and sacrifice. Leah's acknowledgment of God's role highlights her faith and belief in divine justice and providence.

for giving my maidservant to my husband
This phrase refers to Leah's decision to give her maidservant, Zilpah, to Jacob as a wife to bear children on her behalf. In the ancient Near Eastern culture, it was not uncommon for a wife to offer her maidservant to her husband if she was unable to bear children herself. This practice, though foreign to modern readers, was a culturally accepted way to ensure family lineage and inheritance. Leah's action, though driven by cultural norms, also underscores her desperation and desire to secure her position within Jacob's family.

So she named him Issachar
The name "Issachar" is derived from the Hebrew "יִשָּׂשכָר" (Yissakhar), which is believed to mean "there is recompense" or "man of hire." The naming of Issachar is a direct reflection of Leah's interpretation of the events surrounding his birth. In biblical times, names were often prophetic or descriptive, encapsulating the hopes, experiences, or divine messages perceived by the parents. Leah's choice of name for her son is both a personal declaration of her faith in God's justice and a reminder of the circumstances that led to his birth.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) Issachar.--Heb., there is hire. As is so often the case in Hebrew names, there is a double play in the word: for, first, it alluded to the strange fact that Jacob had been hired of Rachel by the mandrakes; but, secondly, Leah gives it a higher meaning, "for God," she says, "hath given me my hire." In her eyes the birth of her fifth son was a Divine reward for the self-sacrifice involved in giving her maid to Jacob, and which had been followed by years of neglect of herself. As, too, it is said that "God hearkened unto Leah," we may feel sure that she had prayed for God's blessing upon her re-union with her husband; for Calvin's objection that prayer would scarcely accompany such odious courses has little weight. Leah and Rachel were uneducated and untrained country women, whose sole anxiety was to have offspring. Leah was the most religious and best disciplined of the two; and the shame ideally was that she should have been forced thus to buy her husband's attentions.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - And Leah said, God - Elohim; a proof of the lower religious consciousness into which Leah had fallen (Hengstenberg), though perhaps on the above hypothesis an evidence of her piety and faith (Keil, Lange) - hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: - i.e. as a reward for my self-denial (Keil, Murphy); an exclamation in which appears Leah's love for Jacob (Lange), if not also a tacit acknowledgment that she had her fears lest she may have sinned in asking him to wed Zilpah (Rosenmüller) - and she called his name Issachar - "There is Reward," or "There is Hire;" containing a double allusion to her hire of Jacob and her reward for Zilpah

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

Then Leah
לֵאָ֗ה (lê·’āh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 3812: Leah -- 'weary', a wife of Jacob

said,
וַתֹּ֣אמֶר (wat·tō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“God
אֱלֹהִים֙ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

has rewarded
נָתַ֤ן (nā·ṯan)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

me for
אֲשֶׁר־ (’ă·šer-)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

giving
נָתַ֥תִּי (nā·ṯat·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

my maidservant
שִׁפְחָתִ֖י (šip̄·ḥā·ṯî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 8198: Maid, maidservant

to my husband.”
לְאִישִׁ֑י (lə·’î·šî)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

So she named him
וַתִּקְרָ֥א (wat·tiq·rā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

Issachar.
יִשָּׂשכָֽר׃ (yiś·śā·š·ḵār)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3485: Issachar -- perhaps 'there is recompense', a son of Jacob and Leah, also a son of Obed-edom

Links

Genesis 30:18 NIV
Genesis 30:18 NLT
Genesis 30:18 ESV
Genesis 30:18 NASB
Genesis 30:18 KJV

Genesis 30:18 BibleApps.com
Genesis 30:18 Biblia Paralela
Genesis 30:18 Chinese Bible
Genesis 30:18 French Bible
Genesis 30:18 Catholic Bible

OT Law: Genesis 30:18 Leah said God has given me my (Gen. Ge Gn)