Genesis 30:1-21 ▼

1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, |Give me children, or else I will die.|

2 Then Jacob became very angry with Rachel, and he said, |Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?|

3 She said, |Look, my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, so that she will bear children for me, that I too may have children through her.|

4 So she gave him Bilhah her servant as a wife, and Jacob slept with her.

5 Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

6 Rachel said, |God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.| Therefore she called his name Dan.

7 Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

8 Rachel said, |I have wrestled mightily with my sister, and have prevailed.| So she named him Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

10 Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.

11 Leah said, |How fortunate.| So she named him Gad.

12 Zilpah, Leah's servant, bore Jacob a second son.

13 Leah said, |Happy am I, for the women will call me happy.| So she named him Asher.

14 Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, |Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.|

15 She said to her, |Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes, also?| Rachel said, |Therefore he may sleep with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.|

16 Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, |You must sleep with me; for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.| So he slept with her that night.

17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.

18 Leah said, |God has given me my wages, because I gave my servant to my husband.| So she named him Issachar.

19 Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

20 Leah said, |God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.| So she named him Zebulun.

21 Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.