Notes for Gen 30:1LEB
"Rachel." The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun ("she") in the translation for stylistic reasons.
"sons."
Notes for Gen 30:2LEB
"and the anger of Jacob was hot."
"who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb."
Notes for Gen 30:3LEB
"go in to." The expression "go in to" in this context refers to sexual intercourse.
After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.
The word "children" is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
"upon my knees." This is an idiomatic way of saying that Bilhah will be simply a surrogate mother. Rachel will adopt the child as her own.
"and I will be built up, even I, from her." The prefixed verbal form with the conjunction is subordinated to the preceding prefixed verbal form and gives the ultimate purpose for the proposed action. The idiom of "built up" here refers to having a family (see Gen 16:2LEB, as well as Ruth 4:11LEB and BDB 125 s.v. בָנָה).
Notes for Gen 30:4LEB
"and she"; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"went in to." The expression "went in to" in this context refers to sexual intercourse.
Notes for Gen 30:5LEB
Or "Bilhah conceived" (also in v. 7).
"and she bore for Jacob a son."
Notes for Gen 30:6LEB
"and also he has heard my voice." The expression means that Yahewh responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.
Or "therefore."
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 Yahewh was righting the wrong.
Notes for Gen 30:7LEB
"and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob."
Notes for Gen 30:8LEB
"[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister, also I have prevailed." The phrase "mighty struggle" reads literally "struggles of Yahewh." 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.
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."
Notes for Gen 30:9LEB
"she took her servant Zilpah and gave her." The verbs "took" and "gave" are treated as a hendiadys in the translation: "she gave."
Notes for Gen 30:10LEB
"and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore for Jacob a son."
Notes for Gen 30:11LEB
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."
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.
Notes for Gen 30:12LEB
"and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore a second son for Jacob."
Notes for Gen 30:13LEB
The Hebrew statement apparently means "with my happiness."
"daughters."
The name Asher (אָשֶׁר, ’asher) apparently means "happy one." The name plays on the words used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. Both the Hebrew noun and verb translated "happy" and "call me happy," respectively, are derived from the same root as the name Asher.
Notes for Gen 30:14LEB
"during the days."
Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.
Notes for Gen 30:15LEB
"and she said to her"; the referent of the pronoun "she" (Leah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"therefore."
"lie down." The expression "lie down with" in this context (here and in the following verse) refers to sexual intercourse. The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.
Notes for Gen 30:16LEB
"must come in to me." The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. She has acquired him for the night and feels he is obligated to have sexual relations with her.
"I have surely hired." The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form for emphasis. The name Issachar (see v. 18) seems to be related to this expression.
This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated "sleep with" in v. 15. In direct discourse the more euphemistic "sleep with" was used, but here in the narrative "marital relations" reflects more clearly the emphasis on sexual intercourse.
Notes for Gen 30:17LEB
"listened to."
Or "she conceived" (also in v. 19).
"and she bore for Jacob a fifth son," i.e., this was the fifth son that Leah had given Jacob.
Notes for Gen 30:18LEB
"Yahewh has given my reward."
The words "as a wife" are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity (cf. v. 9).
Leah seems to regard the act of giving her servant Zilpah to her husband as a sacrifice, for which (she believes) Yahewh is now rewarding her with the birth of a son.
The name Issachar (יְשָּׁשכָר, yishakhar) appears to mean "man of reward" or possibly "there is reward." The name plays on the word used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew noun translated "reward" is derived from the same root as the name Issachar. The irony is that Rachel thought the mandrakes would work for her, and she was willing to trade one night for them. But in that one night Leah became pregnant.
Notes for Gen 30:19LEB
"and she bore a sixth son for Jacob," i.e., this was the sixth son that Leah had given Jacob.
Notes for Gen 30:20LEB
The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means "honor." The name plays on the verb used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew verb translated "will honor" and the name Zebulun derive from the same root.
Notes for Gen 30:22LEB
"remembered."
"and Yahewh listened to her and opened up her womb." Since "Yahewh" is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun "he" in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Notes for Gen 30:23LEB
Or "conceived."
"my reproach." A "reproach" is a cutting taunt or painful ridicule, but here it probably refers by metonymy to Rachel’s barren condition, which was considered shameful in this culture and was the reason why she was the object of taunting and ridicule.
Notes for Gen 30:24LEB
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 Yahewh had removed her shame.
Notes for Gen 30:25LEB
The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.
The imperatival form here expresses a request.
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.
Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
"to my place and to my land."
Notes for Gen 30:26LEB
"give my wives and my children, for whom I have served you." In one sense Laban had already "given" Jacob his two daughters as wives (Gen 29:21-28LEB). Here Jacob was asking for permission to take his own family along with him on the journey back to Canaan.
Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
"for you, you know my service [with] which I have served you."
Notes for Gen 30:27LEB
The words "please stay here" have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
Or perhaps "I have grown rich and the Yehweh has blessed me" (cf. NEB). See J. Finkelstein, "An Old Babylonian Herding Contract and Genesis 31:38f.," JAOS 88 (1968): 34, n. 19.
Notes for Gen 30:28LEB
"set your wage for me so I may give [it]."
Notes for Gen 30:29LEB
"and he said to him, ‘You know how I have served you.’" The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons, and the referent of the pronoun "he" (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"and how your cattle were with me."
Notes for Gen 30:30LEB
Or "for."
"before me."
"and it has broken out with respect to abundance."
"at my foot."
"How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?"
Notes for Gen 30:31LEB
"and he said." The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.
The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
"If you do for me this thing."
"I will return, I will tend," an idiom meaning "I will continue tending."
Notes for Gen 30:32LEB
"pass through."
Or "every black lamb"; "and every dark sheep among the lambs."
"and the spotted and speckled among the goats."
"and it will be my wage." The referent collective singular pronoun ("it) has been specified as "these animals" in the translation for clarity.
Notes for Gen 30:33LEB
"will answer on my behalf."
"on the following day," or "tomorrow."
"when you come concerning my wage before you."
Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.
"every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me."
Notes for Gen 30:34LEB
"and Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’" On the asseverative use of the particle לוּ (lu) here, see HALOT 521 s.v. לוּ.
Notes for Gen 30:35LEB
"he"; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"and he gave [them] into the hand."
Notes for Gen 30:36LEB
"and he put a journey of three days between himself and Jacob."
Three days’ traveling distance from Jacob. E. A. Speiser observes, "Laban is delighted with the terms, and promptly proceeds to violate the spirit of the bargain by removing to a safe distance all the grown animals that would be likely to produce the specified spots" (Genesis [AB], 238). Laban apparently thought that by separating out the spotted, striped, and dark colored animals he could minimize the production of spotted, striped, or dark offspring that would then belong to Jacob.
The disjunctive clause (introduced by the vav with subject) is circumstantial/temporal; Laban removed the animals while Jacob was taking care of the rest.
Notes for Gen 30:38LEB
He put the branches in front of the flocks…when they came to drink. It was generally believed that placing such "visual aids" before the animals as they were mating, it was possible to influence the appearance of their offspring. E. A. Speiser notes that "Jacob finds a way to outwit his father-in-law, through prenatal conditioning of the flock by visual aids – in conformance with universal folk beliefs" (Genesis [AB], 238). Nevertheless, in spite of Jacob’s efforts at animal husbandry, he still attributes the resulting success to Yahewh (see Gen 31:5LEB).
Notes for Gen 30:39LEB
The Hebrew verb used here can mean "to be in heat" (see v. 38) or "to mate; to conceive; to become pregnant." The latter nuance makes better sense in this verse, for the next clause describes them giving birth.
"the sheep." The noun has been replaced by the pronoun ("they") in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Notes for Gen 30:40LEB
"and he set the faces of."
Notes for Gen 30:41LEB
"and at every breeding-heat of the flock."
Notes for Gen 30:42LEB
"he did not put [them] in." The referent of the [understood] direct object, "them," has been specified as "the branches" in the translation for clarity.
"were for Laban."