Genesis 30:1-8

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 30:1 tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2. Genesis 30:1 tn Heb “sons.”
3. Genesis 30:2 tn Heb “and the anger of Jacob was hot.”
4. Genesis 30:2 tn Heb “who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb.”
5. Genesis 30:3 tn The Hebrew collocation of the verb בּוֹא (boʾ) and the preposition אֶל (ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations. Similarly the translation employs a euphemism. For more on this phrase as a euphemism see the note at 2 Sam 12:24.
6. Genesis 30:3 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.
7. Genesis 30:3 tn The word “children” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8. Genesis 30:3 tn Heb “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.
9. Genesis 30:3 tn Heb “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 16:2, as well as Ruth 4:11 and BDB 125 s.v. בָּנָה).
10. Genesis 30:4 tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11. Genesis 30:4 tn Heb “came to.” The expression בּוֹא אֶל (boʾ ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
12. Genesis 30:5 tn Or “Bilhah conceived” (also in v. 7).
13. Genesis 30:5 tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a son.”
14. Genesis 30:6 tn Heb “and also he has heard my voice.” The expression means that God responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.
15. Genesis 30:6 tn Or “therefore.”
16. Genesis 30:6 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.
17. Genesis 30:7 tn Heb “and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob.”
18. Genesis 30:8 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.
19. Genesis 30:8 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.”