1 And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”
2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 And she said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.”
4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid for a wife; and Jacob went in unto her.
5 And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.
6 And Rachel said, “God has [b]judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” therefore called she his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.
8 And Rachel said, “With [c]mighty wrestlings have I [d]wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.”
9 When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife.
10 And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bore Jacob a son.
11 And Leah said, “How fortunate[e]!” and she called his name Gad[f].
12 And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bore Jacob a second son.
13 And Leah said, “How happy[g] am I! for the daughters will call me happy;” and she called his name Asher[h].
14 And Reuben went out in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes[i] 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 And she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Will you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” And Rachel said, “Therefore he shall lie with you tonight, for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in unto me; for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night.
17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 And Leah said, “God has given me my [j]hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband;” and she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 And Leah said, “God has given me a good dowry; now my husband will [k]dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons;” and she called his name Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, “God has taken away my reproach;”
24 and she called his name Joseph, saying, “The LORD [l]gave me yet another son.”
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, “Send me away, that I may return to my own land and to my country.
26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go: for you know my service whereas I have served thee.”
27 And Laban said unto him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay a while longer; for I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.”
28 And he said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.” should be checked
29 And he said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me.
30 For you had little before I came, and now it has increased to a multitude; and the LORD has blessed you [n]wherever I turned; so when shall I provide for my own house also?”
31 And he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; but if you will do something for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
32 I will go through through the flocks today, and take out every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire.
33 So shall my righteousness answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.”
34 And Laban said, “It shall be according to your word.”
35 And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons;
36 and he set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 And Jacob took him rods of fresh [o]poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink.
39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them in with Laban’s flock.
41 And whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, Jacob set the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;
42 but for the feeble among the flock, he did not put them in; thus the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and handmaids and servants, and camels and donkeys.
[6] Hebrew dan, he judged.
[8] Hebrew wrestlings of God.
[8] Hebrew niphtal, he wrestled.
[11] The name ‘Gad’ means fortune; with fortune; another reading is, Fortune is come.
[13] Hebrew With my happiness!
[13] That is, Happy.
[14] Or, love apples
[18] Hebrew sachar.
[20] Hebrew zabal, he dwelt.
[24] Hebrew joseph.
[30] Hebrew broken forth.
[30] Hebrew at my foot.
[37] Or, storax-tree
Selected Commentary
h.ותקנא רחל באחתה RACHEL ENVIED HER SISTER — She was envious of her because of her good deeds, thinking, “Unless she were more righteous than I am she would not have been privileged to bear children (Genesis Rabbah 71:6).”
h.הבה לי GIVE ME [CHILDREN ] — Did, then, your father act so towards your mother? Did he not pray on her behalf (Genesis Rabbah 71:6).
h.מתה אנכי I AM A DEAD WOMAN — One may infer from this that he who is childless may be regarded as dead (Genesis Rabbah 71:6).
h.התחת means AM I IN HIS STEAD?
h.אשר מנע ממך WHO HATH WITHHELD FROM THEE —You say that I should do as my father did; but I am not circumstanced as my father was. My father had no children at all, I, however, have children. From you He has withheld children and not from me (Genesis Rabbah 71:7).
h.על ברכי UPON MY KNEES — as the Targum takes it: she will bear children and I will rear them.
h.ואבנה גם אנכי AND I ALSO MAY HAVE CHILDREN — What force has “also”? She said to him, “Your grandfather, Abraham, had children from Hagar and yet he girded up his loins (actively interceded) for Sarah and she afterwards was blessed with a child”. He replied, “But my grandmother brought an associate wife unto her house”. She retorted, “If that is what prevents me being blessed with children, הנה אמתי BEHOLD MY HANDMAID” etc.
h.ואבנה נם אנכי AND I ALSO MAY HAVE CHILDREN through her as Sarah was built up through her handmaid (Genesis Rabbah 71:7).
h.דנני אלהים GOD HATH PRONOUNCED JUDGMENT UPON ME — He judged me and found me guilty; he judged me again and found me guiltless (Genesis Rabbah 71:7).
h.נפתולי אלהים WRESTLINGS OF GOD — Menachem ben Seruk explains in his Machbereth (Dictionary) that the word נפתולי is of the same root as פתיל in (Numbers [19]:15) “a covering (פתיל) closely bound upon it”, so that the words here mean: By bonds from God have I been joined to my sister (made equal to her) to merit the privilege of having children. I, however, explain it in the same sense as (Deuteronomy 32:5) “perverse and crooked (עקש ופתלתול)”. I have been persistent and have made many importunities and wrestlings with God that I may become like my sister.
h.גם יכלתי AND I HAVE PREVAILED — He has yielded to my importunities. Onkelos translated it in the sense of prayer (תפלה), in this way: נפתולי אלהים נפתלתי means prayers that were pleasing to God I offered and I was accepted and was answered like my sister.
h.נפתלתי means my prayer was accepted. There are many Midrashic explanations in the manner of Notaricon (i.e. making the letters of the word the initial letters of phrases having reference to the matter in question) (Genesis Rabbah 71:8).
h.ותלד זלפה AND ZILPAH BARE — In the case of all Jacob’s wives there is mention of their having been with child (i. e. Scripture states ותהר) except in the case of Zilpah. This was because she was the youngest of all and quite a child in age so that her being with child was not noticeable (Genesis Rabbah 71:9) Laban had given her to Leah in order to deceive Jacob — that he might not perceive that they were bringing Leah to him in marriage — for thus was the custom: to give the elder handmaid to the elder daughter, and the younger handmaid to the younger daughter.
h.בא גד FOR MY HAPPINESS! — Good luck has come, as (Shabbat 67b) “Be lucky, my luck (גד גדי) and tire not”. Similar, also, is (Isaiah 45:11) “That prepare a table for fortune (גד)”. The Midrashic explanation is that he was born with the sign of the covenant upon him. It would then be like (Daniel 4:11) “cut down (גדו) the tree”. I do not know why it (בגד) is written as one word. Another comment on בגד is: why is it read as one word? It may be connected with the root בגד which denotes faithless as though Leah said to Jacob, “You proved faithless to me when you married my handmaid”, like a man who is faithless (בגד) to the wife of his youth).
h.בימי קציר חטים IN THE DAYS OF WHEAT HARVEST — This is stated in praise of the tribes (שבטים a common term for Jacob’s twelve sons, the ancestors of the Tribes of Israel): it was harvest-time, yet he (Reuben) did not put forth his hand upon private property (literally, that which is stolen) by bringing home wheat or barley, but he brought home only ownerless things (such as were free for all to take) about which no one is particular (Genesis Rabbah 72:2).
h.דודאים are violets: it is a plant. In Arabic it is called Jasmin.
h.Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband and that thou wouldst do this in addition — TO TAKE MY SON’S MANDRAKES ALSO? It should therefore be translated in the Targum by ולמיטב, the infinitive like the Hebrew infinitive ולקחת “and to take.”
h.לכן ישכב עמך הלילה THEREFORE SHALL HE BE WITH THEE TONIGHT —He should have stayed this night with me but I cede it to you in return for your son’s mandrakes. Because she thought lightly of companionship with so righteous a man she was not privileged to be buried together with him (Genesis Rabbah 72:3).
h.שכר שכרתיך FOR SURELY I HAVE HIRED THEE — I have given Rachel the hire she demanded.
h.בלילה הוא THAT NIGHT — With God’s help Isaachar was born (Niddah 31a, and cf. Genesis Rabbah 99).
h.וישמע אלהים אל לאה AND GOD HEARKENED UNTO LEAH — for she eagerly desired and sought means to increase the number of the tribes (Genesis Rabbah 72:5).
h.זבד טוב A GOOD DOWRY — explain it as the Targum renders it: a good portion.
h.יזבלני WILL RESIDE WITH ME — It has the same meaning as (1 Kings 8:19) “a house for dwelling (זבול)”. In old French herbergerie, a dwelling house. Leah meant: From now on his real home will be with me since I have as many children as all his other wives together.
h.דינה DINAH (Judgment) — Our Rabbis explained, that Leah set herself up as judge (דנה) against herself saying: “If this be a son, my sister Rachel cannot be even the equal of any of the handmaids”. She, therefore, offered prayer regarding it, and its sex was changed (Berakhot 60a).
h.ויזכר אלהים את רחל AND GOD REMEMBERED RACHEL — He remembered it to her as a merit that she had transmitted the secret signs to her sister and that she was greatly troubled lest she should fall to Esau’s lot if Jacob were to divorce her because she was childless. Indeed, this had entered Esau’s mind when he heard that she was childless (Genesis Rabbah 73:4). The poet refers to this in his Composition (for the First Day of the New Year) “When the Ruddy One (Esau) perceived that she did not travail with child, he hoped to take her for himself and she became terrified”.
h.אסף [GOD] HATH TAKEN AWAY [MY DISGRACE] — He has laid it up somewhere where it cannot be seen. Similar examples are (Isaiah 4:1) “Take thou away (אסוף) our reproach”; (Exodus 9:19) “and shall not have been taken away (יאסף) into the house “; (Joel 4:13) “withdraw (אספו) their shining”; (Isaiah 60:20) “neither shall thy moon withdraw itself (יאסף) — meaning shall not hide itself.
h.חרפתי DISGRACE — because I had become an object of reproach as I was barren for people said about me that I would fall to the lot of Esau, the wicked. A Midrashic explanation is (Genesis Rabbah 73:5): So long as a woman has no child she has no-one to blame for her faults; when, however, she has a child, she puts it on him. “Who broke this vessel?” “Your son!” “Who ate those figs?” “Your son!”
h.יסף ה' לי בן אחר THE ETERNAL WILL ADD TO ME ANOTHER SON — She knew prophetically that Jacob would rear only twelve tribes. She therefore prayed: “May it be God’s will that the tribe which he is yet destined to rear may issue from me”. For this reason she prayed only for one other son (Genesis Rabbah 72:6).
h.כאשר ילדה רחל את יוסף WHEN RACHEL HAD BORN JOSEPH — after the birth of him who was to become Esau’s adversary (Genesis Rabbah 73:7) — as it is said (Obadiah 1:18) “And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble“. Fire (Jacob) that has no flame (Joseph) has no effect at a distance. Therefore, when Joseph was born Jacob put his trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, and wished to return home (Obadiah 1:18).
h.תנה את נשי וגו GIVE ME MY WIVES etc. — I have no wish to go away except with your permission.
h.נחשתי I HAVE DIVINED — He was a diviner. “I have discovered by my art of divination that through you a blessing has come to me. When you first came here I had no sons” — for it is said (29:6) “And, behold, Rachel his daughter is coming with the flock”: is it possible if he had sons that he would have let his daughter go among the shepherds ? — now, however, he had sons, as it is said (31:1) “And he heard the words of Laban’s sons”.
h.נקבה— Explain it as the Targum renders it: state plainly thy wage.
h.ואת אשר היה מקנך אתי AND WHAT THY CATTLE HATH BECOME WITH ME — You know the number of your few cattle that were entrusted to me at first — how small their number was.
h.לרגלי SINCE MY COMING — The word is the same as עם רגלי “with my coming” (lit, with my foot)— on account of my coming has the blessing come to you (Genesis Rabbah 73:8). Similar is (Exodus 11:8) “And all the people that come with thee (ברגלך)”, and (Judges 8:5) “and the people that are ברגלי” — ie. that are coming with me.
h.גם אנכי לביתי WHEN SHALL I PROVIDE FOR MINE OWN HOUSE ALSO? — לביתי means for the needs of my household. At present my sons alone provide for my needs, but I, also, ought to work together with them, to assist them. This is the force of the word גם also.
h.נקוד SPECKLED — marked with small specks like dots old French pointure; English points.
h.וטלוא AND SPOTTED — The word has the same meaning as טלאים “patches” — wide spots.
h.חום BROWN — dark, somewhat reddish, old French rouge. In the language of the Mishna (Bava Batra 5:6): “If he sells it as reddish-dark coloured (שחמתית) and it is found to be white” — a statement made in reference to grain.
h.והיה שכרי AND THEY SHALL BE MY HIRE — those which from now on will be born speckled and spotted among the goats and the brownish ones amongst the sheep shall belong to me. Those that are at present such set them apart and place them in charge of your sons, so that you may not be able to say to me about those that will be born in the future spotted and speckled and brownish. “These were there originally”. And a further reason why these should be set apart is, in order that you may not be able to say to me, “Because of the male animals that are speckled and spotted the females will give birth from now onwards to offspring of their own kind” (i.e., speckled etc.).
h.'וענתה בי וגו AND MY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL ANSWER FOR ME etc. — Should you suspect me of taking any animals that are yours my righteousness will answer for me, — for my righteousness will come and bear witness before thee as to my hire that you will find in my herd only speckled and spotted ones. Whatever, however, you find amongst them (amongst the animals) that is not speckled or spotted or brownish it will be certain that I have stolen it from your flocks and that it is in my possession by way of theft.
h.הן WELL! — an expression denoting agreement with a statement.
h.לו יהי כדברך I WOULD IT MIGHT BE ACCORDING TO THY WORD — Would that you will remain satisfied with this!
h.ויסר AND HE REMOVED i.e., Laban removed ביום ההוא ON THAT DAY
h.את התישים i.e. THE HE-GOATS.
h.כל אשר לבן בו EVERY ONE THAT HAD WHITE IN IT — all that had a white spot.
h.ויתן AND HE i.e. Laban, GAVE THEM ביד בניו INTO THE HAND OF HIS SONS.
h.הנותרות [THE FLOCK OF LABAN] THAT WAS LEFT — The defective animals amongst them, the sickly and the barren, which were nothing but the leavings — these he (Laban) handed over to him (Genesis Rabbah 73:9).
h.מקל לבנה STICKS OF לבנה — a tree that is called לבנה — just as you say (Hosea 4:13) “Under oaks and poplars (ולבנה)” I think it is what is called in old French tremble; English trembling-poplar, which is white.
h.לח FRESH — He took it when it was moist.
h.לוז ALMOND — He also took rods of לוז, a tree upon which small nuts growold French coudre; English hazel.
h.וערמון is old French chastenier, English chestnut.
h.פצלות STREAKS — many peelings so that he gave it the appearence of being striped.
h.מחשוף הלבן MAKING BARE THE WHITE — there was thus an uncovering of the white part of the rod: when he peeled it the white in it became uncovered and visible in the places where it was peeled.
h.ויצג AND HE SET — In the Targum it is rendered by ודעיץ which signifies in the Aramaic language sticking in and inserting. It occurs many times in the Talmud: (Shabbat 50b) “if he stuck it in (דצה) and pulled it out”; (Chullin 93b) “he stuck (דץ) something into it”, where דצה is the same as דעצה, being really a contracted form of it.
h.ברהטים IN THE GUTTERS — in the currents (מרוצות) of water running in the trenches made in the ground to water the sheep there (רהט is the Aramaic of רוץ).
h.אשר תבאנה WHERE THE FLOCKS COME TO DRINK etc. — In the currents whither the sheep come to drink, there did he set the rods in front of the sheep.
h.ויחמנה AND THEY CONCEIVED — The female animal saw the rods, it was startled at the sight of them and recoiled; its mate then pairing with it, it afterwards gave birth to young marked similar to the rods (Genesis Rabbah 73:10).
h.אל המקלות means at the sight of the rods.
h.עקודים RING-STRAKED — the word is connected with the root עקד “to bind” — differently coloured at that place where they are bound, viz., the ankles of the forelegs and hindlegs.
h.והכשבים הפריד יעקב AND JACOB PARTED THE LAMBS — Those sheep that were thus born spotted on the ankles and speckled he separated and set apart by themselves, thus forming them into a separate flock. He led that spotted flock in front of ordinary sheep so that the faces of the sheep that followed behind them were gazing at them. This is what Scripture means in saying, “He set the faces of the flocks towards the spotted” — that the faces of the sheep were directed towards the spotted animals and towards all that were brownish which he found amongst Laban’s sheep (i. e., amongst the sickly sheep which Laban had left him; cf. Genesis 5:36).
h.וישת לו עדרים means he formed them into a separate flock as I have already explained.
h.המקשרות THE STRONGER—Explain it as the Targum renders it: הבכירות the early-bearing sheep; but I have no evidence in the Scripture (i.e. I have no other example of the use of this word) to prove that this is its meaning. Menachem classifies it under the same root as (2 Samuel 15:31) “Ahitophel is among the conspirators (בקשרים)”, and as (2 Samuel 15:12) “And the conspiracy (הקשר) was strong” — so that the meaning would be those sheep that banded themselves together (mated) in order to accelerate their pregnancy (i.e. in order that they might become בכירות, early-bearing sheep).
h.ובהעטיף WHEN THE FLOCKS WERE FEEBLE — the word has the meaning of “being late”, as the Targum renders it בלקישות the late-bearing ones (cf. מלקוש the “latter” rain). Menachem classifies it under the same root as (Isaiah 3:22) “the aprons and the mantelets (המעטפות)”, so that it has the meaning of wrapping oneself in a garment, and the word denotes those animals that are well wrapped up in their skin and fur so that they do not desire to be warmed by the males.
h.צאן רבות MANY SHEEP — sheep that multiplied and were fruitful more than other sheep (Genesis Rabbah 73:11).
h.ושפחות ועבדים AND HANDMAIDS, AND MEN-SERVANTS — he used to sell his sheep at a high price and he bought for himself all these (Tanchuma Yashan 1:7:24).