Limitless Word
Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
Genesis 29:31 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
  • BSB When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
  • NKJV When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
  • NASB Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was unable to have children.
  • NLT When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • 1 Sam 2:21Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
  • Ps 127:3Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.
  • Matt 10:37He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
  • 1 Sam 1:5but to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb.
  • Deut 21:15If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated;
  • Gen 20:18For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
  • Gen 30:1–2When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”
  • Gen 29:30He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
  • Exod 3:7Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
  • Luke 1:7But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
  • Judg 13:2–3There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless.
  • Gen 25:21Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
  • Gen 30:22God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.
  • Gen 27:41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
  • Luke 14:26“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
  • John 12:25He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.
  • Mal 1:3but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.”
  • 1 Sam 1:20When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”
  • Matt 6:24“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
  • 1 Sam 1:27I prayed for this child; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him.
  • Gen 16:1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Genesis videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Genesis 29:31YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GenesisMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 29:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.