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And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
Genesis 29:31 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and 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.

Quick answer

Seeing Leah unloved, Yahweh opens her womb, while Rachel remains barren.

Overview

God shows tender compassion to the unloved Leah by granting her children, while the beloved Rachel is barren. This reversal displays God's care for the despised and his sovereignty over the womb. It is through unloved Leah that Judah, and ultimately Christ, will come, showing how God exalts the lowly in his redemptive plan.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • 1 Sam 2:21And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.
  • Ps 127:3Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
  • 1 Sam 1:5But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.
  • Deut 21:15If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
  • Gen 30:1–2And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
  • Gen 20:18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
  • Matt 10:37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
  • Gen 29:30And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
  • Judg 13:2–3And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
  • Exod 3:7And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
  • Luke 1:7And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
  • Gen 27:41And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
  • Gen 30:22And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
  • Gen 25:21And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
  • Luke 14:26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
  • John 12:25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
  • Mal 1:3And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
  • 1 Sam 1:27For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:
  • 1 Sam 1:20Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
  • Matt 6:24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
  • Gen 16:1Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, 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.