And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
Parallel translations
- WEB Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a son.
- KJV And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a son.
- BSB And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
- NASB And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
- NLT Soon Zilpah presented him with a son.
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
Leah's servant Zilpah, given to Jacob as a surrogate, bears him a son. It continues the rivalry between Leah and Rachel to bear Jacob children.
Overview
As Rachel earlier gave Bilhah to Jacob, Leah now gives her servant Zilpah to keep ahead in the contest for children. The narrative records the household's strife yet shows God working through these flawed, polygamous arrangements to build the twelve tribes of Israel. Scripture reports such customs without commending them, and the tangle of jealousy foreshadows the discord that will later mark Jacob's sons.
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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 30:10 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
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