And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.
Parallel translations
- WEB God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.
- KJV And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
- NKJV And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
- NASB God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
- NLT And God answered Leah’s prayers. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.
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
God hears Leah and she conceives a fifth son. The text credits the conception to God, not the mandrakes.
Overview
The narrator deliberately attributes Leah's pregnancy to God listening to her, undercutting any notion that the mandrakes produced the result. This affirms the consistent biblical truth that the Lord alone gives life and opens the womb. Leah's fifth son continues the building of the tribes through which God's redemptive plan advances.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Sam 1:20So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.”
- Gen 30:22Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,
- 1 Sam 1:26–27“Please, my lord,” said Hannah, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.
- Luke 1:13But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.
- Exod 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Gen 30:6Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 30:17 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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