And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
Parallel translations
- WEB God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.
- BSB And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.
- 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 1:20Wherefore 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.
- Gen 30:22And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
- 1 Sam 1:26–27And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.
- Luke 1:13But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
- 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;
- Gen 30:6And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name 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
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.