When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
Parallel translations
- WEB When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
- BSB When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.
- NKJV When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as wife.
- NASB When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
- NLT Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
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, having stopped bearing, gives her maid Zilpah to Jacob as a wife to gain more children.
Overview
Not to be outdone in the rivalry, Leah imitates Rachel by offering her own maid to bear children for her. The competition between the sisters drives the household further into polygamy and striving. Yet through even these contested means, God continues to build the twelve sons who will become the tribes of Israel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Gen 30:4And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
- Gen 30:17And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
- Gen 16:3And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
- Gen 29:35And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.
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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 30:9 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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