He put the slave women and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
Parallel translations
- WEB He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.
- KJV And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.
- BSB He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.
- NKJV And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.
- NLT He put the servant wives and their children at the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
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
Jacob places the servants and their children first, Leah's next, and Rachel and Joseph last. The ordering reflects his special affection for Rachel and Joseph.
Overview
By positioning Rachel and Joseph at the safest place, Jacob reveals the favoritism that will trouble his family for years to come. The arrangement is protective but exposes the partiality that Scripture elsewhere shows to be harmful. Even a transformed Jacob still carries flaws, reminding us that God's grace works in imperfect people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Gen 29:30He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
- Gen 30:22–24God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.
- Mal 3:17They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
- Gen 37:3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.
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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 33:2 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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