Genesis 30:23

New Century Version

When she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, she said, "God has taken away my shame,"

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach.

King James Version
And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

Lexham English Bible
And she conceived and gave birth to a son. And she said, "God has taken away my disgrace."

New English Translation
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said, "God has taken away my shame."

Amplified Bible
So she conceived and gave birth to a son; and she said, "God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation."

New American Standard Bible
So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, "God has taken away my disgrace."

Geneva Bible (1587)
So she conceiued & bare a sonne, and said, God hath taken away my rebuke.

Legacy Standard Bible
So she conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

Complete Jewish Bible
She conceived, had a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace."

Darby Translation
And she conceived, and bore a son, and said, God has taken away my reproach.

Easy-to-Read Version
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, "God has taken away my shame."

English Standard Version
She conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

George Lamsa Translation
And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God has taken away my reproach;

Good News Translation
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, "God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son.

Christian Standard Bible®
She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”

Literal Translation
And she conceived and bore a son. And she said, God has taken away my reproach.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then she conceaued, and bare a sonne, and sayde: God hath taken awaye my rebuke,

American Standard Version
And she conceived, and bare a son: and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

Bible in Basic English
And she was with child, and gave birth to a son: and she said, God has taken away my shame.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
So that she conceaued & bare a sonne: and sayde, God hath taken awaye my rebuke.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And she conceived, and bore a son, and said: 'God hath taken away my reproach.'

King James Version (1611)
And shee conceiued and bare a sonne, and said; God hath taken away my reproch:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And she conceived, and bore Jacob a son; and Rachel said, God has taken away my reproach.

English Revised Version
And she conceived, and bare a son: and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

Berean Standard Bible
and she conceived and gave birth to a son. "God has taken away my shame," she said.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And sche conseyuede, and childide a sone, and seide, God hath take a wey my schenschipe; and sche clepid his name Joseph,

Young's Literal Translation
and she conceiveth and beareth a son, and saith, `God hath gathered up my reproach;'

Update Bible Version
And she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son: and said, God has taken away my reproach:

Webster's Bible Translation
And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

World English Bible
She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach.

New King James Version
And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

New Living Translation
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. "God has removed my disgrace," she said.

New Life Bible
and she gave birth to a son. Then she said, "God has taken away my shame."

New Revised Standard
She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach";

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So she conceived and bare a son, - and said, God hath taken away my reproach;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken away my reproach.

Revised Standard Version
She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach";

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So she conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the field and found some mandrake plants and brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." ¹⁵ Leah answered, "You have already taken away my husband, and now you are trying to take away my son's mandrakes." But Rachel answered, "If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you may sleep with Jacob tonight." ¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field that night, Leah went out to meet him. She said, "You will have sexual relations with me tonight because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So Jacob slept with her that night. ¹⁷ Then God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son ¹⁸ and said, "God has given me what I paid for, because I gave my slave girl to my husband." So Leah named her son Issachar. ¹⁹ Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. ²⁰ She said, "God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will honor me, because I have given him six sons," so she named him Zebulun. ²¹ Later Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. ²² Then God remembered Rachel and answered her prayer, making it possible for her to have children. ²³ When she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, she said, "God has taken away my shame,"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Be fruitful and multiply, was the blessing of God: barrenness therefore was reckoned a reproach The intense desire of having children, observable among the Jewish women, arose not only from this reproach of barrenness, but from the hope of being the mother of the promised seed, and Him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. Genesis 29:31, 1 Samuel 1:5, 1 Samuel 1:6, Isaiah 4:1, Luke 1:21, Luke 1:25, Luke 1:27

Reciprocal: Ruth 4:13 - the Lord Psalms 113:9 - maketh Zephaniah 3:15 - hath taken John 16:21 - for

Cross-References

Genesis 29:31
When the Lord saw that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, he made it possible for Leah to have children, but not Rachel.

Genesis 30:5
She became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.

Genesis 30:6
Rachel said, "God has judged me innocent. He has listened to my prayer and has given me a son," so she named him Dan.

Isaiah 4:1
At that time seven women will grab one man and say, "We will eat our own bread and make our own clothes, but please marry us! Please, take away our shame."

Luke 1:21
Outside, the people were still waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he was staying so long in the Temple.

Luke 1:25
"Look what the Lord has done for me! My people were ashamed of me, but now the Lord has taken away that shame."

Luke 1:27
to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And she conceived and bare a son,.... Through the goodness of God unto her, and for which she was greatly thankful;

and said, God hath taken away my reproach; the reproach of barrenness with which she was reproached among her neighbours; and perhaps by her sister Leah, and indeed it was a general reproach in those times; and especially, it was the more grievous to good women in the family of Abraham, because they were not the means of multiplying his seed according to the promise, and could have no hope of the Messiah springing from them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Jacob’s Family and Wealth

6. דן dān, Dan, “judge, lord.”

8. נפתלי naptālı̂y, Naphtali, “wrestling.”

11. גד gād, Gad, “overcoming, victory.” בגד bāgād, “in victory or” =גד בא bā' gād, “victory cometh.” גוּד gûd, “press down.” גדוּד g^edûd, “troop.”

13. אשׁר 'ǎashēr, Asher, “prosperity, happiness.”

18. ישׂשכר yı̂śāskār, Jissakar, “reward.” The second Hebrew letter (ש s) seems to have been merely a full mode of writing the word, instead of the abbreviated form ישׂכר yı̂śākār.

20. זבלוּן z^ebulûn, Zebulun, “dwelling.” There is here a play upon the two words זבד zābad, “to endow” and זבל zābal, “to dwell,” the latter of which, however, prevails in the name. They occur only here as verbs.

21. דינה dı̂ynâh, Dinah, “judgment.”

24. יסף yôsêph, Joseph, “he shall add.” There is, however, an obvious allusion to the thought. “God hath taken away (אסף 'āsap) my reproach.” Double references, we find, are usual in the giving of names (see Genesis 25:30).

This chapter is the continuation of the former, and completes the history of Jacob in Haran. The event immediately following probably took place after Leah had borne two of her sons, though not admitted into the narrative until she had paused for a short time.

Genesis 30:1-8

Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, bears two sons. Rachel becomes impatient of her barrenness and jealous of her sister, and unjustly reproaches her husband, who indignantly rebukes her. God, not he, has withheld children from her. She does what Sarah had done before her Genesis 16:2-3, gives her handmaid to her husband. No express law yet forbade this course, though nature and Scripture by implication did Genesis 2:23-25. “Dan.” “God hath judged me.” In this passage Jacob and Rachel use the common noun, God, the Everlasting, and therefore Almighty, who rules in the physical relations of things - a name suitable to the occasion. He had judged her, dealt with her according to his sovereign justice in withholding the fruit of the womb, when she was self-complacent and forgetful of her dependence on a higher power; and also in hearing her voice when she approached him in humble supplication. “Naphtali.” “Wrestlings of God,” with God, in prayer, on the part of both sisters, so that they wrestled with one another in the self-same act. Rachel, though looking first to Jacob and then to her maid, had at length learned to look to her God, and then had prevailed.

Genesis 30:9-13

Leah having stayed from bearing, resorts to the same expedient. Her fourth son was seemingly born in the fourth year of Jacob’s marriage. Bearing her first four sons so rapidly, she would the sooner observe the temporary cessation. After the interval of a year she may have given Zilpah to Jacob. “Gad.” “Victory cometh.” She too claims a victory. “Asher.” Daughters will pronounce her happy who is so rich in sons. Leah is seemingly conscious that she is here pursuing a device of her own heart; and hence there is no explicit reference to the divine name or influence in the naming of the two sons of her maid.

Genesis 30:14-21

“Reuben” was at this time four or five years of age, as it is probable that Leah began to bear again before Zilpah had her second son. “Mandrakes” - the fruit of the “mandragora vernaIis,” which is to this day supposed to promote fruitfulness of the womb. Rachel therefore desires to partake of them, and obtains them by a compact with Leah. Leah betakes herself to prayer, and bears a fifth son. She calls him “Issakar,” with a double allusion. She had hired her husband with the mandrakes, and had received this son as her hire for giving her maid to her husband; which she regards as an act of generosity or self-denial. “Zebulun.” Here Leah confesses, “God hath endowed me with a good dowry.” She speaks now like Rachel of the God of nature. The cherished thought that her husband will dwell with her who is the mother of six sons takes form in the name. “Dinah” is the only daughter of Jacob mentioned Genesis 46:7, and that on account of her subsequent connection with the history of Jacob Genesis 34:0. Issakar appears to have been born in the sixth year after Jacob’s marriage, Zebulun in the seventh, and Dinah in the eighth.

Genesis 30:22-24

“God remembered Rachel,” in the best time for her, after he had taught her the lessons of dependence and patience. “Joseph.” There is a remote allusion to her gratitude for the reproach of barrenness taken away. But there is also hope in the name. The selfish feeling also has died away, and the thankful Rachel rises from Elohim, the invisible Eternal, to Yahweh, the manifest Self-existent. The birth of Joseph was after the fourteen years of service were completed. He and Dinah appear to have been born in the same year.

Genesis 30:25-36

Jacob enters into a new contract of service with Laban. “When Rachel had borne Joseph.” Jacob cannot ask his dismissal until the twice seven years of service were completed. Hence, the birth of Joseph, which is the date of his request, took place at the earliest in the fifteenth year of his sojourn with Laban. Jacob now wishes to return home, from which he had been detained so long by serving for Rachel. He no doubt expects of Laban the means at least of accomplishing his journey. Laban is loath to part with him. “I have divined” - I have been an attentive observer. The result of his observation is expressed in the following words. “Appoint.” Laban offers to leave the fixing of the hire to Jacob. “Thy hire upon me,” which I will take upon me as binding. Jacob touches upon the value of his services, perhaps with the tacit feeling that Laban in equity owed him at least the means of returning to his home. “Brake forth” - increased. “At my foot” - under my guidance and tending of thy flocks.

“Do” - provide. “Thou shalt not give me anything.” This shows that Jacob had no stock from Laban to begin with. “I will pass through all thy flock today” with thee. “Remove thou thence every speckled and spotted sheep, and every brown sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats.” These were the rare colors, as in the East the sheep are usually white, and the goats black or dark brown. “And such shall be my hire.” Such as these uncommon party-colored cattle, when they shall appear among the flock already cleared of them; and not those of this description that are now removed. For in this case Laban would have given Jacob something; whereas Jacob was resolved to be entirely dependent on the divine providence for his hire. “And my righteousness will answer for me.” The color will determine at once whose the animal is. Laban willingly consents to so favorable a proposal, removes the party-colored animals from the flock, gives them into the hands of his sons, and puts an interval of three days’ journey between them and the pure stock which remains in Jacob’s hands. Jacob is now to begin with nothing, and have for his hire any party-colored lambs or kids that appear in those flocks, from which every specimen of this rare class has been carefully removed.

Genesis 30:37-43

Jacob devises means to provide himself with a flock in these unfavorable circumstances. His first device is to place party-colored rods before the eyes of the cattle at the rutting season, that they might drop lambs and kids varied with speckles, patches, or streaks of white. He had learned from experience that there is a congruence between the colors of the objects contemplated by the dams at that season and those of their young. At all events they bare many straked, speckled, and spotted lambs and kids. He now separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flock toward the young of the rare colors, doubtless to affect them in the same way as the pilled rods. “Put his own folds by themselves.” These are the party-colored cattle that from time to time appeared in the flock of Laban. In order to secure the stronger cattle, Jacob added the second device of employing the party-colored rods only when the strong cattle conceived. The sheep in the East lamb twice a year, and it is supposed that the lambs dropped in autumn are stronger than those dropped in the spring. On this supposition Jacob used his artifice in the spring, and not in the autumn. It is probable, however, that he made his experiments on the healthy and vigorous cattle, without reference to the season of the year. The result is here stated. “The man brake forth exceedingly” - became rapidly rich in hands and cattle.

It is obvious that the preceding and present chapters form one continuous piece of composition; as otherwise we have no account of the whole family of Jacob from one author. But the names אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym and יהוה y^ehovâh are both employed in the piece, and, hence, their presence and interchange cannot indicate diversity of authorship.