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Genesis 29:30-32
New English Translation
Genesis 29:30-32
New English Translation
30 Jacob[a] slept with[b] Rachel as well. He also loved Rachel more than Leah. Then he worked for Laban[c] for seven more years.
The Family of Jacob
31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved,[d] he enabled her to become pregnant[e] while Rachel remained childless. 32 So Leah became pregnant[f] and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben,[g] for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition.[h] Surely my husband will love me now.”
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- Genesis 29:30 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 29:30 tn Heb “came to” or “approached,” a euphemism for sexual relations. See note at v. 21.
- Genesis 29:30 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 29:31 tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.
- Genesis 29:31 tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”
- Genesis 29:32 tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).
- Genesis 29:32 sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, reʾuven) means “look, a son.”
- Genesis 29:32 tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”sn Leah’s explanation of the name Reuben reflects a popular etymology, not an exact one. The name means literally “look, a son.” Playing on the Hebrew verb “look,” she observes that the Lord has “looked” with pity on her oppressed condition. See further S. R. Driver, Genesis, 273.
New English Translation (NET)
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