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Chapter 30

Rachel, seeing that it had not been granted to her to bear sons to Jacob, became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me sons, or I shall die!”

Jacob was irritated with Rachel and said, “Am I God? He is the one who did not grant you the fruit of the womb.”

She answered, “Here is my servant Bilhah; sleep with her so that she may give birth upon my knees[a] and I also may have offspring through her.”

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 30:3 Upon my knees: after birth a father customarily took a child on his lap to indicate it was his. Rachel appeals to this custom to show that Bilhah’s child is hers.