Kejadian 29:18

29:18 Since Jacob had fallen in love with ¹  Rachel, he said, “I’ll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Kejadian 29:20

29:20 So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. ²  But they seemed like only a few days to him ³  because his love for her was so great. ⁴ 

Kejadian 29:30-31

29:30 Jacob ⁵  had marital relations ⁶  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ⁷  for seven more years. ⁸ 

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ⁹  he enabled her to become pregnant ¹⁰  while Rachel remained childless.

Kejadian 29:33

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ¹¹  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ¹² 

Kejadian 29:1

The Marriages of Jacob

29:1 So Jacob moved on ¹³  and came to the land of the eastern people. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 1:4-5

1:4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he used to give meat portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 1:5 But he would give a double ¹⁵  portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her. ¹⁶  Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children. ¹⁷ 

[29:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Jacob loved.”

[29:20]  ² tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”

[29:20]  ³ sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.

[29:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[29:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “went in also to Rachel.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.

[29:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he loved also Rachel, more than Leah, and he served with him still seven other years.”

[29:31]  ⁹ 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.

[29:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:33]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ¹² sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[29:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.

[29:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the Lord had closed her womb.” So also in v. 6. The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is pertinent to the story.