Kejadian 30:4-8

30:4 So Rachel ¹  gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with ²  her. 30:5 Bilhah became pregnant ³  and gave Jacob a son. ⁴  30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer ⁵  and given me a son.” That is why ⁶  she named him Dan. ⁷ 

30:7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. ⁸  30:8 Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” ⁹  So she named him Naphtali. ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹¹  was taking care of ¹²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ¹³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ¹⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ¹⁵  to their father.

Kejadian 46:23-25

46:23 The son of Dan: Hushim. ¹⁶ 

46:24 The sons of Naphtali:

Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

46:25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, seven in all.

[30:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:4]  ² tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

[30:5]  ³ tn Or “Bilhah conceived” (also in v. 7).

[30:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a son.”

[30:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and also he has heard my voice.” The expression means that God responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.

[30:6]  ⁶ tn Or “therefore.”

[30:6]  ⁷ sn The name Dan means “he vindicated” or “he judged.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. The verb translated “vindicated” is from דִּין (din, “to judge, to vindicate”), the same verbal root from which the name is derived. Rachel sensed that God was righting the wrong.

[30:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob.”

[30:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister, also I have prevailed.” The phrase “mighty struggle” reads literally “struggles of God.” The plural participle “struggles” reflects the ongoing nature of the struggle, while the divine name is used here idiomatically to emphasize the intensity of the struggle. See J. Skinner, Genesis (ICC), 387.

[30:8]  ¹⁰ sn The name Naphtali (נַפְתָּלִי, naftali) must mean something like “my struggle” in view of the statement Rachel made in the preceding clause. The name plays on this earlier statement, “[with] a mighty struggle I have struggled with my sister.”

[37:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ¹² tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.

[37:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”

[37:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[37:2]  sn Some interpreters portray Joseph as a tattletale for bringing back a bad report about them [i.e., his brothers], but the entire Joseph story has some of the characteristics of wisdom literature. Joseph is presented in a good light – not because he was perfect, but because the narrative is showing how wisdom rules. In light of that, this section portrays Joseph as faithful to his father in little things, even though unpopular – and so he will eventually be given authority over greater things.

[46:23]  ¹⁶ tn This name appears as “Shuham” in Num 26:42. The LXX reads “Hashum” here.