Kejadian 16:1-4
Konteks16:1 Now Sarai, 1 Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, 2 but she had an Egyptian servant 3 named Hagar. 4 16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since 5 the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with 6 my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” 7 Abram did what 8 Sarai told him.
16:3 So after Abram had lived 9 in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, 10 to her husband to be his wife. 11 16:4 He had sexual relations with 12 Hagar, and she became pregnant. 13 Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. 14
Kejadian 30:1-13
Konteks30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she 15 became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children 16 or I’ll die!” 30:2 Jacob became furious 17 with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 18 30:3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with 19 her so that she can bear 20 children 21 for me 22 and I can have a family through her.” 23
30:4 So Rachel 24 gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with 25 her. 30:5 Bilhah became pregnant 26 and gave Jacob a son. 27 30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer 28 and given me a son.” That is why 29 she named him Dan. 30
30:7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. 31 30:8 Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” 32 So she named him Naphtali. 33
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave 34 her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. 30:10 Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. 35 30:11 Leah said, “How fortunate!” 36 So she named him Gad. 37
30:12 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. 38 30:13 Leah said, “How happy I am, 39 for women 40 will call me happy!” So she named him Asher. 41
[16:1] 1 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.
[16:1] 2 sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.
[16:1] 3 tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.
[16:1] 4 sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)
[16:2] 5 tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.
[16:2] 6 tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).
[16:2] sn The Hebrew expression translated have sexual relations with does not convey the intimacy of other expressions, such as “so and so knew his wife.” Sarai simply sees this as the social custom of having a child through a surrogate. For further discussion see C. F. Fensham, “The Son of a Handmaid in Northwest Semitic,” VT 19 (1969): 312-21.
[16:2] 7 tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.
[16:2] 8 tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”
[16:2] sn Abram did what Sarai told him. This expression was first used in Gen 3:17 of Adam’s obeying his wife. In both cases the text highlights weak faith and how it jeopardized the plan of God.
[16:3] 9 tn Heb “at the end of ten years, to live, Abram.” The prepositional phrase introduces the temporal clause, the infinitive construct serves as the verb, and the name “Abram” is the subject.
[16:3] 10 tn Heb “the Egyptian, her female servant.”
[16:3] 11 sn To be his wife. Hagar became a slave wife, not on equal standing with Sarai. However, if Hagar produced the heir, she would be the primary wife in the eyes of society. When this eventually happened, Hagar become insolent, prompting Sarai’s anger.
[16:4] 12 tn Heb “entered to.” See the note on the same expression in v. 2.
[16:4] 13 tn Or “she conceived” (also in v. 5)
[16:4] 14 tn Heb “and she saw that she was pregnant and her mistress was despised in her eyes.” The Hebrew verb קָלַל (qalal) means “to despise, to treat lightly, to treat with contempt.” In Hagar’s opinion Sarai had been demoted.
[30:1] 15 tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[30:2] 17 tn Heb “and the anger of Jacob was hot.”
[30:2] 18 tn Heb “who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb.”
[30:3] 19 tn Heb “go in to.” The expression “go in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.
[30:3] 20 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.
[30:3] 21 tn The word “children” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[30:3] 22 tn Heb “upon my knees.” This is an idiomatic way of saying that Bilhah will be simply a surrogate mother. Rachel will adopt the child as her own.
[30:3] 23 tn Heb “and I will be built up, even I, from her.” The prefixed verbal form with the conjunction is subordinated to the preceding prefixed verbal form and gives the ultimate purpose for the proposed action. The idiom of “built up” here refers to having a family (see Gen 16:2, as well as Ruth 4:11 and BDB 125 s.v. בָנָה).
[30:4] 24 tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[30:4] 25 tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.
[30:5] 26 tn Or “Bilhah conceived” (also in v. 7).
[30:5] 27 tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a son.”
[30:6] 28 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] 30 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] 31 tn Heb “and she became pregnant again and Bilhah, the servant of Rachel, bore a second son for Jacob.”
[30:8] 32 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] 33 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.”
[30:9] 34 tn Heb “she took her servant Zilpah and gave her.” The verbs “took” and “gave” are treated as a hendiadys in the translation: “she gave.”
[30:10] 35 tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore for Jacob a son.”
[30:11] 36 tc The statement in the Kethib (consonantal text) appears to mean literally “with good fortune,” if one takes the initial בְּ (bet) as a preposition indicating accompaniment. The Qere (marginal reading) means “good fortune has arrived.”
[30:11] 37 sn The name Gad (גָּד, gad) means “good fortune.” The name reflects Leah’s feeling that good fortune has come her way, as expressed in her statement recorded earlier in the verse.
[30:12] 38 tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore a second son for Jacob.”
[30:13] 39 tn The Hebrew statement apparently means “with my happiness.”
[30:13] 40 tn Heb “daughters.”
[30:13] 41 sn The name Asher (אָשֶׁר, ’asher) apparently means “happy one.” The name plays on the words used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. Both the Hebrew noun and verb translated “happy” and “call me happy,” respectively, are derived from the same root as the name Asher.
