Kejadian 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ¹  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ²  but she had an Egyptian servant ³  named Hagar. ⁴ 

Kejadian 17:24

17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old ⁵  when he was circumcised; ⁶ 

Kejadian 25:12

The Sons of Ishmael

25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, ⁷  whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.

Kejadian 30:3

30:3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with ⁸  her so that she can bear ⁹  children ¹⁰  for me ¹¹  and I can have a family through her.” ¹² 

Kejadian 30:9

30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave ¹³  her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

Kejadian 30:18

30:18 Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward ¹⁴  because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” ¹⁵  So she named him Issachar. ¹⁶ 

Kejadian 35:26

35:26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

Kejadian 46:18

46:18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen in all.

[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.)

[17:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”

[17:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin” (also in v. 25).

[25:12]  ⁷ sn This is the account of Ishmael. The Book of Genesis tends to tidy up the family records at every turning point. Here, before proceeding with the story of Isaac’s family, the narrative traces Ishmael’s family line. Later, before discussing Jacob’s family, the narrative traces Esau’s family line (see Gen 36).

[30:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “go in to.” The expression “go in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

[30:3]  ⁹ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.

[30:3]  ¹⁰ tn The word “children” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:3]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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).

[30:9]  ¹³ 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.”

[30:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “God has given my reward.”

[30:18]  ¹⁵ tn The words “as a wife” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity (cf. v. 9).

[30:18]  sn Leah seems to regard the act of giving her servant Zilpah to her husband as a sacrifice, for which (she believes) God is now rewarding her with the birth of a son.

[30:18]  ¹⁶ sn The name Issachar (יְשָּׁשכָר, yishakhar) appears to mean “man of reward” or possibly “there is reward.” The name plays on the word used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew noun translated “reward” is derived from the same root as the name Issachar. The irony is that Rachel thought the mandrakes would work for her, and she was willing to trade one night for them. But in that one night Leah became pregnant.