Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clearImportance=normal (All still tentative.)
OET (OET-RV)Rahel answered, “Listen, here’s my slave Bilhah. Sleep with her so that she’ll have children on my behalf and I’ll also be able to have a family through her.”
Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrTrAnd Rachel said to Jacob, Behold my handmaid Balla, go in to her, and she shall bear upon my knees, and I also shall have children by her.
ULTThen she said, “Behold my slave woman Bilhah. Go to her so that she will bear children on my knees, and I also will be built up from her.”
USTThen Rachel told him, “You can have my servant woman Bilhah as a wife. Have marital relations with her so that she will have children for me, so that I too can have a family.”
BSB § Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me,[fn] so that through her I too can build a family.”
OEBShe said, ‘Here is my slave-girl Bilhah, go to her, so that she may bear sons who can be laid on my knees and I also may obtain children though her.’
WEBBEShe said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.”
NETShe replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.”
LSVAnd she says, “Behold, my handmaid Bilhah, go in to her, and she bears on my knees, and I am built up, even I, from her”;
FBV“Here's my personal maid Bilhah,” Rachel replied. “Sleep with her and she can have children for me so I'll have a family too.”
T4TThen she said, “Look, here is my female slave, Bilhah. ◄Sleep with/Have sex with► [EUP] her, so that she may become pregnant and give birth to children for me. In that way it will be as though ◄I have children/her children are mine►.”
LEBThen she said, “Here is my servant girl Bilhah; go in to her that she may bear children as my surrogate.[fn] Then I will even have children[fn] by her.”
KJB-1611[fn]And she said, Behold my mayde Bilhah: goe in vnto her, and she shall beare vpon my knees, that I may also have children by her. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)
BshpsThen she sayde: Here is my mayde Bilha, go in vnto her, & she shall beare vpon my knees, that I also may haue chyldren by her. (Then she said: Here is my maid Bilha, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I also may have children by her.)
GnvaAnd she said, Behold my maide Bilhah, goe in to her, and she shall beare vpon my knees, and I shall haue children also by her. (And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in to her, and she shall bear upon my knees, and I shall have children also by her. )
CvdlNeuertheles she sayde: Beholde, there is Bilha my mayden, lye wt her, yt she maye beare vpon my lappe, & that I maye be increased by her. (Nevertheless she said: Behold, there is Bilha my mayden, lye with her, it she may bear upon my lappe, and that I may be increased by her.)
WyclAnd sche seide, Y haue `a seruauntesse Bala, entre thou to hir that she childe on my knees, and that Y haue sones of hir. (And she said, I have `a servantsse Bala, enter thou/you to her that she child on my knees, and that I have sons of her.)
LuthSie aber sprach: Siehe, da ist meine Magd Bilha; lege dich zu ihr, daß sie auf meinem Schoß gebäre, und ich doch durch sie erbauet werde. (They/She but spoke: See, there is my Magd Bilha; lege you/yourself to ihr, that they/she/them on my Schoß gebäre, and I though/but through they/she/them erbauet become.)
ClVgAt illa: Habeo, inquit, famulam Balam: ingredere ad illam, ut pariat super genua mea, et habeam ex illa filios. (At illa: Habeo, inquit, famulam Balam: ingredere to illam, as pariat over genua mea, and habeam from that filios. )
30:1-8 Rachel’s naming of sons through Bilhah does not reflect faith as Leah’s namings had. Rachel felt wronged over the marriage and her barrenness. The names of Bilhah’s sons reflect Rachel’s bitter struggle with her sister and her feeling of some victory.
The idiom bear children on my knees means that Bilhah’s children would be considered Rachel’s children. It may come from the custom of immediately putting a newborn child on the lap of the father and mother to symbolize that the child belonged to them. Alternate translation: “for me who will sit on my lap,” or “as my surrogate”
וְאִבָּנֶ֥ה גַם אָנֹכִ֖י מִמֶּֽנָּה
and,have_children also/even I through,her
See how you translated built up from her in Gen 16:2. Alternate translation: “so that from her children I too can build a family.” or “so that I too can build a family.”
Though the patriarch Isaac moved from place to place several times within southern Canaan, compared to his father Abraham and his son Jacob, Isaac appears to have been a bit of a homebody. In fact, unless Isaac resettled in places not recorded in Scripture, the farthest extent he ever traveled appears to have been only about 90 miles (113 km). Yet, as the child of God’s promise to Abraham to build a great nation from his descendants, Isaac’s relatively simple life served as a critical bridge from Abraham to the beginnings of the twelve tribes of Israel, who were descended from Isaac’s son Jacob. It is likely that Isaac was born at Beersheba (see Genesis 21:1-24), and later Abraham offered him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah (located at Jerusalem; see 2 Chronicles 3:1). Then Abraham, Isaac, and those with them returned to Beersheba (Genesis 22:1-19). When Isaac reached adulthood, his father sent a servant to bring back a bride for him from Aram-naharaim, far north of Canaan. When his bride, Rebekah, arrived, Isaac had just come from Beer-lahai-roi and settled in the Negev (Genesis 24:62). Later Isaac resettled with Rebekah in Beer-lahai-roi, and this may have been where their twins son Esau and Jacob were born. A famine forced Isaac to go to Gerar (Genesis 26:1-6) in “the land of the Philistines.” The distinct people group known as the Philistines in later books of the Bible did not arrive until the time of the Judges, so the term here must have referred to another people group living in this region, and this is supported by the fact that King Abimelech’s name is Semitic, not Aegean (the likely origin of the later Philistines). While Isaac was there, he repeated his father’s error (Genesis 20) by lying to the king that his wife was only his sister. Isaac also became increasingly prosperous at Gerar, so the Philistines told him to leave their region. Isaac moved away from the town of Gerar and settled further away in the valley of Gerar. There he dug a well, but the Philistines claimed it for themselves, so he called it Esek, meaning “argument.” So Isaac’s men dug another well and called it Sitnah (meaning “hostility”), but it led to more quarreling, so he dug yet another well and called it Rehoboth (meaning “open space”). The locations of these two later wells are not certain, but they may have been located near Ruheibeh as shown on this map. Then Isaac moved to Beersheba and built an altar. He also dug a well there, and King Abimelech of the Philistines came and exchanged oaths of peace with him. It was likely at Beersheba that Isaac blessed his sons Esau and Jacob, and both sons eventually left Canaan (see “Jacob Goes to Paddan-Aram” map). When Jacob later returned, he traveled to Mamre near Hebron and reunited with Isaac. Sometime after this Isaac died, and Jacob and Esau buried him there.
