Genesis 30:4

Then Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob, and Bilhah became Jacob’s wife. And Jacob slept with Bilhah, like a man sleeps with his wife.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.

In Context

3So Rachel said, “All right, this is what you can do. Look, here is Bilhah, the woman that works for me. I want you to sleep with her, so that she will have babies. Bilhah belongs to me, so if she has babies, those babies will belong to me too. They will be just like my own kids.”

5Then Bilhah had a baby boy. He was another son for Jacob.

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Cross References

Genesis 22:24And Nahor had another wife, and she had sons too. That other wife’s name was Rumah, and her sons were Tebar, Gaham, Tahash, and Macah.

Genesis 25:6But Abraham wanted to be good to his other sons too, those sons that he had with his other wives. So Abraham gave presents to those other sons. Then he sent them to go and live in a country to the east, a long way away from his son Isaac.

Genesis 33:2Then they all started walking towards Esau again. Jacob walked in front, then the 2 working women and their kids, then Leah and her kids, then Rachel and her son Joseph. And Jacob got down on his knees and put his face near the ground, to show respect to his brother Esau. He did that 7 times, until he got near to Esau.

Genesis 46:25Those were the sons and grand-sons that Jacob had with Bilhah. There were 7 of them. That woman Bilhah, she used to work for Rachel’s father Laban. Then, at the time when Jacob and Rachel got married, Laban gave Bilhah to Rachel, to work for her.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 30:2-14

Increase of Jacob's Family. ( b. c. 1745.) 1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? 3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. 4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. 5 And… Read the whole commentary →

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