--- title: "Eleven Sons of Jacob" description: "When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was..." image: "" book: "Genesis" bookId: "GEN" testament: "old" startChapter: 29 startVerse: 31 endChapter: 30 endVerse: 24 coversChapters: [29,30] aiTitle: "Eleven Sons of Jacob" aiDescription: "When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was..." hasAiStory: true location: "" persons: ["Jacob","Rachel","Leah","God","Reuben","Simeon","Levi","Judah","Bilhah","Dan","Naphtali","Zilpah","Gad","Asher","Issachar","Zebulun","Dinah","Joseph"] hashtags: ["genealogy","love","suffering"] genre: "law" readingTime: 3 type: "adaptive" slug: "GEN/eleven-sons-of-jacob" canonicalId: "GEN.29.31-30.24" chronologicalOrder: 81 relatedSlugs: [] prevSlug: "GEN/jacob-rachel-and-leah" nextSlug: "GEN/six-more-years-for-labans-flocks" --- ### [Reuben](/persons/reuben), [Simeon](/persons/simeon), [Levi](/persons/levi), and [Judah](/persons/judah) When the [LORD](/persons/god) saw that [Leah](/persons/leah) was unloved, He opened her womb; but [Rachel](/persons/rachel) was barren. And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.” Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon. Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi. And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children. ### [Dan](/persons/dan) and [Naphtali](/persons/naphtali) When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for [Jacob](/persons/jacob), she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?” Then she said, “Here is my maidservant [Bilhah](/persons/bilhah). Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.” So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her, and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan. And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali. ### [Gad](/persons/gad) and [Asher](/persons/asher) When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant [Zilpah](/persons/zilpah) to Jacob as a wife. And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher. Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?”
“Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. ### [Issachar](/persons/issachar), [Zebulun](/persons/zebulun), and [Dinah](/persons/dinah) And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob. “God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun. After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. ### [Joseph](/persons/joseph) Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

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