Genesis 30:16

16 When Jacob came in from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You are going to sleep with me tonight, because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So he had intercourse with her that night.

Genesis 30:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:16

And Jacob came out of the field in the evening
From feeding his flocks; and Leah went out to meet him;
knowing full well the time he used to come home: and said, thou must come in unto me;
into her tent, for the women had separate tents from the men; as Sarah from Abraham; and so these wives of Jacob had not only tents separate from his, but from one another: for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes:
that is, she had hired that night's lodging with him of Rachel, with the mandrakes her son Reuben had brought out of the field. Jacob made no objection to it; but consented, being willing to please both his wives, who he perceived had made this agreement between themselves: and he lay with her that night;
and that only, for the present: for, by the way of speaking, it looks as if he did not continue with her more nights together at that time, but went, as before that evening, to Rachel's tent.

Genesis 30:16 In-Context

14 During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found mandrakes, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15 Leah answered, "Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you are even trying to take away my son's mandrakes." Rachel said, "If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight."
16 When Jacob came in from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You are going to sleep with me tonight, because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So he had intercourse with her that night.
17 God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Leah said, "God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband"; so she named her son Issachar.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.