Genesis 30:16

16 When Jacob came in from the field that night, Leah went out to meet him. She said, "You will have sexual relations with me tonight because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So Jacob slept 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 field and found some mandraken plants and brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15 Leah answered, "You have already taken away my husband, and now you are trying to take away my son's mandrakes." But Rachel answered, "If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you may sleep with Jacob tonight."
16 When Jacob came in from the field that night, Leah went out to meet him. She said, "You will have sexual relations with me tonight because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So Jacob slept with her that night.
17 Then God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son
18 and said, "God has given me what I paid for, because I gave my slave girl to my husband." So Leah named her son Issachar.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.