Genesis 30:13

13 and Leah saith, `Because of my happiness, for daughters have pronounced me happy;' and she calleth his name Asher.

Genesis 30:13 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:13

And Leah said
Upon the birth of the second son by her maid: happy am I;
or, "in my happiness"; or, "for my happiness" F3; that is, this child is an addition to my happiness, and will serve to increase it: for the daughters will call me blessed; the women of the place where she lived would speak of her as a happy person, that had so many children of her own, and others by her maid; see ( Psalms 127:5 ) : and she called his name Asher,
which signifies "happy" or "blessed". These two sons of Zilpah, according to the Jewish writers F4, were born, Gad on the tenth day of Marchesvan or October, and lived one hundred and twenty five years; and Asher on the twenty second day of Shebet or January, and lived one hundred and twenty three years.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (yrvab) "in felicitate mea", Montanus; "ob beatitatem meam", Drusius; "hoc pro beatitudine men", V. L. "pro beatitudine mihi est", Schmidt.
F4 Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 4. 1.

Genesis 30:13 In-Context

11 and Leah saith, `A troop is coming;' and she calleth his name Gad.
12 And Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant, beareth a second son to Jacob,
13 and Leah saith, `Because of my happiness, for daughters have pronounced me happy;' and she calleth his name Asher.
14 And Reuben goeth in the days of wheat-harvest, and findeth love-apples in the field, and bringeth them in unto Leah, his mother, and Rachel saith unto Leah, `Give to me, I pray thee, of the love-apples of thy son.'
15 And she saith to her, `Is thy taking my husband a little thing, that thou hast taken also the love-apples of my son?' and Rachel saith, `Therefore doth he lie with thee to-night, for thy son's love-apples.'
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.