Genesis 30:4

4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her,

Genesis 30:4 in Other Translations

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

4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

4 So Rachel gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah for a wife and Jacob slept with her.

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

4 So she gave him her slave Bilhah as his wife, and Jacob slept with her.

4 So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob made love to her.

Genesis 30:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:4

And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid
To be enjoyed as a wife, though she was no other than a concubine; yet such were sometimes called wives, and were secondary ones, and were under the proper lawful wife, nor did their children inherit; but those which Jacob had by his wives' maids did inherit with the rest: and Jacob went in unto her;
consenting to what Rachel his wife proposed to him: having concubines, as well as more wives than one, were not thought criminal in those times, and were suffered of God, and in this case for the multiplication of Jacob's seed; and perhaps he might the more readily comply with the motion of his wife, from the example of his grandfather Abraham, who took Hagar to wife at the instance of Sarah.

Genesis 30:4 In-Context

2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”

4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her,

5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son.

6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.

Cross References

• 1. ver 9,18
• 2. Genesis 16:3-4