Genesis 30:2

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

Genesis 30:2 in Other Translations

2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

2 Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

2 Then Jacob became furious with Rachel. “Am I God?” he asked. “He’s the one who has kept you from having children!”

2 Jacob got angry with Rachel and said, "Am I God? Am I the one who refused you babies?"

2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld children from you?"

Genesis 30:2 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:2

And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel
Whom yet he dearly loved, hearing her talk in such an extravagant manner, as her words seemed to be, and were not: only expressive of great uneasiness and impatience, but implied what was not in the power of man to do: and he said, [am] I in God's stead:
do you take me to be God, or one that has a dispensing power from him to do what otherwise no creature can do; and which also he never gives to any? for, as the Targum of Jerusalem on ( Genesis 30:22 ) says, this is one of the four keys which God delivers not to an angel or a seraph; even the key of barrenness. Children are the gift of God, and his only, and therefore he is to be sought unto for them: hence Onkelos land Jonathan paraphrase it;

``wherefore dost thou seek them of me? shouldest thou not seek them of the Lord?''

who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
children, ( Psalms 127:3 ) ; not Jacob, but the Lord.

Genesis 30:2 In-Context

1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

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.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 50:19; Deuteronomy 32:35; 2 Kings 5:7
• 2. S Genesis 16:2; Genesis 20:18; Genesis 29:31