28-30 Jacob agreed. When he’d completed the honeymoon week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) Jacob then slept with her. And he loved Rachel more than Leah. He worked for Laban another seven years.

31-32 When God realized that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and had a son. She named him Reuben (Look-It’s-a-Boy!). “This is a sign,” she said, “that God has seen my misery; and a sign that now my husband will love me.”

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30 Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah.(A) And he worked for Laban another seven years.(B)

Jacob’s Children

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved,(C) he enabled her to conceive,(D) but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.(E) She named him Reuben,[a](F) for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery.(G) Surely my husband will love me now.”

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 29:32 Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for he has seen my misery; the name means see, a son.