1. When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”
2. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3. Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Have relations with her so that she may bear a child on my knees, so that I may also have children through her.”
4. So she gave him Bilhah her maidservant as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her.
5. Bilhah conceived and gave Jacob a son.
6. Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and He has also heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.
7. Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave Jacob a second son.
8. Then Rachel said, “With great wrestling have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10. Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave Jacob a son.
11. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she called his name Gad.
12. Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave Jacob a second son.
13. Then Leah said, “Happy am I, for women will call me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14. At the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15. Leah said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”So Rachel said, “All right, he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16. When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me, because I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he slept with her that night.