Genesis 30:9

Plain English Version

Leah wanted to have more kids, but no babies grew inside her. So she thought, “I will get Jacob to marry my working woman Zilpah, so that she will have babies. Zilpah belongs to me, so if she has babies, those babies will belong to me too. They will be just like my own kids.” So Leah gave Zilpah to Jacob, and she became Jacob’s wife.

Cross References

Genesis 29:24

The next morning, Jacob saw that Leah was in his room, instead of Rachel. So Jacob was angry, and he went and talked to Laban. Jacob said, “You told me that I have to work for you for 7 years, and then I can marry Rachel. So I worked those 7 years, just like you said, but then you tricked me. You gave me Leah to be my wife, instead of Rachel. Why did you do that bad thing to me?” Laban said, “Leah is my older daughter, and Rachel is my younger daughter. In our culture, the older daughter always gets married first. That’s the reason why I gave you Leah to be your wife, instead of Rachel.” Then Laban said, “Listen, your wedding party will finish in one week. So spend this week with Leah, and after that, I will give you Rachel to marry as well. But after you marry Rachel, you have to work for me for 7 more years.” Jacob agreed to do what Laban said. After one week, Jacob and Leah’s wedding party finished. Then Laban gave his daughter Rachel to Jacob, and Jacob married Rachel as well. And Jacob slept with Rachel, like a man sleeps with his wife. So then Jacob had 2 wives, but he loved Rachel more than Leah. Laban had some women that worked for him. And Laban gave one of those women to his daughter Leah, to work for her, and he gave another of those women to his daughter Rachel, to work for her. The woman that worked for Leah was called Zilpah, and the woman that worked for Rachel was called Bilhah. Then Jacob worked for Laban for 7 more years.

Genesis 29:35

Later on, Leah had another baby boy. And Leah said, “Now I will say thank you to God, and I will tell everybody that God is really great.” And Leah named that baby Judah. That name means thank you. After that, Leah stopped having babies for a while.

Genesis 30:10

Jacob slept with Zilpah, like a man sleeps with his wife, and she had a baby boy. He was another son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:17

God was good to Leah. He knew that Leah wanted to have more kids. So after Jacob slept with Leah, God made a baby start growing inside her. Later on, Leah had that baby, and it was a boy. He was another son for Jacob, and he was son number 5 for Leah.

Genesis 30:4

Then Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob, and Bilhah became Jacob’s wife. And Jacob slept with Bilhah, like a man sleeps with his wife.

Genesis 30:8

Then Rachel said, “I used to be jealous of my sister Leah, because she had kids and I didn’t. But now I have 2 sons. It’s like I had a big fight with Leah, and I won.” And Rachel named that baby Naphtali. That name means my big fight.

Genesis 46:18

Those were the kids and grand-kids that Jacob had with Zilpah. There were 16 of them. That woman Zilpah, she used to work for Leah’s father Laban. Then, at the time when Jacob and Leah got married, Laban gave Zilpah to Leah, to work for her.