The Meaning of Genesis 30:4 Explained

Genesis 30:4

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

YLT: and she giveth to him Bilhah her maid-servant for a wife, and Jacob goeth in unto her;

Darby: And she gave him Bilhah her maidservant as wife, and Jacob went in to her.

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

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Genesis 30:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Genesis 30:1-24 - Sons Born To Jacob
The details of this paragraph are given with great minuteness, because they concern the twelve sons of Jacob, the forefathers of Israel. After all, history is made in the nursery, and we are very much what our mothers have made us in the formative years. An old Spanish proverb says, "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy." Leah's influence on her boys, as judged by their subsequent life, was anything but healthy; yet with Jacob being the man he was, there was poor chance for them to realize the highest ideals. Rachel's anguish of heart led her to earnest prayer. Compare Genesis 30:1; Genesis 30:22. Wait on God, oh, anguished ones: ye shall surely have reason to praise him. Was it not worth waiting for, to bear a Joseph, whose branches were to run over the wall in blessing? There are more compensations in life than we think for. If Rachel had her husband's love, Leah had a large family of boys. In the saddest lives there are glints of sunshine. [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 30

1  Rachel, in grief for her barrenness, gives Bilhah her maid unto Jacob
5  Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali
9  Leah gives Zilpah her maid, who bears Gad and Asher
14  Reuben finds mandrakes,
15  with which Leah buys her husband's company of Rachel
17  Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah
22  Rachel bears Joseph
25  Jacob desires to depart
27  Laban detains him on a new agreement
37  Jacob's policy, whereby he becomes rich

What do the individual words in Genesis 30:4 mean?

And she gave to him Bilhah her maidservant as wife and went in to her Jacob
וַתִּתֶּן־ ל֛וֹ אֶת־ בִּלְהָ֥ה שִׁפְחָתָ֖הּ לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיָּבֹ֥א אֵלֶ֖יהָ יַעֲקֹֽב

וַתִּתֶּן־  And  she  gave 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: יָתַן 
Sense: to give, put, set.
בִּלְהָ֥ה  Bilhah 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: בִּלְהָה 
Sense: Rachel’s handmaid whom she gave to Jacob as a concubine, mother to two of Jacob’s children, Dan and Naphtali.
שִׁפְחָתָ֖הּ  her  maidservant 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person feminine singular
Root: שִׁפְחָה  
Sense: maid, maid-servant, slavegirl.
לְאִשָּׁ֑ה  as  wife 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אִשָּׁה  
Sense: woman, wife, female.
וַיָּבֹ֥א  and  went  in 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
אֵלֶ֖יהָ  to  her 
Parse: Preposition, third person feminine singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
יַעֲקֹֽב  Jacob 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יַעֲקֹב  
Sense: son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, and father of the 2 patriarchs of the tribes of Israel.