Genesis 30

¹And Rachel, seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die.

²And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?

³But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her.

⁴And she gave him Bala in marriage: who,

⁵When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son.

⁶And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my voice, giving me a son, and therefore she called his name Dan.

⁷And again Bala conceived and bore another,

⁸For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called him Nephtali.

⁹Lia, perceiving that she had left off bearing, gave Zelpha her handmaid to her husband.

¹⁰And when she had conceived and brought forth a son,

¹¹She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad.

¹²Zelpha also bore another.

¹³And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me blessed. Therefore she called him Aser.

¹⁴And Ruben, going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel said: Give me part of thy son’s mandrakes.