Genesis 30:1 (WEB)
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Genesis 30:1 (KJV)
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Key words
- וַתְּקַנֵּא רָחֵל בַּאֲחֹתָהּvatteqanne Rachel ba'achotah · Hebrew
- 'Rachel envied her sister' — the rivalry with Leah.
- הָבָה־לִּי בָנִים וְאִם־אַיִן מֵתָה אָנֹכִיhavah-li vanim ve'im-ayin metah anokhi · Hebrew
- 'Give me children, or else I die' — her sorrow at barrenness; she will in fact die giving birth to her second son.
Why it matters
Rachel's cry, 'Give me children, or else I die,' voices the sorrow of the beloved but barren wife locked in rivalry with Leah — the struggle that gives Jacob twelve sons by four women (30:1–13). Pitre traces this to show why Joseph, Rachel's firstborn, was so loved and so envied (pp 143–144). Her words are also grimly prophetic: she dies bearing Benjamin, the son of her sorrow.
Catechism · 1
“"What will you give me," asks Abraham of God, "for I continue childless?" and Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall die!"” — Catechism footnote: Gen 30:1.
Fathers and councils · 3
Jerome
“…two peoples are in thy womb,” that Jacob served for his wife, and that when Rachel, thinking it was in the power of her husband to give her children, said, “Give me children, or else I die,” he replied, “Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” so well aware was he that the fruit of…” — editor's note: Gen. xxx. 1.
Read the whole comment“It was for this reason that Abraham in his old age married Keturah; that Leah hired Jacob with her son’s mandrakes, and that fair Rachel—a type of the church—complained of the closing of her womb.” — editor's note: Gen. xxx. 1, 2.
Read the whole comment
Ephrem the Syrian
“Rachel cried to her husband, and said, Give me sons.” — editor's note: Gen. xxx. 1.
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 4
Cited together in Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh Hymn 6.
Cited together in Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh Hymn 6.
Cited together in Catechism §2374.
Cited together in Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh Hymn 6.