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.