KJV ORIGINAL
And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
Close to the original. Clear modern English.
✦ MADE SIMPLE
And she gave him Bilhah, her servant, as a wife, and Jacob slept with her.
⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE
This verse describes Rachel giving her servant Bilhah to Jacob as a wife so that Bilhah could bear children on Rachel's behalf.
📚 Historical Context
In ancient Near Eastern culture, it was common practice for a barren wife to give her female servant to her husband as a secondary wife or concubine. The children born from this union would legally belong to the primary wife, not the servant. This was Rachel's desperate attempt to have children through a surrogate arrangement, as she had been unable to conceive while her sister Leah had already given Jacob several sons.
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